Aircraft Ownership in Canada - Is it still feasible?
Posted by IbaJinx@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 24 comments
My partner and I earn a combined $200k CAD, which after tax and retirement savings contributions comes to $8000/month. I’ve been researching aircraft to own for the longest while, my criteria being:
- IFR capability with SBAS
- 2 Axis Autopilot
- More than 100 KIAS at 5000’
- 3 seats minimum
- Adequate capacity for some camping equipment (tents, baggage, etc)
The mission profile is fairly straight forward: being able to take my partner and I and some camping gear, go somewhere for a weekend, and come back. And ideally if there’s cloud cover to file IFR.
The past 6 months I’ve been looking around, I have seen no adequate aircraft for sale. Brand new ones will of course break the bank, but even used ones that don’t meet our needs are unaffordable. No matter what combination of math we do, the math just doesn’t work out.
Now that’s not considering operation, annual maintenance, hangar fees, insurance, you name it…and I can’t seem to wrap my head around how we can’t make this work. Does anyone here have any experience on aircraft ownership and costs, and how to manage this? Or is the dream of aircraft ownership really dead?
(This is Quebec, if that provides any context)
drain-angel@reddit
There's a Grumman Tiger on Barnstormers based out of NS that fits your criteria, albeit very pricey for the market - but that's the Canadian market in general, everyone is on crack.
I do agree with the other comments that the 30K/yr is a tight squeeze, but just based off purchase price alone, you can also consider buying from the US - just expect to pay 20K~ for the import process and I highly advise working with an AME who has done it before.
AnActualSquirrel@reddit
$30K CAD yearly will be difficult to achieve with all but the simplest of aircraft, unfortunately.
That leaves little room for progressive maintenance, overhauls, etc. in good years.
In bad years it won't be enough to keep it airworthy.
Prices for parts and service have been dramatically outpacing inflation lately.
IbaJinx@reddit (OP)
What’s a reasonable yearly budget for an IFR capable aircraft, then? I could adjust the 5-year-initial expense to be less to allow us more flexibility on yearly expenses.
AnActualSquirrel@reddit
I'd work backwards from your annual budget figure for any candidate airplane.
First subtract the fixed costs - hangar, insurance (estimate 3% of hull value to be conservative), basic annual inspection cost, a few thousand for very basic maintenance issues, loan payments (if applicable), subscriptions, etc.
Divide what's left by the total estimated direct operating costs for the candidate aircraft model - fuel, oil, engine overhaul reserves, prop overhaul reserves, etc.
That will give you the approximate number of hours you have the budget to fly each year based on the knowable costs.
I'd say if it results in less than 100 hours per year, increase your budget or find a cheaper aircraft to operate.
The unexpected maintenance costs (which you will encounter) will cut into this figure, so I wouldn't accept anything less than a budget that allows for 100 hours per year of the knowable costs.
Antique-Kitchen-1896@reddit
30k is fine if you are only looking at the cost of regular maintenance and aren't splurging left and right. I just look at my partnership's figure for 2025 and it came to 22k. However, that is only for what the group takes care of, doesn't include an engine fund or fuel and such. We are also fixed gear without the expense of maintaining retract. 20-25k been the normal sort of thing over the past number of years.
For reference we have a PA28-180. We have a full Garmin stack that gets us G5s, AP, WAAS GPA, ADS-B out, 2 radios with one having nav. Currently (due to the 51st state thing) we don't fly south so we only subscribe to databases for the Great White North. Adding the database for the 4th territory of Canada (hey why not? they are welcome to join us for universal health care) would add to the costs so keep that in mind. We as a group flies about 250 hours a year
Your budget of 30k vs our 22k fixed costs leave you with 8k for fuel and unexpected expenses.
You are planning 45 hours a year. Say 10 gal an hour for a 172 or PA28 with 180 which will get to the minimum of your speed requirements. At oh 2.30 a gallon lets say? You need to budget for at at least 1k in fuel. If you are going places you need to add in landing fees, parking fees/ramp fees. Should also put away 50 dollars an hour for engine reserve. So you are looking at a few thousand a year in variable costs. So say 5k.
Leaving you with 3k for unexpected things. A new airspeed indicator by itself could cost you 3k if you need a new one. And that was our experience we couldn't find a used on easily so had to order new.
Lopsided-Profile-662@reddit
If you have cash to buy the plane outright, it's quite feasible but you haven't posted any budget?
IbaJinx@reddit (OP)
That’s right my bad: the number we came up with is $250,000 over 5 years, with the following assumptions: - Including hangaring, insurance, and operating costs - 30 hours per year in the summer, 15 hours per year in winter - No more than $30,000 per year afterwards
Rainebowraine123@reddit
45 hours per year is nowhere near enough to justify ownership.
IbaJinx@reddit (OP)
What’s a reasonable order of magnitude for aircraft ownership to be worthwhile? Of course this could depend from aircraft to aircraft, but I would like to get an rough idea of what to expect
Rainebowraine123@reddit
At least 100. Maybe even a few hundred. Less than 50 hours per year a shared/partnered ownership would be way better.
Lopsided-Profile-662@reddit
There might be some options looking at Canadian Plane Trade, of course pending prebuys. Useful load may not fit your mission though.
https://canadianplanetrade.ca/classifieds/1980-beech-sundownder-aerobatic-gbsv
https://canadianplanetrade.ca/classifieds/1965-pa28-piper-cherokee-180c-95000-cdn
OrganicParamedic6606@reddit
$50k a year over the first five years on $8000/month seems like a huge lift
IbaJinx@reddit (OP)
We do have roughly $150k currently saved between various TFSAs, so we think we can deposit $100k relatively ASAP, or otherwise buffer it over 5 years to manage the initial expense.
Brevis001@reddit
Honestly, your numbers don’t sound crazy it’s just that aircraft ownership in Canada (especially Quebec) has gotten brutally expensive in the last few years. Between hangar scarcity, insurance spikes, and maintenance costs climbing, even people making solid incomes are getting priced out unless they’re okay with compromises (older avionics, lower performance, or VFR-only setups).
A lot of folks I know who fly similar missions have shifted toward partnerships or flying clubs to make the math work, especially for IFR-capable aircraft with decent speed. You still get access to the capability without eating 100% of the fixed costs. Full ownership isn’t dead, but it’s definitely moved into “luxury purchase” territory rather than something that pencils out cleanly.
Out of curiosity, have you looked into 2–4 person partnerships, or are you set on owning solo?
IbaJinx@reddit (OP)
I did try to look into a partnership, but my search for such a thing wasn’t fruitful. I did find several boards at local airports looking for coowners, but all the aircraft I found were equivalents to C150s or C152s (not meeting our needs).
Is there any open board where people are looking for coowners on well-capable aircraft? Or is the only forum to go to airport FBO bulletin boards and hope to find something interesting?
Lopsided-Profile-662@reddit
COPA's Canadian Plane Trade is a good place to watch: https://canadianplanetrade.ca/
IbaJinx@reddit (OP)
Just went through what was there. I see some options I can investigate, but it looks like coownership is more the way to go. I suppose the link you posted wouldn’t have any coownership posting, would it?
Antique-Kitchen-1896@reddit
You can always post online an ad to start a new partnership. They used to be quite common but recently I haven't see as many.
The struggle is finding the right people. You want people who follow the agreement, you want people who aren't struggling money wise and you want people who fly less than you ideally from a selfish point of view.
Even if you find those people, life plans changes, a lot of people lose interest and want to leave and you start all over again.
Still it's is better than being the only person holding the bag on a surprise maintenance event. Even changing your own oil it's nice to have someone else to help. Never mind scrubbing the crud off the belly and other unpleasant tasks.
Lopsided-Profile-662@reddit
They do post there too yes. Those type of listings pop up from time to time, but not consistently. For those, it's better to network with your flying communities and clubs.
Antique-Kitchen-1896@reddit
250k should buy you a plane with what you are looking for. Where are you looking?
https://canadianplanetrade.ca/classifieds/1965-pa28-piper-cherokee-180c-95000-cdn
You can certainly buy a usable airframe under 100k. Even if you have to redo the panel for IFR (which our partnership did) it'll still be under your budget.
Other costs varies. The partnership dropped i think 40k in first 2 years on maintenance events outside of expected costs. It gets costly fast. And by yourself you don't even have spare hands to help do work to reduce the costs.
Antique-Kitchen-1896@reddit
FYI my personal base income not counting my wife’s is more than your total and I am not in a position to do it on my own. Kids are expensive buggers.
KCPilot17@reddit
Well what's your budget? You didn't say. Annual income is not useful information.
IbaJinx@reddit (OP)
Sorry, posted it in response to someone else, $250,000 for the first 5 years, $30k per year afterwards
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
My partner and I earn a combined $200k CAD, which after tax and retirement savings contributions comes to $8000/month. I’ve been researching aircraft to own for the longest while, my criteria being:
- IFR capability with SBAS
- 2 Axis Autopilot
- More than 100 KIAS at 5000’
- 3 seats minimum
- Adequate capacity for some camping equipment (tents, baggage, etc)
The mission profile is fairly straight forward: being able to take my partner and I and some camping gear, go somewhere for a weekend, and come back. And ideally if there’s cloud cover to file IFR.
The past 6 months I’ve been looking around, I have seen no adequate aircraft for sale. Brand new ones will of course break the bank, but even used ones that don’t meet our needs are unaffordable. No matter what combination of math we do, the math just doesn’t work out.
Now that’s not considering operation, annual maintenance, hangar fees, insurance, you name it…and I can’t seem to wrap my head around how we can’t make this work. Does anyone here have any experience on aircraft ownership and costs, and how to manage this? Or is the dream of aircraft ownership really dead?
(This is Quebec, if that provides any context)
Please downvote this comment until it collapses.
Questions about this comment? Please see this wiki post before contacting the mods.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. If you have any questions, please contact the mods of this subreddit.