While some may joke around about this figure, it's actually something that everybody who's in the hobby any more than just a passing participation. Why?? One word, insurance. Almost everybody in this hobby winds up having more tools, materials, and equipment than they think that they do. And if you ever have to replace it in the event of a total loss, or partial loss due to theft, most people will wind up cheating themselves because this simply don't remember everything they have. Another factor is that many insurance policies will limit the amount of coverage for tools or recreational equipment unless the policy is changed to cover those total losses. The only way to know if you are fully covered is to first add up EVERYTHING you have in this hobby and then visit with your insurance agent. In my case I found that my original policy would only cover about half of what I had. I now have a rider on my policy that ensures that I am fully covered in the event that I need to make a claim for total loss. Also, keeping an inventory will help in determine those costs but it will also give you a list of what you own as well. When people sit down after a loss and try to remember everything that they own they will usually forget a large portion of what they actually had. A detailed inventory is the only way to know exactly. Oh yeah, don't forget to get that inventory OUT of your house. Why??? It won't do you any good if your house is completely destroyed and the list is destroyed as well!!!!

So, now that I've put everybody to sleep with a lecture how much do I have??? Trust me here, it's easily over $30,000. While there are those that will say that I'm crazy for having that figure invested in this hobby. But if you sit down and thing about it for a bit you'll realize that it's not too hard to run up huge figures pretty quickly. When you start talking about items such as radios, engine, and planes that have $500+ price tags it doesn't take too long run up a 5 figure price tag. Start throwing expensive tools and inventories of parts it gets up there even quicker.

Of course not everybody has that much invested. For a casual pilot with one or two planes it's pretty easy to stay below one or two thousand. But if you're going to get serious about the hobby like I am the value of what you have gets up there pretty quickly. But no matter if you are a casual Sunday pilot or a die hard hobbyist there is no way to know exactly what you have invested unless you put pencil to paper and actually add up what you have.

Ok, off my soap box now!!!

Ken