Cost of living ;) with a Sonex

[ihab]

Dear Sonex owners,

I'm wondering what the annual and hourly cost figures look like for a Sonex. Either Jabiru or Aerovee would be useful data for me (and, I'm sure, others). I'm especially wondering about figures from people who purchased an already-built Sonex and who have an A&P do most or all of the "sensitive" work like working on the engine.

I am nearing the end of my Sport Pilot training at KPAO and currently pay $105/mo for a Cessna C162 Flycatcher ;) plus $45/mo club dues. This is excellent for a newer airplane, but is a lot of money given that it's a simple 2-seat day-VFR LSA. I'm trying to think through the relative costs of continuing my flying habit. Tiedown spots here are ~ $142/mo (and don't even ask about hangars -- you could probably rent a house in most parts of the country for what they cost). Due in part to the lack of a clear space in which to lay out all the tools and parts, I would be farming out much of the nontrivial maintenance to the professionals. Of course, as a low time pilot, the cost of insurance would be an issue, so feedback on that point would be useful as well.

I would appreciate it regardless of whether you post to the list, PM me via the message board, or mail at ihab.awad@gmail.com.

Kind regards,

Ihab

[MichaelFarley56]

Great question Ihab, but I'll warn you now that you DO NOT want to know the answer! Just think about all the fun and enjoyment you'll have when you own your Sonex that you can fly anytime you'd like!

But if you really must know...

I pay $200 a month for a t hangar at my airport, and currently pay just over $1000/year on full insurance ($35K hull). Insurance rates will vary depending on your total flight time, tailwheel time (if you have a tailwheel airplane) and hull value. I've heard of owners on here paying anywhere from a little under $1000 per year to some closer to $2000 per year. In terms of maintenance and Condition Inspections, you're once more going to find a huge range but I think the local guys here charge a flat rate of $600 for a Condition Inspection plus repairs, so I'd guess a "normal" Condition Inspection might be around $800 or so.

So if I add this up in the most general of terms:

Tie Down: $1700 per year ($142 x 12 mo)
Insurance: $1000 per year
Condition Inspection: $1000

Total Fixed Costs: $3700 per year

Now add on hourly fuel costs:

Hourly fuel cost (@ 5 gph @ $5/gallon for 100LL): $25 per hour

Crunch the numbers I calculate:

50 hours flight time per year: $99 per hour
100 hours flight time per year: $62 per hour
150 hours flight time per year: $50 per hour

And so on. But remember these are just basic guesses given your tie down costs and taking a guess on maintenance and insurance.

[fastj22]

Here are my costs.
Plane is paid in full, no loan.
$185/mon hangar rental (share with another sonex at $375)
Av Gas is currently $4.50 but lets use $5/gal. I probably fly 10 hours a month so that's 10 x 6 x 5 = $300. (realistically, most expermental pilots only fly 50 hours a year)
Insurance, full hull coverage is $100/mon.
Oil is negligible. Change at 50 hours is 3 quarts at $6/qt.

So bare bones I'm looking at $585/month to fly. Now that doesn't include any upgrades, repairs, fiddling, envy, rework, tools. I'm ashamed to admit what I spend on that stuff.

[ldmill]

Great question! On the lower end of the scale:
I live in central Iowa and rent a huge t-hanger by myself (made for twins...) for $135 per month. I only burn premium auto fuel in my Jab3300 Waiex (around $3.80 per gallon right now) and average 5g/hr at cruise of 148mph. Full coverage insurance is $1200 per year (tailwheel). I plan on $240 of per year of oil and maintenance costs. I built my plane, so no condition inspection charges and it's all paid for :).

I also store my 3 motorcycles in the hanger during winter (saving me about $100 per month at a shop for 4 months).

I average 80 hours per year flight time. This comes to $57 per hour.
Subtract the $400 for motorcycle storage and it comes to $52 per hour. (I make sure to remind my wife of this "savings"...!)

Rental for a Piper Warrior out here is around $130 per hour.

80 hours per year = 6.7 hours per month average.
6.7 hours per month in a Warrior = $867. This doesn't include any renters insurance.
6.7 hours per month in my Waiex = $348. This is fully insured cost.

Basically, as long as I fly more than 3 hours per month in my Waiex ($156) - it pays me to own and fly it. No way would I only fly one hour per month in a Warrior!

Cheers!
Lorin

[wlarson861]

Over the last 3 years I have averaged between 80 an 90 hours a year, I'll use 80 for the costs. Hangar is 157 per month and insurance is $996 this year (down from 1100 first year). I use 91 octane auto gas that was running around $4 before the big price drop, that comes in at $1280. Oil at $62. Hourly cost is about $53 an hour. In my area I can rent a Champ for $81 an hour wet Plus insurance plus $40 a month for the privilege of renting. Assuming the same amount of flying that would be $87 an hour. The big thing is when I lost a plane to a tornado I quit flying for 20 years. Renting was not freedom!!! I had to plan when I wanted to fly and hope a plane was available. I couldn't go on a trip for a weekend due to the cost of daily minimums. I also have a different mind set now. It costs me $3000 dollars a year to be in the Sonex club. It costs about $16 bucks an hour to fly around. Tomorrow I'm going to take my wife to see her brother 250 miles away, spend the night and then come home. I would never rent a plane for that trip. If I had to drive there it is 7.5 hrs each way. Suffice it to say I wouldn't make the trip for a weekend. At the current cost of fuel its about 70 bucks round trip(gotta buy 100 low lead there).
Bottom line: If you want to fly a lot you need to have your own plane... if you have a Sonex then you have a plane that is much more affordable than most available LSA's out there.

[bnvoss]

I agree with those that say don't look, you wont like what you see.

Unfortunately, there is another "cost" that hasn't been mentioned. That's the opportunity cost, i.e., the cost of money. If you didn't own a Sonex you could bank (invest) the $30,000 to $40,000 you spent on building the Sonex. At a conservative 4%, that's another $1200 to $1600 per year dollar cost to you.

Cheers,
Bob Sonex 550

[nwawingman]

The experience of being able to build and fly an airplane you built yourself is priceless!

[kmacht]

It can cost a lot each month but it doesn't have to. I tie down out on the ramp for $55 a month. I only got liability insurance and not hull because it was almost 3k for a low time tail dragged pilot. Liability only cost me $400 a year or $33 a month. That puts my fixed monthly costs at only $88. I fly using 93 octane mogas at $2.75 a gallon. At 4 gallons per hour it only costs $11 an hour. Oil as mentioned is only $6 a quart and 3 quarts per oil change. Overall it has been very cheap to own and fly my sonex.

Keith

[N111YX]

I think the answers above have covered everything pretty well but since I keep track of the numbers, I'll share them.

The following are based on 550 total engine hours between 25 hour "tach" oil changes on a Jabiru 3300 engine. I tend to operate more on the lower end (economy) cruise settings. The Hobbs figures are based on flight time which is taking the runway and leaving the runway. Warmup and taxi are not included. All "stat" numbers are based on Hobbs and not tach time. Calendar time of operation is May 2010 to March 2015.

Tach Time 24.743
Hobbs Time 22.839
Speed 126.857
Odometer miles 2828.714
Gallons/hour 5.359
MPG 23.786
Gallons used 120.214
Cost/Gallon $5.58
Average fuel cost/hour $29.89

[jjbardell]

I have built a great spreadsheet/model you can play with to see how # hours impacts hourly rate vs. total monthly cost (they are inverse related and swing the numbers greatly).
All of the fields are variables but currently set at my best estimate of costs of an aerovee Sonex.
I hope this helps! See attachment.