Pilot describes partnership experience in extensive Reddit post

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t3chiman

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t3chiman
Recent post on Reddit r/flying "One year of a 5-person Plane Partnership" goes into detail, has the usual cautions and lessons learned.

Summary: Five pilots formed a partnership to buy a used RV10. No deaths or serious injuries. But they all would have done better to just rent a nice Cirrus, even paying retail.

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Link to the Reddit post here.

The poster also chimed-in in the comments section to add more info and answer questions. It was an interesting read.
 
Most of the issues seem to have no relationship to being in a partnership, other than some of the mistakes were made by partners other than the poster. Unclear why the inflight fire didn't result in an insurance claim, unless they were worried that the insurance company might have a problem with the utterly unqualified owners working on the avionics and causing a fire.
 
Seemed like each partner took a turn making a major mistake

I bet the non op partners were thrilled to relive their fun experience through online forums. There’s really no way out now (who wants to join that clown show? And overpay for the privilege?)
 
Partnerships can save a huge amount of time and money, if the team gets along and the partnership is set up fairly. I benefited greatly from a 3-4 way partnership for 10 years. It saved me large sums of money and quite a bit of time.
 
I read the story and thought, "So what's new here?" Yes, planes can be expensive at times...most of us get lucky and go years without major problems (I personally went nearly 30 years without any major bills, then last year I had an $80,000+/ongoing maintenance year from literally dozens of non-major issues on an almost new plane). Sometimes it happens. Add several partners that all have different expectations, finances, and opinions, and yes, it's going to be a scheisse show.
 
Is it worth reading? I opened the page and saved it, as it’s longggg.

Like anything in life, you need to be around like-minded people for things to work a little easier. If the group is extremely different then naturally will be some issues.
 
mandm said:
Is it worth reading? I opened the page and saved it, as it’s longggg.

Like anything in life, you need to be around like-minded people for things to work a little easier. If the group is extremely different then naturally will be some issues.
Click to expand...
Summary: Plane ownership is expensive. Not doing a prebuy is dumb. Buying an EAB equals buying someone else's mistakes. Letting unqualified amateurs perform maintenance and modifications in airplanes can result in disaster.
 
I'm trying to think of more things they could have done wrong, and coming up empty. I mean... think about what you're about to do before you do it. The "lessons learned" are nearly all basic Airplane 101 stuff that they should have known.
 
Horror show.

Having a democratic process with equal voting rights makes sense for some things. For other things, like critical aircraft maintenance on a machine you're going to entrust yours and your family's life in, it's not a good idea for every unskilled imbecile to have a say (especially when they're voting with their wallet rather than their brain). The idea of making unforced errors that can (and arguably almost did) result in death, and purely because of our ignorance and desire to save a buck, seems like an absolutely moronic, avoidable situation.

The only intelligent person in that whole story is the wife of the writer who now refuses to fly in that and won't let their kid go up either. She has the common sense the rest of them are lacking. Clear evidence that 2 heads (or 5) isn't always better than one. Hope the guy bails from the partnership and salvages what he can of his equity stake.
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
. For other things, like critical aircraft maintenance on a machine you're going to entrust yours and your family's life in, it's not a good idea for every unskilled imbecile to have a say (especially when they're voting with their wallet rather than their brain).
Click to expand...
Just wondering how a contract would be worded to improve on this.
 
I'm in my second equity club - the first was decades old when I bought in and they had it figured out - truly; it was "built" for travel, not training, and thrived. Still does, and they've added an airplane. My "new" club was formed only a year or two before I got in; but they did their due diligennce, and it's been a success, at least for me. I'd like my own plane, but until then . . .
 
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