Renting Advanced Airplanes: Part 2, Getting Your Hands On One

By Thomas Turner
Published Date

STRATEGY
That doesn't mean you have to spend big bucks to buy your own airplane, though. There are a few ways of flying faster or better equipped airplanes than those commonly available for rent -- and there are certainly some ways to reduce the costs of faster, more capable aircraft:

• New, “old” airplanes. If equipment or airframe time is more important than sheer speed, you might find what you want in a new-production (since it resumed in the late 1990s) Cessna 172. Expect to pay no less than $90 per flight hour, depending on your location and the FBO’s overhead. For $120 - $150 per hour you might find a new-production Cessna 182 Skylane... and cruise at 135 – 140 knots with four persons aboard.
• New, “new” airplanes. Want avionics Space Shuttle pilots envy, in a fixed-gear single capable of piston-twin speeds? New designs like the Cirrus SR20, SR22, and the Columbia 300 provide you with this. (Notice I didn’t say “give” -- the SR20 a hundred miles from my home rents for $150 per hour.) These new airplanes are far less expensive to maintain than older retractable-gear airplanes and twins, and negate the possibility of a gear-up landing mishap, and may find a niche in the high-end rental market. Figure on a lot of transition time to get used to the aircraft -- even if that applies mostly to the unconventional cockpit layouts, and advanced avionics.
• Clubs. An age-old way to reduce the costs of airplane ownership is a flying club. For an entry fee and a (usually monthly) payment, you can get reduced hourly rental rates on a higher-performance airplane. For instance, a club in my area offers a new-production Cessna 172. The initial entry fee is $400, it costs $100 per month to remain a member, and the rental fee is $70 per flight hour. You might even find (or organize) a club with a retractable-gear airplane -- but expect a corresponding price increase. Clubs often make financial sense if you fly more than five hours or so every month.

• Partnerships. The next step up, often seen with retractable-gear and multiengine airplanes, is co-ownership, or an airplane partnership. Costs depend entirely on the type of airplane your group buys, how well it’s equipped, how often (and well) it is flown, and the maintenance state of the airplane at purchase and during your ownership. Airplane partnership can be very rewarding, but it sometimes turns very sour if one or more partners find disagreement with the group, are uncooperative on scheduling, or veto that modification or additional equipment you just have to have. See the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s web site for information about organizing aircraft partnerships, and a sample partnership agreement.
• Fractional Ownership. Fractional, or shared ownership, is a super-partnership, or an airplane club on steroids. Buying into a “fractional” is like buying a time-share condominium. You’re buying into a large association often owning several airplanes, so (in theory) you won’t ever have a scheduling conflict with other owners -- you take whichever airplane is available. Fractionals aren’t cheap (usually costing tens of thousands down and a thousand or more a month, with high hourly rental rates), but they’re cheaper than trying to buy one of the high-end airplanes by yourself. Fractionals usually provide other amenities as well, like air chart services, headsets, meeting rooms, aircraft care and other niceties for the well-heeled renter. One example of a successful lightplane fractional ownership program is outlined at www.airshareselite.com.

About This Author:

Tom Turner is a widely published author and regular forum speaker at EAA's Oshkosh/Airventure and American Bonanza Society. Tom holds an M.S. in Aviation Safety with an emphasis on pilot training methods and human factors. He has worked as lead instructor at FlightSafety International, developed and conducted flight test profiles for modified aircraft and authored three books including: Cockpit Resource Management: The Private Pilot's Guide and Instrument Flying Handbook (both from McGraw-Hill). His flight experience currently spans 3000 hours with approximately 1800 logged as an instructor. Tom's certificate currently shows ATP MEL with Commercial/Instrument privileges in SEL airplanes.