Note: All prices are valid in 2009
This page is an informal summary of real life costs associated with flying with a "Pilot Permit - Ultralight Aircraft" (PPU). Where possible, some comparison is also provided with those certifications most similar to PPU.
Acronyms used:
PPR: Pilot Permit - Recreational Aeroplane
PPU: Pilot Permit - Ultralight Aircraft
PPL: Private Pilot License
CAD: Canadian Dollar
- Licensing cost (this is how much it typically costs to get your certification):
- Transport Canada (TC) has developed and published the minimum requirements for each of the three certifications. Although legally it is possible to get the certification by meeting these requirements, flight schools generally don’t find this enough to issue a license. Therefore the prices below reflect real-life price ranges, which are higher than what it would cost to only meet TC’s minimum requirements.
- The best way to minimize cost is to save up the estimated price based on the numbers below, so you don’t end up running out of cash in the middle of your studies. This way you can take lessons with optimal frequency (please discuss this with your instructor) which results in no need to re-learn (and pay again for) forgotten material.
- PPR: 5,000 – 7,000 CAD
- PPU: 3,000 – 6,000 CAD (DancAir's estimate can be viewed here.)
- PPL: 11,000 – 14000 CAD
- You may think that instructors want to give you more lessons than necessary, in order to make more money. While it cannot be guaranteed that this doesn't happen, it is very rarely the case. The simple reason is that the student may always go to another establishment to get checked out (DancAir offers this service as well) and the bad word of mouth would soon kill an enterprise with such a bad habit.
- There are establishments (DancAir is one of them) which offer a flat fee training. This arrangement may make you think that contrary to the previous one, instructors may want to give you fewer lessons than necessary, because they don't make more money out of you anyway. Again, even worse than words of mouth, wracked planes and injured (let alone dead) pilots would put that school out of business rather soon. It is also worth noting that your safety is ultimately in your hands (see the Safety page), so no matter how safe your instructor says you are, it is ultimately your decision to fly or not.
- Dancers: DancAir will give a 10% discount if you provide a letter in writing on Company Letterhead from the owner of the Dance Studio that you are the owner, employed by them, or a student.
- Flying cost:
- Renting
- Renting costs for certified aircraft start at 150 CAD/hour (including fuel, oil, all fees, surcharges and taxes) which translates to at least about 2,000 CAD/year considering currency requirements (see the Rental vs. Ownership page).
- Renting costs of ultralight aircraft are 50% - 70% that of certified ones.
- Extended rent: Renting the plane is charged by the hour. Extended rate is typically negotiated as 4-6 hours/day. This means that if you fly away for three days, your flight time may be 3 hours one way (6 hours round trip), but you pay the extended rate for 3 days (12-18 hours). VERY expensive!
- Owning
- This requires an initial investment, but the hourly cost is a fraction of renting costs, especially on cross country trips, where you only pay for the actual flight time, not the extended rate.
- You may purchase the plane alone or shared by a group. How many hours do you plan to fly a year? Most privately owned aircraft fly between 100 and 200 hours of the 365*24=8760 hours in a year. This means that they are used less than 2.5% of the time and they are on the ground more than 97.5% of the time. (For ultralight aircraft, where flyable hours are restricted to daylight, these numbers are 5% and 95% respectively.) This indicates that shared ownership is a better use of the money.
- Brand new ultralight aircraft prices range from below 20,000 CAD (Challenger 447) to about 150,000 CAD depending on speed, useful load, range and comfort.
- Brand new certified aircraft prices range from 175,000 CAD (DA20 Eclipse) to millions.
- Hourly flying cost of an ultralight aircraft is 20 – 60 CAD depending on aircraft type and how old the engine is when you purchase it. Explanation: The most major expenditure in the life of the aircraft will be the engine overhaul or its replacement after a given (by the engine manufacturer) number of hours. It is smart to distribute this cost to flying hours (this is called the engine reserve) and put it aside in the bank. This way, when it comes to overhauling the engine, you have the money. If you purchase the aircraft when the engine is already at half time, your hourly engine reserve cost doubles, which drives the hourly flying cost higher.
- Hourly flying cost of a certified aircraft is 60 – 600 CAD or significantly more depending on aircraft type and (the same way as for ultralights) the age of the engine.
- Insurance
- Insurance is included in the rental fee. However, the deductible is not. All rental companies will have you sign a form saying you understand and agree to this. The deductible is typically 5,000 CAD for both certified and ultralight aircraft.
- If you own the airplane, you are not required by law to insure it, just like you may not want to insure your car. You are, however, required to have liability insurance. Which starts at 130 CAD/year (usually enough for ultralights, but certified planes need about 10 times that). Should you decide to have hull insurance as well, that will cost 1.4% the value of the plane (land plane, not in motion) with a (usually) 500 CAD deductible.
- Not all planes you can buy can be insured. If you can’t insure it, it’s not legal to be flown. You better check before you buy!
- Hangar
- You don’t have this cost component if you rent.
- You can tie down the plane outside for 30 – 700 CAD/month depending on the location and the size of the plane. You can get a hangar space for 150 – 1500 CAD/month depending on the location and the size of the plane.
- Maintenance
- You don’t have this cost component if you rent.
- For an ultralight, you may spend 20 – 400 CAD for parts and labor, every 100 hours flown, depending on how handy you are (and do it yourself or have someone else do it) and how meticulously you intend to maintain your plane. There may be non-safety related deficiencies that must be fixed in certified aircraft by law, but not in ultralights.
- For a certified aircraft, all maintenance must be done by AMEs (Aircraft Mechanical Engineers) using certified parts. This is orders of magnitude more expensive than using non-certified parts. Also, annual inspections are mandatory for certified aircraft, but not for ultralights.
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