logansun said:
1) Other than fuel,Ins.,annuals,MX,instructors, what else should I anticipate for unforseen cost?
It's hard to predict unforseen costs. You could lose a starter drive at any time and it could set you back a grand or a windshield could become unserviceable at a moment when you are low on cash.
Also, you could get an annual inspection from the mechanic that did the previous MX on the plane you bought, finding the annual reasonable in price. Later on you will go to a new mechanic who discovers 10,000 bucks worth of mistakes that the earlier mechanic was dusting under the carpet for the previous owner. It happened to me and my partners on a twin cessna. You'd think a mechanic operating across the street from a FSDO would have been more careful.
logansun said:
2) What would be a good multi. for the money?
Depends on the mission. Cheaper is better for time building and staying current, but if you have plans of doing any Part 91 work with the plane, the minimum would be a C-310, Barron or Aztec...with good radios and nav equipment and a minimum of hot props. Our 300 series Cessna was turbocharged and turbos were never an issue with our MX costs. Don't buy a turbocharged aircraft if all you are going to do is build time and practice engine cuts.
logansun said:
It's been a while, but I was happy with the people at Falcon Ins. You can find them on the net by doing a google search. My partners switched to a cheaper ins company after the first year and that turned into a nasty debacle. This is one of those, "you get what you pay for" situations. Falcon was very helpful in getting us started.
logansun said:
4) Is this a good way to do my training?
Depends. If you just want to go up and burn gas, you'll log hours. If you go up with a good safety pilot and put the hood on, you'll get good at flying instruments and approaches. X-country, night flying and IFR flying in actuall will get you the most bang for your time building buck.
logansun said:
5) What else should I consider prior to buying a plane....oh yea A/C's?
Pre-buy inspections by a mechanic who is trusted and knowledgeable is an absolute must. We had the previous owners mechanic do an annual on the plane we bought and used that as our pre-buy inspection. Big freaking mistake here. We only paid 1,200 bucks for that annual and according to that mech, we only needed new spark plugs. Talk about walking away with a warm fuzzy feeling! NOT! The next annual done by our new mechanic was 10,000 bucks and stuff was found that was un-sat that should have been caught during that last annual. Wake up calls cost big bucks.
Partnership agreements!!! Skimp here and you will find yourself waking up sticky, broke and confused. Screw up with this detail and you'll find out how much it costs to hire an attorney and live with a bad credit rating for the larger fraction of a decade.
Look in a Sporty's catalouge and see if you can find two books. One is called "keeping the peace in partnerships" the other is called something like "How to buy a used aircraft". Both of these books are a must. Also, if you know someone who has participated long term in a "successful" flying club or aircraft partnership, ask them for a copy of their partnership agreement. My dad was a member of a successful two plane flying club and he gave me a copy of his flying club's partnership agreement. Very good information was found in regards to how the club members voted to "git r done".
This flying club partnership mirrored exactly what was listed in the book, "keeping the peace in partnerships" but it had the details filled in. In other words, the book showed you what to do, the filled out partnership from my dad's flying club gave a good example of what they did to meet the need.
Also, if you want to know details on buying a used twin, do a google look up for "aviation consumer used aircraft guide". This is invaluable information when looking to buy any aircraft. Aviation consumer's used aircraft guide will tell you details regarding cost to operate, values, owner complaint history, AD's, history of the type and owner comments. Buy the book on twins, rather than the individual reports...besides, it's great reading material. Aviation Consumer was dead on regarding our aircraft and the information contained in the guide steered us away from purchasing two different types of twins that would have bankrupted us.
logansun said:
6) Anywhere else I could find participants?
Try to find a corporate partner, but this will be very hard and will require a lot of thought and most likely help in form of structure and the advice of an aviation attorney.
I got lucky that I worked for a company as a field service tech and they realized that my plane and my experience was a good thing to have around, so I got to fly company trips getting paid as an employee for my time on the job and was re-imbursed for 100% of the time on the aircraft. If you are low time, this will be next to impossible, it's a long term goal though and it can happen for you if you know how to network and are patient. It also helps to have the right kind of twin to accomplish this...a duchess or apache might not be the best platform for this type of thing. Don't jump into anything too quickly though. It's not right to subject unwary strangers to grave risk, just because you want to build time and you don't want to buy more plane than you can afford to handle financially.
If you could swing it, I would look at selling block time to time builders before I would consider time builders as partners. This type of partner will leave you holding the bag and will lie, cheat and steal at any chance they can to meet their goals.
Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions, good luck.
