Sport Pilot Talk

theskunk · Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 1:11 am Post subject: Long term rental?

Hi Guys,

I'm sure this has come up before, but due to a lack of availability, and both myself and 2 other interested parties really wanting to fly (badly), knowing that there are several others in the area that are up for it, we're trying to figure out how to get an acf into the area.

Only 2 of us has the cash to put up for this, myself included, but unfortunately the wife-to-be has told me that i can't buy an airplane until after we're married, otherwise there will not be a wedding... she didn't mean the courthouse, I checked.

That being said, I'm trying to figure out if its feesable to rent a plane from a school for 1 week a month to bring it to our home airport. We'd put the cfi thats going to do the training on the payroll of the school that we're getting the plane from, and have some type of 'we guarantee this many hours in 7 days' type thing.

Any suggestions on other approaches we might think of? I've also contacted tecnam USA to see if there is any possibility they have a 1-2 year lease option on their airplanes... I'm happy to do a long-term lease on one, put my name on it/etc, but if i tell the future-wifey that i'm about to spend $TEXAS.99 on an airplane, she just might flip her lid...

She was okay with me possibly spending 650/month for 10 hours a month of flying with a sportcruiser, but that gentlemen has, for his own reasons, decided not to pursue a partnership at this time.

Jack Tyler · Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:20 am Post subject:

Skunk, I think these are the days when getting creative and pooling resources are truly needed, so my first reaction was 'Good, they're thinking outside the box' rather than simply shrugging and complaining that the current circumstances make training unworkable. (E.g. I don't know if forming a co-owernship is the best way for my wife and I to get back into a/c ownership, but I'm willing to spend the time to get together a group of now-10 potential co-owners here in the Jacksonville area to at least explore it. So I'm walking a bit in your own moccasins).

Having said that, fundamentally the A to your Q needs to come from the owner (or potential owner) of the a/c you want to use (which may not be the school, if they are doing a leaseback on the plane). I can see a lot of logistics challenges to creating a long-term, part-time use arrangement, whether it's about them still being able to provide a steady training regimen, inclimate weather wiping out your week's use in a given month, how scheduled maintenance is handled (since they have 100 hr inspection requirements whereas your group wouldn't necessarily have them), insurance puzzles (insurance companies don't like to be/aren't set up to be highly innovative; they make their money off actuarial tables based on fixed risk assessments), and so on.

Here are a couple of thoughts, offered in an attempt to build on your 'out of the box' thinking efforts:
-- are you an AOPA member? (If not, join. It's free for 6 months to any student pilot. aopa.org) If/once you are, call and talk to one of the specialists in their Pilot Information Center. This resource has been helping pilots sort thru a/c ownership issues for over half a century. Their website also has a boodle of a/c ownership info (including a lengthy section on leasing and leaseback arrangements), but just exploring a concept with them will allow them to ID the issues that you need to think about. Given the vast amount of lousy/dated/plain inaccurate info on the web, having an info source that's been vetted by trained, licensed and knowledgeable specialists is priceless....but in this case, free.
-- are any of the local FBO's/flight schools busy enough that the available time slots of their instructional a/c are booked up (between instruction and rental needs to keep the students and licensed pilots flying)? If one of the local businesses fits into that category, you may find them being interested in a leaseback arrangement with you.
-- you don't explicitly mention whether you are talking exclusively about the SP license, or whether your small cadre of aspiring pilots can/would consider Part 23 a/c and training for a PP vs. SP license. If you can consider that larger universe, it might significantly change your options.

FYI if you are an AOPA member, here's one of the leaseback info resources:
http://www.aopa.org/members/files/guides/aclease.html

drseti · Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 1390 Location: Lock Haven PA

theskunk wrote: unfortunately the wife-to-be has told me that i can't buy an airplane until after we're married,

Sounds to me as though somebody needs to step up his wedding date. :wink:

It also sounds as though wife-to-be is quite clever, making sure that the airplane becomes community property instead of pre-marital property. :wink: :wink: