BeechTalk - BT

Username Protected · **Posted:** 10 Oct 2020, 18:34

IIRC, Stan said that it was more expensive to operate than his Navajo.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 10 Oct 2020, 18:56

Username Protected wrote:

IIRC, Stan said that it was more expensive to operate than his Navajo.

My Aerostar and Bell 47 operating costs were/are comparable on a hourly basis. I did however fly a lot more hours/year in the Aerostar. I could dig deeper and provide a more exact response but to be honest, I'd rather not know :hide:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 10 Oct 2020, 21:09

R44 is about $100 an hour in depreciation and 50 an hour in mx and 50 an hour in gas.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 12 Oct 2020, 22:50

Username Protected wrote:

R44 is about $100 an hour in depreciation and 50 an hour in mx and 50 an hour in gas.

All aircraft are money pits; take depreciation out of it. You said $100 in variable operating expenses. What do the fixed costs work out to be?

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 Oct 2020, 09:29

Username Protected wrote:

R44 is about $100 an hour in depreciation and 50 an hour in mx and 50 an hour in gas.

All aircraft are money pits; take depreciation out of it. You said $100 in variable operating expenses. What do the fixed costs work out to be?

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 Oct 2020, 15:29

Username Protected wrote:

Fixed costs extremely negligible. $3K for liability is the only one I can think of.

There's more than that.
Insurance, Annual, Storage, etc...

It sounds like with the depreciation taken into account it costs about as much per hour to operate as a light twin, which honestly is less than I'd have expected. If it weren't for the overhaul requirement it'd be cheap.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 Oct 2020, 15:59

"Technically" the 2,200 hour is also 12 calendar years. If you fly 183 hours/year it is very reasonable and the $100/hour is more or less accurate (although I think the $220K for overhaul might be on the low side).

I'm not sure which on the 12 calendar years items are in fact mandatory and which are optional. Mike has suggested here that only the blades are a mandatory calendar replacement item. That has not been the interpretation of friends here in Canada who have R44's although that may be based on Transport Canada's more stringent regulations. I will ask them next time I see them.

If any of the 12 year calendar are in fact mandatory and you don't fly 2,200 hours in 12 years then your hourly cost increase accordingly.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 Oct 2020, 16:52

Having to account for hourly depreciation is not limited to the Robinsons. Most other helicopters just divy up the hourly into 100 different sub-items. The 'reciprocating dinglearm control bearing sleeve' is due after X number of cycles etc. An older helicopter is nothing more than an accumulation of 'time remaining' numbers with a list of parts.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 Oct 2020, 17:13

Username Protected wrote:

Having to account for hourly depreciation is not limited to the Robinsons. Most other helicopters just divy up the hourly into 100 different sub-items. The 'reciprocating dinglearm control bearing sleeve' is due after X number of cycles etc. An older helicopter is nothing more than an accumulation of 'time remaining' numbers with a list of parts.

You are making my position of "plausible deniability" regarding helicopter expenses very difficult :tape:

Enstrom Helicopters F28F