Frank
Pre-takeoff checklist
My S.O. and I both fly. She is taking instruction in LSAs at a nearby school, and I belong to a flying club. Last night she was bemoaning the difficulty in scheduling her lessons, in part because planes (Tecnams) are often down for maintenance. My flying club also has some issues with availability of the most popular planes (172s). The 172s are much older aircraft, P models. We were discussing what could be done to improve availability.
How much availability is a norm? Are LSAs more fragile and hence more likely not to be available? If you were running a flight school, what airplanes (LSAs or certified) would you put on your flight line if availability were your number one concern? Are there preventive maintenance practices that could improve availability? Has anyone modeled the break-even point for such maintenance? Does anyone maintain flight school aircraft at night, when students are less likely to want to fly them?
How much availability is a norm? Are LSAs more fragile and hence more likely not to be available? If you were running a flight school, what airplanes (LSAs or certified) would you put on your flight line if availability were your number one concern? Are there preventive maintenance practices that could improve availability? Has anyone modeled the break-even point for such maintenance? Does anyone maintain flight school aircraft at night, when students are less likely to want to fly them?