What are the operating costs for magnetos and how much should you budget per hour? Well, it depends –
I’ve divided our cost experience with magnetos into three parts: Actual Experience, Blue Label and IRAN.
What is the operating cost for magnetos on a Cirrus SR22?
Our Actual Experience
We first tried Inspect and Repair As Necessary (IRAN) serviced magnetos, which later resulted in communication radio problems and more than $800 in labor for trouble shooting. To solve
the issue we installed “blue label” Bendix mags. Even the blue label magnetos had drift problems that grew worse, and ended with another magneto failure after 11 months and 238 hours.
Our total actual magneto cost experience is now at $4,282 after 250 hours. Mags have been a frustrating issue that has consumed time and money. If we don’t have further issues until our next IRAN we’re run about $8.56 per hour for mag expense ($4,282 / 500hrs = $8.56).
Blue Label Bendix
If you choose to install blue label magnetos then you might budget an operating cost of $6.00 per hour. This is based on our actual cost experience after 250 hours, plus .98 cents for expected labor costs over the next 250 hours. ($2,511 / 500hrs. = $5.02 + .98 = $6.00 per hour).
IRAN Non Blue Label
Your cost experience with IRAN parts and labor service for non-blue label mags may be good. Ours was not. If you go this route, you might choose to budget $2.99 per hour. This includes an estimate for parts, labor and drift. If you have a trusted IRAN mag company let me know.
| Description | Cost | Per Hour |
| Our Actual Experience | $4,282 | 8.56 |
| Blue Label Bendix | $2,511 | 5.02 |
| IRAN (estimated parts & labor) | $1,495 | 2.99 |
The above numbers are based on our actual cost after about 250 hours of operating time since IRAN. We may have additional mag costs before the next 500 hour IRAN that would not be included in the above estimates.
We’ll probably continue to use the blue label magnetos unless a better alternative is found. Our next IRAN should be about $400 for each blue label mag including outside parts and labor, plus local installation labor, plus float and drift adjustments over the following 500 hours. I’d forecast our go forward magneto operating cost at $3.00 per hour using this program.
Your magneto cost experience may vary.
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