Buying an Airplane?

Its a little more complicated than that.

It goes wash it (done), Spend a pile of money (maybe big pile, maybe a few sets of tires), fly it.

 

@ChemGuy We sold the mooney. I’m done with owning a plane for awhile. The plane served its purpose and it was nice being able to go anywhere but I was over the costs at the end of it.

got a 5 day starting tomorrow… I try to not get these but somehow ended up with one. O well, it’s a bunch of LaGuardia flying so it’s likely to get cancelled or changed

 

im not reading all this thread, and i know less than nothing about owning a plane - but - i got onto a guys ig @dozen_aldridge , and flys a scalewings SW-51 , apparently you build it yourself...and it made me pretty jealous (along with the rest of the stuff he flies/has flown...that thing is kick ass.

 

Smart Man.

If it float's, fly's or F%$^& just rent it.

Apparently I need to get married in a seaplane for the trifetca.

I AM planning on pushing this down the road, but you never know...

 

When it’s cleaned up send me the the details and I’ll see if I can get one of these guys that takes the retention bonus to buy it

 

I’ve seen those things at AirVenture. They seem silly. I bet it would be $400-500k if you started one today. For that much you have some fun choices.

 

I hear ya. I've washed a plane dozens of times. "Got to wash it before we fly it" was my Dad's favorite Saturday morning quote.

 

youre probably right - as i said i dont know anything about this stuff - the idea of flying around in a WW2 fighter replica seemed pretty cool to me lol.

 

Reading much of this long thread I respect that many and perhaps most of you are professional pilots. I have great respect for you and the career you have chosen. My nephew is one also, and is an extremely level-headed young family man.

I often hear people I know who travel a lot, and have different professions, discuss learning to fly and buying a plane, for their personal family use. If I have the opportunity to, I suggest they do not, unless they are hiring a professional pilot as well. I've paid much closer attention to the news of small aircraft crashes for the last 9 years, ever since my friend James 'Jimmy' Kerker and his family perished in a 2014 crash. Most seem to be piloted by folks with other professional backgrounds. I do believe the information published saying James was a pilot when he served in the U.S. Air Force is incorrect, after talking with family and friends. RIP my friends.
https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/rip-former-ama-pro-superbike-racer-james-kerker/

 

It's a bit delicate to respond to this, as you are dealing with the loss of a friend but general aviation is not all that dangerous when you compare it to other means of transportation. And when you eliminate the ones caused by pilot error and bad decisions, it actually looks pretty damn safe.

Most people who get killed in cars are not professional racecar drivers either and still, I'm sure you're not that worried about getting in a car every day. A private pilot who sells insurance for a living and stays on top of his skills and currency can be as safe as an airline pilot in the same small airplane. And there are numerous examples of professional pilots making incredibly poor decisions on the job. There are too many variables to make broad generalizations and be afraid of all general aviation.

 

Most small plane crashes are caused by the guy in the front seat. There is very little margin for an oversight or oopsie compared to cars. To me this quote always summed it up...

 

https://www.planecrashinfo.com/lastwords.htm

 

Looking out the window now. Just be careful and you’ll be fine

 

Will it fit in the sport pilot expansion reg’s?

 

If that goes thru it will, yes.

 

I’ve $350 to spare

 

I had lots of fun times racing with James at Midwest AMA pro races over the years… RIP Kerker miss you man.

 

Steve, did I read that old post of yours correctly? What’re you doing in GA? You moved from Muncie? Hope you’re all happy and healthy wherever you’re at buddy.

 

Hey friend. I retired from aircraft sales / management at the end of last year. We still do some real estate stuff, but only private lending at the moment.

GA safety is nuanced. If you fly in good weather, have good training and fly good equipment… it is quite safe. The problem is that is easy to make mistakes. Everyone thinks they are the one who won’t mess up. You will. You need to train to handle problems and then you need to automate as many decisions as possible. I told many customers to make a personal minimums list and then give it to their wife. That way when you want to bend the agreement because you need to be somewhere, someone is counting on you, etc she can tell you no. I’ve seen so many private pilots do things that a professional would never do.

 

He was a solid, determined and sometimes downright stubborn man. We created a lot of great memories together, all over the country. I have his Suzuki GT380. He was 'socially adopted' by his best friend and fellow moto-head's family, who he chose to spend his time with. I worked with his BF's Dad years ago, and are close to the entire family to this day. They honor his family every year, in his home town 4th of July parade.