"And you thought Ferraris were expensive....."

Sheehan on rebuilds......
And you thought Ferraris were expensive?

 

$15K for a PPI? Wow!

 

Can be worse. Far, far worse.

Now everyone uses different ways to count their costs for the aircraft but for the G-IV think of around $4,000 per flight hour at cost and all in annual budget of near $2 mil.

The engine problem could have been far more expensive. I was surprised it was that low.

A good friend had to go through both engines on their VIP 737 - total rebuilds after in-flight failures. About $4mil each. With their Boeing they are happy to be under $10,000 per hour for their cost. Their numbers look high but they have 4 pilots & 4 flight attendants on 30 on/30 off rotations plus a mechanic. Because of their base of operations they have to house everyone, provide per diem and airline travel for the rotation.

 

read a thing earlier on the F-104. average 10-12k per flight hour but still. blazing through the sky at 1200+kts and 75k feet would be a thrill.

 

The PPI on my GIV cost the seller almost $500k. We had language in the contract saying Gulfstream would do the PPI and he was responsible for anything deemed airworthy. After everything was buttoned up, we did our first test flight.......nose wheel steering pump died on the ramp. Few days later, everything worked on the second flight and we flew her out on the third flight.

My motto 'It's expensive to be vain.'

 

so the $40-70mill for the jet is the cheapest part of buying it

whats is cost per hour to run it?

 

On my plane, a GIV, the direct operating cost is around $3k an hour. It about $900k a year to keep it parked in run ready condition with a crew. That includes training, insurance, hangar, MX and management fees. We have our plane on full Honeywell (HAAPS) and Rolls Royce Corporate Care. Its like a full warranty on anything that is made by the before mentioned companies. If a display unit goes south ($40k) its covered. Same with the engines.

You can get a decent GIV for $4-6M, a GV for $10-13M and a G550 for $18mil+.

IMHO the sweet spot is a GV with FANS, ADS-B ETC because it does everything the 550 does without the extra price.

With all that said, A GIV might be as cheap as say a Lear 60 but the MX will be more per year doue to the complexity and running costs.

 

So think about that $4 million GIV for a minute. Before you turn a wheel, you're going to spend about $1 million/year-- that's 25% of the purchase price! If you actually want to use it a bit, you'll be closer to $1.5-$2 million per year. So in two years, you'll have basically spent as much operating it as you spent to buy it.

That's why I always shake my head when I hear about someone financing a used airplane. If you can't afford to pay cash for it, you certainly can't afford to operate it!

 

A friend of ours has used NetJets in the past due to his association with WB, but recently they purchased a jet for his corporate use. After reading the article, I find it hard to justify the purchase of a jet via corporate use, and how NetJets is making any profits based on the pricing structure provided to me. My father flies
a TC Bonanza and those costs are more comparable with a Ferrari than a jet will ever be.

 

Net Jets makes money 3 to 4 ways.

1. They sell shares of the aircraft based upon retail price while they get at least a 20% discount.

2. There is a monthly management fee owed if you fly al your hours in one month or zero.

3. There is the occupied hours when you do fly. Their rate is certainly no giveaway.

4. Then they are doing the Jet Cards (another version of charter) to get move revenue off the aircraft.

Something else to consider. Normal corporate usage is in the range of 300-400 hours per year. NetJets is around 1000 per year.

 

a used irainan F14 tomcat looks cheaper ,everytime you guys keep telling me your costs

now if I can get the US gov let me bring it in

 

It doesn't have to be that bad....if you are willing to go smaller. My little Citation Mustang will happily cruise along at 340 knots (390 mph for you non pilots) sipping 75 gph at 41,000 feet and costs me less than 50,000 bucks a year for maintenance. Insurance costs me 8500 a year (I am extremely high time pilot), Fuel average 4 bucks and parking usually around 100 a night when I am away. I fly it myself (SP rated) so my training costs are only around 10,000 per year. All in all I have personal jet transportation 150 hours per year for around 180K all in (plane is paid for, DonV is right if you can't pay for the jet you got no business trying to operate one).

Not bad, especially since its 90% deductible.

 

Even single piston non fancy planes are super duper expensive twice as much as owning an exotic car like a Ferrari. A new engine for a Beechcraft Bonanza is like over 40k at least and overhaul like 30k plus! Annuals cost a lot too along with fuel, and hangar fees. Never thought I would say this but owning a used Ferrari is way cheap compared to an old beat up Cessna 182!