Air Force Aero Clubs

[rcaligan]

Maxwell
Patrick
Barksdale
Eielson

...have all closed since January 1, mostly for financial reasons. It's sad to see them going away, one by one.

 

[Tim]

Maxwell
Patrick
Barksdale
Eielson

...have all closed since January 1, mostly for financial reasons. It's sad to see them going away, one by one.

Eielson ain't closed yet. But they say its going too.

 

[gismo]

What's changed that's causing clubs to fold?

 

[rcaligan]

Sorry about the Eielson thing...bad intel.

What's changed that's causing clubs to fold?

The biggest problem is that clubs must maintain a minimum profit margin. While this isn't completely unreasonable, the club (operationally and safety-wise) is treated like any other flying squadron.

"We're closing the runway for two weeks..."
"The tower is closing early today..."
"Quiet hours have been established..."
then...
"WHY AREN'T YOU MAKING ANY MONEY???"

Some of these things can be overcome, and some clubs do very, very well. And this profit margin thing didn't used to be that way. "MWR" facilities could be no-profit, and it was truly a "club." Now it's strictly a business, and that turns a lot of members off.