Rent, share or own a plane? What an hour costs at 25 to 200 hours a year

Whether it is cheaper to rent or to buy a plane depends first on how many hours a year you fly, and then on what the aircraft is worth and what your club charges. A flying club charges you dues and an hourly rate; an owner pays the hangar, the annual and the insurance whether the aircraft flies or not, and only the fuel and maintenance per hour. This guide compares three ways to fly — renting from a club, sharing an aircraft with partners, and owning one alone — with the same cost model as our aircraft ownership cost calculator and the published rates of real flying clubs.

Short answer: at 50 hours a year, owning an older Cessna 172 worth $100,000 alone costs about $414 per hour flown at US prices, insurance and depreciation included; sharing it with three partners costs $180, and flying at one of six US clubs that publish a wet rate $106 to $218 an hour, dues included. Owning alone only becomes cheaper than four of those clubs from 180 to 351 hours a year, and not below 1,000 hours against the two cheapest. Sharing with three partners beats the same four clubs from 24 to 66 hours a year each.

What one hour costs you: club, sharing or owning alone

• Flying club — 6 US clubs, cheapest to dearest
• Sharing — one of 4 owners
• Owning alone

Hours a year	Flying club, per hour	Sharing with 3 partners, per hour	Owning alone, per hour
25 h	$118–$261 $255 $731
50 h	$106–$218 $180 $414
100 h	$100–$197 $147 $255
150 h	$98–$189 $137 $203
200 h	$97–$186 $131 $180

What renting from a flying club costs

A club charges two things: dues, and an hourly rate for the aircraft. Six US clubs among those we checked state a wet hourly rate — fuel included, like the owner's hourly cost below — and one dues amount on their own pages: from $94.39 an hour with $50 a month in dues (Hokie Flying Club) to $175 an hour with $180 a month (TSS Flying Club). Spread over the hours you fly, the dues decide what an hour really costs: $118 to $261 at 25 hours a year, $106 to $218 at 50 and $100 to $197 at 100.

Three things to keep in mind. These are club rates for members, not the rental rate of a flight school or FBO, which we have not compared here. The aircraft differ: TSS Flying Club's rate is for a Cessna 172S, the other five for a Cessna 172M, a Cessna 172 or a Piper PA-28. And four of the six bill per tach hour, which runs slower than the clock: AOPA puts tach time typically 10 to 20 percent below Hobbs time. Per hour on the clock, those four clubs are cheaper than the figure shows. How dues and rates differ between clubs is worked out in how much a flying club costs.

What owning alone costs

The example aircraft is a Cessna 172N/P built in 1980 and worth $100,000 — an example value, not a market price. Below about 167 hours a year the calculator puts its fixed costs at $11,947 a year at US prices (hangarage, the annual inspection, an engine overhaul reserve, a navigation database, charts, a weather service and the owner's own bookkeeping time) plus $97 for every hour flown. Above that, the engine reaches its hour limit before its calendar limit and the reserve moves into the hourly cost: $9,030 a year plus $115 an hour. Insurance and depreciation come on top: in the calculator's assumptions $1,900 of insurance (1.2% of the hull value plus liability) and $2,000 of depreciation a year (2% of the value, for an aircraft over 20 years old).

Together that is $731 per hour flown at 25 hours a year, $414 at 50, $255 at 100 and $180 at 200. The fixed costs do not shrink when you fly less, so every hour you do not fly makes the others dearer. A new aircraft changes the picture: insurance and depreciation follow the price, and for a new Cessna 172S they are the largest costs of all — see how much it costs to own a plane and the partnership comparison in how much a flying club costs.

Sharing: owning with partners

Partners split the fixed costs and each pays the hourly cost of their own flying. With four owners who each fly 50 hours a year, the aircraft flies 200 hours, and one owner's share comes to $180 per hour flown — less than half of owning alone, and within the range of the clubs. At 25 hours each it is $255, at 100 hours $147. Sharing also has costs no calculator shows: someone else's bookings, someone else's landings, and an agreement that has to settle who pays what and how a partner leaves — see what to put in an aircraft partnership agreement.

From how many hours owning or sharing is cheaper

From how many hours a year owning or sharing is cheaper than the club

Club	Wet rate and dues	Owning alone	Sharing, 4 owners
TSS Flying Club (USA)	$175 an hour + $2,160 a year	Owning alone: from 180 h a year	Sharing: from 24 h a year
FAA Flying Club (USA)	$150 an hour + $1,500 a year	Owning alone: from 327 h a year	Sharing: from 50 h a year
Hokie Flying Club (USA)	$94.39 an hour + $600 a year	Owning alone: not below 1,000 h	Sharing: not below 1,000 h
Westchester Flying Club (USA)	$144 an hour + $2,760 a year	Owning alone: from 351 h a year	Sharing: from 26 h a year
Skyhawk Flying Club (USA)	$105 an hour + $1,620 a year	Owning alone: not below 1,000 h	Sharing: not below 1,000 h
Oregon State Flying Club (USA)	$155 an hour + $600 a year	Owning alone: from 309 h a year	Sharing: from 66 h a year
Sabena Aeroclub (Belgium)	€216 an hour + €210 a year	Owning alone: from 194 h a year	Sharing: from 46 h a year
Fliegerclub Nürnberg (Germany)	€189 an hour + €940 a year	Owning alone: from 338 h a year	Sharing: from 62 h a year

Against the four dearer US clubs, owning the $100,000 Cessna 172 alone becomes cheaper from 180 hours a year (TSS Flying Club) to 351 hours (Westchester Flying Club); against Hokie Flying Club and Skyhawk Flying Club, whose rates are lowest, it does not below 1,000 hours. Sharing with three partners is cheaper than those same four clubs from 24 to 66 hours a year each.

The tach hours move those numbers. If a tach hour is 10% shorter than an hour on the clock — the low end of AOPA's range — owning alone only matches TSS Flying Club from 254 hours a year, FAA Flying Club from 572 and Westchester Flying Club from 697, while sharing still beats them from 30, 87 and 37 hours.

In Europe, only two clubs we checked publish a wet rate in euros with one dues amount, so take them as examples, not as Europe: at the calculator's European prices and the same aircraft valued at €100,000, owning alone matches Sabena Aeroclub from 194 hours and Fliegerclub Nürnberg from 338, and sharing from 46 and 62 hours. Fliegerclub Nürnberg's rate is for a diesel Cessna 172 TDI.

So for a pilot who flies 50 to 100 hours a year, the real choice is between a club and a partnership, not between a club and owning alone. At 25 hours a year even sharing ($255 an hour) is cheaper than only the dearest club. Owning alone makes sense when you fly a lot, when you need the aircraft available on your own terms, or when you want a type or equipment no club offers.

What the numbers leave out

• The money tied up in the aircraft. Depreciation is included; the interest you would earn on, or pay for, the purchase price is not. The calculator lets you add it as a line of your own.
• Joining fees and buy-ins. Ten of the 17 clubs we checked charge a one-off joining, initiation or application fee or a buy-in, and joining a partnership means buying a share of the aircraft. Neither is in the hourly figures.
• Availability. A club aircraft is shared with every member, a partnership aircraft with three others, your own aircraft with nobody.
• The aircraft value. Hull insurance and depreciation scale with what the aircraft is worth; the liability cover does not. Put your own value into the calculator.

Working it out for your own aircraft

Every number above is a planning assumption, not a quote. Open the aircraft ownership cost calculator, pick your type, year and value, set the number of owners and your hours, and compare the result with your club's rate and dues. If you end up sharing, the aircraft partnership software guide shows how partnerships keep the monthly share and the hourly charges straight.