operational cost for a da40

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Th3Grung3

operational cost for a da40

Post by Th3Grung3 »

hey!

I'm inclined to buy a da40 for my personal use but I do not have a clear pictuRe for operational cost. This aircraft would be used in a arid semi arid condition/region.
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Kai
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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by Kai »

It depends all on so many factors, that I would not know where to start with. If cost was a factor, I would not fly. Once you have paid the DA40, which tears a 100-400k hole in your pocket, there is maintenance cost of anything between 2000 and 15000 a year (depending on the kind of annual maintenance and the mechanic you chose to work with). Insurance is quite cheap, my guess is 1200-1500 a year.

A brand new DA40 will, of course, have a greater depreciation in value in the first years. I know people who bought an older model and sold it a few years later for the same price again. But on the other hand, a new DA40 will have less repairs and cheaper maintenance in the first years.

Of course, the more hours you fly, the cheaper the hour of operation gets. On the fuel, a conservative value is 8 gallons per hour, again depending on the model. The newer models seem to sip a bit less fuel on the same cruise speeds.
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rwtucker
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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by rwtucker »

I agree with everything Kai said. I have been fortunate so far but in the interest of safety you don't want to budget for the best case.

Here are my approximate annual costs and numbers for my late 2007 XLS:

Insurance -- $1,418
Annual -- $300-500 (mostly owner work, IA supervised)
GPH -- ~8.0 (long term average)
MPG -- ~18

Direct Hourly Operating Expenses:
- Based on 050 hours/year -- $81
- Based on 100 hours/year -- $62
- Based on 150 hours/year -- $56

The above numbers do not take into account pro-rata costs for major long-term expenses that are known to be required. Our DA40's, for example, require a significant 2,000 hour tear down inspection. The most common pro-rata item is the engine overhaul. If you assume overhauling at 2,000 hours at a cost of $16,000 (typical around here for local re-builders), this adds $8.00 to your hourly costs. I don't know what typical cost for the 2,000 hour inspection but other DAN members can tell you.
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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by Kai »

Robert, an annual at $300 is awesome. I will take my DA40 back to the US. That is the place to be for a plane and its pilot.
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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by rwtucker »

I'm feeling pretty lucky on the annuals. To be fair, I flew the DA40 less than 40 hours in the $300 year. My IA and I felt that there were a number of opportunities for efficiency.

You are right though about the US GA market. I sometimes complain about the fact that the TSA and other federal security agencies would prefer that there were no such thing as small aircraft GA. They seldom miss an opportunity to make their security concerns known to the FAA. This said, the US is still a relatively inexpensive and unrestricted place to fly. Until recently, the majority of US senators and congressmen served in the military and many of them were pilots. They protected the rights of GA. Today, <18% of Congress served in the military and we have only a small handful of pilots. We might expect to see changes.
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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by Marc_CYBW »

I'm astonished at the owner done annual at $500.

Just the bi-annual IFR pitot-static tests cost over $1,000. Thus year, in addition to that with the wing bonding test and various misc repairs (brakes, exhaust, compass swing, AM safe inspection, oil), we were over $5,000 (Cdn).

In our 4 person shared ownership arrangement full costs run about $250/hour (hanger, insurance, deprecation, op costs, fuel, jepp databases, XM weather, power plant reserve).

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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by rwtucker »

Marc_CYBW wrote:Thus year, in addition to that with the wing bonding test and various misc repairs (brakes, exhaust, compass swing, AM safe inspection, oil), we were over $5,000 (Cdn). In our 4 person shared ownership arrangement full costs run about $250/hour (hanger, insurance, deprecation, op costs, fuel, jepp databases, XM weather, power plant reserve). Marc
Agreed. That it a hefty hourly rate Marc.

One big difference is doing your own work while working directly under the guidance of an IA who is not working at a commercial shop. versus leaving your aircraft at a commercial shop and coming back a few days later to learn what they did and why. Around here, the large commercial shops want $2,500-$3,500 or more for a DA40 annual . . . then, they always find parts to replace that you may or may not agree with.

My personal philosophy -- not shared by some and not practical for others -- is that I do not permit anyone to work on my aircraft out of my sight (there are exceptions like the MT prop). I came to this position the hard way. Every time someone worked on my Dakota unsupervised, they broke at least one thing that I had to detect and correct. Maybe I just had a bad shop but it was a shop that was mostly full of Citations, etc. Not amateurs by any means.
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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by Marc_CYBW »

Our DA40 costs are in line with other comparable options at CYBW (Springbank, Calgary). Depending on how much block time you sign up for, a 182T with a G1000 and a SR20 run between $225 and $250.
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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by Jean »

We operate a DA40 in Belgium since 2009.
The mean costs are as below
Mechanic: 4700€/y
Avionics: 590€/y
Hangar: 2400€/y
Landing fees: 600€/y (at new home base EBST, it was 1700€/y at previous base)
Insurance: 4000€/y (Hull 150.000€)

By the way, we just moved from EBLG (my hometown airport) to EBST.
EBLG is definitely GA unfriendly :scream: .
40.446, G1000, KAP 140, Hartzell Metal
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Re: operational cost for a da40

Post by rwtucker »

Jean,

Those figures are amazing; even with the Euro depreciation, $14K US before you purchase your first gallon of 100LL! I'm thinking I could not afford to fly

Are there annual licensing costs as well? (In my state, I have to pay ~$50 per year for a state sticker).

What do you attribute these costs to? What would be a comparison to understand the costs, like the typical costs to drive an auto for a year in Belgium?
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