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Cost of ownership for RV 4, 6?

WISC

Well Known Member
I read in AOPA magazine the estimated cost for a private owner flying a C-172R 50 hours annually is $85 an hour which includes fuel, maintenance, tiedown, and $10 per hour engine reserve fund.
Does anyone have similar estimates of cost of ownership for a RV 4 or RV6? I realize there are variables but just wondering about a general rule of thumb for cost of ownership.
Thank you
 
I don't amortise all the costs into an houly lump because I don't pay for them that way.

A lot of things are annual: insurance, condition inspection, etc.

Transponder recheck and ELT batteries are biannual.

Fuel is hourly but oil and filter are, well, just shop consumables. These things are out of pocket.

Dave
 
Cost

I consider ownership a $1000 a month habit
Give or take $100 depending on hangar cost and other variables .
 
I consider ownership a $1000 a month habit
Give or take $100 depending on hangar cost and other variables .

Same here, I budget $1k/month. With my 100-150hrs a year average, it works out to around $100/hr. I have full insurance coverage and burn mostly avgas. I don't maintain any sort of maintenance fund, but as a non-builder, I must hire out the condition inspection. I only 'run the numbers' once a year, so there's usually some toys that get added in. And XM subscription.

-jon
 
With full insurance, a shared hangar, $10 engine reserve, burning only 100ll, and 100 hours a year it works out to be about $95/hour for me.

But going to a tie down (which I would not do) it would reduce it to around $75/hour.

But this does not include hamburgers or toys for the plane. :)
 
I read in AOPA magazine the estimated cost for a private owner flying a C-172R 50 hours annually is $85 an hour which includes fuel, maintenance, tiedown, and $10 per hour engine reserve fund.
Does anyone have similar estimates of cost of ownership for a RV 4 or RV6? I realize there are variables but just wondering about a general rule of thumb for cost of ownership.
Thank you

I think one of your biggest variables is going to be tie down versus hangar in particular if you live in a densely populated area like I do. Hangar rents around my area run 400-500$ monthly so that alone would get you 96$ -120$ per hour if you only flew 50 hours a year independent of what plane you are putting in the hangar. Tie downs are of course much much cheaper.

If you get full hull insurance let's say on a 80k$ value I would assume you pay something in the 1000-2000$ range depending on your flying experience. So that would be 20-40$ an hour.

Fuel depends heavily on your flying style and airport. Around here it's somewhere between 4.80$ and 7$ and depending on if I just fly slowly to get a coffee or have some fun between 7 to 12 g/h. So that's from 33$ to 84$ an hour based on where I fuel up and what I do.

With 50 hours you will change your oil based on time. Assuming you do it yourself that's about 6$ per hour on 50 hours including filter. If you do oil analysis etc.. add a dollar or two.

Last big item is maintenance/annual inspection. Builders generally do that themselves so it's material but if you have to pay somebody for an annual it really depends on area you life in and who you pick (if you get somebody with little RV experience it could get really expensive) but I would think you are probably paying at least 1k$ if you do nothing yourself and close to 0$ if you do everything yourself. So that's between 0$ and 20$ per hour.

You also mentioned 10$ for an engine fund which seems about right.

So what does that add up to.

Well if you are an unexperienced pilot flying high power settings a lot which outsources the annual with his RV in a hanger close to NY city and fly 50 hours a year you pay 280$ an hour.

On the other hand if you are an experienced pilot parking outside on a cheap airport doing everything yourself slowly flying to get a burger on the weekends you could be in for 69$ an hour.

So if you look at that I think there are just to many variables to have a meaningful "rule of thumb".

As some of the others said I personally look at it as a 1k$ a month habit not as an hourly thing.
 
As Oliver points out, they are essentially the same (172 vs. RV) since he has a pretty comprehensive list and almost all items on the list will be the same for either. The one difference may be in the cost of the annual, but that won't significantly change the numbers.

Tim
 
As Oliver points out, they are essentially the same (172 vs. RV) since he has a pretty comprehensive list and almost all items on the list will be the same for either. The one difference may be in the cost of the annual, but that won't significantly change the numbers.

Tim

The cost of RV parts vs. the costs of Cessna parts might add up to a large difference over the years if the Cessna is an older model....
 
The 2 Rules...

I've always simply believed in and followed the "Two Fundamental Financial Rules of Personal Airplane Ownership" and despite only having the income of a city employee, have somehow managed to learn to fly, owned and flown a Cherokee 140 for nearly a decade, sold the Cherokee and now have bought, owned and flown my RV-6 for nearly 3 years.

Those two rules are:

Rule #1 - Don't bother trying to cost-justify owning a small personal airplane. It is not possible.

Rule #2 - Never ever add up all the money you've ever spent on owning and flying a small personal airplane. You don't want to know.

:D
 
Those two rules are:

Rule #1 - Don't bother trying to cost-justify owning a small personal airplane. It is not possible.

Rule #2 - Never ever add up all the money you've ever spent on owning and flying a small personal airplane. You don't want to know.

:D

Exactly Neal... I always add And Who Really Cares to that list of rules. :D
 
Rule #1 - Don't bother trying to cost-justify owning a small personal airplane. It is not possible.

Rule #2 - Never ever add up all the money you've ever spent on owning and flying a small personal airplane. You don't want to know.

:D

Agree with Rule #2,
Disagree with #1...Without my RV-7, I would be spending money on more motorcycles, more guitars, rifles & camo gear, darts, golf stuff, camping stuff, and a psychiatrist.

HMMM...some (or most) people believe I need that last item,regardless.
 
Just a side comment on hangars. In some places you can buy a hangar. If you do, then there's hangar insurance to add and possibly property taxes and a ground lease. Sometimes you can offset part of that by renting out part of the hangar, and if you're lucky, the hangar itself might be an appreciating asset.

There's also the cost of the hangar itself, of course. If you borrow money for it, that'll add to the monthly cost. If you buy it outright you're committing money which might otherwise be used for other purposes, so it's an opportunity cost.

Dave
 
I've always simply believed in and followed the "Two Fundamental Financial Rules of Personal Airplane Ownership" and despite only having the income of a city employee, have somehow managed to learn to fly, owned and flown a Cherokee 140 for nearly a decade, sold the Cherokee and now have bought, owned and flown my RV-6 for nearly 3 years.

Those two rules are:

Rule #1 - Don't bother trying to cost-justify owning a small personal airplane. It is not possible.

Rule #2 - Never ever add up all the money you've ever spent on owning and flying a small personal airplane. You don't want to know.

:D

My comment on Rule #2 above.

IF I were to add up all the costs of owning and flying my RV-6, I would find out that it was very cheap to make all the friends and experiences that the airplane has provided. IMHO, the friends and experiences are worth twice what the above number would come to.
 
Trying to justify owning versus renting is like comparing being in a relationship to, well, hooking up via an escort service.

One might be cheaper overall but the other provides benefits (and headaches at times) well after the transient deed is done.

I doubt if one would decide if getting in a relationship is worth it based on economics. I know you can't do it on owning an airplane.
 
Reoccurring

Cost of airplane ownership.
This question has been around many times.

Aviation has given me more than I have ever given it. The rewards are seemingly endless. Countless friends, experiences, adventure.

But ,, if,, you must know, it cost all the money you have to own and fly an airplane, it takes all the money you have, plus all you can borrow and steal to own a helicopter.
But about a hundred dollars an hour is a good start, maby a little less,, or more?
 
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Rule #1 - Don't bother trying to cost-justify owning a small personal airplane. It is not possible. Rule #2 - Never ever add up all the money you've ever spent on owning and flying a small personal airplane. You don't want to know.

I'm in a relatively high stress job and have been for years. When ever someone says "that's a pretty expensive hobby" I simplely reply, "cheaper than therapy".

With a national average of $90-$150 per "50 minute hour" for thereapy, our planes are a sound investment. :D
 
RV

It is less expensive to fly an RV 6A than to watch a bad pro football team.
The Atlanta Falcons just announced the personal seat licenses to watch their team in the new stadium opening in 2017. $45k per seat for the right to purchase a season ticket at $380 per game per seat. So if you and the wife want to watch the Falcons from your prime seat that's $90000 for the rights for 2 seats over 30 years with the money paid up front and then $7600 for your tickets for 10 games each year.

That's $10600 a year even if you spread the seat license over 30 years!
My RV is one incredible bargain in comparison to that.

If you like flying better than bad football or whatever else you might enjoy then just do it and don't concern yourself with the cost.

John Morgan
 
Cost per hour doesn't mean as much to me as cost per year. Just add up all the fixed costs (ins, hangar/tiedown, payments/lost income for the price of the plane, annual, etc), then decide whether you have money left for operation (gas, oil, maintenance reserve, etc).

I've flown so few hours lately that I really don't want to know the cost per hour.....
 
Tie down?

I "save" about $500/month by keeping my 6A on the ramp with double coverage over the canopy, limiting the insurance coverage to liability and non-moving damage and doing my own condition inspections. The only real drawback after 2 years has been faded paint on the fiberglass parts. The aluminum is primered inside and polished outside. My prop is an alum. Sensenich. Anybody out there with long term experience storing their RV outside? What problems have developed? My feeling is that if you do so, the plane needs to be flown often and maintained carefully.

John
 
What about the frequency of flying? If you own, I should think you'd get more flights in per week. Though I have read, in this thread, that that sometimes doesn't happen.

Were I to rent a plane the frequency I'd like to fly my own, I'd have to pay a lot more than a grand a month.

To fly aerobatics in a Super Decathlon 3 times a week, it would be $225 an hour. Three flights a week would be $675+. That comes to $2700 a month.

Then if you want to go somewhere you have to rent more.
 
We bought into an airpark two years ago and I convinced the wife it was better to include the hangar rent as part of our mortgage than a separate monthly payment.

She got a house she likes, complete with her own "estrogen room" AKA Scrape book room and I got a 40 x 45 foot hangar and we both got some really great neighbors!

Probably the funniest part of living here is most of the wives are big football fans who spend Sunday afternoons watching games while the husbands would rather be out flying or playing with their other toys.
 
My airplane cost me about as much as most peoples' new trucks, what do you think that fancy new truck will be worth in 10 years?

I really like my 10 ish year old Carolla with 230k+ miles, sack lunches, old T-shirts and my RV!
 
Cheap fun

My costs are lower than most. 4800 dollars per year for hanger and insurance. I fly about 100 hours burning about 5 GPH on auto fuel per year. Engine is a Subaru so engine reserve is about 3 dollars per hour. Works out to 70 dollars or so per hour. I do all my own maintenance.

-Andy
 
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