How to Actually Afford an Airplane

There are a lot of videos and articles out there talking about the most affordable airplanes that you can buy today. And before buying this little Vans RV12, I watched a lot of these videos and read all these articles about how to get into aviation affordably. And after owning this airplane for a little bit over a year and a half, I realized that these videos and articles about the most affordable airplanes have gotten it a little bit wrong. And I'm here to tell you why.

So if you go back and watch all these videos about the most affordable aircraft, you're going to realize one thing. All these videos are presenting certified airplanes. So airplanes like the Cessna 172, which is actually kind of expensive now, Cessna 150, Cherokee 140, or maybe an Aeronca Champ or something like a Piper Cub. So all certified airplanes. A certified airplane is an airplane that was built in a factory, certified by the FAA, and deemed safe enough to use to make money. So safe enough to rent out to other people, to charge people to do training in it, or to give rides, or to use for hire.

Today, the market for certified aircraft has gotten completely out of hand, especially for brand new airplanes. So if you look at the Cessna 172, which is amazingly still being produced by Cessna Aircraft, you'll see that the MSRP on a brand new 172 is something like $500,000 or more. I don't know what it is, but that's insane. So a lot of people who buy an aircraft go with an old airplane, maybe a Cessna 172 that was built in 1965. You could get one for maybe $65,000, and that's on the lower end. Or maybe you buy a Cessna 150 for $35,000. But with all these certified airplanes, you're going to realize one thing.

So let's say you bought a Cessna 150 for $35,000. If you don't have your A&P license, you are not allowed to work on the airplane yourself. So that includes stuff like, I don't know, regreasing the main wheels. It's kind of a gray area if you can do that or not. But let's say you want to make upgrades to the panel, you cannot really do that if you don't have your A&P. Maybe you have to change some insulation in the fuselage, you can't do that if you don't have your license. So you're going to have to pay someone, usually over $100 an hour, to work on the aircraft. And then let's say you have to find a replacement part, or let's say you want a new radio for your airplane. You go on aircraftspruce.com and you look up the radio. Then you're going to see that there are two price options. There's going to be a certified airplane price and an experimental airplane price. You're going to notice very quickly that the certified price is way more expensive than the experimental price.

Here is my first tip. If you want to get into aviation and do it affordably, my number one piece of advice is to go with an experimental airplane, kind of like this one. I understand that the words "experimental airplane" are very scary to a lot of people. You know, if you tell the general public, "Hey, I fly an experimental airplane," they're going to be like, "Whoa, you're crazy. You're flying an experiment in the sky. You're going to die." Well, I'm here to tell you that that's not really the case. Experimental aviation is just kind of a blanket term for any airplane that wasn't fully built in a factory, or it was plans built, or it came in a kit like this one, or maybe it was a one-off, which is very rare, or maybe it was built in a factory but it hasn't gotten its FAA certification yet. So pretty much basically any airplane that wasn't built in a factory. But experimental aviation, or most experimental airplanes like the little Vans RV12 sitting right behind me, are extremely proven designs. So the kit for this aircraft was produced in around 2011, I think, but the airplane was finished in 2017. This was number 495 on the serial number list. So, but in general, Vans Aircraft has made over 11,000 kits, and I think there are actually 11,000 flying. I don't know, the number is huge. It's a proven design, even though it's an experimental airplane.

So with owning an experimental airplane, there are some huge positives. Number one, you can work on the airplane yourself as the owner and you can upgrade it and do anything you want to the panel, and there's no real paperwork that is going to bar you from doing so. Every year, you do have to pay an A&P to do your condition inspection if you have a just a regular experimental amateur-built airplane. But that's no big deal. That's one cost a year. You maybe pay $800 for someone who spends 8 hours doing your condition inspection. Okay, so yeah, tip number one, go with an experimental airplane.

Now, piggybacking off that tip, there's another detail that I want to suggest to you all. If you really want to save money, and not only just go with an experimental airplane, but go with an experimental light sport airplane, like the one sitting right behind me. Now, a light sport airplane does have its limitations. You know, it's limited in speed, it can only go 120 knots, has to have a fixed pitch propeller, fixed landing gear, only two-seater, and only weigh 1,320 pounds. But there is a huge advantage to owning an experimental light sport, and it's called the Light Sport Repairman Inspection Course. So that is a course that only takes two days, and it allows you as the owner to do your condition inspections on your experimental light sport airplane. Not only can you work on the airplane yourself, but when it comes down to your yearly condition inspection, with the light sport repairman inspection certificate that you can get, which is only a two-day course and about $400, you can legally sign off on your condition inspections for your airplane. So then, in the end, you never have to pay anyone to work on your airplane. Of course, it's a good idea to not get into something that you don't have a lot of expertise on. Like my good friend Jack, right across the way, he helped me out with my engine stuff, like taking compression readings and balancing my carburetors. He's also got a great YouTube channel, so you should check it out. Real nice guy, he's helped me tremendously. But he's an A&P, so I used him to help me out. But, huge money-saving aspect about owning an experimental light sport. I definitely recommend it.

The next tip about owning an affordable airplane is looking into the insurance cost. So nowadays, insurance rates are skyrocketing for aviation. It's just getting completely out of hand. It's really driving a lot of people out of aviation and owning an airplane. But for example, before I got this RV12 years ago, I really wanted to own a Searey or an Icon A5, which both of those are experimental airplanes, but they are amphibious airplanes. You know, that can land on the water and land on land. I really wanted one. They're two-seaters, they look like a lot of fun, they have good payload. It just seems like a great airplane for Florida. So I was pretty set on getting one. And then I reached out to my insurance broker to ask, "Hey, how much would it cost to insure me in a Searey?" You know, just spitballing here. I have 25 hours of tailwheel time, something around there, and at the time, I think I only had like 200 hours or something like that. He came back and told me it would cost me $6,000 to insure me in a Searey. And on top of that, I had to get a whole bunch of training and all this stuff. And that's $6,000 per year to insure myself under liability and also insure the whole value of the airplane, which I believe, I don't know. I said, "Well, take into account maybe a $45,000 airplane." At that rate, you're basically buying a new airplane every 10 years just off of insurance costs alone. So that's my third tip. Really, really look into insurance rates. Things like having a complex airplane, you know, retractable landing gear, variable pitch propeller, a high performance, and dare I say, twin engine. All those things, if you don't have a lot of time in those airplanes, the insurance for you is going to be crazy. So really look into insurance rates if you want to get into aviation affordably.

Okay, last thing I want to talk about is that the world of certified airplanes is dwindling. You know, it's not a very fun thing to say, but it's the truth. Brand new certified airplanes are getting extremely expensive. Expensive. And all the certified airplanes that you can possibly afford the purchase price for are just getting more rare. You know, they're crashing or not being maintained, and they're built in the '60s. Parts become very tough to find, and they're going to be very expensive because not only are you trying to source something that is 50 years old, it also has to be a certified part. So on top of finding the part, you have to have all the paperwork behind it, and then you have to have an A&P to do the work, and then you have to have an IA sign off on it. The cost starts adding up extremely quickly, and it's making these airplanes very hard to keep. Sure, a lot of these videos and articles about the most affordable airplanes are going to say, "Hey, you know, annual average annual cost is like $1,200." But that is really if nothing goes wrong. Remember, A&Ps are charging about $100 per hour, at least in my experience. Maybe you have a better A&P out there, but it's very expensive to hire an A&P to do all the work. And remember, with experimental, experimental light sport, you can do all the work yourself. And then if you go light sport experimental, you can sign off on the condition inspections. But like I said, certified airplanes are dying out. But there is a whole new world of airplanes coming up, and it's in the experimental aviation category. You know, you can get into the gyroplane world, you can get into airplanes that look like mine, like the Bristell. Sure, the new ones are going to be more expensive, but also you can get older experimental airplanes like this one, and you can maintain it yourself. And this one is a relatively modern airplane compared to certified airplanes flying today.

So basically, I just want to leave you with this. So even though a lot of what I said maybe not be so positive about certified airplanes dying out, the whole new world of experimental airplanes is growing, and it's growing quickly, especially with the passing or the future passing of the Mosaic rules. A lot of cool, fast, two-seater airplanes might be open for light sport pilots. Okay, so those were my big tips for getting into aviation affordably, and how to actually afford an airplane. Quick recap: go with an experimental airplane. Don't go with certified unless you want to pay someone and do all the work and get certified parts. That might be for you, that's okay. If you go experimental, consider experimental light sport because of the cost that you save doing the work yourself and doing your condition inspections. Look into insurance costs, you know, they add up really quickly, and just the insurance rate can keep you from owning an airplane on top of hangar costs and things like that. And number four, certified aircraft are dying out, and there's a whole new wave of experimental airplanes coming up that are going to be really exciting. Those are my major tips for getting into aviation affordably. I hope you enjoyed the video. Till next time, blue skies, and I'll see you on the next flight. [Music]