Flight training update (What would you do)

[airdale]

What is the average membership dues that you have come across?

The direct answer is $80 to $150. But dues are not the whole picture.

First everyone flying a specific airplane will, over the long haul, have about the same costs. Some are fixed, like hangar rent, insurance, annual expenses, ELT batteries, etc. Some are variable, like engine time, wear and tear on the airframe, etc. Depending on the club's financial structure, there might be loan interest (fixed) or leaseback fees (variable). The most common goal is to have dues income sufficient to cover all fixed costs and flying income (dry rate) sufficient to cover all variable costs. Fuel can be handled several ways, but generally clubs sell it to members at cost. Somewhere in that mix there needs to be a little "profit" that will cover I-forgots, aw-s#!ts, and a fleet improvement budget. Another factor in some clubs can be assessments -- basically a demand from the club that all members contribute an additional sum of money. One big item is the engine. How will a replacement engine be paid for when it's time (TBO) or if it unexpectedly fails? So looking at a club is harder than looking at a school or FBO where you just pay a posted price. If something about club, like dues or dry rate, looks out of whack compared to others you will need to look into why it is out of whack and whether that creates a risk for you. Said more simply, the lowest dues or the lowest dry rate may be from the club that will ultimately be the most expensive.

Buy-in price varies a lot. The starting point is net asset value per member. For an impossibly simple club of ten guys owning a $50K airplane with absolutely no other assets or liabilities the NAV is $5Kper member. For a club that leases its airplanes, NAV might be almost nothing. NAV is the starting point for evaluating a buy-in price. Usual the buy-in will be somewhat lower than NAV, possibly because a member is in a hurry to sell or because the market will not support the higher NAV price. Sometimes demand is high and the buy-in will be above NAV. Again, be sure you understand the numbers.

For clubs of any size that are following the rules, there will be a tax return (IRS Form 990) that you can get online with a free registration at www.guidestar.org. That's a good place to start.

 

[FloridaPilot]

You don't need it in writing, nor would you want to be tied down anyway just in case they go under.

Find a good school and assuming you aren't 6'2+ 200+ pounds, find the smallest, cheapest plane you can.

I'm working on losing about 50 LBS, (Which I can do in a few months) So I will be down to 205-210ish, (I've done it many times before) so that would help. It will be added motivation for me to get through it!

 

[FloridaPilot]

The direct answer is $80 to $150. But dues are not the whole picture.

First everyone flying a specific airplane will, over the long haul, have about the same costs. Some are fixed, like hangar rent, insurance, annual expenses, ELT batteries, etc. Some are variable, like engine time, wear and tear on the airframe, etc. Depending on the club's financial structure, there might be loan interest (fixed) or leaseback fees (variable). The most common goal is to have dues income sufficient to cover all fixed costs and flying income (dry rate) sufficient to cover all variable costs. Fuel can be handled several ways, but generally clubs sell it to members at cost. Somewhere in that mix there needs to be a little "profit" that will cover I-forgots, aw-s#!ts, and a fleet improvement budget. Another factor in some clubs can be assessments -- basically a demand from the club that all members contribute an additional sum of money. One big item is the engine. How will a replacement engine be paid for when it's time (TBO) or if it unexpectedly fails? So looking at a club is harder than looking at a school or FBO where you just pay a posted price. If something about club, like dues or dry rate, looks out of whack compared to others you will need to look into why it is out of whack and whether that creates a risk for you. Said more simply, the lowest dues or the lowest dry rate may be from the club that will ultimately be the most expensive.

Buy-in price varies a lot. The starting point is net asset value per member. For an impossibly simple club of ten guys owning a $50K airplane with absolutely no other assets or liabilities the NAV is $5Kper member. For a club that leases its airplanes, NAV might be almost nothing. NAV is the starting point for evaluating a buy-in price. Usual the buy-in will be somewhat lower than NAV, possibly because a member is in a hurry to sell or because the market will not support the higher NAV price. Sometimes demand is high and the buy-in will be above NAV. Again, be sure you understand the numbers.

For clubs of any size that are following the rules, there will be a tax return (IRS Form 990) that you can get online with a free registration at www.guidestar.org. That's a good place to start.

Thank you for the advice,

So to put it another way, it's all about how much I'm on the hook for as a member and who pays what...got it!!

To be honest, I didn't know anything about additional costs involved in joining a club. I just thought you pay your dues and that would be the end of it. Now I can go in with my eyes wide open.

Thanks again for the advice!