Kenny Keller shares how a $2,200 helicopter inspection ballooned to $6,000 after mechanics found additional problems. He breaks down the real costs of helicopter ownership versus renting, using his own experience as a cautionary tale.
Should I buy my own helicopter for training? I'm going to give you one good reason why you should think about this in addition to many other good reasons. And this is from Private Pilot 101 Helicopter Training Blueprint. You can get this down below free PDF or you can order the paperback. So for this video I just want to give you a quick story about this helicopter. Going in the beginning of last month, 400 hour inspection. We know it should cost around $2,200 for a typical R44 inspection. Some problems are found during that inspection that turns into two cylinders having to be removed, shipped across the country to the engine rebuilder, brought back. Long story short, that's three extra additional weeks of downtime. So there's $9,000 in revenue that didn't come in because the aircraft's out of service. And and then a $2,200 inspection turned into 6,000. Now, I must say, mechanics treated me right. I'm not complaining about what it cost. My point is that is money that was not intended to be spent and that's revenue that was going to come in to help pay for that lease payment that still has to be made. So for three weeks the aircraft's out of surface, surface service, the money's not coming in and you got more money going out the door. And this is what's going to happen in a lease environment or an ownership environment. It's always going to cost you more than what you think. Everybody does the math, oh, I can charge this much. Insurance is going to be this much, maintenance should be this much because the factory says it's only going to cost this much. That's all fine and dandy until these events are going to happen. Now, no matter what helicopter you're flying, things are going to break that weren't intended to be broken. It's just the way it works. So this is just another example too many that I could give you why a helicopter is always going to cost you more than what you think. One quick little update. We did a video in the past with Chris Nelson has a R22. He's got a couple hundred hours on it and we did a great video about ownership versus rent. And he said after a couple years of flying now and two or three hundred hours, he said I've spent basically the same being an owner versus if I would have rented. The advantage for him is he had a helicopter available for him to fly anytime he wanted and as long as he wanted. Where at a flight school environment, you got to get on a schedule and Share with other people, so on and so forth. So there's another little fun fact for you that Chris just brought up that out of a couple hundred hours of flight time, ownership basically cost the same as if he would have rented for every hour benefit. He had an aircraft that he could fly anytime he wanted to. Coming from scheduling, we do this thing called the final approach course where we bring you in and we put you on the schedule and we finish you up. You have your ratings pretty much wrapped up. You just need an aircraft, an instructor and an examiner all available at the same time. And, and we do that separate from flight school where you share the schedule with Billy Bob and Mary and Francine. And you can fly Tuesday, but then you can't fly until next Wednesday. We don't do that. You come here, it's us, you, the helicopter. Every day, finish up, go to the examiner, take a test and a twist on that. This is brand new. I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut, but I can't. FACS in Vegas this winter with Taz Chrisman. I'm getting the looks. I'm getting the looks. The evil eyes in the background there. I'll let it slip. So if you're interested in a check ride or flying or flying with Me or Taz 2018 Flight and Crystal Instructor of the year Dan Taz Chrisman. We'll be in Vegas. All right, Peace out.
When you feel the pressure to fly, but know the right decision is to stay on the ground, hit the hogs. No, go and live to fly another day.
Helicopterground.com alright, so we're going to give you another example. I'm going to take a drink of water first. All right. We're really doing it this time. They don't need to see my water. Well, that's okay. It's just a bottle of water. Another example for you. Fuck.
