free guide for aircraft owners
Smarter Aircraft Decisions
the plane that was right three years ago might not be the plane you need now.
Most owners fly the compromise for years before they admit it — leaving a seat empty, adding a fuel stop, watching the engine creep toward the pricing cliff. This guide helps you see the gap early, and decide what to do about it.
the guide to smarter aircraft decisions
A Fellow Pilot's Honest Guide
Written by a PPL, instrument-rated pilot who works every day with plane owners going through their first annual, the mission drift, and the step-up
what's inside
Useful first. Everything else second.
If you read this and keep your airplane for another twenty years, the guide did its job. It's the conversation you'd have with a straight-shooting hangar neighbor who's been through it — grounded in hundreds of real ownership stories from the forums, plus what mechanics, insurers, and brokers actually see.
The real math of ownership
Fixed vs. variable costs, the three-budget rule, and why flying less quietly makes every hour cost more — with planning numbers you can actually use.
The first year, honestly
The purchase haze, the pre-buy rules everyone repeats and half of owners skip, and why the first annual is aviation's great initiation.
The 10 issues owners actually hit
Ranked by how often they show up and how badly they hurt — from the shock annual to avionics obsolescence to the engine-hour pricing cliff — each with fixes veterans endorse.
When to upgrade vs. when to move
The resale math on avionics, paint, and overhauls (spoiler: about 50 cents on the dollar), plus a four-question framework for the decision most owners get wrong in one predictable direction.
Choosing the next airplane — mission first
How to write a mission spec from your real logbook instead of your daydreams, and the step-up tradeoffs nobody prints in the listing.
Selling well — DIY or hire it out
A fair, complete look at what a private sale actually takes, what a good broker does, and the exact questions that separate a real one from a guy with a website.
get the guide
Decide on purpose. This season.
Keep it, upgrade it, or step up to the airplane your mission has been quietly asking for. Start with the guide.