Good advice Beagler, Group flying can be a very good cheap way to build up hours. I`m in a C150 group paying £25 a month fixed, and £30 an hour wet. I expect to make a profit on my share too when I sell it.
However there are pitfalls, our engine went pop yesterday, so no flying for a month and a new one we are informed will be around £12k, we knew it would need doing sooner or later and had the money put by, but many groups wont. It`s not unusual for 2 or 3 members to bleed a group dry, so anyone interested in buying into a group should take a look at the group accounts, look also at the diary and see when the aircaft is mainly being used.
Are there any mega hour builders in the group ?
Is there a limit to how many hours a month you may fly ? (not a bad thing, we have a 20 hour a month limit per member)
How many bookings can you make in advance ?
Are there any insurance stipulations ? (I had to fly 10 hours accompanied by another ppl)
Cheapest isn`t always best. A well run group with an aircraft that is used regulary will probably be better than one which is left unused for weeks. Also as someone has already said, many members don`t use the aircraft very often, some just to keep current, so don`t be put off by a group with a lot of members. Ours has 20 members and it`s rare that we get diary conflicts. So be careful before buying that quarter share with a big initial outlay and a quarter of all the costs that come with it.