[pipvac]

Hi all,

With the broadest of brush strokes I just want to get the general perspective of what you would expect to pay for a simple journey. Yes, there are many variables, and caveats, and it will be tricky to offer any precision.

Let's go with a simple example.
C172S (rental/wet)
Departing aerodrome A to land at aerodrome B, then return. Ignore landing fees.
Distance around 20nm (approx 12 to 15 mins point to point, winds light)
Taxi/Take-off/Approach/Landing not included in the above numbers

If you woke up today wanting to make that round trip, what number would you have in your mind to budget for it, please?

Thanks

[TopCat]

This is a bit of an odd question, I think, for a couple of reasons.

Presumably you can work out the rental cost of a flight like that, but more to the point, I'd guess that it's unusual for PPLs renting a C172 to be costing up very short flights on this basis.

Can you elaborate a bit on why you're asking?

[Rob P V2.0]

If you woke up today wanting to make that round trip, what number would you have in your mind to budget for it

Put simply I wouldn't.

I'd fly it, pay what it cost, and write it down in the logbook.

Over the thirty five years I have been flying I have deliberately put 'cost' down as something I do not want to admit to myself. And though I am now comfortably set-up, this included times when I had a heavy mortgage and was at some points out of work.

Rob P V2.0

[Flyin'Dutch']

@OP has someone taken you for a ride, wants you to contribute and you think it is too much/too little?

Advice: Talk to the person involved as we might be able to come up with some guesses but they could be from fuel only (person's own aeroplane and was going anyway) to a lot, when renting from a commercial outfit somewhere in the south. And don't dismiss landing fees - they can be chunky.

[malcolmfrost]

Got caught by Wingly?

[TopCat]

I have deliberately put 'cost' down as something I do not want to admit to myself.

Quoted for truth.

[TopCat]

Got caught by Wingly?

I wondered about something like that.

Thing is, he's a recent PPL who rents a 172S. So he knows plenty enough about the cost of flying to answer this sort of question himself.

And been a member of the forum here for a few years.

It would be nice to have questions like this a bit more straight, rather than have to play guessing games.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Paying rental brakes to brakes? Tach time? Hobbs time? Hobbs can be expensive if the master switch was on for a long time before getting airborne.

[pipvac]

Just looking to compare. Why all the toxicity?

Ok nevermind. Have a good day all.

[Flyin'Dutch']

Toxicity?

How about you formulate your question in a way that makes it clear what you want?

As a pilot yourself and renting yourself you should have a pretty good idea of the costs involved for any trip and what the rules on sharing are.

[JAFO]

I do wonder if someone has taken the aeroplane away for the first time, flown 50 minutes but been charged more because he was away all day and hadn't read the club rules about minimum rental in such circumstances.

I'm not going to bother doing the maths as an odd question which doesn't give enough information to answer it, followed by an odd reaction to people asking some simple questions in order to help further, does not inspire me to spend any time on this.

[Hanworth]

It's an unanswerable question. The actual cost will depend on things you haven't told us.
My only observation is that a rental 172 is not the right aeroplane for that sort of flying based on the likely cost. IMHO of course.
Is that something you just realised? Maybe you did the flight, paid the fees and then told someone else what it cost?

PS is the student forum the right place for this?

[JAFO]

Okay, cutting @pipvac a bit of slack, as he's only had his licence a couple of months.

C172, rental on Hobbs.

So, I'd say, 15 minutes either way plus, maybe 10 for taxi time and 5 for contingency. I'd expect to pay for around an hour's rental but, if I was away for a long time making the aircraft unavailable for rental, I wouldn't think it unreasonable if the club imposed a minimum flight/rental time.

Without knowing the club's policy on that, though, and how long you spent at the destination, we couldn't possibly answer your question for you in even the broadest of broad brush terms.

And this isn't really a student forum thread.

[AndyR]

Just looking to compare. Why all the toxicity?

Ok nevermind. Have a good day all.

Hi pipvac

I think the main cause of confusion here (and I’ve read your initial post multiple times) is to try and work out what it is you’re after.

It’s not a conventional way of charging, especially as you ask to ignore taxi, take off, approach and landing.

So airborne time only would be the rental rate in your area divided by the time taken from A to B.

Most (all?) pilots would be looking at the cost of a trip from brakes off to brakes on, or whatever method their usual time is calculated by. To just try and price the middle segment is a trifle strange.

Maybe by shedding more light or explaining what it is you need, rather than being impatient, might help you get a relevant answer.

[johnm]

In an attempt to answer the question:

Trips typically involve the following:

Hire of aircraft which is usually by the hour or part thereof and typically includes fuel

Landing fees and sometimes parking or handling fees if you stay at destination for more than a few hours.

Then the cost of bacon sandwich and coffee.

Each element can vary in detail.