For Sale: Club Membership New Flight Club - Las Vegas. NV

[Dayron Nunez]

Hi fellow pilots.

I'm finishing up a deal to buy a Cessna 172 (1957 straight tail) and will be opening a Flight club to operate with base in Las Vegas, NV. For now most likely out of KVGT but could also be looking at KHND.

The aircraft is a Classic cockpit Basic VFR nothing too fancy but flies pretty good and will be getting some improvement down the road.

Engine has about 230hr SMOH
Single Radio (brand new)
Also new intercom with audio recording output to a common 3.1 jack for easy video creations

I will upload some pictures as soon as possible because I have not closed the deal on the aircraft juts yet.

The idea is to operate a small friendly flying club, make friends within the pilots community, flight cheaper, build time, share flights and more.

ideally the club fee will be at $45 a month which will be deposited into the FC account and be used towards tie down, insurance and maintenance; Flight time for members has no limit as to how many hours you can do a month and will also have an online schedule system so everyone can see what the aircraft is doing as will get a faster access to it, the hourly rate is expected to be at $80/hr wet or less, which will be set before opening the club and once the aircraft is confirmed.

For now I just would like to know if there are other fellow pilots interested in such a thing before I continue to put ideas and try to make this happen. Any suggestion or comments will be really appreciated. (I'm also considering just buy the aircraft for my self and get a buddy pilot to share flying and do some cheaper time-building / xcountry trips or so)

FYI: This is my first post here, so if there are any errors or stuff like that, please let me know.

 

[SaltH2OHokie]

We have 10 members (5-6 active) in a club 172. At $100/mo plus $75/hr wet, we still ended up in the hole with one bad annual... Your numbers may be low to actually be financially viable.

Clubs in general, I'm a big fan of. Good luck.

 

[Ravioli]

It's been a while since I've lived in Vegas, but hangar space wasn't cheap at either of those airports. North has a lot of shade hangars. Henderson has a lot of uncovered tie downs. Not my choice for the desert sun, but there are a lot of them. Henderson also has a couple clubs with more planes and similar prices so you may want to concentrate on North.

The Wet/Dry and Tach/Hobbs decisions are pretty important to setting hourly rates. You may consider pricing in Dry/Tach. I think it protects you from the fluctuation in fuel costs and encourages your members to manage power more efficiently.

 

[Clip4]

Hi fellow pilots.

I'm finishing up a deal to buy a Cessna 172 (1957 straight tail) and will be opening a Flight club to operate with base in Las Vegas, NV. For now most likely out of KVGT but could also be looking at KHND.

The aircraft is a Classic cockpit Basic VFR nothing too fancy but flies pretty good and will be getting some improvement down the road.

Engine has about 230hr SMOH
Single Radio (brand new)
Also new intercom with audio recording output to a common 3.1 jack for easy video creations

I will upload some pictures as soon as possible because I have not closed the deal on the aircraft juts yet.

The idea is to operate a small friendly flying club, make friends within the pilots community, flight cheaper, build time, share flights and more.

ideally the club fee will be at $45 a month which will be deposited into the FC account and be used towards tie down, insurance and maintenance; Flight time for members has no limit as to how many hours you can do a month and will also have an online schedule system so everyone can see what the aircraft is doing as will get a faster access to it, the hourly rate is expected to be at $80/hr wet or less, which will be set before opening the club and once the aircraft is confirmed.

For now I just would like to know if there are other fellow pilots interested in such a thing before I continue to put ideas and try to make this happen. Any suggestion or comments will be really appreciated. (I'm also considering just buy the aircraft for my self and get a buddy pilot to share flying and do some cheaper time-building / xcountry trips or so)

FYI: This is my first post here, so if there are any errors or stuff like that, please let me know.

I can't comment on demand for a club in your area, but I don't believe you will find many pilots interested in a club wth a 60 year old 172.

 

[Dayron Nunez]

Thanks for the replies, honestly every info helps, I've been flying out of Henderson for just under 2 year now and really have not been able to fin any good plane for less than $145, I just started flying this Cessna with the Owner who is someone I know for about a year now and he is A&P himself so even though it is an old plane I know is taken care of mechanically at least. Will see what happens, I could close that deal or maybe we wont do it, I just want to get some opinions to get the big picture and also some feedback maybe from someone who has done it before

 

[sferguson524]

I might be interested. Also may at some point in time be interested in getting partners together on something like a super viking or debonair

 

[Dayron Nunez]

I might be interested. Also may at some point in time be interested in getting partners together on something like a super viking or debonair

Great to hear, and also good idea on the debonair. I've been thinking on buying either that or a baron for a while now, maybe will actually get into it at some point

 

[sferguson524]

I can't comment on demand for a club in your area, but I don't believe you will find many pilots interested in a club wth a 60 year old 172.

There is 1 actual not for profit club here.. they've got 4 aircraft. there's a couple schools that operate a "club" with a few more planes. Then there's the "club" that operates brand new Cirri for 500 bucks an hour. I for one would LOVE to see some more flying clubs here. When I lived in San Diego, i was a member of 2 of them. Had access to everything from a 152 all the way up to a Malibu.

 

[Bonchie]

A setup like that, in a plane like that, probably means you need to open it up to students to make it work.

That's how a former club I was in was able to keep a Cherokee at just $60 wet flying. But it flew constantly and that's what sustained it. Students keep a plane flying and the money coming in. When you are only burning 8gph at say $75 wet/hr, that leaves about $30-40 per hour of excess cash after fuel costs, which is plenty to keep it going and save for a new engine. But you need the plane flying, not sitting all month. Otherwise a plane of that vintage, that limited in equipment isn't going to garner much interest from already licensed pilots who actually want to go somewhere.

Personally, I'd up the dues to $100 a month (that's throwaway money to 99% of private pilots), allow students with some restrictions, and then still charge $75 wet/hr.

In that setup you need about 10 members to be safe. Don't be scared by that number. Half of them will barely fly or they will be students who fly in short sessions vs. keeping the plane for a week straight.

Our 182P club (equity partnership so we had buy ins) is 10 people. Maybe 5 of them have flown in the past six months and only three (including me) fly it reguarly. We charge $110 a month in dues and $92/hr (tach) wet. Obviously our plane burns a good chunk more fuel an hour than a 172, but it still works fine at that low cost and $20 an hour goes toward the engine. The key is having enough base members paying dues. We do not allow students, but we also have a decently equipped IFR traveling airplane, something your 172 is not.

 

[Dayron Nunez]

Bonchie thank you very much for your info, very interesting and good facts, I've consider myself getting a newer aircraft and good fir equipped, but thought of this as a starting point with a good chance to get a second plane for more advanced missions such as IFR XC and so on! It would be great to have an IFR C182.