Renting Frustration!

ajstoner21

ajstoner21

Cleared for Takeoff
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Oct 31, 2010
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1,344
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Fort Worth, TX
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Andrew
Ugh! I hate having to rent sometimes.

The place I mainly rent from has two planes I can rent. (well, i am endorsed for two other, but don't meet their insurance minimums yet).

I have a very rough schedule during the week. I'm genuinely busy from 7 AM till about 11 PM Monday through Thursday, and the only time I have to fly, is on the weekend.

Every weekend for the last month or so, I've been "bumped" for one reason or another. Someone with more money than me going on a weekend trip, weather, maintenance, whatever.... every time for about 5 weeks now.

Ok, Rant over....


(perhaps Its time to look for a new rental place... with affordable, safe, planes)
 
Perhaps we should talk... :)
 
Maybe sone of the guys that rent at your place would be interested in ownership[ sharing for an airplane. Ask around. Ownership sharing is cheaper on the long run (no profit) an gives you more accessibility.

José
 
Piloto said:
Maybe sone of the guys that rent at your place would be interested in ownership[ sharing for an airplane. Ask around. Ownership sharing is cheaper on the long run (no profit) an gives you more accessibility.

José
Click to expand...

But find out what other guys have run into with such arrangements and create some strong bylaws for the partnership. There always seems to be one guy who hogs the airplane on weekends. Another leaves the tanks empty and the cockpit full of garbage. Some guys won't come out to help clean up around the hangar and help with maintenance, and one of the guys ends up doing all the work and getting very little of the flying. Some members might not warm the airplane properly before takeoff so as to save money. All of it leads to considerable friction and resentment and some of it abuses the airplane itself. There have been too many partnerships end in acrimony and dispute because there were no boundaries placed on behavior.

Dan
 
Dan Thomas said:
But find out what other guys have run into with such arrangements and create some strong bylaws for the partnership. There always seems to be one guy who hogs the airplane on weekends. Another leaves the tanks empty and the cockpit full of garbage. Some guys won't come out to help clean up around the hangar and help with maintenance, and one of the guys ends up doing all the work and getting very little of the flying. Some members might not warm the airplane properly before takeoff so as to save money. All of it leads to considerable friction and resentment and some of it abuses the airplane itself. There have been too many partnerships end in acrimony and dispute because there were no boundaries placed on behavior.

Dan
Click to expand...

If I had a partnership I would definitely use online scheduling. Our club's system works very well - there are some basic scheduling rules like "only one weekend a month (unless no one has claimed the coming weekend by monday of that week)"
 
ajstoner21 said:
Ugh! I hate having to rent sometimes.

The place I mainly rent from has two planes I can rent. (well, i am endorsed for two other, but don't meet their insurance minimums yet).

I have a very rough schedule during the week. I'm genuinely busy from 7 AM till about 11 PM Monday through Thursday, and the only time I have to fly, is on the weekend.

Every weekend for the last month or so, I've been "bumped" for one reason or another. Someone with more money than me going on a weekend trip, weather, maintenance, whatever.... every time for about 5 weeks now.

Ok, Rant over....


(perhaps Its time to look for a new rental place... with affordable, safe, planes)
Click to expand...

So your reservation is "voidable" just because someone else want to fly a longer trip? that seems shady, a reservation is a reservation. At my operation its "first come first served"...period
 
I might forgive this FBO once, if they had a good explanation and were very apologietic. More than once? Well, maybe you have a reason to continue renting from them, but I can't think of what it might be.
Jon
 
This place has been great for the most part. Just the last month or so has been unlucky for me. Perhaps just a string of bad luck.

I've considered getting "checked out" at several places, but, I don't want to worry about keeping my "status" current with each one. (Some places require a flight every 90 days, some every 30?!?!).

In the FBO's defense, they did call me about the weekend trip, which I said fine, that was the first of the lost weekends I guess, so, although I gave them permission, I guess I shouldnt complain about that particular instance..

But, one time I was bumped, without notice except from the online scheduler, was suspicious to me. All week, a plane was marked as reserved for Maintenance all weekend (the more expensive plane), and the plane I prefer was available. So, i call them up, and schedule the one I like for Sunday. Suddenly, the plane I was flyin was put in maintenance all day. BUT, the other one, more expensive one, was suddenly available. As far as I can tell, it was mostly an unscheduled thing (they have an hourly count down for scheduled stuff it seems). So, I hope it was just an honest mistake of marking the wrong plane, but I found it suspicious, the cheaper plane I wanted got taken down, while the other one suddenly became available.
 
The place I used to rent (past tense), the CFI there would bump reservations if he had students who wanted the plane, because I guess then he would get paid. I thought that was a crappy practice. I heard that guy is no longer there, but I still don't want to go back there.
 
That sucks that they did that. I had it happen a time or two as well, and ended up finding someone who let me rent their plane for a lower fee. I hope you can find something that will keep you able to fly when you schedule it out.
 
dell30rb said:
If I had a partnership I would definitely use online scheduling. Our club's system works very well - there are some basic scheduling rules like "only one weekend a month (unless no one has claimed the coming weekend by monday of that week)"
Click to expand...

We thought we would too, but with only three people, e-mail and mobile devices, seems to have worked well for years now.

We decided that five active people per aircraft is the break-even on scheduling conflicts and wrote that into our by-laws.

A sixth person means we shop for airplane #2. ;)
 
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