Over a three-year period of ownership we’ve experienced “other” fixed operating expenses. These items are really not considered Life Limited Components or recurring yearly costs for operating an aircraft under part 91. It’s a group of costs we’d categorized as “ other fixed expenses.”
In a shared airplane ownership, typically only two categories of airplane operating cost are used: “fixed expense” and “variable expense.” Usually, fixed cost would be split equally among members because it’s not calculated into the hourly operating rate. We’ve not increased our hourly rental rate to cover “other” fixed costs and in most cases you shouldn’t either.
If you own an airplane, then you’ll have avionics fail, lights burn out and software to update. These issues don’t seem to track closely with hours flown. The table listed below represent Cirrus SR22 “other” fixed expenses over a three-year period. We’ve previously reviewed these in detail and you can click the link to return to each specific article.
Summary “other fixed” airplane operating expenses
| Other Fixed Expenses | Amount |
| Perspective software update | 456 |
| Garmin GEA hardware failure | 1,187 |
| Avionics issue – traffic system | 485 |
| Landing light failure | 2,511 |
| Battery 2 | 409 |
| Battery 1 | 807 |
| Total | $5,855 |
In a shared airplane partnership you can cut some of your cost by more than 50% – 75% depending on the number of members. In this example, you’d save $4,391 over individual ownership with a four member partnership ($5,855 / 4 members = $1,464 each).
Flying is expensive, but gaining a clearer understanding of the cost can help you find ways to save and extend your flying budget.
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