The costs of various vehicles - Part 1

In my previous post about using general aviation aircraft as a mode of personal transportation, I made a comparison between the cost of driving and the cost of flying over a certain route. The comparison, however, was a bit lacking in detail since all I did is compared the cost of fuel. The actual costs of getting around using any kind of vehicle will be higher than just the fuel burned, as there are other aspects of transportation and vehicle ownership which cost money. For any vehicle, be it an airplane, a car, a motorcycle, or even a bicycle, there will be costs which can be split up into two broad categories: fixed costs and variable costs (these are sometimes referred to as ownership costs and operating costs). The fixed costs are things you pay for on a regular basis which are independent of how much you use the vehicle, and may include insurance and registration, parking, loan payments, and some maintenance items. Variable costs are things that you pay for when you actually use the vehicle and can be broken down to a rate per distance traveled. Consumables such as fuel, oil, and tires fit in to this category, as do most maintenance items which are to be done at certain distance intervals such as tune-ups.

General Aviation as personal transportation

General aviation has not received a lot of public attention as a means of personal transportation. When most people talk of flying, the images that come to mind are large jet aircraft operated by major airlines. Flying a personally owned light airplane has generally been regarded as a recreational activity for the wealthy. While flying can be an expensive activity with a high cost of entry, with a little bit of care and attention it can be made to be a fairly economical mode of transport for appropriate trips. For example, consider the following scenario.