You're in a pretty good position, go for it! You've planned it out pretty well and seem to be aware of the risks. Have fun!

And may your number of takeoffs always equal your number of landings

Even if you're flying the plane at least once I week I don't see how it would be considered reasonable to buy one and pay $35k/yr on 100k salary.

(assuming the plane lasts 30 yrs you're looking at 150k+30k*30yrs=$1.05 million, excluding interest)

If you're planning on having a family/children, make sure to buy a Term Life insurance policy (not Permanent/Whole/Universal/Variable/etc) before you start flying...

Thanks! Seems a bit too good to be true, so I felt the need to put the thought out there for people who likely spend a good amount of time considering their financial position.

So far those two columns are equal and I intend on keeping it that way haha.

Valid point! Especially if it were just for convenience or to try to travel cheaper.

So that number is based off of flying it about 200 hours a year. It’s not just to get me from point A to point B either. There are other reasons it’s the pick for now. It’s efficient for what it does, allows me to do aerobatics, and can vary another person and some baggage. The end goal jet would cost about 4x as much initially and yearly haha. But I may not be able to reach that ever so this is the one that seems most attainable. Aviation is a major passion of mine and I’ve always intended on buying an airplane so I can enjoy all of the work I’ve put into flying for years. It is for sure not a cheap passion haha

Hahaha very valid point. I’m currently a pilot and do have life insurance in the event a flock of geese causes my demise.

If you want to do that you better get a much better job- that's a very expensive hobby and doesn't include maintenance or a place to store the plane just fuel?

that doesn't adress how you are going to afford spring 1/3 your income on the plane alone

100k after taxes isn't that much, especially if you want to max out your retirement plans and plan to be paying a mortgage, plus all of the extra expenses that come with homeownership, which add up faster than you'd think.

Maybe if you plan to be very frugal in every other area of life, used car, not dining out or traveling much until you get a substantial raise, or buy a cheap home in an area with no property taxes.

Anything is doable if you're passionate enough and willing ti compromise in other areas, but to me it sounds pretty tight and like you'll have to make a lot of sacrifices to make it happen.

An old Chinese proverb:

"If it FLIES, FLOATS or F#CKS...: RENT IT !

Too late for that - they'd have to give up flying for at least a year before and after applying and probably take an aviation exclusion for it not to be considered in underwriting.

But there are still good priced policies out there, you just need to work with an agent familiar with which ones to apply to and which ones not to.

Agreed! That’s where my reduction in living expenses and instructing on the side come in. I also do make more than that but knocked it down to that for the a little more cushion too. My after tax income is not much less than that. I am also looking for a higher paying position. Very valid point! I haven’t done any of these things. Just kind of airing out the whole concept.

Yeah! So those operating costs factor in fuel, maintenance, hangar, etc. And those expenses are based on a friend who owns the same aircraft.

$150K plane that costs $30K/yr to operate (it’s always the higher number) plus both sides of a duplex, plus you want to maybe get another duplex too?

Seems like a big ask at $100K/yr. Just operating the place alone is 30% of your pretax income.

Well the airplane is the primary expense really. And 30k is on the high end. The duplex with capex, maintenance, would hopefully allow me to at least allow to reduce monthly expenditures on housing to about 900/mnth. Otherwise I’m very tight with the rest of my money. And my take home after taxes is quite close to 100k.

Have you considered just paying the friend to rent his plane? It seems like you income would need to at least double for the purchase to make any sense

For sure! Yeah so my after taxes take home is pretty close to 100k. I felt like it would be easier to post that number and I’m now realizing that I need to go in there and put in “after taxes” in parentheses haha.

I agree! I’ve tried to be conservative in how much I would set aside monthly for repairs, capex, vacancy, etc and it would hopefully put my monthly housing expenditures down to around 900/month. Not free like you used to be able to do but it at least allows me to build equity while doing it. Luckily my car has been paid off since the 11th month after I bought it a few years ago too. I love cooking and cook at home almost entirely. I’m pretty frugal in those areas. I would be hoping that I could continue to instruct on the weekends or evenings after work on occasion just to offset the expense and build flight time.

All very good points! Thanks!

He's absolutely not!

Hahaha if I could rent this, I would. Unfortunately, I can’t haha.

This is true. I realized I should have put “after taxes” in parentheses after that number and have done so now haha. And I know that’s still tight for those numbers. Yeah 25k is already quite conservative and 30k is very conservative. Those are padded numbers from someone I know who operates the same aircraft.

It would be cool to move on to the second duplex after a couple years of owning the property and the plane but a second property could definitely wait. The flying is definitely higher on my list than the additional property.

I definitely would if I could. He lives in a different part of the country and it’s also not legally allowed to rent this particular type of aircraft, unfortunately. Ya think double?

Hahahaha I do realize it’s very tight and it’s not happening right now and the aircraft may not even be available immediately after a year or a year and a half. This is just airing it out haha. I appreciate the input but I haven’t done anything yet. I am currently in my same normal existence saving money and not risking the money haha

My job is that if a pilot in a different capacity than an instructor and it comes with it’s own life insurance that is well aware of my occupation as I have been doing it for a bit haha

Group plans are also different from individual plans - when you need life insurance (because you have dependents relying on your income) it is prudent to have a policy independent from your employment.

That said, it is still possible to be insured as a pilot.

Haha I feel the life insurance concerns can be laid to rest. I am very aware of my policy and know a significant number of people in my job (which is flying airplanes) who fly separately from the job and we all had to go through specific channels to get approval for flying outside of the job before we started doing it. Trust me. The life insurance is no issue. I appreciate the concerns!

It's not about the policy - it's about the risk you get hit by a bus on your way home from being fired... Or the any number of other circumstances where you die while no longer employed (which is not always a timeline you control).

It's one of those situations where even if the risk is low, the impact if it happens can be so significant that paying to insure it is just prudent.

Ok. I’m not going to go and list how my life insurance works or why I don’t have to worry about it as it relates to my employer, but I am covered completely. It is a unique situation and I am lucky to have it. I’m covered from the bus, I’m cover from the airplane getting swallowed by a giant bird, I’m covered.