Looking for clubs in the MD, DC, VA area

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Bishop

Filing Flight Plan
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May 8, 2012
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Bishop
Hi Everyone,

I just discovered this forum and have been busy reading. I have decided to get back into flying after being away for a very long time.

I have been searching for a nice club to join the DC, MD, or VA area. I would love to fly taildraggers and/or 4 seater plane to local areas and even be able to take the plane over the weekend or during the entire week for long trips.

What are some nice affordable flying clubs in the area that you would recommend?

Thank you.
 
Where are you located?

I haven't found any good 'clubs' yet, but quite a few outfits in southeastern VA that have some decent planes (including tailwheels) available for rent.
 
I am a little North of DC in the Gaithersburg area but I don't mind driving a hour or so if there is a good club, members and hourly prices :)
 
Bishop said:
I am a little North of DC in the Gaithersburg area but I don't mind driving a hour or so if there is a good club, members and hourly prices :)
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Sorry but a hours drive from Gaithersburg only gets you to Rockville :(
 
jtheune said:
Sorry but a hours drive from Gaithersburg only gets you to Rockville :(
Click to expand...

It's all about timing...I make it all the way from my home just east of Dulles to Bay Bridge Airport on the other side of the Bay Bridge in just over an hour. But yeah, I hate DC traffic with a burning passion. Every time I get on the beltway I think, "man, flying is SO much easier!"
 
TSS flying club out of Gaithersburg is awesome. We have two 172/180hp, a 2000 182, and a 182RG. Charged on tach time. No daily mins. Take plane for up to 10 days. Besides great planes, it is a good group and we do fun trips, monthly BBQs, etc. TSS.org. PM if you want to chat.
 
Octopus flying club is also based at GAI and has similar attributes as TSS. I would encourage you to check out both.

Octopusflyingclub.com

Also feel free to PM with questions.
 
I've read up on both TSS and Octopus at KGAI. I considered joining Octopus at one point; however, I'd like some more experience before I start doing something like that.
 
Understandable. I did get my ticket with Octopus, so I am a little biased.

Renting vs clubs have a break even point that should be considered.

If you: (With assumptions of course: the FBO rental rate is based on Hobbs and higher than the lower club rate on based on tach time, which reduces further the hourly rate.)

Fly <4 hours hobbs a month it is not favorable to have a monthly fee (club) and your likely* to be better off renting.

Fly ~ 4-6 hours a month and it's usually pretty close to a wash as far as "for profit" rentals and the club monthly fee

Fly > 6 Hobbs hours, a club should work out cheaper.

*unless the FBO has daily min's that make overnight/weekend trips prohibitively expensive. i.e. 4 hour min daily min for a Fri-Sun trip of 2-3 hours total hobbs, but billed @ 12 hours. I'm sure most FBO's would work with you, but you get the point.

I'm very happy with utilizing a club for access with good access to aircraft, and the freedom to book for extended lengths with no min's, etc.

Welcome back to flying, and if you haven't already taken the FAAsadety.gov class on the DC SFRA, I encourage you to do so!
 
I've been looking at joining TSS or Octopus and I must say that TSS has some nice folks as well as aircraft. Octopus I need to learn more about but speaking from experience give TSS a good look!

The only thing is that there is a buy-in for TSS so keep that in mind. $1200 IIRC
 
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I am surprized that there are not enough clubs in the area. I am planning on flying 5-10 hours per month and a club sounds better than FBO since they do not have min. hours per day.

I am hitting the books right now trying to get up-to-speed.

Cheers and happy flying.
 
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