Renting C172

ahmad

ahmad

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Apr 9, 2017
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S Illinois
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Midwest Aviator
So I am planning on renting a C172 in So Cal to some local flights. They're telling me that they have a min of 9 hr($170/Hr) rental if I want to rent a c172 for overnight and that they do not allow private pilots without instrument rating to fly at night. Is this a common restriction in other parts of the country?

Here in S IL I can take the c172 away for 24 hrs as long as I put 2 hrs on it.
 
Where I rent, they are really easy. Like you 2hrs per 24hrs. No restrictions on when you can fly. So, yeah. not normal.

Of course, could be like car rentals where they are really that busy they can command 9hrs of rental for overnight. The IR to fly at night is a bit of a head scratcher, unless their argument is the mountainous terrain (?) in the area? Or maybe overnight fog that develops (?) ?
 
Overnight minimums are common; 9hrs for a 172 is high. Locally, I’m seeing more FBOs requiring instrument raring or instructor at night; I’m curious if that’s being insurance driven.
 
That's pretty high, but their plane, their rules. Kinda dumb for them to price it too high though. Unless they are renting it more than 7 hours a day on average, then it's not dumb at all. Why should they **** off 5 customers that want to fly 1.5 hours each so you can fly for 2 hours? Not to mention the greater risk of a remote maintenance issue occurring. A school near here won't rent to you at all, unless you are enrolled in their school. Their aircraft just stay that busy.
 
I have seen three hours a day minimum for overnight rentals, but where I work, we have no minimums. We don't get a lot of overnight rentals. There is no requirement for an IFR rating at night.
 
Southern California is a really large place. Where exactly are you talking about? Have you considered looking for available aircraft at other airports? Do you now live in the area, or are you simply visiting?
 
Rgbeard said:
Southern California is a really large place. Where exactly are you talking about? Have you considered looking for available aircraft at other airports? Do you now live in the area, or are you simply visiting?
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I am talking to Corsair out of KVNY. I am just visiting for a week.
 
ahmad said:
I am talking to Corsair out of KVNY. I am just visiting for a week.
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Any rental at KVNY is going to be at the high end of the price range and a 9 hour minimum is nuts. Try Vista Air at Whiteman just on the other side of the valley. Easy drive from VNY. Torrance, KTOA, isn't a bad drive either. I believe there are several rental outfits there.
 
Htaylor said:
Any rental at KVNY is going to be at the high end of the price range and a 9 hour minimum is nuts. Try Vista Air at Whiteman just on the other side of the valley. Easy drive from VNY. Torrance, KTOA, isn't a bad drive either. I believe there are several rental outfits there.
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Thank you. Vista air is even closer to where I will be than VNY. Torrance is a bit far and I hate LA's traffic.
 
Hmmm. Find a local with a transfer station. Buy 7 hours worth of fuel and sell it to the local guy and save the receipt and expense it with the FBO. You'd come out pretty good. ;) Better yet, just hang around the pump and "buy" fuel reciepts from a few locals, or grab the ones left behind. ;)
 
The highest minimum I've seen was 4 hours to keep the rental for the day, 9 hours just seems ridiculous. I mean... come on 9h x 170$/h = $1530/day. That's more than 15% of the cost to get my entire PPL! And I'm betting there is a separate cost in there too for getting a CFI checkout in the plane before they let you take it for the day? Maybe their pricing is just a way of saying "don't rent with us".
 
I just called Vista Air at KWHP and got on board with them. No crazy rules and mins (only a 3 hr min) like KVNY. Thank you Htaylor for the suggestion. Also, unlike the other FBO there is no night or class B restriction. This works out much better.
 
Nice, I'll have to keep them in mind when I head out that way in July for a few months.


*ETA: They have a really good selection of planes, too, and reasonable prices.
 
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My experience has been 3 or 4 per day. Unless you are a good and regular customer, then it is negotiable.

But I was in Albany NY for work. A number of us had spouses working at the same time in Burlington, VT. So I thought, hmm, get checked our, I could fly over Sat afternoon and back Sunday evening or early Mon, find a few others and split the cost.

So I start calling FBOs in the Yellow Pages (yes, this was a while ago). First several were no longer in business. I finally got one to answer. Explained I wanted to get checked out and rent for a weekly or biweekly trip. At the time was Comm ASMEL, IA, RH, G, current CFI ASE, IA, RH, G, with about 1500 hours, Current instrument
and hundreds of 172 hours.

The person explained I needed a minimum of a 3 hour checkout for Day VFR. Another 3 hour minimum checkout for VFR night. And a third, minimum 3 hour check out for IFR, and something like 6 hours per day minimum for over night, which meant leaving on Sat and coming back late Sun they wanted 12 HOURS. WTF?!

I commented on the number of close FBOs, and the guy made a comment about yeah, it was strange, he had no idea why. REALLY?? :D

BTW, I did not fly with them.
 
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