Thinking about a 172 for a local flight line

When I bought my '76 172 Skyhawk, the numbers made sense to put it on a flight line as the plane only cost me $60K. Looking at the cost of the same plane now (mid-hours), IDK as the risk is a lot higher and so much more cash is outlaid. My biggest drawback is that when the hours are down (stretches of poor weather where the plane is not in use), FBO's seem to come up with anything to bill the owner for and the owner does not have a lot of say in it.

 

If you want to do some flying probably best to rent or maybe join a flying club or form a partnership.

 

I’m going back to my roots and going to try an aero club all shared expenses…S-LSA, 5-6 GPH fuel, 90 KTAS at 5 GPH, $50/H ops costs at most…I’ll report back in a few months.

 

Any info you want to share on plane type?

I've thought about pushing my 3 plane club(2X skyhawk, 1X cherokee) to get an LSA. But,...then I watch some of these guys land a C172 and wonder if an LSA could really take the same abuse. I looked at buying a 2008 Breezer once with 1300 hrs and it was just so beat up. A C172 of same age and hours would be considered nearly new. I have the rear half of an RV-12 in my living room currently, and although I hear a lot of clubs do well with them, it sure is lightly built. Hopefully, MOSAIC comes out soon and we get something a bit tougher, without going too much more $$$.

 

Yeah. Aeroprakt A-22. It’s solidly built and does well as a rental. If your guys fly 172s badly, they will fly an LSA worse…they are harder to fly well, particularly in winds/gusty winds. Lazy pilots and LSAs are a bad mix…being off airspeed in the flare, not lining up with center line, not pointing the plane down the runway at touchdown…stuff like that exacerbates LSA peculiarities. They are small and light…they all fly like a Cub…so pilots need to stay focused.