RENT-FLYING CLUB-OR OWN????

You now have your pilots license. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to continue flying which I assume you are. How are you going to fly, are you going to continue renting, join a Flying Club or are you going to buy an airplane? There are quandaries to all of the above.

RENT

You probably never asked questions of your flight school while training on the process of renting from them after you have your ticket. You learn that you are going to have to buy renters insurance to be covered in case of an accident for physical damages and liability. Then you find out that there are restrictions such as no night flight and you can not take their plane out of state. What good is this other than to fly for the “$100 hamburger”.

I find that most flight schools have older equipment. There is nothing wrong with an older airplane that has been well maintained and not susceptible to the rigors of flight school training. I find that this is not the type of airplane I would like to fly, and that there are too many restrictions in place.

FLYING CLUB

I bought a Piper Cherokee to do my instrument training. The Cherokee was slow but fulfilled my mission statement at the time. I hired a CFII and had my Instrument ticket in about 2 months. The Cherokee served me well for a couple of years, and then I decided I wanted something faster. I sold my plane and joined a local flying club to try out different airplanes. I paid a small initiation fee and decided to fly the Mooney 201. I had to train with the club approved CFII until I was signed off. 

I used the plane for 2 missions. One was to go snow skiing, and the other was to fly several 4 day trips to San Diego in the summer to get out of the desert heat. 

Flying Clubs have rules too. One rule is that you must fly X number of hours a month. This rule serves 2 purposes. The club wants you to stay proficient in the plane you were checked out on, and the other reason is you are charged for a minimum number of hours each month whether you use them or not.

There is a second caveat to flying clubs. Our club had a rule that you had to pay for 2 hours for each day you had the airplane. If I flew to San Diego and back for 4 days, I was paying for 4 hours that I flew the airplane and an additional 4 hours that the plane sat on the ground. This became very expensive very fast.

I also found that the Club airplanes were not maintained to my expectations.

OWNERSHIP

Renting and Flying Clubs did not work out for me as I like to travel in an airplane. I then decided to buy another airplane. I never look at the costs of owning an airplane because if I did, I could never justify owning. 

When I snow skied in the winter and traveled in the summer I put an average of 125 hours a year on the plane. I do no ski any longer and my average hours per year are around 75. In 2013 I will only put 50 hours on the plane due to some canceled trips.

I never entertained the thought of having a partner in my plane. I like the ability to go fly whenever I want to. I also know how my plane was flown, landed and any problems that might creep up. Partnerships work for a lot of people and help reduce cost of ownership.

Please understand that flying for business is different than for pleasure and not included here.

You now have 3 different options to proceed with your flying enjoyment. Each of us is different and what works for one might not work for another. Good luck with your choice and keep on flying.

A BIG shout out to my friend Rob Voss who is

Senior Advisor

ATO System Operations

Midwest Tactical Operations, AJR-15

Rob was kind enough to call out my misspelling of RNP approaches where I typed RPN. He also told me these approaches have been very successful at Midway in Chicago. Glad to hear that as I get the opposite feedback from SWA pilots at other major airports.