training clubs

robhartman9

New member
I just learned there is a local club where $2500 buys you a share of a trainer airplane. So when its your turn all you have to pay for is avgas and the instructor. The idea seems promising but I don't know all the details yet like what happens to your share after you get your pilots licence and who pays for maintenance. Anyone belong to one of these clubs?
 
I just learned there is a local club where $2500 buys you a share of a trainer airplane. So when its your turn all you have to pay for is avgas and the instructor. The idea seems promising but I don't know all the details yet like what happens to your share after you get your pilots licence and who pays for maintenance. Anyone belong to one of these clubs?

Those details would be very helpful. A lot will depend on how long it takes you. If you're going to hit the books every night and fly at least 2-3 times per week it's probably a good deal.

What's the tail number of the airplane?

What about insurance, is anything included?

Does this limit you to a certain number of hours or days?

Most people do their training in 50 hours, that would put the dry rate at $50/hr. You can train in a C-150 "wet" for around $80/hr, so it comes down to fuel economy. Figure 9 gallons an hour to be on the really safe side, lots of full rich maneuvering, lots of not leaning the mixture properly because you're relying on RPM or a crappy EGT to do so.

50 hours * 9gph = 450 gallons @ $5.50/gal = another $2,475, making your rental a total of $4975, or $99.50/hr based on 50 hours of training. So $100/hr can be okay for a trainer, but not knowing what it is makes it really hard to say.
 

DharanFlyer

Active member
I am with SoCalPilot.

It is most likely not a part 141 school then so your hour requirement is higher, see SoCal's number. Also, in SoCal's numbers I don't see any allotted money for the instructor's time.

If you have some kind of use in the aircraft after your training it could be a good deal, but outside of that at the face value you have presented it looks like a wash. They may just be attempting to get some money up front in case you flake out on finishing your license.

I would get the answers to SoCal's questions and add what the instructor charges per hour to the list.
 

robhartman9

New member
I talked to the pilot who told me about the club again. I guess its sort of like a condo your share is like buying an apartment in a big complex. You have to pay some fees for maintenance but you own a piece of it and you can sell your share. I guess they have regular meetings to schedule who flies when and you can book it for a few days to fly somewhere on a holiday. There are only something like 20 shares and if the club is full you have to go on a waiting list or find another club. Some clubs of this type have had enough people on the waiting list they started buying more airplanes. Trained pilots sold their share in the trainer plane and bought a share in the more advanced aircraft the club decided to purchase.
I will attend one of the meetings and find out how much the maintenance and insurance fees are and look at how the club is governed. I suspect it is some form of democracy and they will have some system of dealing with whos turn it is to fly
 
That's interesting, I assumed it were a leaseback not fractional ownership. I'm pretty sure you will be paying a reduced hourly rental cost and not just gas. Let us know how it goes, it sounds like it's working for them so hopefully it will work for you.
 

46chief

New member
Flying clubs have a many advantages, lower hourly rate, and alot of them will return around 75% buyback of the buy in. The networking and knowledge you get from other pilots is also invaluable.

Another advantage of a club is that you must stay current, which means you have to fly every 90 days to be able to fly passengers, and to my interpretation to fly commercial UAV flights. Most aircraft rentals require a checkride before you can rent their plane. Basically it's best to establish a relationship with a good renter that you have access to the aircraft to meet your needs so you don't have to spend the money on a CFI checkride in an A/C for the ability to rent it.

The other advantage I see is if the club has more than one plane you can choose a cheaper plane to fly, or work on a performance rating, tailwheel, or other endorsements. The variety may keep you interested and motivated to fly more.


Good luck, I'm currently trying to get current and start flying fixed wing again so I can pursue commercial UAV work.