So with these numbers (which are however missing other points like airway taxes, landings, etc.) flying 500 hours brings the price down to 1k per hour. Let’s say with all expenses it could be around 700-800 hours. That’s 2-2.5 hours per day average, which is probably achievable for an operator with enough bookings.
Yeah, with high utility the whole picture changes, which is why the hourly is such a meritless number. Another thing to consider: if you normally fly 30hrs per year to get to the destinations you need to get to, in a turbine that will now be reduced to 20hrs per year probably – because you get there so much faster. On the other hand, with capable planes like the TBM, the flying normally expands, as it replaces travels you previously would have taken with airlines. I know owners who fly about 250-300hrs per year, but flying much more than that as a single pilot/owner is probably hard to do.
If cost was not a factor, I could replace all my international work travel completely and easily get that utility, in my own plane, but it’d have to be a jet and have at least 3000nm range. And be SP. That’s hard to do. The closest one to that number is the SJ30 with 2500nm, or the CJ4 with 2000nm.
There may be two scenarious here mixed up.
If you own a plane, and you enjoy flying, you can choose to calculate the exact DOC (the exact hourly cost). I would also say that, in life, one needs to disregard stuff like depreciation (unless it is extraordinary in terms of crippling you financially) because practically everything we ever buy is worth little almost immediately. You buy a teapot for £20. How much is it worth the next day? £2 on Ebay, maybe. If you applied depreciation, and interest on the capital, as a strict criterion on everything you buy as a hobby, you would die lying in your bed, never having done anything interesting in your life, and with £ millions invested in financial instruments. Even a fairly shrewd bus driver would die with millions, and many have. Obviously if you buy the plane with borrowed money that is different but only somebody with brass balls would do that 
Actually a lot of people who work in finance do that, and these are the people who lose almost everything when there is a big bust…
If you are running the plane as a business, and renting it out, then the hourly rate needs to include absolutely everything, plus a margin, and it needs to be based on some advanced estimate of how many hours will be flown. Hence, where I am, a PA28-161 rents out at £200/hr or so.
Accordingly, the DOC of my TB20 is probably less than it would cost me to rent a C152
There are obviously many ways to look at this for the TBM 900 but for all airplanes. I suppose it all depends who you are tying to convince!
Direct operating costs per hour for a new TBM 900 will include:
- Fuel: $250
- Oil: $10
- Eurocontrol charges: $100
- Engine provision is optional here as in most cases, owners will not keep their airplane to see the overhaul time. This will show in the resale value.
So, all other costs paid for, you can claim your direct operating costs on a TBM 900 is $360 per hour…Nice, let’s all get one then right? Since the airplane flies at 330KT, these numbers are very hard to beat when you look at a mission costs rather the hourly rate. I have actually been quite surprised by the hourly gap between let’s say a Jetprop and a TBM. The Jetprop has a lower hourly rate but once you look at a given mission costs, the gap had reduced significantly to the point that I would pick the TBM for the added safety and comfort anytime. The main reason being speed differential. Cruise was obvious but descent and low levels realities are making a huge difference when paying the bill.
Fixed costs are:
- Insurance: $15K
- Hangar (can very quite variable) but let’s say $10K
- Nav data & Charts: 3K
- Training: 2K
You will note that since maintenance is included for the first 5 years, I did not include any charges there. On older models, I would include scheduled and a provision for unscheduled maintenance.
Once you have a yearly number of flight hours you can divide your fixed costs by number of hours and add the DOC to get an hourly rate.
Based on 200 hours a year: Fixed costs: $30K by 200 hours: $150 + DOC of $360 = $510
Based on 100 hours a year: Fixed costs: $30K by 100 hours: $300 + DOC of $360 = $660
That number then has to be amended for landing charges. In the case of the TBM 900, its ability to use short runways often allow us to pick cheaper airports.
Finally, resale value, book depreciation, financing, tax implications, will create a different final figure for each profile.
As an example, a profitable business running a TBM will have made the decision to acquire such a business tool to fly more than 250 hours. It will book depreciation, reduce its income tax and will not pay VAT on some its expenses. This will bring a much different result for a private pilot using the TBM for his own leisure who might fly 100 hours a year.
That leads to the average number of $1000 per hour to be fairly accurate as a total cost per hour that owners calculate for their own usage but again you have to know what you put in.
Kind regards,
David
Nice post, David, thanks.
Yes, most owners will never keep plane until it needs overhaul, but that cost will still be paid in the reduction of sales value. Turbine planes are very tied to the engine hours, so there is no free ride in this scenario.
Peter wrote:
Does anyone have any actual figures?
After 200h flown the DOC seems to be about 600 EUR/h. Includes fuel, hangar, insurance, Jeppesen, Eurocontrol, Prist, landing and handling fees. No maintenance cost included since first 1000h is “free”.
