1975 Mooney F Operating Cost

[SantosDumont]

I got my 1967 F in September. Put 90 hours on it by December 31. Spent $10k in maintenance, accessories, fuel, hangar. So extrapolating from there, $30k per year sounds like a reasonable figure to me for yearly cost. 

[Bob_Belville]

You'll note that even these guys who pretend they keep track of all their flying costs have not listed their property tax, Garmin subscriptions, Airman's Medical, oxygen fill ups, FRs, IPCs, MAPA conventions, Summits, PPPs, Mooney apparel, Sportys gizmos...

And I forgot to mention dues to AOPA, MAPA, EAA, MS donations...

If you have to ask...

[Marauder]

You'll note that even these guys who pretend they keep track of all their flying costs have not listed their property tax, Garmin subscriptions, Airman's Medical, oxygen fill ups, FRs, IPCs, MAPA conventions, Summits, PPPs, Mooney apparel, Sportys gizmos...
And I forgot to mention dues to AOPA, MAPA, EAA, MS donations...
If you have to ask...

Too funny Bob! But absolutely true! I only touched on the "operating the airplane costs". When you figure in all of the aviation related paraphernalia, Larry's all in cost is close, if not exact. I have a dedicated iPad Mini, probably $300 worth of Ram mounts that I tried to find the one I liked, probably another $500 in flight bags, kneeboard and the rest of the toys. Add in the $100 CO detector, reupholstered seats, the CYA AoA indicator, Reiff pre-heater and let's not forget the headsets. Let's see, probably another $2k on them over the past 4 years.

No wonder why my wife's favorite line is "if you had a cocaine habit it would be be cheaper".


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[Andy95W]

42 minutes ago, Bob_Belville said:

You'll note that even these guys who pretend they keep track of all their flying costs have not listed their property tax, Garmin subscriptions, Airman's Medical, oxygen fill ups, FRs, IPCs, MAPA conventions, Summits, PPPs, Mooney apparel, Sportys gizmos...

And I forgot to mention dues to AOPA, MAPA, EAA, MS donations...

If you have to ask...

That's because most wives don't notice occasional expenses of less than $100, so those don't count.

[Bob_Belville]

8 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

Too funny Bob! But absolutely true! I only touched on the "operating the airplane costs". When you figure in all of the aviation related paraphernalia, Larry's all in cost is close, if not exact. I have a dedicated iPad Mini, probably $300 worth of Ram mounts that I tried to find the one I liked, probably another $500 in flight bags, kneeboard and the rest of the toys. Add in the $100 CO detector, reupholstered seats, the CYA AoA indicator, Reiff pre-heater and let's not forget the headsets. Let's see, probably another $2k on them over the past 4 years.

No wonder why my wife's favorite line is "if you had a cocaine habit it would be be cheaper".


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Yeah to headsets etc. and in my case add a few more AMUs for toys from Harbor Freight's Aviation Tools department and such hangar equipment as kerosene heaters, air compressors, aircraft tugs, jacks... oh my!

[Marauder]

Yeah to headsets etc. and in my case add a few more AMUs for toys from Harbor Freight's Aviation Tools department and such hangar equipment as kerosene heaters, air compressors, aircraft tugs, jacks... oh my!

I forgot about the O2 refilling stuff... IT NEVERS STOPS!


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[Marauder]

And the Bracket tow bar.



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[Marauder]

And the 100 lb. propane tank and 125,000 heater.



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[cnoe]

Yeah to headsets etc. and in my case add a few more AMUs for toys from Harbor Freight's Aviation Tools department and such hangar equipment as kerosene heaters, air compressors, aircraft tugs, jacks... oh my!

You guys may need an intervention.


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[Marauder]

The spare Adel clamps, cotter pins, stainless screw set.


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[Marauder]

Make it stop Bob! Make it stop!


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[cnoe]

You'll note that even these guys... have not listed their property tax...

What sort of godforsaken state do y'all live in anyway?!! Property tax?


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[Bob_Belville]

Just now, cnoe said:

 

What sort of godforsaken state do y'all live in anyway?!! Property tax?


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$300/year ad valorem for the county where hangared on my lowly '66E.

[cnoe]

#sad


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[Skates97]

Putting a positive spin on this thread...

I know this thread is about the operating budget for a 1975 F, and maybe some of the numbers in this thread are high because of that. However, owning a plane can be done on a budget. It just depends on what someone is looking for and maybe they need look for something less expensive. To say that you need to be able to come up with $50,000 is perhaps true, depending on what you are flying. However for someone like @Raptor05121 or myself (and I think quite a few others around here), that is more than our planes are worth. If I had to come up with that, I would just scrap my plane and start over. 

I think that this and other online boards tend to scare away many a prospective owner. Yes, people stretch and buy planes beyond their budget which end up not flying, but to own a plane you don't have to have six figures of disposable income sitting in the bank just waiting to be spent on the plane. It depends on what you want. A lot of people told Alex that he shouldn't buy a plane on what he made and had available, but he did and put in a bunch of sweat equity. Look at all the adventures he has had and what a great ambassador he is to other young people thinking of GA, which is really what the industry needs more of.

I just bought three headsets off Amazon for $85/ea + about $7 for cloth covers for the ears. They aren't as nice as what everyone else is using, but my wife and son like them just fine. I don't have ADS-B out, but I have a few years left to get that done and as with everything else electronic, the price will come down. I think there will be options in the marketplace that we have not heard of yet which will get the job done for less. I built a stratux with just over $100 of a raspberry pi and other pieces and have ADS-B in along with free weather on my tablet.

My plane has no glass panel, older avionics (with an annoying Com1 that gets a stuck open mic from time to time) not IFR capable, but neither am I. However, I did fly my wife and son to Lake Havasu last week for lunch and over Anza Borrego State Park for some flight seeing on the way home last Saturday. Yesterday we flew to Mesquite for my wife's dad's 75th birthday and did a little flightseeing over the Hoover Dam on the way. We flew back home today, 254nm and 2 hours from wheels up to touching down at home, beats the heck out of the 5-6 hour drive back and fighting with the traffic from Vegas. Next weekend I'll fly my son and I to see family in AZ, probably going to take some family flying while we're there. I don't have an "F," just an old "D" that was converted to retract and CS prop 50 years ago, but it flies great, and these trips wouldn't have happened if I had to work out renting a plane.

[Stephen]

Well, the "theory" on mine is it should make money in that it allows me to keep my $$$$ job in AR, while living in norther MO (where we are moving in June). If I got a job in MO, it would likely be $$ or $$$ at best, so the message to the wife was that the plane will pay for itself the first year. That is my story and I'm sticking to it.  

[carusoam]

+1 for Raptor methodology....  sticktuitiveness!

He has nicely detailed the trials and tribulations of what it is like to fly a Mooney on a budget as a young guy.

In some cases, you can substitute money for knowledge, knowledge for experience, experience for hard work....

With enough reading and flexibility mooney flying on a budget is quite possible.

Don't take any short cuts.  Things like improper training, improper equipment or improper insurance can put a quick end to your flying....

Don't forget partnerships can work pretty well too.  

If you like driving around in ancient, but well maintained autos...  put that new car budget towards Mooney ownership.

PP ideas only, not a finance expert...

Best regards,

-a-

Edited March 13, 2017 by carusoam

[Skates97]

7 minutes ago, carusoam said:

+1 for Raptor methodology....  sticktuitiveness!

He has nicely detailed the trials and tribulations of what it is like to fly a Mooney on a budget as a young guy.

In some cases, you can substitute money for knowledge, knowledge for experience, experience for hard work....

With enough reading and flexibility mooney flying on a budget is quite possible.

Don't take any short cuts.  Things like improper training, improper equipment or improper insurance can put a quick end to your flying....

Don't forget partnerships can work pretty well too.  

If you like driving around in ancient, but well maintained autos...  put that new car budget towards Mooney ownership.

PP ideas only, not a finance expert...

Best regards,

-a-

Raptor methodology is not for the faint of heart, but where there's a will, there's a way.

[Raptor05121]

7 hours ago, Skates97 said:

Raptor methodology is not for the faint of heart, but where there's a will, there's a way.

Signature material right there

[Danb]

Bob did you join with Chris in depressing Dan ?

[Bob_Belville]

6 minutes ago, Danb said:

Bob did you join with Chris in depressing Dan ?

 

[Yetti]

The key to 40 year old machines are to have a good maintenance plan and keep fixing things.   That keeps the OMG that is going to cost how much at bay.

[Danb]

Oh god!!

[Marcopolo]

13 hours ago, Skates97 said:

I don't have ADS-B out, but I have a few years left to get that done and as with everything else electronic, the price will come down. I think there will be options in the marketplace that we have not heard of yet which will get the job done for less.

  I was in this camp also, waiting for the prices on ADS-B equipment to drop until an article I read somewhere talked about "time to market" for new solutions.  If you look at how long it takes to develop, manufacture, then certify a new product then I highly doubt that there is any new technology or huge changes in manufacturing coming out for ADS-B prior to the mandate.  I would love to be wrong about this but I dove in head first after reading this article (sucker) and purchased the equipment to upgrade.  if no new technolgy or devices come out between now and Jan 1 2020 and the lines at the avionics shops keep getting longer then I can only see device prices and labor charges starting to increase.

Who Knows!

Sorry for the thread drift.  The ADS-B upgrade was not on this years aviation budget so this years hourly rate had to be adjusted.

 

Ron

[Danb]

Next I'll have to add my $50,000+ hanger and the gas heater at $7000, tow motor, see it doesn't stop, so I forget abotit