Kit Own vs Hire Calculator
Enter what a kit costs you, what you could sell it for later, your upkeep and the hire rate, and see whether owning or hiring is cheaper at the number of days you really fly.
Own or hire
At your flying days, hiring is cheaper by 177.50 a year. Owning spreads a net kit cost of 3,550.00 over the years you keep it (887.50 a year) and adds your upkeep.
How this calculator works
Owning per year is the kit's net cost (price less expected resale) divided by the years you keep it, plus your yearly upkeep. Hiring per year is the day rate times your flying days. The break-even is owning per year divided by the day rate, rounded up to a whole day. Every amount accepts cents, and any currency works as long as you use the same one throughout.
The answer moves most with the number of days you fly, so be honest with it. A new pilot's first year is often fewer flying days than planned, which is why many keep hiring school kit until their flying days settle.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the calculator price owning a kit?
It takes what the kit costs you, subtracts what you expect to sell it for when you are done, and spreads the difference over the years you keep it. Then it adds the upkeep only an owner pays: reserve repacks and glider checks on the intervals in your manuals. Costs you pay either way, such as membership, insurance, travel and site fees, are left out of both sides, so they cannot tip the answer.
What does the break-even number mean?
It is the smallest whole number of flying days a year at which hiring would cost at least as much as owning. Fly fewer days than that and hiring is cheaper; fly more and owning is. Count days you actually fly, not weekends you plan to: weather cancels a share of every plan.
Should I put a used kit's price in?
Put in its price plus everything it takes to make it ready for its first flight with you: a professional check of the wing, a reserve repack, and shipping. Whether a used wing, harness or reserve is fit to fly is decided by its manufacturer's checks and a qualified service center, never by its price, so make a purchase subject to that check.
Does this tell me which wing or size to buy?
No. It is a money comparison only. A wing's class and size are chosen with your instructor, inside the manufacturer's certified weight range for your total weight in flight. This calculator prices the kit you have been advised to fly; it does not choose it.
A money comparison only. It does not choose a wing, a size or a class, and it says nothing about whether any kit is fit to fly. Learn and fly under a certified school or instructor, fly only inside your wing's certified weight range, and check local airspace and site rules.