Private Aircraft Ownership

02/11/2026

Aircraft Sales Tax: The Closing Cost Nobody Mentions at the Hangar

Every airplane buyer budgets for the purchase price, the pre-buy, and the insurance. Then, somewhere around closing, a quiet little line item shows up wearing a tax collector's hat. Aircraft sales tax is the guest nobody invited, and unlike the in-laws, it doesn't leave after the weekend. The rules vary a lot from state to state, the exemptions are narrow, and the penalties for guessing wrong can be bigger than the tax itself....

Aircraft sales tax and use tax can add thousands to a purchase. Learn how fly-away exemptions work, why your home state can still bill you, and what to ask first.

02/11/2026

Aircraft Partnership vs. Flying Club: Splitting the Bill Without Splitting the Friendship

Sharing an airplane can cut flying costs a lot. It can also turn a friendship into a legal case study. Here's how an aircraft partnership compares with a flying club and with renting....

Aircraft partnership or flying club? Compare 2026 costs, financing, & the risks that sink shared ownership, plus what to put in writing first.

19/10/2026

Used Airplane Prices in 2026: Buyer’s Market or Holding Steady?

If you want to start a lively argument at the airport, skip politics and bring up used airplane prices. Just ask what a used 182 is worth these days. You'll get the fellow who swears values are crashing, the fellow who just bought one and swears they're rock solid, and the fellow who's been trying to sell his for nine months and isn't talking to either of them....

Used airplane prices are easing slowly, not crashing. What 2026 data says about values, time on market, and the gap between asking and selling price.

19/10/2026

How to Build an Annual Maintenance Budget (and Survive the Squawk List)

There's a special kind of silence that falls over a hangar when the mechanic walks over with a clipboard and says, "So, I found a few things." Every owner knows it. It's the same silence that falls over a dinner table when the doctor calls during dessert, and it's the moment every aircraft maintenance budget gets put to the test....

There’s a special kind of silence that falls over a hangar when the mechanic walks over with a clipboard and says, “So, I found a few things.” Every owner knows it. It’s the same silence Read more

19/10/2026

The End of 100LL: What the FAA’s Unleaded Plan Means for Your Budget

Pilots have been hearing that unleaded avgas is "coming soon" for so long that it's become a bit like the weather forecast for the weekend you planned the big trip. Everybody talks about it, nobody quite believes it, and then one day you're sitting on the ground watching it happen. Well, the forecast just firmed up. On July 30, 2026, the FAA released its final plan to move the piston fleet off 100LL, with a target of no leaded avgas in the lower 48 states after the end of 2030 (...

Unleaded avgas replaces 100LL in the lower 48 by the end of 2030. Here's the FAA timeline, the three fuels, and what owners should budget for now.

19/10/2026

The True Annual Cost of Owning an Airplane in 2026

Ask ten aircraft owners about the cost of owning an airplane and you'll get ten answers, nine of them suspiciously low. Nobody's lying exactly. It's just that the human brain has a remarkable ability to forget about the $3,800 annual by the time spring flying weather shows up. I've often said that buying the airplane is easy. It's the care and feeding of the beast that's hard....

What's the real cost of owning an airplane in 2026? A sourced, line-by-line budget for a four-seat single: fixed costs, hourly costs, and cost per hour.

19/10/2026

Aircraft Loan Rates in 2026: What Owners Are Actually Paying

There are two kinds of aircraft buyers: the ones who pay cash, and the ones who want to know what the payment is. If you're in the second group, pull up a chair, because we're talking aircraft loan rates. You're in good company, and you're probably smarter about liquidity than you get credit for at the hangar. The good news for 2026 is that aircraft loan rates have come down from the peak of the last couple of years....

Aircraft loan rates run from the low 6% range to over 9% in 2026. See what drives your rate, what a payment really costs, and how lenders size you up.

19/10/2026

Aircraft Insurance in 2026: Soft Market Now, Higher Premiums Next?

For a couple of years now, checking aircraft insurance rates at renewal time has been one of the few pleasant surprises in aircraft ownership. Right up there with finding a twenty in your flight bag. After a long, painful hard market, general aviation insurance softened, and plenty of owners actually saw their premiums go down. Some of us had to sit down....

Aircraft insurance rates have been soft, but brokers warn renewals could rise 10–20%. See what's driving it, how agreed value works, and how to prepare.

19/10/2026

The Hangar Squeeze: Why Rents Are Jumping and How to Plan for It

For years, hangar rent was the quiet cousin at the family reunion of aircraft ownership costs. Fuel got all the complaints, the annual got all the drama, and the hangar just sat there costing about what it cost last year. Most of us stopped thinking about it entirely. Well, the quiet cousin just showed up with a lawyer. Across the country, airports and FBOs are resetting hangar rates, sometimes by 80% or more in one bite, and the FAA has made it pretty clear it isn't going to ride to the rescue....

Hangar rent is rising 80% or more at some airports. See why, what it adds to your cost per hour, and five ways aircraft owners can plan ahead.

16/10/2026