What’s wild is that at my last job we had 7 aircraft including a Falcon and two helicopters. Our department budget was many millions of dollars a year. Many millions. The owner owns a 75 meter yacht that we chased around the Caribbean. The CFO of that place once told me that the aviation department’s budget wasn’t a pimple on the ass of the boat’s budget.

My new owner for the last 4 years has a bigger boat.

After reading two more pages of this thread it's clear that most people who posted have no clue about two things.

Surgeons DO NOT make "THAT MUCH" money. Yes, several hundred thousand dollars a year is good money, especially to someone who makes 100K or less a year. For a surgeon, consider a few things: medical school loans, office lease, office overhead including staff salaries, supplies, etc., fees for memberships to associations, *massive* malpractice insurance premiums, hospital OR fees, and insurance billing. Just because insurance was billed 100K does not mean the surgeon pocketed all that. Just like when 0bama said the doctor charges 40K to take our your kid's tonsils, implying the doctor was being greedy pocketing all that, it simply IS NOT the case. This is why I said a cosmetic plastic surgeon in places like LA, NY, Miami who bills cash and does injections and such during clinic/office days CAN make a lot of money after being in practice for a while and be able to own a jet.

Owning a jet is FUCKING EXPENSIVE. The purchase is the easy part. OWNING it isn't. Fuel costs, pilot costs (you'll need three, two to fly, one on standby all the time), hanger costs, airport fees, maintenance, insurance, inspections required by the FAA. Seriously, do you guys think owning a fucking jet is like owning a Corvette? If you actually fly one a lot the costs are astronomical. This is why most people who own a jet charter it out when they aren't using it. Same with a yacht.

I can go an buy a Ferrari tomorrow (entry level model), but I couldn't afford to own it. This is why idiots who win the lottery go broke within a few years. They buy huge houses, luxury cars, jets, whatever and can't afford to pay for the overhead of owning them. To own a jet and fly it with any degree of regularity, you need to be making MANY millions a year, not two million a year or 700K.

Look at that, 4 pages of a thread and Dick Carl is not mentioned. But he documented what he's been up to quite extensively on printed pages.

I know, I know. Nobody reads physical paper anymore.

In summary though, although he put down the deposit for a Cessna Mustang, he never took possession. He came just a bit short, and continued to fly in a Cheyenne until the end of his neurosurgeon career. He says that it was possible, but tight.

Naturally, that was before bidenomics, and even before Eclipse SF50.

I remember his articles. He could barely afford an old Cheyenne. I also know a doc who bought into a Citation Mustang. He was an owner pilot and very nearly killed himself in it. Not relevant.

Selling kidneys?

Just a guess, seems like it would be hard to do getting a paycheck even a really good paycheck. Someone that owns a business or multiple businesses, fantastic investments or made their money in another fashion. But again just a guess most business jet owners don't seem like those who are getting a regular paycheck working for someone else. I know a number of business owners or co owners that own or part of a plane, but no jet.

As mentioned already it's not just the price of the jet but all the associated things that go with it. A place to store the plane, someone to fly the plane, the maintenance that never ends. I'm sure the list goes on and on. The couple of people I know that are business owners are always talking about the breakdown of how much they need to use the plane before it is profitable and then how much when it becomes too expensive. Always seems like a very fine line.

@Blackfox

Sounds like owning a yacht.

One of the surgeons at the practice my wife works at has two private jets.

When the government starts taking half of everything you make (and that’s just the federal government - not sales tax, property tax, etc) - a lot of things that “don’t make sense” start making sense.

Not to mention probably having a portfolio of commercial real estate as a side hustle.

Proprietor of new cutting edge stuff. Flying coast to coast a few times a week. Makes sense.