Flying during the week increases the chances of getting an a/c for a longer period, especially on a Friday before a wekend with a Bank Holiday on the Monday. (Everyone will be thinking one day out of Sat/Sun/Mon will be okay to fly, so I won't take a day off work 'just' to go flying
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I take every opportunity to work overtime at work (my boss won't PAY over time, but he will let me not be at work sometimes during the week!) So I have had a number of whole days out in club aircraft (better equiped than my own) during the week for just the cost of the hours flown.
Group flying makes a lot of sense from an availability point of view. The group I belong to has an arrangement which I think is just about perfect. There are four of us and we each have the aircraft for a week at a time. Thus we can go away for the day, the weekend or the week, when it is our week. Plus because not everyone can fly every day when it is their week, there is often the opportunity to fly in somebody elses week (with their agreement).
FYI: I paid £3500 for the 1/4 share, and we pay £25/month + £26/hour . So if I fly for two hours a month it costs me £77. I couldn't hire a club C152 for ONE hour for that amount.
