Aircraft Ownership vs. Rental

First – let me start out by saying I am an aircraft owner.  I own a 2002 Cessna 182T that is hangared at Hampton Roads Airport so I fit in the Luxury column.  I will attempt to give you an unbiased analysis of owning vs. renting an aircraft. 

In the table below you will see three classes of aircraft and budgets.   They are defined here.

Budget – this is a small two place aircraft or an older four place of the Cessna 152, Cessna 172 or Piper Warrior class.  They burn around 6 – 8 gallons per hour and can be purchased for around $25,000 - $40,000 depending on their age.  Also, this budget is based on a tie-down instead of a hangar.

Average – this is a Cessna 172 class aircraft with a fuel burn of 10 GPH kept in one of the older hangars.

Luxury – this is a Cessna 182 class aircraft with a fuel burn of 12 GPH kept in the new hangars.

The table top section is the fixed costs of ownership including hangar, monthly payment, insurance and annual inspections.

The middle section shows the hourly costs including fuel, engine reserve, prop reserve, oil changes, maintenance and avionics.

The bottom section is the cost per hour based on hours flown per year followed by a comparison of savigs of renting instead of owning.  As you can see flying a $75,000 Cessna for 100 hours per year you would save nearly $8,000 per year by renting vs. owning.