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Learn to Fly Private

Welcome to the 25th edition of "Learn to Fly Private". One of the best parts about writing this newsletter is getting to interact with readers. I send this (intentionally) from my email address instead of a generic one so that I can have conversations with you. One subscriber has decided to sell their CJ3. Way back in issue #8, I talked about the real numbers flying the CJ3. Well, here is your chance to own one. Similar to how we broke down how to read an aircraft listing, we'll break down this listing and what to think through when considering a purchase of a CJ3. Maybe you'll even look to share a jet with someone you know or a fellow subscriber. Be sure to read to the end, because this subscriber isn't selling the jet to upgrade into a larger or newer jet... they're going to Netjets (and I'll explain why.)

To those who have been reading for a while, thank you! It means a lot that I have a place in your inbox. If this is your first time joining, welcome! I've talked about many topics from jet cards to whole aircraft ownership, and you can find any of those issues here.

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Now let's dig in...

A 2006 CJ3 has hit the market

A fellow subscriber to this newsletter has listed their CJ3 for sale. We did a full breakdown in a previous issue, but since it's been a while, here's a refresher on the CJ3. The following data comes from Conklin and DeDecker.

• $1,995 per hour of variable costs
• $442,950 per year in fixed costs
  • All-in per hour of $3,102 assuming 400 hours a year
• Single Pilot Certified
• Bathroom 🚽 ✅
• Seats: 7 (6+1 on the belted lavatory, can add a co-pilot passenger seat {my favorite seat} for a total of 8)
• If seats are full, the range: 1,385nm
• 415 kts maximum cruise speed
• 45,000 foot service ceiling (can get over most major weather)

Industries I See Flying This Aircraft

• Regional real estate developers (especially middle of the country)
• Family Offices
• Fortune 500-100 (in the Fortune 100+, up to a midsize)
• Car dealership groups
• Manufacturing
• Mid-size Trucking
• Mid-size oil & gas
• Fast food franchisee

A note: an easy way to reverse search this is by looking for job posting for the aircraft type. For instance, Buckle the clothing brand, is hiring a CJ3 captain. Preston circa 2005 appreciates this, I used to rock some Buckle jeans.

More About This Aircraft

I want to break down this specific listing so you know what to think about and what to look for when you're going to purchase an aircraft.

Interior and Avionics Upgrades

The interior and paint was done in 2016 by Textron. It is a classic interior with beige leather seats and is well appointed. This is going to be a very standard looking interior, but it does come with the headrests which aren't found on all CJ3's. This cabin has the 6 seats + belted lav, and the alternative cabin layout to this has a side facing jump seat up front.

It also has the Proline avionics upgrade, which your pilots will thank you for. The synthetic display and the upgraded avionics will make it a safer and more efficient flight for the folks up front.

Engine Information

It has 4300 hours since new, which means it has averaged 239 hours per year. A quick browse of other publicly available CJ3s in this age range put that below average, but not the lowest.

For engine programs, it is enrolled in Tap Advantage Elite which covers normal maintenance requirements coming up. This is important, because the CJ has a long list of maintenance events that will take place. The doc 16 and doc 22 have been complied with, so that will save the new owner potential downtime.

Thinking about buying this CJ3?

Reply to this email and I'm happy to connect you with the broker representing this airplane. It would make for a great newsletter talking about a subscriber buying a plane from a subscriber!

What's Next For This Subscriber?

They're taking their talents (and money) to Netjets. After many years of aircraft ownership, and skipping a planned upgrade to a newer Phenom 300e, they decided the fractional route better fit private aviation needs. Here's a few reasons for their transition, and none of them had to do with cost.

Reason 1: Near Retirement Chief Pilot

Pilots age just like the rest of us. The chief pilot who had been their go-to was nearing retirement age, likely destined to fly around in his own Cessna 182 rather than flying a CJ3 for a career. Aircraft owners and chief pilots have a unique working relationship, considered a close member of the team and sometimes like family. They see kids graduate from college, have long conversations after business meetings, and are around for many life events. This consideration was big, because finding a new pilot that you trust can be a challenge. In addition, they are located in a small market so finding a type rated pilot locally was proving to be near impossible.

Reason 2: Mission Change

This particular subscriber was approaching the end of high usage for a whole aircraft. With a maturing business that didn't require as much on site attention, the need for instant dispatch became less of a requirement. The nice part about owning your own aircraft is you can go when you want to. On Netjets, you're on someone else's schedule. For this subscriber, that was ok. The other advantage with Netjets or similar fractional programs is you can interchange up a size. Meaning, if you're a fractional owner on a Phenom 300, you can access their Citation Longitude to take more passengers or make a longer flight.

Reason 3: Ease of Operations

Managing an aircraft is a challenging business, especially if you're not paying a management company to do so. In their situation, the management was becoming cumbersome. With Netjets, let the large company deal with the pilot hiring, benefits, time off requests, detailing, maintenance scheduling, downtime, etc. You place a phone call and there is an aircraft waiting for you. The reduction in complexity is a big lure towards fractional ownership.

The other piece that Netjets removes is you don't have to worry about downtime for pilot recurrent training or for maintenance issues. For instance, they're down this week due to maintenance. Tough luck.

So what about the cost?

Here's the real numbers.

• 75 hours per year
• $1.25m acquisition price, 5 year contract
• $16k/mo management fee
• $4,000/hr of occupied time

To extract that into a fully realized hourly cost, it breaks down to:

• $6,585 per hour inclusive of management cost
• $10,438 per hour inclusive of acquisition cost, assuming a $0 terminal value (there is a resale value at the end of the contract, it's an asset you own a fraction of)

From a headache standpoint, this subscriber counts it as money well spent. On the surface, it looks like a higher hourly cost. At 75 hours a year, it's actually cheaper per hour to fly Netjets.

• CJ3 at 75 hours a year, fixed + variable cost: $7,901/hour
  • The math: ($442,950 / 75 hours) + $1,995 = $7,901
• Netjets at 75 hours a year, fixed + variable cost: $6,585/hour
  • The math: ($16,159 * 12) / 75 hours + $4,000 = $6,585

For this subscriber, in 2023 the aircraft flew 141 hours. Of that, over half of those hours were empty leg returns to base. So on a per-hour basis, it comes out as a wash in this situation. Others will fly their pilots home commercially and leave the aircraft with them. This incurs detention costs and travel costs for the pilots. As this subscriber said, "it's not a zero sum game."

For this subscriber, it was less about cost and more about ease of mind and ease of use.

I hope you fly private often in the next seven days until we speak again,

Preston Holland

P.s. If you've got a great story about your use of private aviation, I would love to tell it. Reply to this email and I'll make it into an anonymous story.