#21 What's your advice on helicopter ownership?

Hey, it's Kenny with helicopter airline ground school, helicopterground.com. go below to check out our website. The question today that he asked, what is your opinion on helicopter ownership? It's a great question. I want to read it to you. This is from Macfan999. He said, Love the daily videos that I would shoot you a question. What's your advice on helicopter ownership? Is it something that's doable for the average Joe, or do you need to be super rich and have unlimited funds? Things like acquisition, maintenance, insurance, if it's worth it and if you do it again. I know you discussed this subject before, but would love to hear what you have to say in the Coffee with Kenny format. Thank you again for the videos. Been thinking about doing this video and because this gentleman asked, I thought, you know what? Today I'm shooting it. I'm sitting here after a good night of sleep. Been drinking coffee, enjoying my morning. You know, I've rebuilt my life after helicopter ownership. So, you know, back to his questions. Is it doable for the average Joe? No. If you're an average Joe, like the average person, you work a job, maybe you got a little bit of money in the bank, you got some savings, maybe, hopefully you got some retirement. That's average Joe. Not talking millions of dollars. I'm talking just reasonable amount, okay? So number one, you got to take care of yourself and your family. And this is coming from experience, okay? I'm telling you, if you're super rich and have unlimited funds, go for it, do it. Hey, if you got money to burn, you have disposable income, then go buy one because it doesn't matter, right? Things like acquisition, that's a big one. Buying the right aircraft, having somebody check you out or check it out for you, making sure you're getting a good deal. Maintenance. Maintenance is horrible. Some aircraft worse than others. But maintenance is the killer. You're going to understand your monthly payment, you're going to know your insurance cost for the year. Those things are set. What you don't know about is the maintenance. The maintenance is what kills you. I keep using the example of the mixture cable in an instrument. It's nothing more than a damn PTO cable, like you'd have on a tractor or a tow truck. I ran wreckers for 10 years. I know what a PTO cable is. It's the same thing as a mixture cable. Works the same way for a tow truck. It's a hundred bucks. Go buy one for an instrument. Oh, eighteen hundred dollars because it's aircraft approved. It's nothing more than a damn PTO cable. That's all it is. Everything you buy for that aircraft is going to be super expensive. Starter goes out, alternator goes out, you lose a cylinder, you go in for your yearly inspection. Oh, guess what? You got a bad cylinder. $6,000. What about a hard landing? What about an unexpected tail rotor strike? The things that pop up along the way are the things that are going to come back and bite you in the butt. Telling you, okay, so insurance. My first year of insurance was $18,000 a year. And I was an experienced CFI with a lot of experience and the company ensuring me. I was a check airman for that company. I could provide any one of their aircraft or any whole series of aircraft by manufacturer. This was their preferred insurance company. It was $18,000 a year for insurance. How many flight hours do I have to have be out there with a student to make back just $18,000 for insurance. Helicopter payment, $2,000 a month. Think about what you have to make per hour when that thing flies in order to make your money back. The average Joe Question. I get this email a lot from people where they tell me, I'm not wealthy, I'm an average Joe and I work for so and so. But if I buy this aircraft, that's going to help me get my training and I can lease it to the local flight school and they're going to pay me so much per hour. There are so many things that can go wrong with that situation. Someone else operating your aircraft, you're depending on them to take care of it again. What happens when it gets damaged? What happens when the cylinder goes bad? What happens when they back the tail rotor into the side of the hangar and you need it now, you need a tow rotor and a new gearbox. Maintenance is what is a killer on a helicopter. It is just what absolutely kills you. That's my opinion. You know, it's. It sounds good on paper. Oh, Kenny, I've done the math and if I charge this much, well, you know what? The wealthy guys that talked me into buying one, they did the same thing. Oh, but Kenny, look, we've done the math. Oh, this is, this is. Look at how much money you can make. I had a business plan. I had it all planned out. It all looked beautiful. Oh, it was going to. Life was going to be grand. Four years after ownership, I was broke. Everything gone. When I first started, I was operating helicopter company and I bought this helicopter and I had to get together at the airport and invited the general public in and this one gentleman comes up and starts talking to me and he's like, don't ever fall in love with your helicopter. And I'm like, what? And he goes, I'm telling you from experience, don't ever fall in love with your helicopter. He goes, what I'm telling you is, okay, you got this new business and you're starting out, that's all great and dandy, but he goes, the minute that things don't go the way that you see or you expect it to go, or you want it to go, get out, because you know, you can. Basically was just pre warning me that you could lose everything. And I'm like, oh, yeah, sure, hey, yeah, I'll be fine. Two years into the four years, as it was draining my savings, as I was trying to make it go, he's two years into it, things aren't going so well, right? I'm trying, I'm promoting, I'm making videos. Come fly with me. And a smart one of my good friends who hangs out the airport, retired school teacher, done well for himself in life, past aircraft owner, doesn't own aircraft anymore. Two years into it, he comes up to my office one day because he always liked to see what I was doing and he's like, kenny, sell that son of a bitch. And I'm like, oh, oh my God. Sell my baby? Are you kidding me? Oh, I can't sell my helicopter. Right back to what, the guy from the FAA who said, don't fall in love with your helicopter. So I did it for four years. I drained my savings, I drained my retirement. Ended up selling property that I'd owned for 20 years. In the end, I had to sell that. I started seven years ago. I was at nothing. I was in my late 40s with Broke, Living with family, driving my sister's car, borrowing money to get to the airport, you know, gas to put in the car that I didn't even own. You know, I've rebuilt my life, but it's taken seven years to rebuild. And I had a lot of debt to repay. You know, in the end, I was a quarter million dollars in debt. Telling you, four years of running one. It's my experience, if you have the money to blow, you have disposable income, you've got money that you can take care of any problem that comes along, engine, transmission, gearbox, whatever, and you're not going to hurt your family, you're not going to hurt yourself financially, then go ahead and do it. But if you're the average Joe, and you know what? I'm talking about, you know, you make an average salary, you got a little bit of money saved up, but not a lot don't do it. So that's my opinion. Seven years later. Ever built my life and, and, and will I ever own another one? I highly doubt it, you know, if I do really well over the next five or ten years, but then I'm going to be taken away from retirement and, you know, I highly doubt I ever do it again. The aircraft we use now are owned by other people and it's a great deal because we help them pay their insurance and put some money in their pocket to help pay for maintenance and we have an aircraft to use. But like last weekend I took my daughter up, I wanted to go fly. Take my daughter up. She hadn't flown in a while. It was a nice day. I go to the airport, I go out, fly the helicopter for an hour. When I get done, I write him a check and I go home. If the helicopter breaks, you know, this particular owner, I told him in the beginning, I'm like, buy one if you want, but just be prepared. Same speech I'm giving you all now. And you know, he just kept going, ah, whatever, you know, whatever. Well, already just in, you know, since October. He was like, man, I had to buy new tires, you know, to push it in and out before we had a dolly for it to use. He's man, I'm starting to feel what you're talking about. And he was freaking out over what he paid over just a set of tires, stupid little tiny round tires to push the helicopter in and out. Paid huge money, you know. So here it happens every time. I've helped a lot of people buy their own aircraft, usually wealthy. And even those guys will complain once they buy it. Then they come back to me and start going, oh my God, I spent this and oh my God, I spent that. And I always tell them, look, I told you up front, I pre warned you, I said they're expensive. And whatever the math is, comes out on paper, a helicopter manufacturer, let's just make up, you know. Joe Blow Helicopter Incorporated. Buy our helicopter. It operates for only $171 an hour. Whatever that is, double it. Because they're giving you the best case, absolute best case scenario for what that aircraft is going to cost you per hour. The real world number is not going to be 171. If they say it's 171 an hour, it's going to be 371 an hour. Just my opinion. So, hey, helicopter, land, ground school seven years online. Private pilots only. $49 a month. You can keep as long as you like. You can cancel anytime. We give you tons of insight. Not only do we cover everything you need to know to help you get through the private written oral flight test, we give you tips on everything. I throw in my experiences of 20 years flying along there as well to help you along. And, you know, we also try to motivate you and keep you, keep you moving forward with your rating. So 100% money back guarantee as well. Please subscribe the channel. Click the Bell to be notified of future videos. We'll put a yellow thing over there in the corner. Click that. Click the Bell. Leave us some comments about aircraft ownership, what you've learned and seen, and we shall see in the next video.