Site Navigation:
Craig's twitter feed:
Tweets by @gevmage
March 9, I went to Decatur and joined the flying club there.
A flying club is an organization that owns one or more airplanes, and "rents" them to its members. The idea is that airplane ownership (to say nothing of operation) is a very expensive proposition, and amoritzing the costs over a larger number of people is a pretty financially sound thing to do. If you own an airplane and fly it a lot, then the hourly and monthly costs will pretty much be a fixed amount. However, if you dont' fly for a while, you're still incurring hangar rental, and insurance and other fixed expenses. The idea is that in a club, the fixed costs are shared with as many other people as possible, so you only pay per hour what it really costs per hour.
The ideal flying club to be a member of is one where most of the people fly very little or not at all. Their monthly dues keep the cost for everone cheap.
The club that I joined is $600 to join. You get $300 back when you leave. Dues are $45 per month. The club owns three aircraft, the cheapest of which is a Cessna 172 which rents for $60/hour. Instructor's fees are from $20 to $30 per hour, so I'll be able to get instruction for less than $100/hour, which is a pretty good rate. Renting a 172 at a regular rental place would be significantly more expensive than that; perhaps 80 or 85 an hour.
I'm not starting to fly yet, but it only costs me the 45 per month to stay a member. That way, when I choose to start, I know what the hourly rate is.
Right. Saturday. Lots to do.