Warbird Information Exchange

Anyone able to provide a cost estimate in US $, to what is the most expensive propeller or jet warbird to run/operate?.

Anything that sucks, blows or have more than 1 qty turning, must be a guzzler on the wallets of all owners one can easily understand.

I bet there could even be cheap ones that slowly guzzle money out LOL .

So over to you guys - i would say fuel is the cost per hour.
Repairs are variable so that cant be really estimated well.

My best guess would be that big ol' Vulcan Bomber across the pond that they rehabbed and put back up as being "pricey" an at the other end of the spectrum, L-Birds (don't know which one is cheapest to obtain and operate) Just my guesses. No idea as to actual costs, fuel, oil, insurance, hangaring, yearlies, tires (tyres for some of you), assorted nuts, bolts and engines!

Unless there are any old assault/training gliders out there that are considered warbirds, their upkeep is even lower!

The TG3A that F1G Pilot and me (others) restored was pretty cheap to operate. Now that we have a winch on our field (5c1) it would be really cheap. Its' really cheap now, as it is hanging up in the museum in Midland.

Easy numbers (all numbers are PER ENGINE, thus double the number for a 2 engine aircraft, quadruple for a 4-engine aircraft, etc)-

Transport/Bomber - $600/hr Under 10,0000lbs; $1000/hr Over 10,000 lbs

Fighter - $500/hr Under 1500HP; $1000/hr Over 1500HP

Trainer - $300/hr Under 1000HP; $700/hr Over 1000HP

This may sound high, but remember these are aircraft that usually fly less than 100 hours a year. As such, you have to recover your annual, fix maintenance costs (i.e. overhauls), and parts costs in a shorter time. You always work in a certain amount of "slush" into your operating costs for unexpected maintenance. I've found that working in (over a year of operations) the cost of replacing a major component into the hourly cost (so divide the cost by 100 if you fly the plane 100 hours a year) will give a sufficient "slush" to fix most problems that you'll encounter.

I would assume that any jet with afterburner will probably be the most expensive. The two that come to mind are the Collings foundation F-4 and the Starfighter's teams' F-104's. Rick H can probably chime in here, but I've heard the F-4 costs in excess of $10,000 an hour to operate.

There's also an assortment of Mig's around as well - a few Mig-21's and a Mig-23 in private hands. That Mig-23 has got to be HUGELY expensive to operate!

add

hangarage/parking
insurance
heavy maintenance checks
unscheduled bits breaking including engines sometimes
presents/dinners for wife or g/friend [or b/friend ]

_________________
..defeat is never an option!

So how do warbird owners actually afford if they dont give rides out, to finance their warbird aircraft flying time?

I assume being rich is the only way to have fun?

That's about my conclusion...

...you can't afford it.

CAPFLYER wrote:




In my experience these numbers a light for the Skyraider ( gas and oil alone exceed 1/2 that figure), but it really depends on how you do the accounting. First I have a full time mechanic, hangar, huge property taxes on the airplane, etc. that have to be considered. Also I don't fly the airplanes 100 hours a year so that has to be taken into account. An appearance fee for an airshow is usually less than a single hours true operating cost.

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Eric

"I spent most of my money on alcohol, women and skyraiders....and the rest of it I just wasted."