I don’t really keep a track of my fixed costs (there are big bits like the TKS coming up, and a new engine this winter) but the direct operating cost (DOC) is fairly easy to work out:
Low level fuel burn 11.5USG/hr.
FL100 burn say 10USG/hr
FL180 burn 8.5 USG/hr
50hr service costs me some £200
Engine fund $35k/2000hrs
Prop fund £4k/1000hrs
So the DOC is really very low.
Annual hrs 170-190.
Insurance £2.8k
Hangarage £4k
Annual £2k
I am with Silvaire on the bit related to so many men having to give up flying because their wife/GF doesn’t like it / doesn’t want them to do it / etc. They need to choose someone else 
But also there are women who fly… a good number of them on here too (though they rarely post, unfortunately) and all the ones I know or have known have this aspect much more shrewdly sorted out
the factual bit:
Ive got a PA32R – true to form, I got loads of advice before purchase, and then ignored most of it- glad I did.
Its just been through its first annual with a new maintenance organisation.
I man-estimate its about £100 PH dry (i.e. no fuel) for 100 hr/year – not including purchase costs as brought outright from savings.
The emotional bit:
Pros:
I got to fly with my son as copilot to Amsterdam for my 31st wedding anniversary – wife in the back in club seating, leather, air conditioning, after 31 hard working years, but there we were 5 of us, me, the wife, and 3 grown “men” – our sons – that was special – as was the learning from the trip back, but I digress!
I get to fly it with my son who also has a PPL
I can’t fly without a plane, and don’t know how to price the time I get to spend with my son
Cons:
go to Amsterdam with your kids, see the sights during the day, but do your own thing after 10pm.
The glib comment about if if float, flies or f…….. you are better to rent it is financially true, but who rented it before you?
My wife has some horses (and donkeys, and chickens……..) and I think owning an aircraft is similar, you need to enjoy owning, not just flying in the same way she enjoys looking after the animals, as undoubtedly it would also be cheaper just to pay £10 an hour to do for a horse ride.
I suppose a reasonable rule of thumb is that if you fly less than 100 hrs/yr, renting is cheaper.
But, like Afsag and others say, there is so much more to the equation. I was reminded of that this summer, when I added UL flying for the fun of it. So if i feel like a little spin in one, now suddenly I have to book 3 days in advance, feel compelled to check the aircraft as if doing an annual, and be back sharply on the hour when the next renter is waiting, or lose a flight because the previous renter comes in late and the sun is setting.. Hmm, wasn’t flying about freedom??
So by adding this ‘freedom factor’ now i can justify that 325 euro/hr (150 hrs in 2016) is really a bargain ;)
edited: My fixed cost are quite high, for instance because of hangarage at 8k (I wanted a spot where I could move in and out freely). But isn’t that one of the basic rules for Man Math? Get yourself an aircraft with high fixed cost and low operating cost so you have an excuse to fly as much as possible!
Absolutely right aart!
Ownership has priceless advantages and cannot be compared with renting at all, unless one just wants to pop over for a burger once in a while.
aart wrote:
I suppose a reasonable rule of thumb is that if you fly less than 100 hrs/yr, renting is cheaper.
and that if you rent, you will fly less than 100 hours a year.
Operating cost for the Maule is about 50 GBP per hour for fuel and consumables like exhaust welding gas and landing gear bolts. We don’t compute hourly cost of tyre rubber, because they don’t wear in flight.
On the other hand, carrying an ersatz runway in the form of big tyres does increase aircraft usage and flight time.
Fixed annual costs (insurance, licences, annual inspection of airplane and pilot, trust fee, Garmin taxes, etc,) are probably insignificant compared with establishing and maintaining an all-weather home airfield and hangar, without which I probably wouldn’t bother.
and that if you rent, you will fly less than 100 hours a year.
If you rent, you will likely fly no hours a year, before too long
The highest DOC is when you rent, so the least incentive to fly that one trip / fly that extra hour.
I know of several people who rent at the “longer distance / higher hours” end of GA but they tend to involve unusual scenarios.
I can guarantee that renting will make you shorter – by having to carry an extra heavy bag with the headsets, the slide rule and all the other cockpit essentials 
But, looking at this positively, you are preserving important jobs in your local pilot shop, because apart from nylon pilot uniforms and €500 “genuine RAF replica” leather jackets, those flight bags are an important source of income
630 EUR/h
This will go down, because AC has only flown 116 hours since new and there have been many one time payments like towing robot, insurance for whole year, nav data and charts for whole year, etc. Included: fuel, hangar, insurance, eurocontrol, airport fees, cleaning, oil, dedicated company overhead.
operating cost per hour….
the one figure all prospective owner want to have (like me )
and the one figure that actual owner DON’T want to have…
unfortunately for now I still have to postpone and remain prospective… renting a 300EUR/h C82T instead
