Learning to fly, or thinking of learning? Post your questions, comments and experiences here

Moderator: AndyR

By arkiboys
#1610311
Hello,
While studying for the ppl exams (exam fees, books...), which other fees should I consider as regular expenses after having the ppl? i.e. annual medical, any particular membership I must have i.e. aopa, flying hours after having the ppl i.e. once or twice a month...
I am basically planning to see how much to put aside for flying related matters each month after having the ppl.
Thank you
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1610391
Rule one: Never let the other half see fuel receipts, rental receipts.etc.

Keep the black book under lock and key.

Better still: don't have one.

Peter :roll:
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By leiafee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1610443
Depends what your plans are - if renting then there shouldn't be any additional costs over and above rental and flying club mmebership - both vary quite a lot across the country so check your own area.

If sharing then it all depends on the group and type of aircraft. Some roll up all the associated monthly 'fixed' costs - things you have to pay regardless of whether you fly or not (hangarage, insurance, annual/permit etc) into a monthly sum then divide all of the costs that vary by time into a single hourly rate (fuel, oil, contribution towards maintenance based on time, like 50 hours checks, engine overhauls, skins if it's a fabric aircraft)

Some just do fuel and oil and split the maintenance and fixed costs as and when but that's more unusual and generally cheaper aircraft and smaller groups and can be risky.

Personal costs just include membership of eiter LAA or BMAA if you need their maintenance services because the aeroplane you go with is a permit or microlight type. And yes, whatever medical you go for at whatever frequency your age dictates!

If buying outright then you have all of the above costs and work out yourself how to budget!

Hard to put a figure without knowing more about your plans - all of those costs vary massively by aircraft. Just yesterday I put in one lot of mogas at £40 from cans at the micro strip and another lot of the same amount of avgas at £71 at the GA field we'd flown to!...
Last edited by leiafee on Tue May 08, 2018 1:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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By Morten
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1610487
If you continue flying from the same place in a similar aircraft, you can assume you will continue to pay roughly the same as you did during your training.
You will save the instructor cost but (hopefully) fly more hours.

If you then buy a share or an aircraft outright or stay flying different types... you need to do the maths again from scratch.

Morten
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1610612
TopCat wrote:Flying my aircraft more to bring my hourly rate down really means I'm spending less, right?

cotterpot wrote:TC - that's exactly how I look at it. :thumright:


There's a lot of it about. I've just been filling in my aircraft logs and I've even surprised myself how frequently I normally fly throughout the year!
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By TLRippon
#1611297
£2000 per month, 150 hours per annum, complex single, sole owner. Working on ATPL now so a whole new monthly cost stream is opening up.