ACP359 Would my time be better spent simply buying a plane and flying?

[Music] welcome to Aviation careers podcast in this episode we're going to answer the question if your time would be better spent buying an airplane and flying it instead of becoming a CFI that's coming up next in this episode but before we begin a quick shout out to our sponsor and that's Tailwind waybankers Tailwind wakemakers is a non-profit founded to help fund Aviation dreams so whenever you could use some help funding your Aviation training or want to win a new airplane check out Tailwind waymakers.org also Tailwind waymakers is giving away one of those free scholarships guides they're giving away 50 actually and you can use a coupon code Tailwind way makers and you'll get a free scholarships guide and supplies lat don't last long so make sure that you go out and use that also a lot of people want to know how to get their free scholarships guide visit our friends at tailwindwaymakers.org or go to aviationcareerspodcast.com free and you could possibly get one of those free scholarships guides we have over 120 million dollars in Scholarships in that guide and we update it monthly well on with the show what's really interesting about this show today we're going to talk a little bit about uh if your time will be better spent uh possibly buying a plane and flying it instead of becoming a CFI and that's due to somebody writing in by email I actually went to our contact page Aviation curespodcast.com contact and if you have questions feedback animation curvespodcast.com but before we begin with that I always like to start with a little bit of an inspirational story or a quick question from somebody this story comes in from a friend of ours and he's actually Dean Showalter and he posed this question from a past episode well let me go ahead and uh just play that that question by the way he sent me an MP3 and if you're interested in sending in an MP3 and US playing your question over here you can do that the other way you can do that if you want to just be recorded online it's not as good quality but you can leave us a voicemail at dip my wings dip my wings and leaves us voicemail there but I'd love you to just maybe just record a you know a little uh message on your phone and send it to us we'd love to answer that let us know if we can use that in the actual podcast but let's go listen to Dean's voicemail hey Carl it's Dean Showalter in Virginia and today was my last day as a full-time employee at Classic Aviation so I figured it was a good time for me to give you an update I've been wanting to update you for a while now so if you remember I spoke with you back on Friday May the 20th I had paid for an hour of your coaching and that was just super helpful thank you so much for for doing that and I I that was just a very valuable time with you and you connected me with some people that were really great to speak with and you helped me sort things out and I was headed to the airlines I was thinking seriously about the Airlines at that time and then two days later I guess that would have been May the 22nd I went flying locally here with Richard who was my previous boss at Classic Aviation years ago and I got to go flying with him in a King Air 200. and that was such a great experience and then two days after that he walked in the shop one day and tossed out the possibility of me joining the pilot team for a King Air 350 that's based here at our airport that is operated by a local company and so I had to regroup and adjust my thinking there a bit because I had been thinking seriously about the airlines when I had talked with you and I had been thinking about that for quite some time I've always been fascinated by the airlines so I had to regroup a bit but I quickly realized that this was an amazing opportunity and my wife and kids and many friends and advisors have been very supportive of the whole thing so after I thought about it I I realized that this was definitely an opportunity to pursue so on July the 7th this summer I had an interview with this company and with their their pilots and it went really well that was on July the 7th and then August the 2nd I signed the paperwork to accept a full-time job lying in the King Air 350 and so it turns out that I will drive to this is the plan I drive to Concord North Carolina coming up on September the 25th to get ready to drink out of the fire hose of training for two weeks at a place called fly right they have a full motion King Air 350 simulator there and I'll go through two weeks of sim training and then take the check ride for the type rating and come back and get flying with these experienced pilots in this airplane and I I'm just very very excited about this whole thing so I have a little over two weeks to continue studying and preparing and I'm I'm very excited I'm overwhelmed and I've I've had to face a lot of doubts and fears along the way but I'm just very excited about the whole thing and so in your recent podcast episode you asked the question is starting a professional career in flying at 55 worth the effort and I'll just answer your question there from that episode with a wholehearted yes absolutely it is worth it and in fact I am 55 years old right now so Carl I just want to say thank you for all of your encouragement along the way and all the ways that you've helped me and so many other people I just really appreciate it so much so keep up the good work and I do hope to to meet you sometime in person and maybe you'll end up in Virginia or maybe I'll end up in Florida who knows but I also one other little fun detail I was just looking at your last episode and it was actually the aviation careers podcast number 350 and I thought what a what a fun coincidence that your podcast 350 that I was thinking about is at a time when I am getting ready to go to training for the King Air 350. so Carl I just really appreciate all the ways you've helped me thank you so much I just wanted to give you an update on how things are going on my end and I'll try to get back in touch with you and let you know when I am on the other side of the training and I'm up and running in the airplane thank you so much and I'll see you well Dean thanks for that uh voicemail first of all I appreciate you sending that over to us Dean has a great show I'll put a link in the podcast notes airplane ownermaintenance.com there's a little bio about him I have a link to but that was quite the coincidence there and it's so cool that you wrote in or actually sent us a voicemail Dean I'd love to have you on the show he has a a very inspirational message always on his show and he's just somebody that I really admire as a mechanic and also in his a flying ability so Dean thanks for that and I love the fact that you talked about your path was to the Airlines and you decided to take another path and if you're listening right now love to hear what you've done possibly you did the same the airlines are great for building time but it sounds like this this might be the job for him which oh brings up the fact that you should always think about the next little juncture in the road and think that is this the right way to go for me and my family and it sounds like it is never discount anything never discount any job until you're in that situation and it's put in front of you and you make that decision because at that moment in your life things could be different than they were you know just a few years ago months ago weeks ago so hats off to you Dean I really appreciate that so let's get on to the question today and this comes in from a listener who went to our aviationcareerspodcast.com contact also use feedback at aviationcareerspodcast.com and we'll read your message here of course get rid of all the identifying information we won't use your name in other words so let's read this question first he says why should I be a CFI after my flight schooling I'm almost done getting my private pile certificate in accelerated flight school I'm 36 with four kids and have taught before in education not sure I'd have enough patience to teach again and I want to get my 1500 hours as quickly and effectively as possible would my time be better spent simply buying a plane and flying I'm already going to be in debt what is another 150 000. I want this to be my last career and need to know something about retirement something seems off about the cadet programs that Usher people into the Regionals requiring their Cadets flight instruction until they get their 1500 hours are they hiring these folks at a lower rate and then those that apply outside of the cadet programs and flow through every hour counts for me as does every year of employment I appreciate your content and advice thank you very much well thanks for that question first let me answer the one question before we go into if it's better to buy an airplane or not and this really does depend on your on your situation those Cadet programs that you talk about what's happening normally there is that these folks it's it's basically the same as what you're going through they're pretty much guaranteed a job even though they say they're not guaranteed a job as long as they make it through this fifteen hundred hours of flight instruction the question was asked about whether the pay rates are different normally they are not as of today normally they are not in that when you get hired with the say the major airline that has a Cadet program you start at first year pay once you actually go in the door to your training after you get your 1500 hours so most of the programs are set up that way so I just want to make clear clarify that some have some differences in that you actually get some seniority when you're hired into the debt program maybe for travel maybe not as a pilot but maybe for travel and some you don't get any seniority until you finish the cadet program and get hired on as a pilot either way I think these are great opportunities 1500 hours and you're put right into a jet aircraft a large deck aircraft at a major airline I think that's pretty cool uh that and especially the fact that yeah we have a shortage now but you know and I'll go into that in another episode we're never going to solve this pilot shortage we never have and there's been shortages over the past you know 50 years and we'll talk a little bit about that further but let's dig into his question and that's if the time will be better spent simply buying a plane and and you know going ahead and building those hours so this is really interesting question for me because over the years I've given advice to people on both sides of this number one to buy a plane and number two to actually get your CFI we're going to put a little bit of twist on this we're probably gonna we're gonna talk a little bit about doing possibly both but let's look at the benefits of buying an aircraft and also just to put a little more color to this this is from my experience with the people that I've actually counseled that have purchased their own airplane and have gone through this process so we're not talking Theory here we're talking about people have actually done it so let's talk about what those people that bought an airplane have done and what the benefits were to them to those clients so number one you set your own hours and fly when you want that's a great benefit you don't you're not succumbing to somebody else's schedule it's just your schedule if you get to a destination that you like you can stay there longer it all depends on your budget of course number two you can fly an extended cross-country flight in the system and gain valuable IFR experience I have to say this is terrific being in the system flying in the system and especially flying IFR in the system gives you invaluable experience when you move on to the airlines understanding how to get a clearance understanding how to get from point A to point B safely and navigate around weather and Air Traffic Control Systems especially if you go into some of these busier areas like the Northeast so I would challenge you if you do buy your own airplane to get out there fly IFR fly in the system number three you can bring your whole family I mean this is something that is awesome I mean you can go on trips you can take your family with it your pets Etc you can fly to wherever you want with those that you love and I think that's a really cool option for you number four and uh this is by choice of course you're home every night number four you're home every night that all depends on if you want to be home every night and I know a lot of people are going to say hey as an instructor I'm home every night which is usually true that when you're an instructor you are home every night but you're home every night when you want to be home going back to setting your own hours so that's another bonus there number five you can start your own flight instructing business and take on only the clients you choose now this is a big one and remember I talked about you know why are we doing this we're buying a plane building the hours without being a flight instructor I wanted to tack this on the end because some people do this or have done this where they decide hey wait a minute why don't I get someone else to pay for my airplane and I still like to teach but I want to teach the people I want to teach well start your own business uh one caveat here is the expenses when you do start that and this is going to be some of the challenges in actually owning your own airplane and building the hours a few expenses there especially Insurance because your insurance goes up dramatically I'm trying to remember on one of the airplanes I had my insurance was like 1600 a year and it went up to 6 000 a year when I started teaching in it and I couldn't do solos that was because it was a complex high performance airplane or excuse me it's a high performance airplane so that's something you have to look at make sure you can ensure whatever it is the plane is that you want to fly so that your students can also fly in it so those are some of the benefits that I've gained from the people that have actually purchased their own airplanes another benefit depending on the airplane it can appreciate but don't always count on that some airplanes do appreciate depends on the year that you buy let's talk about some of the challenges of buying your own airplane and building hours number one is the cost of buying the aircraft remember you talked about what's another hundred and fifty thousand dollars well there's a certain opportunity cost that's gone obviously and and what's that is what what you can do with that money other than dumping it into an airplane and and having it make its own money a good example is if you put into a savings account obviously a savings account you're not going to make much but say you invested in something that actually makes more money than the low savings rates that we have There's an opportunity that you've lost so that's a simple explanation so there's the cost of buying the airplane there's the the well if you can pay cash that's terrific but again there's opportunity lost there if you're borrowing the money uh you actually have to pay a loan a note every month so you have to go out and put that into your budget so number one the cost of the plane number two is your hourly cost you have certain hourly costs in the airplane now these aren't impacted as much and and coming from someone who's owned an airplane uh immediately you're not impacted by this immediately and what do I mean by that you pull up to the pump say you have account with a local FBO you walk away it's kind of cool you get in your airplane you put the gas in they park it for you whatever and there's no money out of your pocket this is great well actually the money comes out of your pocket eventually but it is kind of cool you know there is no their cash flow is is actually a very good cash flow in other words you're not you don't have a negative at that point but but the bill comes due doesn't it some of these places give you a discount which is kind of cool but hourly cost oil Bill obviously gas fuel is another one and you can actually get some discounts on those hourly costs so you have those things another thing to throw in there and some people call this an hourly cost it's not a direct operating cost it's actually maintenance you need to have money in reserve for maintenance there's not too many other Hobbies you have out there where the maintenance of the aircraft can actually cost more than the aircraft itself for instance say you bought an airplane you had a Wings bar problem how to replace that and you wound up having to replace your engine those two things together in certain instances can be more than the actual cost of the aircraft that you just purchased so something you really want to think about is there are some of those twenty five thousand dollar maintenance items things like airplanes Wing spars those type of things also along with maintenances upgrades uh that's not truly maintenance but that's more your choice I've seen avionics panels cost eighty thousand dollars and that's not unheard of so so make sure you put that in there the number four challenge that comes up when you actually have an airplane and now you're going into a career as a pilot is you have to or may have to I should say dispose of the aircraft and you may have to get rid of the aircraft when you're concentrating on the training at the airline and by this I mean at the end of this you may have to sell the plane and a lot of times you're selling the plane when you're really busy at work one way around this that I've seen a lot of people do is they will actually purchase a plane sell the plane after they're done with training so they can concentrate on the training you still have carrying costs that means you know hanger fees tie down that type of thing so all those hourly costs maintenance costs there's insurance and Hangers there's another one uh so make sure you you put that into your whole you know budgeting right there so also number five you uh you may and this is an interesting one number five I've seen every so often you may not learn how to interact with other pilots in the cockpit uh especially if you're getting ready to go into the airline environment one you're not the only person in the flight deck this could have a slight negative impact it all depends on you really so make sure you think about that so you may actually not learn how to have that CRM that you might need when you're actually a pilot flying the arrow for the airline so you have to make a bit of an effort there and and number six I already talked about a little bit is all the other expenses monthly expenses the carrying costs and that's such as insurance and the hanger costs and those are other things and it's subscription costs those type of things a subscription what do you mean by that that means like you're Jefferson or your database for your your charts or your database for your GPS those type of things are monthly costs so that's number six is going to be those monthly costs that you have things like that tie downs Etc basically your carrying costs like when if you have a rental property that type of thing so hopefully this has helped you there are some benefits there are some challenges uh to give you a let me give you one positive story I know someone who did this I had a client went out and uh his his uh spouse uh was a I think a doctor or something like that had a high income so they didn't really have to worry about the income uh wound up buying an airplane like a 172 nothing really ex too expensive wound up flying that 1500 hours had a lot of fun with it and then went on and sold it didn't didn't do anything else like I talked about being a flight instructor sold it went on and started flying for the airlines so there's one positive one of the negatives that I've seen it's not too bad but this is a negative uh one of the challenges I worked with somebody who actually had their own airplane went to the Airlines and then had to concentrate on training at the airlines in the meantime he had like another partner or two and they wanted to have buy him out and he really didn't want to deal with that while he was in training so if you're going to make this transition and you're an owner make sure you plan out that transition well possibly getting rid of the airline or the airplane before you move on to the airlines after you have your 1500 hours this may not be a big deal for you just remember carrying costs you have insurance hanger that type of thing so hopefully this has helped you as far as looking at if your time will be better spent just buying an airplane uh and just flying it it could be true that that that might be the best thing for you uh but it's a it's a budgeting issue and you have to you have to reflect upon your life and possibly uh maybe you're you have enough money that possibly this will work out for you most of the time when you actually run the numbers I'd have to say it turns out that it not going to work out for full time just flying the plane but maybe doing a hybrid and that's why I threw in the whole part about becoming a flight instructor the other cool thing about that you get to actually do your lessons in your own airplane and but and I've seen this happen you own your own airplane it's also if it goes down for maintenance you don't have another airplane you have to rent a plane so just remember that if your airplane goes down for maintenance say it goes into annual and the annual takes a month or two now you can't fly for a month or two so think about those things that's what's good about having a school so if you do buy your own airplane make sure you have a plan B maybe get rid of that airplane at the end so hopefully this is some of the things that you think about while you're looking at buying an airplane to replace actually flying as a flight instructor you can put these costs down on a piece of paper and you can look at the the cost uh to you yourself it may be worth it just remember what you said you know that 150 000 actually may maybe a lot more than that it all depends on the type of plane you fly so my advice uh I learned this a long time ago is the the least expensive plane a lot of times is the best plane and one of the reasons is the fact that you always can fly never forget this one airplane I had and it was a Cherokee and oh my gosh it was so terrific I didn't even think about the cost of it it was so inexpensive to run compared to the other airplane that I had that was actually a high performance aircraft of Maintenance was a little bit different so bills I didn't worry about as much that type of thing but a Big Bill can come do and those are Shockers like one month all sudden it's an eight thousand dollar bill but in general I think it's something you have to look at you have to put pen to paper to see if it works out if you can come away with 150 000 dollars in 1500 hours if that's the number you were looking at hats off to you again it may be getting a plane that may not be afifr equipped that may not fly in the system so you may have to come back and try to do that flying in the system so make sure you think about that so you may you may want to think twice about the type of experience you're getting and you may want to think about if this is good for you we can talk more about that of course aviationpodcast.com coaching we can do some one-on-one coaching uh if you could please look at my schedule first because we're kind of booked up for a couple of months at a time here and so that can actually be a challenge getting in my schedule but I'd love to talk to you so if you found this helpful do me a favor feedback at Aviation curvespodcast.com uh put some comments uh in the show notes if you're watching this on YouTube uh put some comments down in the comments section and uh and do me a favor uh if you like it give me a thumbs up or just do a comment say I like this kind of content could you do more of that also please visit our sponsor a lot of people start this podcast wondering where they can get that free scholarships guide go to Tailwind waymakers.org they're that non-profit organization that helps fund Aviation uh and they do that through uh doing airplane giveaways so you can act amazingly enough is that you can actually go and put your money in to get a a drawing for an aircraft which is awesome at tailwindwickmakers.org and you're helping other people fund their Aviation training through that because they take all the money they make and they put into scholarships and we have that scholarship in the scholarships guide but the coupon code if you want that free one Tailwind way makers is a coupon code from tailwindmakers.org we appreciate what they do if you're looking for some other coupons from the Pay It Forward program that's at Aviation curvespodcast.com free well these are some really challenging questions I really enjoyed uh Dean his comments here that was awesome I really appreciate that but most importantly if you're doing this if you're looking at the possibility of buying an airplane you're trying to make a decision in your life as to which way to go the most important thing is to to not stop here to take action today to move forward in your career and to do that may be something very small like picking up a book to read a book or calling somebody start asking around the prices of airplanes you may even want to start looking into your next rating or the cost of becoming a CFI it but just do this for me take one step today to move forward in your career and in your life and you'll be amazed at how quick quickly you reach your goal we'll talk to you next episode say flying out there [Music]

Channel: Aviation Careers Podcast

Views: 16,606

Keywords: Time building, expert aviator

Id: s9bBPbsiD-Q

Length: 25min 54sec (1554 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 28 2023