How to Choose What Kind of Aircraft to Buy
Owning an aircraft is an exciting and liberating experience. It provides unrivaled flexibility and freedom like no other whilst acting as a valuable business tool to compete in the fast-paced business environment of today.
However, when choosing a set of wings, it’s important to follow a checklist, similar to how you would when you go flying.
In this article, we’re going to give you a bird’s eye view of how to correctly choose an aircraft that will adorn you with years of happiness, freedom, and practicality.
Let’s get started.
Step 1: Define your mission
When navigating through the airplane buying process, it can be tempting to focus solely on the airplane, which is natural. But, to glean some truly useful insights into what kind of plane might be right for you, you need to zoom in on your needs (and wants). By understanding your mission, you can more easily understand what type of aircraft will bode best to your needs.
Some questions to ask yourself:
- How fast do you need to cruise?
- How much cargo will you typically be carrying?
- How many people will you typically be carrying?
- Will you be using the aircraft mainly for short trips or long ones?
Choosing an aircraft can be more complicated than meets the eye. Take some time to narrow down on the questions above.
Step 2: Analyse the costs
Similar to many big-ticket items, the purchase price of an airplane represents only a fraction of the overall big picture costs. Ongoing costs include:
- Fuel
- Care
- Hangar
- Cleaning
- Insurance
- Engine oil
- Ongoing and required maintenance
It’s important to analyse and understand these costs to give you a clear indication of what your budget allows.
Step 3: Research
Once you have defined your mission and analysed the costs involved in owning an aircraft, you need to do some research on what type of airplane best fits your needs and budget.
There are a wide variety of aircrafts available today and the goal you should have in mind is to match one to your needs and budget as accurately as possible. Spend some time getting to know the difference between jets, turboprops, and piston aircraft.
At the end of the day, owning an aircraft is a fantastic experience if you go about the process in a professional, thoughtful, and careful way – similar to how you would a pre-takeoff checklist. The good news is that you don’t have to brave the process alone; a custom aviation solutions provider can help ensure a successful acquisition.