I was thinking the other day at the monthly and annual cost of flight simming as Im a hardcore simmer who uses the sim as a way to keep the rust off of my real life flying. I recreational fly and decided that while I could buy a plane, the annual cost and cost per hour to use it really wouldnt be to my advantage so instead I spent around 20K on my sim and the trailer (referred to as the hangar) I keep it in. Some items like Garmin Pilot which I use in both real flying and the sim could be replaced by Navigraph and their app as I am a monthly subscriber to that as well but after using both in the sim, find Garmin Pilot is the better option for ease of use.

So Garmin Pilot US Premium is $209/year (17.41/month)
Starlink for internet in the Hangar ($150/month)
PilotEdge $34.90/mo
Say Intentions $19.95/mo
Navi-Graph $10.28/mo
FAA N-number reserve $10/yr ($.83/mo)
Duet Display $35.99/yr ($3/mo)

Totals about $236.41/ mo

I think thats about everything associated with monthly fees but once again, my sim is a lot more closer to a real plane than a game and I'm okay with that.
 

Renting a Cessna where I live is currently $240/hr last time I checked, therefore $240 a month vs $240 an hour is great value 

I gave up General Aviation due to soaring costs when I started back in the 90s I paid $72/hr to rent a Cessna, as the cost went up the home simulator improved significantly therefore just replace one with the other 

Just SayIntentions and Navigraph for me right now.

@Ident got any pictures or links to your rig? sounds pretty awesome.

34 minutes ago, hs118 said:

Just SayIntentions and Navigraph for me right now.

@Ident got any pictures or links to your rig? sounds pretty awesome.

Heres a current look at the sim. I still plan on painting the inside of the trailer to look like an executive hangar with the white walls, gloss grey floor and black support beams but thats a project for the spring. What I like about the build is that its all self contained and on wheels and easy to move. All I need is one power cord and internet. I have two power cords to the hangar with one for the sim and one for either the a/c or heater but otherwise, solar and the sinewave inverter does a great job taking care of the fans, lights and small stuff in the hangar.
 

 

6 hours ago, Ident said:

FAA N-number reserve $10/yr ($.83/mo)

Ident, just curious - how does this relate to flight-simming? Isn't this for real-world?

30 minutes ago, tamsini said:

Ident, just curious - how does this relate to flight-simming? Isn't this for real-world?

I wanted to have a tail number that only I had. So you can reserve a tail number with the FAA for 10 bucks a year. At that time you can pay for another year or the number goes back to being available. BTW you can also register a sim (FAA approved) with a tail number. I looked at what was required thinking more about the software and hardware requirements but didnt see anything about that but did see how it had to be associated with a flight school. I always thought it was the actual sim that would be the biggest requirement. Ha!

Only navigraph so far, but other things like jeppesen, NAIP, OPT, Flysmart are provide by my company...

I may say I'm net positive as my income is from instruction on sim?

What a neat setup. That is very impressive.