RockHopper wrote:Justa comment on your first airplane.... I've owned a Cessna120 for over 25 years and I can vouch for that being a great first airplane. Very affordable and easy to maintain which means you will fly it alot and gain lots of seat time and experience. As a young family of three, we air camped out of ours a bunch in the early days. Buy some backpacking gear and you will be set for adventure. My wife flew it right after she got her ticket and really gained confidence flying our 120. Other airplanes have come and gone, but the ubiquitous 120 still remains in the stable next to her big brother Skywagon. They're both keepers! On the hangar issue, try and see if you can find a shade hanger somewhere. Best of both worlds. Cheaper cost than an enclosed hangar, keeps the sun and snow off the airplane but lets it breath and keeps the moisture blown out.- just my 2 cents and 25 + years of aircraft ownership.

Where do you keep your planes, RockHopper?

I know it seems contrary, but it is hard to justify a hangar, unless you need somewhere to hide toys like dirt bikes, a couch and a beer fridge.

Metal lives outside and does fine. Fabric as others mentioned can live outside just as well - the flight schools here leave all their fabric Citabria and Decathlon's outside all year.

Hangar rental here is about $400/month or $5000/year. Outside tie-downs are $75 month or $1000 per year, so hangaring costs you an extra $4000 per year. If you plan to refabric every 20 years does the dollar saving pay for it? 4000x20 is $80,000 so yes, but before all the accountants jump on me that is a too simplistic calculation. You spend the hangar money at a steady stream and the fabric job is a one-timer after 20 years. At 3% per year, that extra $4000 (if you invested the money into a T-bill instead) you are spending actually ends up being $117,000. T'hell with a refabric job, I'll just throw the airplane away and buy another one. Actually it is even more than that because you have to account for an increase in hangar cost every year per inflation, so $400/month now might be $700/month in 20 years. I'm kinda like Barbie right now (I can't do math) but some backcountry accountant can probably give us the right numbers.

And yes, I have a hangar with my fabric airplanes in it, and dirt bikes, and a couch, and a microwave.......

I figure it the same way. The aircraft I'm looking at are all under 50K. $450 a month hangar fees vs $45 for tie down. If you have a brand new Carbon Cub I'm guessing you are going to put it in a hangar, but for me I'll take as good a care of it as I can (maybe a cover for the glass) and keep it outside. 10 years of hangar fees would buy another plane.

Karmutzen wrote:I know it seems contrary, but it is hard to justify a hangar, unless you need somewhere to hide toys like dirt bikes, a couch and a beer fridge.

Metal lives outside and does fine. Fabric as others mentioned can live outside just as well - the flight schools here leave all their fabric Citabria and Decathlon's outside all year.

Hangar rental here is about $400/month or $5000/year. Outside tie-downs are $75 month or $1000 per year, so hangaring costs you an extra $4000 per year. If you plan to refabric every 20 years does the dollar saving pay for it? 4000x20 is $80,000 so yes, but before all the accountants jump on me that is a too simplistic calculation. You spend the hangar money at a steady stream and the fabric job is a one-timer after 20 years. At 3% per year, that extra $4000 (if you invested the money into a T-bill instead) you are spending actually ends up being $117,000. T'hell with a refabric job, I'll just throw the airplane away and buy another one. Actually it is even more than that because you have to account for an increase in hangar cost every year per inflation, so $400/month now might be $700/month in 20 years. I'm kinda like Barbie right now (I can't do math) but some backcountry accountant can probably give us the right numbers.

And yes, I have a hangar with my fabric airplanes in it, and dirt bikes, and a couch, and a microwave.......

That's a refreshing opinion.