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Hello, I'm Brandon Martini, a commercial pilot and flight instructor.

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And I'm Carson Vasquez.

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I'm a private pilot.

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And you're listening to the Aviation Mentors podcast sponsored by Stratis Financial.

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So buckle up because the aviation mentors are taking off.

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Welcome back everybody.

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We're going to be talking about something kind of near and dear to my heart.

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And it's something that I've got to deal with for, I don't know, about six, seven, eight

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years or something now.

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And that is ownership of an airplane.

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Airplane ownership can be amazing.

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It can also be detrimental to your health at some points.

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So we're going to talk about kind of all sorts of things today relating to owning an airplane

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and what that kind of takes.

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And I'm really excited about this one because, like I said, I've been an airplane owner for

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several years now and multiple airplane owner at some times.

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And the icon has been fun.

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And right now it's still in maintenance and it's kind of the bane of my existence at the

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moment.

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So it makes me feel like I want to get rid of it.

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As much as I love my icon, that maintenance is killing me right now, especially because

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I can't get the parts for it.

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So we're going to talk about airplane ownership today.

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And as always, if you guys ever have questions, please feel free, shoot them over to us.

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A couple of these questions we're going to talk about today, we actually got from some

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listeners.

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So thank you for sending those over to us.

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So let's start on a positive note then.

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I don't want Brandon being all sad and negative about how much his plane is costing him.

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And I don't have an airplane yet.

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Like we talked about last time is I'm looking for a plane about the cost of a bike.

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And he did offer me a plane about that cost.

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But since I don't have it, I don't have to worry about maintenance costs.

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So on a happy note, what are the benefits of owning your own airplane?

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First off, freedom.

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That is a big benefit.

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I know my friend Anthony, he's the CEO of Stratis Financial.

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He was on the podcast maybe a month or two ago.

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But he told the story, we were at a conference together last week, and I think he told the

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story five times on what the major benefit of owning an airplane is.

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And it is freedom.

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It gives you the ultimate freedom.

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I think that everybody who goes and does their first flight, at least on their first solo,

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they realize that they're all by themselves in an environment that a human is not supposed

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to be in.

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In the air, in the sky, we're like a bird.

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For thousands of years, our ancestors tried to become birds and learn to fly.

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And it really wasn't until the last 100, 120 years until we could actually make that a

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reality.

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So it's pretty amazing.

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And the benefit of owning your own plane is you get that first benefit of just having

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freedom like you get by renting an airplane as well.

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But now you don't have to put it on a schedule.

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You don't have to airline somewhere in particular.

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You don't have to sit in traffic on the 405 freeway or the 15 freeway going to Las Vegas

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or I was just in Miami last week or that traffic coming from Key Largo all the way up to Miami,

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which took me two and a half hours at seven in the morning.

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You could just fly and go above all the traffic and get around those things.

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You can also take your friends and family places that they never thought they could.

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You can go get the $100 hamburger, so to speak, which nowadays is probably more like a $400

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hamburger, but you can go do lots of things like that.

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You can just take a day trip that's somewhere a lot further away that you wouldn't really

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be able to drive to for a day trip.

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I know that I love just going out and going and having lunch.

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Camarillo Airport, Charlie Mike Alpha, that airport has the best tri-tip sandwich you'll

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ever have in your life.

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And they only do it on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

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I don't know if they do it on Sundays anymore.

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I think just Wednesday and Saturday.

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Carson's nodding his head like, yep, you're right.

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It's only Wednesday and Saturday.

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But if they ever have leftovers, they do a spicy version the day after, which is also

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really good.

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And then going out to, there's a place in Southern California called Casa Manchados,

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and that's at, it's at MYF Montgomery Field.

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That place is fantastic too.

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I'm telling you guys all my secret places.

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Now everybody's going to flock there.

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I'm a little scared now.

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But those are some really cool places Southern California I like to go to.

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Catalina Island.

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I mean, that's a benefit.

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You can go there and go hiking for the day.

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You can go get a Buffalo Burger.

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You can do what I do and go to the Catalina wine mixer there and go for the weekend and

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just make it a fun little trip.

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So I mean, I could literally talk about benefits to flying all day long.

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And plus it's cool.

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Who doesn't like to say I'm a pilot?

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There's always a joke that you always hear.

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How do you know when a pilot walks into a bar?

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I guess he'll tell you.

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And it's true.

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And we're all proud to be pilots.

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And I don't think we're trying to brag or anything like that.

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I think that everyone talks about being a pilot because it's something that we have

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so much passion for and so much fun.

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And it's really enjoyable.

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I know I absolutely love being a pilot.

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It's one of my favorite things.

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One of the reasons why we started this podcast to kind of share my knowledge and Carson's

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fun knowledge that he's had over the years and enjoy it with people who are listening

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like yourselves.

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So those are all major benefits to owning your own airplane.

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And just it all comes back to freedom.

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That freedom is pretty much what got me into flight training in the first place.

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When I was in high school, Matt and I were scraping together pennies to pay for gas to

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just go and fly after school and then scraping together a couple more to go and get a hundred

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dollar hamburger.

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My spot was French Valley.

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So Foxtrot 7-0 went to the cafe there and split the little slider deal they had every

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time.

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That was the thing.

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I'm glad somebody likes that airport cafe because I'm not really a fan.

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Every time I've gone there, I just the food is just not been fantastic.

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But maybe I need to give it another shot.

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If you like it, I should probably give it another shot.

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I know that the airport cafe at Riverside is amazing though.

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Especially mama, the owner there, she just kicks butt with with her restaurant.

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So they even have a menu item named after me.

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So I'm not going to say it on here.

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You got to come here.

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You got to come and ask me and then I'll show you what the menu item is.

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It's pretty neat.

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Dude, I wasn't even a pilot yet.

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I couldn't tell Matt, hey, I want to go fly to Camarillo and go get some tri tip or a

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pilot.

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I was like, OK, I'm happy with the French Valley.

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This is what I got.

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I'm happy I'm getting here.

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I guess that's really true.

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I mean, you should have him take you to Big Bear.

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Big Bear's got a phenomenal restaurant there too.

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Yeah.

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And I don't even like breakfast.

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I know I'm weird.

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I don't like breakfast, but I actually like the breakfast.

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They actually have a Big Bear.

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So we're giving everybody all the good spots.

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And if you want to go pick up growlers of beer, can't drink it there, obviously.

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Eight hours bottle throttle.

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We've talked about that before.

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But hangar 24 at Redlands Airport is right across the way.

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So I've done like a run to go grab a growler of beer and bring it to a hangar party at

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Gino before.

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I mean, that is the type of stuff.

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That's why you own an airplane.

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You do it so you can go pick up growlers of beer or you want to go pick up some sandwiches

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from somewhere else and bring it and feed your friends and family.

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Like those are the fun parts about being a pilot and owning your own airplane.

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It gives you that freedom.

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You can't necessarily go jump in an airplane and say, hey, I want to go rent this because

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I just want to go 10 minutes away and I'll be back in a half an hour.

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You can't do that with a rental airplane.

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That's more planned and that's more thought through with your own airplane.

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You can literally just jump in it and go.

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Today Carson asked me if I'm flying today and I was like, no, I don't think so, but

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I need to go see my friends who hail at Gino.

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And I was going to drive there.

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I looked at my, I thought to myself, he's giving me a weird look.

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Like why the heck would you drive there?

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So I decided that I'm probably just going to take my 120 there.

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I want to get some table landings under my belt, some more of them.

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I don't have that many of my log books, so might as well go practice with that and go

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have a good time.

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Plus it doesn't burn much gas, but that's just something I'm just going to go outside

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and say, Hey, the weather's good enough, let's go.

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And I'm just going to go take the airplane and go.

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I don't have to talk to anybody about it.

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I don't have to rent it.

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I don't have to do anything like that, which that's pretty phenomenal.

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I think that there's a certain number you have to hit of hours that you fly where renting

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no longer makes sense and buying the plane does.

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I'm not sure about that number or the equation, figure that one out.

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But I figure, you know, aside from from the monthly payments on the plane, unless you

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just bought it outright and then the fuel, it is cheaper at some point to just have your

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own plane when you go and fly it all the time and go and do all those cool things.

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But it sounds like Brandon's a pretty passionate and he's feeling pretty good.

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So let's talk about bad things now.

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What are the downsides of owning your own airplane?

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Well, to answer that first part, the number varies on what type of airplane, how old it

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is, what you're currently renting, how much that costs.

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All those things are play a factor.

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What insurance cost is, et cetera.

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But typically it's somewhere around 100 hours of you renting a comparable airplane per year

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when it will start changing.

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The numbers will start making more sense for you to own an airplane.

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But it really depends.

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I've seen some as low as like 40 hours.

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I've seen some as 200 hours.

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So it really depends on you, depends on reserves and different things that you like to keep.

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And everyone has a different way of doing it.

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But just break down the math, break down the numbers and see what it will cost.

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Even some flight schools require you to have renter's insurance.

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Some don't.

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So you can get rid of that and just put it towards your regular plane insurance.

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There's a bunch of different factors.

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So it really changes.

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Some downsides.

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First off, whenever you buy an airplane, I tell everybody whatever the purchase price

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is, if it's a $20,000 airplane, plan on an extra $2,000 immediately that you're going

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to have to probably put into it.

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If it's a $100,000 airplane, I say immediately $10,000 you're going to have to put into it.

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Whatever the purchase price is, plan on 10% of that cost.

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Actually sometimes I'll say 10 to 20 depending on the airplane.

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But at least 10% of the purchase cost you're going to have to put back into the airplane

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within the first three to nine months, for sure within the next year.

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That doesn't include the annual or anything like that.

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That is just things that are going to break that haven't been used a lot.

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Most people sell airplanes because they're not using them.

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When things sit and don't work or are not used a lot, things are going to break.

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So if you have not used those gyroscopic instruments or they've only been used like five times

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in the past year and now you're all of a sudden flying it 100 times in the next year, guess

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what?

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Things are going to start breaking on it.

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So that might be considered a downside of owning an airplane.

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Things are going to break and sometimes you can't really know when that's going to happen.

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You don't know when your radio is going to go out.

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You don't know.

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You don't even know when the engine is going to start making metal or you don't know when

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the engine is going to stop running like it should.

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There are ways that you can tell and there's time before overhaul times, but I've seen

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engines fail at 200 hours and I've seen engines continue to 4,000 hours.

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I would actually prefer to be in the engine with 4,000 hours than I would to be in the

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with the engine with 150 hours because statistically more engines will fail at a lower time motor

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than at a higher time.

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We could go way into TBO and kind of the Mike Bush philosophy on TBO, which I'm a supporter

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of, but the biggest thing are costs are unknown.

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You could rent an airplane.

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The costs are always fixed.

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Now you own an airplane.

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Costs can be cheaper, but the one time you get an annual that you thought was going to

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be $2,000 is now $10,000 because your last ANP missed things or the person you had did

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the pre-buy did a really poor one and it actually had a bunch of airworthy issues that really

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need to get fixed.

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Or another downside could be what happens when the airplane's down for maintenance and

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you can't find a part.

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I know I have a Dutchess.

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I've had a Dutchess and on the hydraulic power pack, which moves the gear up and down, there's

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00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:31,120
a pressure switch on it.

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00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,280
That pressure switch is near impossible to find.

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00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:39,880
The last time I looked it up, it was $7,000 for this little switch the size of my thumb.

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00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:44,800
$7,000 and they were near impossible to find because they weren't made anymore.

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00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:49,840
You literally had to find an existing one from somewhere else and just take that power

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00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:52,040
pack and make sure that it worked.

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00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:53,040
It was impossible to find.

247
00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:54,480
I don't remember how I found it.

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I might have taken off another airplane or did something.

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00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:02,000
I don't remember how we figured it out, but somehow I got the part and I definitely did

250
00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,040
not spend $7,000 on it, but it was near impossible to find.

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00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,360
So the airplane was down for like five months because of that.

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00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:14,440
So if your airplane is down for five, six, seven, heck, it being down for a year if you

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can't find the right part.

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00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:20,600
Now if you buy an airplane that a lot of people have like a Cessna 172 or less moving parts

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00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:25,240
to break, that's the less likelihood of it actually being down.

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But that's a big downside.

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If you were planning on taking your family somewhere, planning on taking your friends

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somewhere and now all of a sudden you can't, that's a downside.

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The airplane is down for maintenance, costing you time, costing you money.

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It'd be worth it to start renting again at that point until your airplane's up.

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00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:44,640
So the biggest downside is really money because you get all the freedom, you get all the time,

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you get everything else.

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00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,840
The fixed costs can be the insurance, which has actually been going up 20 to 30% every

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year for the past few years.

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So it's not getting cheaper to insure an airplane.

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The fuel prices, that's also going up, but it's also going up for airplane rentals as

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well.

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So that doesn't really matter.

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Oil consumption, but the unknowns are really the maintenance.

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The maintenance can really kill it.

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So how do you predict those maintenance costs?

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I know it's completely variable and you don't know when things are going to break, but how

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do you see them coming in any sort of way?

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00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:16,920
And how do you handle that maintenance costs?

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That's $7,000 for a switch out of nowhere, which albeit you didn't pay, is quite a bit.

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Do you dump the plane when you can't handle it anymore?

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What's the solution?

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00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,660
Well there's a lot of derelict airplanes at airports.

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00:13:30,660 --> 00:13:33,560
You can go to any airport and you see airplanes that are just sitting and they've been sitting

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00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:34,640
there for 20 years.

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00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:38,480
I can't say on every instance this is the reason, but I'll say probably the majority

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of the reasons why airplanes sit there is because people can't afford the maintenance

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00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:43,080
on them.

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00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:47,440
And something's finally broke and they're not getting it fixed because either they don't

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have the money or they don't want to spend the money on something that's just a hobby

286
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or something like that.

287
00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:54,120
So you can predict some maintenance.

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Every engine has a TBO, a time before overhaul time, and that is a manufacturer recommended

289
00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:03,840
overhaul time when that motor needs to be changed.

290
00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:08,640
On most Cessna 172s, for example, the TBO is around 2,000 hours.

291
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:15,080
That varies on certain models obviously, but in general, somewhere around 2,000 hours.

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00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:18,800
You can bank on, you're probably going to need to replace that engine at 2,000 hours

293
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:24,200
and probably get the replace meaning overhaul the engine, which just you make it like new

294
00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:25,200
again.

295
00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:26,200
And same thing with the propeller.

296
00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:28,160
You're probably going to do that on the propeller.

297
00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:30,960
On a fixed blade prop, it's not as important.

298
00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,880
It's getting dressed and cleaned every time you go get a manual or a hundred hour inspection

299
00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,160
anyways, but they're really, they're pretty cheap.

300
00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:41,160
It's 800 to a thousand bucks to overhaul a fixed propeller now.

301
00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,480
So you bank on having to overhaul your prop.

302
00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:49,200
You have to bank on overhauling your engine and you have to bank on all the maintenance

303
00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:50,200
involved.

304
00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:56,920
So it's 40 to 60 hours to remove and reinstall an engine and propeller on like a 172 typically

305
00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:00,160
could be a little less depending on the maintenance shop and whatnot.

306
00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:04,880
But then also you have to think about the overhaul cost and used to be able to overhaul

307
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:13,740
an engine on a 172 with an O three 20 in it for somewhere around 18 to $22,000.

308
00:15:13,740 --> 00:15:16,640
Now I think that number is getting closer to 30,000.

309
00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,160
And if you want a factory remanufactured or something like that, you can add another 10

310
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:21,160
grand to it.

311
00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:25,040
So you're talking about a significant dollar amount that you have to put into this airplane.

312
00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:29,640
Some, some people finance the engines if they already have the airplane paid off.

313
00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,480
There's lots of things you can do, but that's probably the biggest factor.

314
00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:37,420
So if you've got an engine that has a TBO 2000 and you have a thousand hours on it,

315
00:15:37,420 --> 00:15:40,000
just plan on replacing that engine in a thousand hours.

316
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,560
And if you get more time out of it, fantastic, but there's also a chance you can get less

317
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:44,640
time out of it.

318
00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:45,720
So just be prepared.

319
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,380
You should start having a healthy reserve or savings.

320
00:15:48,380 --> 00:15:50,880
If that's how you manage your dollars for your airplane.

321
00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:52,760
I come from a different perspective.

322
00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:55,640
I like to take my money and invest it in certain ways.

323
00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:57,280
So I have positive cashflow.

324
00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,280
And then if I need to, I can pull out that investment and use utilize it to, to purchase

325
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:05,560
that engine or I'll have positive cashflow asset that, that is paying me a higher interest

326
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:07,740
than I would be paying on the, on the motor.

327
00:16:07,740 --> 00:16:12,160
And I could take a loan out against that motor and have still positive cashflow.

328
00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:13,880
There's different ways that people do it.

329
00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:15,360
I do it with cashflow.

330
00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:20,080
Some others will create a savings account where it creates a reserve, but I would say

331
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:24,360
keep it in an engine reserve of some sort, however you want to do it or just plan on

332
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:25,360
it.

333
00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,360
So if you keep an avionics reserve, I would say probably 10% of your airplane costs because

334
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:30,580
the avionics will go out.

335
00:16:30,580 --> 00:16:33,520
And when they go out, I bet you you're going to want to replace them with something newer,

336
00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,240
shinier for you just to replace a radio, by the way.

337
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,720
It's like 40 hours to replace one radio, one calm nav hooked up to your audio panel.

338
00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:41,720
It's around 40 hours.

339
00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,120
It's a lot of labor, a lot of work.

340
00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,400
So sometimes when you do that, you might as well replace the whole stack because it's

341
00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,720
not too much longer to replace all of them rather than just place one radio.

342
00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:57,720
And then I also say have another 10% saved of the airplane total cost for your annual.

343
00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:59,960
Now granted, these are just kind of round numbers.

344
00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:03,820
There's other people that have broken it down and they know exact numbers they need to keep

345
00:17:03,820 --> 00:17:04,820
for an airplane.

346
00:17:04,820 --> 00:17:08,040
But if you're a first time airplane owner, these are really round numbers that are easy

347
00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:09,720
to know and remember.

348
00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:11,960
That's what you should expect to have to put in the airplane.

349
00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,040
And the 10% per year is probably pretty accurate.

350
00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,840
If you have a $100,000 airplane, you're probably going to put, I don't know, five to 10 grand

351
00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:21,960
per year into a Cessna 172 or 182.

352
00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:22,960
It's just going to happen.

353
00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:23,960
Your annual is going to be $2,500.

354
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,440
Your petrostatic is going to be a few hundred dollars.

355
00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:30,880
And that's if no squawks and you don't want to replace anything or you don't want to upgrade

356
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,840
any of the panel plastics or none of the anything goes out.

357
00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:39,940
So there are possibilities to get things done cheaper, but just remember you're playing

358
00:17:39,940 --> 00:17:41,280
with your life.

359
00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:45,760
And so don't just get things done cheap, get them done right.

360
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,480
Cheaper is not the best way always.

361
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:49,480
You can find a deal though.

362
00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:50,480
I always love a deal.

363
00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:51,480
Yeah.

364
00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:55,040
My philosophy is always just buy the best that your money can buy you at the time.

365
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:56,440
And that's going to treat you pretty well.

366
00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,800
If you can only afford to replace it with the same exact piece, then do it.

367
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,140
But if you can afford to upgrade it, do it.

368
00:18:03,140 --> 00:18:06,980
But that was a terrifying amount of money that we just talked about.

369
00:18:06,980 --> 00:18:08,360
So let's get back to the good stuff.

370
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:13,080
How does owning a plane impact your travel decisions?

371
00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,360
So this is a pretty good one that I think Brandon would love to answer considering I

372
00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:19,000
can't remember the last time this guy has driven to Vegas.

373
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,360
I think you've only ever flown to Vegas since you've got your pilot license, except for

374
00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:24,760
maybe one or two exceptions.

375
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:27,600
But I think pretty much every time you've flown.

376
00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:30,720
So how does owning a plane impact where you're going to travel?

377
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,820
Unfortunately, the last few times I've went to Vegas, I think two or three, the weather

378
00:18:33,820 --> 00:18:37,960
was just terrible and I had to drive.

379
00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,760
But owning a plane does impact your travel decisions.

380
00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:43,000
Like I like going to wine country.

381
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:46,600
I like going to go find great places to eat.

382
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,160
I just love going and visiting some of my friends.

383
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:54,040
I know last year I got to visit one of my friends and mentors who ended up passing away

384
00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,480
about a month later, Joe Connolly.

385
00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:58,560
I ended up going to go visit him.

386
00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:04,100
And the fact that I owned an airplane and I can just get up and go to Deer Valley Airport

387
00:19:04,100 --> 00:19:06,840
in Phoenix area and just go visit him.

388
00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,240
I literally just said the night before I said, I'm going to leave tomorrow and I'm just going

389
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:11,240
to go.

390
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:12,240
I jumped in the airplane.

391
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:13,240
I left.

392
00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:14,240
I went there.

393
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:16,880
I was able to get a crew car for an hour and a half for free.

394
00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,680
People at the FBO are always fantastic over there at Qatar Aviation.

395
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:23,680
Got in that crew car, went and visited Joe for about an hour and a half, two hours, whatever

396
00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:27,320
it was, hopped back in the car, went back and I flew back home.

397
00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:28,840
And that was something kind of impactful.

398
00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:32,860
I mean, that did impact my travel decisions because either I was going to do that.

399
00:19:32,860 --> 00:19:37,240
I was going to drive six to eight hours each way with or without traffic or I was going

400
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:42,840
to hop in in Southwest or something and go jump on a big airplane and go into Phoenix.

401
00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,120
I have to go through TSA and all that other stuff.

402
00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:48,320
Regardless, it was going to take me a heck of a lot longer than it would if I just jumped

403
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:49,920
on my own airplane.

404
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:53,560
So owning your own airplane can affect your travel decisions quite a bit.

405
00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,160
I mean, that's a big one right there, just alone.

406
00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:01,120
And then flying to Vegas, it only takes an hour and a half and a 172, maybe up to two

407
00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:02,640
hours depends how the winds are.

408
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:07,520
But I've flown an Aerostar to Vegas and it took me like 50 minutes.

409
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:09,600
So you can fly to Vegas really quick.

410
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:14,160
50 minutes to Vegas from Southern California is actually quicker than taking an airline

411
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,880
if you're flying VFR because you can just fly direct.

412
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,920
There's some restricted airspace that you have kind of skirt through the middle of in

413
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,920
between restricted and restricted and some MoAs and stuff.

414
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:27,120
But you can go straight there compared to like a big airline while they're flying a

415
00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:30,560
route, an IFR route, no matter what, VFR or IFR.

416
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,680
So those are some ways that it can really impact your travel decisions.

417
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,880
And then also if it's icing out or something like that where a big plane would have been

418
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,480
able to get you there, you might not be able to go because of that.

419
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,040
And you seem to be ready to drive or cancel your trip.

420
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:43,600
But that's being a pilot in general.

421
00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,520
You have to know your limitations if you'll be able to fly or not fly.

422
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,400
But that's really the same thing as being an airplane owner, except for you have more

423
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,760
flexibility and you don't have cancellation fees from the flight schools.

424
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:53,760
That's for sure.

425
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:57,680
And if we're talking about cheap, owning your own airplane is probably not the way to go.

426
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,760
But how do you figure out at what point you're going to drive or at what point you're going

427
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,080
to fly yourself or fly commercially?

428
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:09,040
You know, flying to Utah is about a four hour flight and 172.

429
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,640
So how do you determine if you're going to do that flight or if you're just going to

430
00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,120
hop on an airline and fly there?

431
00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:18,640
It depends on what airplanes available to me, to be honest.

432
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:24,400
If it's a really fast airplane, I'd fly to Utah in a fast airplane like my friend's

433
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,160
Aerostar, I'd fly that.

434
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,640
If it was a 172, I'd probably take a commercial airplane.

435
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:31,440
If it's the icon, depends.

436
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:35,440
If I'm going to go see go to Lake Mead, then I would take that or go to Lake Habas.

437
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:36,580
So I'd take that.

438
00:21:36,580 --> 00:21:41,860
If I'm going to Orlando or Miami or somewhere in Florida, like I've been, which is all the

439
00:21:41,860 --> 00:21:46,520
way across the United States for me, like seven times in the past three months, then

440
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,160
I would definitely pick an airline.

441
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,800
So it's really kind of a time equation, right?

442
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,200
Time versus convenience or both really.

443
00:21:55,200 --> 00:22:00,000
So I always pick what's both time, cost, effective and convenient.

444
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,800
The cost effective kind of goes out of the way for the freedom perspective of it because

445
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:08,320
it costs a lot more money to go fly your own airplane to Vegas than it would take a $120

446
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:09,840
Southwest flight, right?

447
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:15,120
But the convenience, the lack of having to go through TSA and getting a free crew car

448
00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:18,420
and all those different things factor, obviously.

449
00:22:18,420 --> 00:22:22,920
So that's kind of how it impacts my travel decisions and where I want to go.

450
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,040
I don't think that any of us became pilots because it's cheap.

451
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,840
We became pilots because it's fun, because it gave us that freedom.

452
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,560
And it's an amazing thing that we get to do.

453
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,320
And owning your own airplane just kind of gives you that access to go and do those amazing

454
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,120
things and have even more freedom.

455
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:43,320
You don't have to ask someone for permission aside from ATC to go anywhere.

456
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:45,340
You can just go and do it.

457
00:22:45,340 --> 00:22:48,360
So owning an airplane, it's absolutely in my future.

458
00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:50,460
It's in Brandon's past, present and future.

459
00:22:50,460 --> 00:22:54,240
So he enjoys his own airplanes quite a bit and I really appreciate everyone listening

460
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:55,240
today.

461
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,080
Hope you have some incentive to go and own your own airplane now.

462
00:22:58,080 --> 00:22:59,080
100%.

463
00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,560
Don't let the negative things affect your positive decisions on that unless you really

464
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:06,400
just don't have the funds to handle that unexpected maintenance event.

465
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,260
I think that's probably the only downside that would really affect my decision on purchasing

466
00:23:10,260 --> 00:23:14,200
an airplane because I've owned several over the years and I absolutely love owning my

467
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:15,200
own airplane.

468
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:16,960
I don't think I could ever go back.

469
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,160
It's something that I have to have now.

470
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:20,640
It's just one of those things.

471
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:22,920
But as always, thank you guys for listening so much.

472
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,880
If you'd like to reach out to either one of us, you can reach us at Twitter or Instagram

473
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,880
at MrMartiniGuy for me or at Carson underscore AV17.

474
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:37,080
You can also reach us on our emails, Brandon at AviationMentors.com or Carson at AviationMentors.com.

475
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:38,800
And thanks for submitting these questions too.

476
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:40,000
Keep them coming.

477
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:41,600
We love answering them.

478
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,640
And as always, as we wrap up for the day, remember, we're here to guide you in your

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00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:46,800
aviation journey.

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00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,400
So fly safe and enjoy the ride.