Naturally, he is asking his pilot friends for advice, and he's getting lots of different answers, which confuse him. Chester, here's another opinion - KISS Off. I don't mean any disrespect. KISS Off is my acronym for?well, let's profile Chester first.
He's a low-time, VFR private pilot. A flying club member, he's checked out in a retractable single with controllable prop. ("A real airplane!" he says.) His wife enjoys flying with him, and he plans to earn an instrument rating soon. Chester is a salesman whose business justifies his owning an airplane. He lives in his sales territory and many of his customers are on airports.
So what would his ideal mount be? For anyone like Chester, who's contemplating airplane ownership on a budget, my advice would be the same - to KISS Off - keep it simple to start off. Buy a simple airplane, use it to learn about ownership, and grow from there.
Buying an airplane typically begins by a pilot articulating his (or her) flying needs, and I think this is where first-time buyers can make a mistake. If you're a new pilot who's never owned an airplane, how can you specify your flying needs accurately? You can't. If cost isn't an issue, get your dream airplane. Otherwise, you might be better off thinking big and starting small.
Chester might argue that his missions point to a high-performance IFR single. It could compress two days of traveling into one, and the IFR panel would help him keep his appointments.
This airplane might be Chester's ideal mount, but is it appropriate? What does it take to own and operate such an airplane? Can he handle its care and feeding? Research will makes things clearer, but, like every airplane, every owner is different. One person's dream is another person's nightmare.
Here's a plausible scenario. Chester buys an older, but capable, high-performance IFR single and flies it for business and his instrument training. He gets an expensive propeller airworthiness directive two months after he buys it. Three months later he must replace two cylinders, and the second nav/com is becoming erratic. The annual inspection is due six months after he buys the airplane, and the bill is $5,500. Finally, his wife doesn't seem 100 percent sure he can handle the airplane in weather.
Secretly, Chester agrees. Disgusted, he sells the airplane and vows to never own another.
Here's a more encouraging scenario. For around half the cost of the high-performance single, Chester buys a well-maintained 150-hp fixed-gear IFR single, and he flies it for business and IFR training. A year later he has his instrument rating, and he still has the airplane. Several unscheduled repair bills surprised him, but they haven't busted his budget. The annual inspection cost $2,000, and Chester's wife has complete confidence in his flying - and he does, too.
This first year of ownership has given Chester valuable insight into how he can best use an airplane, and which airplane would best fulfill his needs. It's not his fixed-gear single, but the high-performance single he almost bought isn't it either. Now, with an accurate idea of his needs, and a realistic picture of what ownership involves and costs, he begins to collect information from the sources he's developed. These include his maintenance shop, bank, flying buddies, and an airplane dealer he met on a trip. He's in no hurry - his fixed-gear single is doing fine - and in time he'll find his "perfect" airplane.
Starting simple is an economical, reduced-risk way to learn about airplane ownership and its associated costs. It gives you time to define your real flying missions and to refine what you need in avionics, instrumentation, and performance.
A bonus to the KISS Off approach is that Chester probably won't lose if he sells his airplane and moves up. Generally, used-aircraft prices have been rising the last few years, especially on some fixed-gear singles. He'll probably recoup his original investment - and perhaps a portion of his fixed costs and maintenance - to apply to his next airplane.
Best of all, Chester will be a happy airplane owner.
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