Right now I'm looking into buying a used Cessna 150 to do my CPL flight training. I've seen some on sales between 22 000 and 26 000 and I'm still wondering if it would be worth it. Let's say I get a loan, buy a 150 at around 24 000 and keep it for say 1 year and a half, with gas, tie down, insurance and maintenance would it be a better deal than to give the money to a flight school ? What would the hourly rate look like ? I made an estimation and came around 60-70$/hours if I sell the plane the same price I bought it for, is this realistic ?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated !

Thanks

Buying an aircraft is like getting married. If you choose the right
one, it can be heaven. But if you choose the wrong one, it can be
hell.

I will leave it to the others here as to what determines a good
aircraft (or woman) from a bad one but ...

Buy an aircraft that will not require you to spend $$$ on an
engine or avionics. Don't just buy a goddamned paint job -
remember the song, "She ain't pretty, she just looks that way".

Also, cross your fingers and hope you don't get hit with an AD.

Fly a few hundred hours, and if you're lucky, you'll sell it for
what you paid for it, and you're only out the cost of gas and
an annual. That's a "good" marriage ...

What about a share, I know I could get a 1/4 of a 150 for about 10-12k. That's what I was initialy looking for, the thing that stops me is I'm afraid I'll be stuck with it when I'm done. A plane sure is easier to sell than a share right ?

On that topic - does anyone know of good website or other place to find others looking at fractional ownership?

I've been kicking around the same idea as Night Hawk, but other than the COPA rag, I havent seen a lot of ( Canadian ) listings for people with fractional shares for sale, or people interested in partnering up on a new fractional plan...

I'll probably end up tacking something to the bulletin board at ZBB, but any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Night Hawk - I'm hoping that the apparent dearth of fractional shares up for sale means that demand is high, supply is low. So selling it wouldnt be that hard maybe?...just a theory...

One thing that you should factor in your decision is Taxes.

Many provinces - like Ontario and Quebec for example - require you to pay the PST on used aircraft sales. So your $24 000 C150 just became a $26 000 C150, $2000 of which you will never see again.

Plus, when you train for your commercial your training is tax deductible - that is tuition fees are tax deductible, not airplane expenses.

To have tax deductions, you must be enrolled with a flight school and only the $$ you give the flight school can be deducted from your income tax.

Most flight school charge a specific rate for their instructors when you fly their airplane and a higher rate when you fly in yours. So not only can you not deduct your airplane expenses from your taxes, but you must pay a higher rate simply because you elected to "save" money by buying an airplane.

I am not saying that one option is better then the other, just saying you should consider the Taxman in your final decision.

Cheers,

F

Wow, thanks Fouga, never considered the tax angle, thats a huge consideration.

( assuming of course you make enough $$ in the first place to make good use of the deductions )

Disregard my q above, back to renting for me I think.

5400

5400,

a good tax accountant will be able to stretch your deductins over 7 years... certainly, with the way things are going now adays you would be able to use all of it in 7 years.

F

The problem with taxe deduction is that I only make about 12 000$/year with my part time job so I can't deduct anything. But my father could, is there I way I could deduct it from my father's taxes ? Has anyone done this ?

you can transfer up to $5000 of education credits to anyone on the fiscal year that the money is spent.

It could be a good way to go if you don't get stung with the extra unexpected cost. And 10 to 12k is way to much to pay for a 1/4 share in a 150.

if your looking for fractional ownership or a flying buddy check out the Pilot Partner site. http://www.pilotpartner.com/