Interesting. Given the annual flying hours of most private pilots, they never come to overhaul an engine. What they all do though is sell the aircraft sooner or later (even if only post mortem, but then it’s still the heirs’ money – or lack thereof – that we’re talking about…)
No, depreciation on a new (or almost new) aircraft over a few years is immense; usually higher than all the cumulative running costs in all those years combined.
Given that in the used aircraft market, or at least the segment I am looking,
I wouldn’t count too much on the resell value.
I wouldn’t count too much on the resell value.
One solution to that issue might be to buy an aircraft that doesn’t cost as much a house. You could buy the house instead and at 5% rate of return the rent received would buy a lot of fixed and operating costs for a lower cost aircraft. Then when you sold the aircraft at a loss, you’d still have the rent coming in to make up the loss
Just my view of the world… Somebody, somewhere does have to pay retail, and take the depreciation hit 
Depreciation is a general problem, not only for airplanes but for other items such as cars as well. That is why to this date I never bought new and wouldn’t even if I could. The hit you take is simply too extreme and apart from the knowledge that you are first to use something there is not really a lot of advantages of buying new vs used. On the opposite, I find for myself that I can afford a much better car (or airplane) if I go used than I could if I bought new.
It also has to be considered that depreciation at some stage will flatten out considerably. Looking at the prices I see on the different sales plattforms, for a DA42 it would be near € 200k. If you buy one at around there, you can reasonably expect not to take a too large hit once you try to resell, provided that you don’t wait until both engines are run out or close to being run out, as many do. It never ceases to amaze me how people believe they can sell airplanes at TBO for the same price than one which has several hundred hours left.
Also smaller planes will hit a certain level at some stage, after which depreciation becomes flatter if not stops altogether. If you buy something in that range, you can reasonably expect not to loose too much money in resale.
Just my view of the world… Somebody, somewhere does have to pay retail, and take the depreciation hit
Also smaller planes will hit a certain level at some stage, after which depreciation becomes flatter if not stops altogether. If you buy something in that range, you can reasonably expect not to loose too much money in resale.
Silvaire, Mooney Driver; that is exactly why I am not too worried about depreciation, and more preoccupied with running costs. I never bought a new car either. The newest car I ever bought was 2 year old and I got it for half the price of new.
I also observe that aircraft are harder to sell that real estate, although some types of aircraft, the more affordable mainstream ones like PA28, C172 may be easier to sell than P210 and DA42.
I still do not know the what the operating costs of a DA42 might be… I may have to sign up for one of those web sites that perform such comparisons.
I know little about this but I do know a number of DA42 owners or operators and the operating cost has varied a lot over time. At the height of the Thielert saga you could have literally operated a TBM700 for the same money – according to one FTO owner.
An A&P/IA colleague who worked in a Diamond service company for some years informs me that they cost quite a bit more to run than my TB20 (which he also works on) because so many parts corrode and have to be changed at each Annual. They also have occasional major issues e.g. I saw one wing which had tiny bubbles all over the upper surface – that whole wing had to be scrapped, and it wasn’t under warranty either.
However whether these are much different from the normal Lyco-engined aircraft is a good question. For example a TB20 can have an Annual done for anything from £1500 to £7000 depending where you take it, and for the same work done. I know two companies which would charge me £5000 and £7000 respectively (plus 20% VAT). The first one will actually do about half of that they say they do (i.e. perform a fraud). The second one will do everything.
If you are N-reg, and you are smart and pro-active on maintenance, you can run the Part 91 regime and save money on not changing pointlessly lifed parts. Also you can source parts from other channels. However many European maintenance companies will flatly refuse to go along with that because they make money on the parts. I had this conversation with one 145 owner the other day. No way would he do Part 91 on an N-reg, because he is not in business other than to make money.
So there is so much variation anyway. If somebody gives you figures, you must ask them how exactly they run the aircraft.
And the chances are they don’t know. Most people just take it to the maintenance company… I get emails almost daily from aircraft owners asking me whether such and such a decision by their maintenance company is right. I might tell them No, this is nonsense – but they are often in a syndicate and then often no decision can ever be reached.
The direct operating cost of a DA42 should be reasonable, due to the cheap fuel. Nowadays, avgas is the dominant portion of the DOC on any avgas aircraft.
I would estimate a Diamond to be about 20% more expensive in scheduled maintenance compared to a Piper or Cessna. This is because it has some extra inspections including taking off the wings. The service manual of a Diamond is much longer than the old Piper/Cessna ones. However, a TB is also more costly in maintenance.
However, a Diamond will not have 35 years old components that fail due to age like the average Cessna.
Diamond will not have 35 years old components that fail due to age like the average Cessna.
A Diamond will not have 35 years old components that fail due to age like the average 35 years old Cessna.
One would need to compare age for age, new for new, etc.
Past abuse also makes a huge difference. A friend has just paid out about 3k for two squat switches which were perfect (aerospace grade, good for millions of operations) but simply corroded right through their case. That is totally inexcusable – the result of 20-30 years of totally monkey maintenance and not a single pilot doing a half decent preflight check. So the cost of an Annual blown on two stupid little switches. Now extrapolate this to the whole plane… So this is why you need to get details when asking somebody about their costs.
BTW, age for age, a TB20 doesn’t cost more than a Cessna or a Piper to maintain. But it easily can do, depending on who is messing with it.
If the Diamond is 20% more expensive to maintain now as a result of it being newer, that would imply that it will be double in 30 years when both aircraft are no longer new. I’d buy that, if both have Lycomings. If the Diamond is a diesel it’s going to be a great deal more than double in 30 years, when compared to the then 65 year old Cessna.
You know an awful lot about that what the world’s going to be in 30 years
