Aircraft a hefty investment with some cost-saving benefits
PENN TWP — Hangar space is coming at a premium at airports as more people are opting to rent an indoor space to protect their increasingly expensive flying vehicles from the elements and the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport is no different.
Mike Walsh, a member of the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport Authority’s board of directors, estimated the average cost of an airplane occupying the airport is $70,000, up from just a few thousand dollars decades ago, so more people are buying hangar space. The weather is harsh on airplanes and it can cost thousands of dollars each year to tune one of them up to pass inspection, so hangars are the first line of defense against expensive repairs.
“Many, many years ago, you could buy an airplane for a few hundred dollars or a thousand dollars. It was no big deal. You left it outside and it was fine because it wasn’t such an expensive piece of equipment,” said Stephanie Saracco, the airport’s director. “You get wind that buffets them, around here you get your sleet, your snow. That bolsters the need. They invest in an aircraft, you don’t want to leave it outside.”
Despite the increasing cost of buying and owning a personal aircraft, administrators of the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport said the airfield has never been more bustling. The organization is set on expanding its own operations with the addition of a control tower and Saracco said there are numerous agencies that occupy space at the airfield.
Several organizations give people the opportunity to fly without the need to own their own aircraft. The flight school, High Flight Academy, and flying clubs, such as Circle W Flying Club, which has its own planes available for licensed pilots to rent, provide such services.
Because maintaining a plane can cost almost as much as it does to make the initial purchase, Saracco said.
“Engine overhauls are probably $35,000, $40,000,” Saracco said. “That runs about $50,000 to redo the interior … They are so expensive to paint, so they would rather put their money into a comfortable interior and then of course, all the required maintenance that would go into a fancy paint job, probably $20,000 to paint the exterior.”
According to Walsh, most people in the Butler area buy used airplanes rather than getting them new from a dealer. New single-engine planes, common in the Butler County airspace, are mainly made by companies such as Cessna and Piper Aircraft and can run into the six-figure price range. Walsh said buyers go through a broker to make a purchase.
Used planes can be much cheaper, but still cost about as much as a new luxury car or a personal boat. Jim Harjer, a member of the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport Authority Board of Directors, said a friend of his recently sold a used, single-engine Piper Cherokee for about $45,000.
And when delivered, these planes don’t get hauled on the back of a truck to their destinations — they are flown to their owners after completing an inspection. Airplanes have to be inspected every other year, and Harjer said this is another expense that can add up, especially if a plane needs work to meet the Federal Aviation Administration’s requirements.
“I would say close to $1,000 just to get it inspected once a year,” Harjer said about the cost of having a personal aircraft. “Even fuel itself is expensive to go flying.”
Lynn Ford runs an airplane maintenance business out of the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport. A plane owner himself, he said he probably wouldn’t be able to afford a plane of his own if he wasn’t able to work on it himself, making the necessary repairs and keeping it functional for flight.
“You have to be certified every two years,” Ford said. “That gives me the money to maintain my airplane and have a little fun with it.”
Ford said he has been a plane mechanic for 35 years, previously a mobile repairman. He also has his own plane stored at the airport, which he takes for a spin “any time the weather’s decent.” In his retirement from full-time work, the opportunity to fly a plane gives Ford something to look forward to, he said.
Safety remains a top priority for Ford, who said injuries that stem from plane crashes and malfunctions are normally more severe than a typical car crash. He said in addition to pilots needing to pay attention to the state of their plane, manufacturers and distributors are constantly releasing new tools and parts marketed to plane owners.
“Constantly check brakes, there’s also upgrades you might want to do more,” Ford said. “Everything is changing every six months. Every six months they’ll come out with a new project.”
The Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport has some historically significant airplanes on its runway as well. Jim Savage has two planes stored in the airport’s hangars — one with a history dating back to World War II.
Savage has owned a 1939 Spartan Executive since 2011. They only made 34 of them in the late 1930s and they would go on to be used by the British military in World War II. Only 20 of these planes survived, Savage said, and he owns the 17th one that was made.
The airplane is not only a vehicle to take Savage from point A to point B faster, it’s also a piece that Savage takes to shows and exhibitions around the nation. He spends at least as much time cleaning and making the Spartan Executive look nice as he does flying it. He said the initial restoration of the airplane was a big time investment.
“In 2011, I got it here and it was not truly flyable for six months after that,” Savage said. “It took 800 hours to clean the rivets.”
Savage has been a pilot for about 50 years and said he has been able to make his passion for flight a reality thanks to his experience in working on plane engines, which he likened to vehicle engines from the 1950s.
“Engines like this are early-50s tech,” Savage said. “My dad was a car mechanic. He knew how to work on them.”
Ford also said the plane’s engine is the most important part of an airplane to maintain for its operational longevity. It’s just like a car’s engine, he said, which also needs to work well for the rest of the vehicle to function.
“The most important thing of course is the engine,” Ford said. “It’s the most important thing. As long as the engine is running properly, but they do hiccup occasionally.”
Saracco said that although airplanes are expensive to buy and equally expensive to keep in flying shape, they can be convenient for travel over long distances because of the speed at which they can reach an airport in another city.
She noted some of the hangars at the Penn Township airfield are occupied by area business people who keep airplanes of their own to make their travel more time efficient.
“It might not be a big fancy business jet or whatever, but if you have a small business and you have to travel for that business, sometimes it’s faster if you have to fly to Harrisburg or Johnstown or Ohio, Morgantown,” Saracco said. “It’s a whole lot easier to fly if the weather’s good. It saves a lot of time.
“Those charter jet services, they bring businessmen into this area daily — that’s part of Butler growing,” he added.
