3 ms·

your reckoning with the expense of getting into the air for fun is this: Go take about $2000 in various denominations and flush it down the toilet. Did that f

your reckoning with the expense of getting into the air for fun is this: Go take about $2000 in various denominations and flush it down the toilet. Did that feel good? /s If that didn't hurt too bad, you're past the first hurdle.

Solvency 3y ago
What about all the relatively poor Alaskans who fly small planes around (no roads, tracking animals, checking traps)? What are the dynamics such that they can afford that lifestyle?
- blantonl 3y ago
  there are exceptions to every rule. Alaska and aviation is literally the wild west. The dynamics are they essentially have to make it work.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Like the similar situation in Australia, there's a strong culture of "you'll probably only kill yourself" that allows a lot of things to be overlooked.
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  Cutting corners. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-we-tallied-alaska-aviation-deaths https://www.propublica.org/article/how-we-tallied-alaska-avi... > A KUCB and ProPublica analysis has found that in recent years, Alaska has accounted for a growing share of the country’s fatalities from crashes involving small commercial aircraft. Since 2016, 42% of the country’s deaths in these crashes occurred in Alaska, up from 26% in the early 2000s.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    The percentage of aircraft crashes in Alaska in the 60s that involved alcohol was depressingly high.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Flying comes down to a "dollars per minute" - you can rent a plane "wet" today for $120-200 an hour (depending on your location) - which translates to $2 per minute or about $1 a mile. Rental prices include everything so you can own your own plane for less, it'll be ancient and old, and if you do your own maintenance it can be even cheaper.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    If you rent less than about 150 hours/year, you probably can't own for less money. (The first minute each year costs about $20K [calendar-based maintenance, hangar, insurance, databases/avionics subscriptions]; every hour after that costs less than renting.) Most people who own do so for flexibility rather than savings. It usually costs more to own, but it also lets you get a plane you probably can't rent, configure it the way you want, leave all the headsets and supplies in the plane, fly it when you want without scheduling, fly it somewhere and stay for a week without paying daily minimums, etc.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      That matches my math when I was flying, if you're not doing 10+ hours a month or have a specific mission that can't be solved by rentals, you're best off renting. There's a middle-ground which is quite common of the "own a share" - you and five others buy and maintain a plane and "rent" it from yourself - this works great if the times you want to fly don't all overlap.
      - sokoloff 3y ago
        The partnership angle is a great one! I really wish I could have found great partners two decades ago. (I'd probably have a lot more money in the bank now, even if it meant we'd have missed more Christmas trips or moved that travel to the airlines because a partner had the airplane.)

Solvency 3y ago

What about all the relatively poor Alaskans who fly small planes around (no roads, tracking animals, checking traps)? What are the dynamics such that they can afford that lifestyle?

blantonl 3y ago
there are exceptions to every rule. Alaska and aviation is literally the wild west. The dynamics are they essentially have to make it work.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Like the similar situation in Australia, there's a strong culture of "you'll probably only kill yourself" that allows a lot of things to be overlooked.
ceejayoz 3y ago
Cutting corners. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-we-tallied-alaska-aviation-deaths https://www.propublica.org/article/how-we-tallied-alaska-avi... > A KUCB and ProPublica analysis has found that in recent years, Alaska has accounted for a growing share of the country’s fatalities from crashes involving small commercial aircraft. Since 2016, 42% of the country’s deaths in these crashes occurred in Alaska, up from 26% in the early 2000s.
- bombcar 3y ago
  The percentage of aircraft crashes in Alaska in the 60s that involved alcohol was depressingly high.
bombcar 3y ago
Flying comes down to a "dollars per minute" - you can rent a plane "wet" today for $120-200 an hour (depending on your location) - which translates to $2 per minute or about $1 a mile. Rental prices include everything so you can own your own plane for less, it'll be ancient and old, and if you do your own maintenance it can be even cheaper.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  If you rent less than about 150 hours/year, you probably can't own for less money. (The first minute each year costs about $20K [calendar-based maintenance, hangar, insurance, databases/avionics subscriptions]; every hour after that costs less than renting.) Most people who own do so for flexibility rather than savings. It usually costs more to own, but it also lets you get a plane you probably can't rent, configure it the way you want, leave all the headsets and supplies in the plane, fly it when you want without scheduling, fly it somewhere and stay for a week without paying daily minimums, etc.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    That matches my math when I was flying, if you're not doing 10+ hours a month or have a specific mission that can't be solved by rentals, you're best off renting. There's a middle-ground which is quite common of the "own a share" - you and five others buy and maintain a plane and "rent" it from yourself - this works great if the times you want to fly don't all overlap.
    - sokoloff 3y ago
      The partnership angle is a great one! I really wish I could have found great partners two decades ago. (I'd probably have a lot more money in the bank now, even if it meant we'd have missed more Christmas trips or moved that travel to the airlines because a partner had the airplane.)