On January 2nd 2011 I was over at the Rockliffe Flying Club signing papers and writing a really big cheque.
At that point I officially took the plunge and became an aircraft owner (in a partnership) And since then I've been a half share owner in C-FQEO A piper Cherokee 140.
A first plane that is suitable as a trainer with a fairly miserly fuel consumption (and spin certified for my CPL) was exactly what I was looking into. Faster and fancier planes may come in the future but i'm in no rush.
I learned a lot about flying and looking over my own plane after having been in an ownership situation for the year.
The most notable is that you become extremely well tuned to your aircraft when you keep flying only one.
Butterfly with sore feet landings become easy when your paying for tires.
The braking threshold becomes easy to find too when its always the one plane so you dont squeal out the tires on the short field.
The slightest strangeness in the engine quickly becomes apparent. You hear sounds in your plane that no one else will.
Its very nice ot have an engine that fires within a few rotations and only needs a second or two of starter cranking.
Availability is extremely good when you know where the plane has been and done and you are only balancing availability across a few people who fly under 100 hours per year. (Half the cost for the plane to be available essentially whenever you want)
The requirements are that there is good communication across all parties to make the partnership work but with that in place you are really paying for 1/2 to 1/3 of a plane to have availability essentially whenever yo want.
The one most notable downside of ownership I've discovered this year... Panel mount avionics are Shockingly EXPENSIVE
I'm happy to be flying and flying my own aircraft
