paulajay1

In article <lw8sb.88108$jW5.946062@twister.tampabay.rr.com> , "Ed Haywood"
<nospam@nospam.com> writes:


Seeing the problem with this advice came from my mother many years ago. "Don't
pick that up, you don't know where it's been."

It's hard to beat the mind set that goes with knowing who landed the plane last
time, and that no one has flown it in the last two weeks that I coundn't get
out. I think that the breakeven number of hours is more like 75 or 100 when
this intangable is taken into account.

Chuck

ed haywood

last

get

when


Couldn't agree more. That's why I recently bought into a Decathlon
partnership with another guy. Didn't like wondering if the renter before me
had pulled 8G's. And I wanted the plane to be mine whenever I needed it,
not when the FBO could squeeze me in.

But before I did so, I did a hard cost effectiveness ****ysis with no
consideration for "intangibles". That way I went into it with my eyes open,
without any delusions of "saving money by owning."

Besides, everyone's intangibles are different, and the value we put on them
is subjective. To you, the most important thing may be comfort with the
maintenance history of your bird. To someone else, the most important thing
may be low hassle convenience, the ability to just hop in and fly it. A
third guy might get his jollies from only flying aircraft that he built
himself. We're all different, so there's no sense trying to build that into
a cost comparison method. Better to do the math, then decide whether the
cost is worth it to you.