Hello all.
I've been pondering many ways to beat the aviation money game over the years. First step now is to build. I have owned a Cessna, rented, but never built. In Lawton Oklahoma I was able to rent a private hanger for $120 a month. We live in Colorado now and you won't find anything in my area (Colorado Springs) for less than $300 a month 'open bay'. This expense plus the maintenance fees added up. It didn’t take long for me to feel the pains of my money going into other people’s pockets. When I sold the Cessna, I got to tour a private airpark with a soft field. The owner had built a large hanger with an apartment in the back section. At the time, he spent $40K on the hanger, lived in the apartment while building his proper home near by. This got me very excited. I began to see this as the best way to beat the money pit. So I started thinking………
In other words, find some land that could be made into a soft field, build the hanger with an apartment and live there until my home is built. Certainly this wouldn't be the most comfortable situation but in the long run, I wouldn’t be paying disappearing hanger rent, commercial maintenance fees (because I would be the manufacturer), and so on. The money would be going instead to ownership of the land and building (equity). I really can’t see how this situation could not be beneficial. Consequently this should make GA a lot less expensive and in fact, quite affordable. I would only subject to my own maintenance costs, fuel prices, and insurance. Call me cheap but I don't see the point in paying every one else to keep a passion alive and affordable.
The trick would be to find the right land in a good location and take advantage. I found a right up from the Texas Agriculture Association that gave instruction on building your own soft field from start to finish. It wasn't that bad. In fact it was rather straight forward. there would be some expense grading the land and I don't know the cost of something like this.
So I thought I would offer my ideas up to everyone here to get your thoughts on this.
For me, I don't see a better way to make personal GA affordable in the long run. However, a private strip would not have the same fellowship access that public airport hanger communities provide but I would guess there would be ways around this.
This is a long ways off for me and still in the thoughtful stage. I would love to hear input on this idea. Anything that comes to mind good or bad, pros and cons, as to whether this would work both economically and feasibly would be great to hear..
Best.
Evans
I've been pondering many ways to beat the aviation money game over the years. First step now is to build. I have owned a Cessna, rented, but never built. In Lawton Oklahoma I was able to rent a private hanger for $120 a month. We live in Colorado now and you won't find anything in my area (Colorado Springs) for less than $300 a month 'open bay'. This expense plus the maintenance fees added up. It didn’t take long for me to feel the pains of my money going into other people’s pockets. When I sold the Cessna, I got to tour a private airpark with a soft field. The owner had built a large hanger with an apartment in the back section. At the time, he spent $40K on the hanger, lived in the apartment while building his proper home near by. This got me very excited. I began to see this as the best way to beat the money pit. So I started thinking………
In other words, find some land that could be made into a soft field, build the hanger with an apartment and live there until my home is built. Certainly this wouldn't be the most comfortable situation but in the long run, I wouldn’t be paying disappearing hanger rent, commercial maintenance fees (because I would be the manufacturer), and so on. The money would be going instead to ownership of the land and building (equity). I really can’t see how this situation could not be beneficial. Consequently this should make GA a lot less expensive and in fact, quite affordable. I would only subject to my own maintenance costs, fuel prices, and insurance. Call me cheap but I don't see the point in paying every one else to keep a passion alive and affordable.
The trick would be to find the right land in a good location and take advantage. I found a right up from the Texas Agriculture Association that gave instruction on building your own soft field from start to finish. It wasn't that bad. In fact it was rather straight forward. there would be some expense grading the land and I don't know the cost of something like this.
So I thought I would offer my ideas up to everyone here to get your thoughts on this.
For me, I don't see a better way to make personal GA affordable in the long run. However, a private strip would not have the same fellowship access that public airport hanger communities provide but I would guess there would be ways around this.
This is a long ways off for me and still in the thoughtful stage. I would love to hear input on this idea. Anything that comes to mind good or bad, pros and cons, as to whether this would work both economically and feasibly would be great to hear..
Best.
Evans
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