Flying club?

fiveoboy01

fiveoboy01

Pattern Altitude
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Apr 21, 2013
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Madison, WI
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Dirty B
I'm asking this for a friend, who is a primary student(already soloed and around 25 hours or so total) and looking at a 1/10 share in a 1969 C172, 1400 SMOH, Garmin 430(he said nicer Garmin so I'm ASSuming), he says it is in pretty good shape and maintained by one of the mechanics at the airport who is also a partner.

$3000 buy-in(refund of $1500 when you leave)
$70 monthly dues
1 free hour per month
$70/hour wet(!)

He said that the logs show it has been flown a total of 2 hours this month(of course the weather is going to have something to do with this), but also indicated that most of the partners are old men who just want to see someone else fly it:lol:

Deal? Yea or nay? Sorry if the details may be vague but that's all he gave me for info. He didn't specify hobbs or tach time, so I asked him which it was. Haven't recieved an answer on that yet.
 
Seems like it would be good if you're going to fly a lot but if you're flying once a month then you MAY do better with a larger club or renting.

That one free hour per month is very nice.
 
Based on the facts presented into evidence, it appears to be a good deal. Good enough to dig further into the partner agreement to answer questions about usage (mins, overnights, grass, etc), how is big ticket inspections and maintenance handled, how is billing done, is training permitted, etc.

If all is good, then it would be a great opportunity for finishing up that PPL, building time/experience, and then working toward IFR.
 
Assuming the plane is well maintained, the availability is decent and those costs include a good insurance policy - its a deal.
 
Doesn't look like a bad deal. Check the logs and maintenance schedule. Also see how much it flys for availability .
 
Not sure where your friend is located, but I'm part of a club at KMWC. There's a share (1/15) for sale for $2600, with a monthly of $60 and hourly (wet) of $65 in a 172N. No IFR GPS, but there's a 496 w/ XM weather and some discussions have started about upgrading the panel a bit (since a few of us are working on our IR).

Oh, and you OWN the share... so it can be sold for whatever you can get when you leave. No guaranteed $1500, but I'm guessing you'd get more than that selling based on recent history.
 
I would love to find a deal like that around the CT area. The best I can find is around $150/mo and $110/hr for a C172. Ideally I would like to find a buy-in with a decent rate in the Springfield area.
 
Looks better than our club, and it isn't bad. That 1 free hour a month can eat up the $1500 non-refundable part of the buy-in fairly quickly. If this plane is well maintained and available, jump on it.
 
What are the plans for engine overhaul, an assessment or is there a fund? What is the exit provision if 8 of the 10 dont want to chip in on the OH ? 3k buy in with 1.5k buy-out creates an incentive to churn members. What has been the turnover in the last 3 years ?
 
It doesn't seem too out of line, with the caveats that have already been raised. Our club has 3 planes (172, 182, Arrow) and 45 members with a $2K buy-in, $45/mo dues and wet rates from $86-120 per hour depending on the plane. You sell your membership when you leave for $2K (or whatever you sell it for), but the club won't buy it from you. No assessments, we either paid cash or financed two major overhauls last year.

The devil is in the details -- check the by-laws and club rules, read the club newsletters, attend a meeting or two to get a feel for it before you join.
 
Looks like a good deal. Do they have a hangar or tiedown? If it has the o-300 the overhaul is a little more expensive and I think TBO is 1800hrs. Do they have reserves?
 
I am a 1/4 share owner of a 63 C172. My 1/4 I purchased for 4900. Our hangar is 360 split 4 ways and insurance is about 15.00 a month for my 1/4. So it costs me about 105.00 a month to have it sit there. If I fly, we charge ourselves 30.00, of that 20 goes into maint fund and 10 into overhaul fund. We buy our own fuel wherever we want and pay that separate.

Your deal doesn't sound too bad in my opinion. Our 0-300 has 2700 smoh and still runs fine so I wouldn't be too worried about the hours on the engine.

One thing I would ask is how will it be determined when you do overhaul the engine. Time on engine? , when it starts telling you its sick?

Between the 4 of us, it was decided that we would do overhaul when the engine tells us its getting sick or if any one of the 4 says they are not comfortable or have lost confidence in the engine. So if one person says its time, then we do it.

Joe
 
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