201 J Operating Costs

[Highflight]

I am new to this site and I am awaiting the FAA results on my 3rd Class Physical due to Macular Degeneration, however I am dead set on buying a 201J. Does anyone have some realistic operating costs, such as fixed and variable. I sure would like to know what it would cost me, for planning prposes. Also where can I get a POH?

[flight2000]

Quote: Highflight

I am new to this site and I am awaiting the FAA results on my 3rd Class Physical due to Macular Degeneration, however I am dead set on buying a 201J. Does anyone have some realistic operating costs, such as fixed and variable. I sure would like to know what it would cost me, for planning prposes. Also where can I get a POH?

[jpusser]

$32k for 2000 hrs on engine seems high, also the 35 an hour for maintence at 125 hrs comes to $4375 a year which is extremly high.

[jelswick]

I prefer not to calc the numbers myself these last few years with my flying hours being down a bit due to work schedule.  It would be hard to justify having my J by the numbers, but no way I'd give it up.  Hopefully this year brings the flight hours back up. 

Just for your comparison or planning purposes, my J (an '81) is averaging between 2,500-3,000/yr for the annual inspection and she's a dream for not requiring much in the way of maintenance between annuals; a great solid aircraft.  Hangar here is $178/mo, but that varies so much around the country and the city your near.  For insurance, I'm spending $1,650/yr for $130K coverage with 700+ hrs and an instrument rating and almost all of the hours in my earlier C model and now the J.  Where I've spent a small fortune is in upgrades (paint, interior, Aspens, new autopilot, etc.) and I don't really care to total all of that out, but it's made it the aircraft I'd like to keep until I retire from flying (still want to add TKS though in a few years when the kids are out of school even if it is a bit of overkill for a J).

[OR75]

agreed that looking at cost per hour to own a plane does not make a lot of sense (unless the plane is for business use)

Renting will always make more $$ sense. 

Before owning a plane, someone told me that the main justification for owning a plane was to satisfy the ego.  I found that to be true. And there is nothing wrong with that.

The day, I won't enjoy owning it, I will sell it. Period.

[231Pilot]

Quote: OR75

The day, I won't enjoy owning it, I will sell it. Period.

[skyking]

Who cares what it costs? we own and fly Mooney's!

I am the same. i will never sell unless i get tired of flying and that ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

 

[Parker_Woodruff]

The final 1 year (200 hours) I owned my plane, I spent no more than $100.00 per hour including a reserve of $15.00 for the engine and prop reserve.  I don't have the exact receipts, but as picky as I was on MX, I probably spent $8000 on MX (not including upgrades), a little under $40/hour in fuel (Lean of Peak).  Insurance was $1488 my last year.

Add in charts and other misc stuff the number was probably a bit higher.

[richardheitzman]

As I always say: If you don't have at least $1,000 per month FREE AND CLEAR to spend on your Mooney, especially a M20J then you probably shouldn't buy. I know I am going to get a large dissent on that comment but between the note, the hanger, the insurance and the mx reserve that almost takes you through 3/4 of that 1K.

That changes if you buy it outright.

[KLRDMD]

Quote: richardheitzman

As I always say: If you don't have at least $1,000 per month FREE AND CLEAR to spend on your Mooney, especially a M20J then you probably shouldn't buy. I know I am going to get a large dissent on that comment but between the note, the hanger, the insurance and the mx reserve that almost takes you through 3/4 of that 1K. That changes if you buy it outright.

[jelswick]

I borrowed and finally down to just over $50K financed in mine.  I'm happy I did or I'd have never owned one.  It's great if you can buy it outright, but not all of us can.  They'll finance out to 20 yrs on these and I think that's a good idea and then just throw any extra cash you have at it and it should be done early.  I'm looking at about 3 yrs to mine being paid off, but would have hated to delay my ability to fly her until I could have done it with cash.  I agree you shouldn't overextend yourself, but if your comfortable with the finance payment and think you can throw extra at it to pay it off early, then go for it and don't wait.  Too many of us, myself included wish we'd have started flying many years earlier than we did.  But, i do agree, you really need to plan about $1K free and clear/month on the Js.  My C model required close to, but not quite that amount.  It was a much lower financed amount, but it required more in maintenance.  Seems this about a $750-1,000/month addiction and I'm prepared to hock a kidney if it ever comes to that to keep it! 

[laytonl]

Quote: Highflight

I am new to this site and I am awaiting the FAA results on my 3rd Class Physical due to Macular Degeneration, however I am dead set on buying a 201J. Does anyone have some realistic operating costs, such as fixed and variable. I sure would like to know what it would cost me, for planning prposes. Also where can I get a POH?

[jelswick]

Thank you Laytonl for your fuel burn post.  I've always been at about 11.5-12 gph at 25 squared and thought that might be high compared to others reporting lower, especially when selling, but that is typically what I see when cruising at our normal altitudes of 5,000-9,000.  I can get a little lower above that, but as one of those nasty smokers, I don't generally do that without oxygen.

[KLRDMD]

Quote: jelswick

Thank you Laytonl for your fuel burn post.  I've always been at about 11.5-12 gph at 25 squared and thought that might be high compared to others reporting lower, especially when selling, but that is typically what I see when cruising at our normal altitudes of 5,000-9,000. 

[Highflight]

Is that 25 Squared a good figure? Is that leaned to peak?

[FlyDave]

Quote: Highflight

I am new to this site and I am awaiting the FAA results on my 3rd Class Physical due to Macular Degeneration, however I am dead set on buying a 201J. Does anyone have some realistic operating costs, such as fixed and variable. I sure would like to know what it would cost me, for planning prposes. Also where can I get a POH?

[flight2000]

Quote: jpusser

$32k for 2000 hrs on engine seems high, also the 35 an hour for maintence at 125 hrs comes to $4375 a year which is extremly high.

[mooniac58]

I did the math on my hourly costs a few months ago and it came to around $125/hr.  I own my aircraft outright and I own my hangar outright.  So my only fixed costs are condo dues ($700/yr), my annual inspection base cost ($2000) and my insurance ($1850/yr).  I based it on flying 150 hours per year.

I have worked just about every major kink out of the airplane over the last few years, costing an amount I don't think I even want to think about, but going forward I do not see my annual maintenance costs being more than $5000 - including the annual.  Even when I was doing some pretty serious repairs I did not spend more than $3000 per year.

My breakdown would be:

BASE COSTS:

Hangar: $700 year
Insurance: $1850 year
Annual Inspection Base Cost: $2000
Expected Repairs: $3000
Engine Overhaul: $32,000
Prop Overhaul: $4500
Fuel Per Hour: 10.5 gallons @ $5.00/gal
Oil: 0.34qt per hour (50 hour 7qt oil changes + 1qt per 5 hour consumption) @ $8.00qt

HOURLY COSTS (fixed calcs based on 150 hours per year):

Hangar: $4.60
Insurance: $12.40
Annual & Maintenance: $33.33
Engine Reserve: $16.00
Prop Reserve: $3.00
Fuel: $52.50
Oil: $2.72

TOTAL: $124.55/hr

[jelswick]

Thanks Ken.  I'm getting that fuel burn ROP, so that's the difference. 

[danb35]

Quote: Highflight

Is that 25 Squared a good figure? Is that leaned to peak?

[mikefox]

My partners and I put in $55 / hour for all variable costs not including fuel.  These include oil, mechanical maintenance, engine reserve, avionics maintenance, and prop.  Seems to be holding near that number over more than 6 years!  Fixed costs handled separately include hangar, annual, databases, insurance, etc.

[Jeev]

Many of the above posts are in line with what I spend.  Remenmner the first year will be more expensive then 2nd, 3rd ect barring any major repairs / overhaul since you will be fixiing little things here and there to bring it up to your standards.  I do maintence when things break / are showing signs of wear and do not defer to annual.  My first year costs were about $22,000 for around 230 hrs.  Budget around $20k per year and you should be safe. 

[Mooney_Allegro]

I figure my 98 J model costs $20,000/year for everything. I put about 220 hours on it last year.  I don't put anything aside for prop overhaul or engine overhaul reserve/hour. For the overhaul reserve, I just put extra money into a savings account marked for the overhaul, which is coming up soon. 

[Jeff_S]

I took a screenshot from my Quicken which I use to track these things religiously. This was for 2010, and I purchased the bird in late January so it's a good example of a year. For pure operating costs look at fuel (~100 hours), Maintenance & Repair, and tie-down/taxes/insurance.  "Other" is database subscriptions and various and sundry other things.

Maintenance & Repair is higher because I:

 

1. 
   
2. Had the prop dynamically balanced
   
3. Had to repair the left-side brake master cylinder
   
4. Installed all-new Goodyear FCIII tires
   
5. Installed shock discs on mains
   
6. Replaced S-TEK T/C
   

But even with all that, operating costs were just $18K. Assuming no major repairs this year I expect that drop by at least $5K, so if I fly 130 hours that would be $100/hour. Time will tell...