For Student Pilots

Thought I'd start the ball rolling by addressing aircraft ownership by new pilots. I know this will raise some eyebrows, but stay with me, 'cause it works well. If you can afford to rent a plane for your training, then you can probably afford to buy a $15,000 to $20,000 car on the dollar down, the rest when you can catch me plan (i.e. financing). If you can do that, you can buy a Cessna 150, one of the best trainers out there for civilian pilots. You need 40 hours to earn your certificate, 20 hours of which has to be with an instructor. So do the math. Instructor is required whether you own or rent, so his $1,000 doesn't count here. Fuel burn of 7 gph at $4.00 per hour for 40 hours. That's 280 gallons or $1,120. Add a couple of oil changes (which you can do yourself) for around $60 and you're at a total of $1,180. You've got to make monthly payments on your little gem, so figure it takes you 3 months to fly off the 40 hours. Payments on the plane should be in the $550 range, so now we add $1,650 for a grand total of $2,830 for the plane. Now figure the rental. Been a long time since I rented a 150, but I'd imagine it would be tough to find one for less than $75 an hour. 40 hours equals $3,000. Not much difference so far, right? Here's where the difference comes in. No two planes fly the same. Each has its own little quirks, and you have to get used to those differences. Here you are flying in 123U today, and 234V the next. You're learning about a whole new world and find yourself a very busy little pilot. Why not fly in the same plane every time? You're used to her and can concentrate on learning to fly. But here's the biggy - you probably bought at, say $20,000, you've put 40 hours on the plane ( which is next to nothing) and guess what? You can turn around and sell the little puppy for the same $20,000. More if you've given her lots of TLC and maybe an upgrade or two. My daughter used this system and actually made $1,000 over the total cost of getting her ticket. Food for thought.