I'll give you my experience of being in the group for 2 years and I wont sugar coat it......
Firstly, someone is telling you porkies on the fuel cost, JP3 burns about 500-600 litres an hour at probably about 90p per litre in todays money for JetA1. When I was flying it 5 or 6 years ago the fuel price was about 40-50p per litre and I was usually £350-£400 an hour inc landing fees which were about £50 per landing at Newcastle, probably more by now.
Doing circuits at Carlisle was a bit better but it was something like 3 or 4 landings for £100. At todays fuel prices an hour of circuits (low level + lots of drag = lots of fuel burn) will probably stand you £700+ inc landings depending on how many you do.
Some other things I would add about the group.....
- Constantly moving goalposts with regards hour requirements for being allowed to carry pax, make sure you get this confirmed in a written agreement first so it cant be changed.
- Slim to zero chance of getting your £1k back and legal threats to get you to keep paying your monthly fees even after you have 'donated' your share back to the group, as per the agreement.
- Extremely limited availablity of the aircraft during summer weekends as it does the airshow season.
- Flying cost includes NO maintenance cost or engine fund, if something breaks you all chip in, thats from the moment you join whether you've flown it or not.
- All maintenance costs being split equally regardless of hours flown, tends to suit one member in particular who does more flying than the rest of the group put together.
- Group financial structure that relies on a continual flow of members leaving and 'donating' their £1000 share back to the group.
I've no axe to grind and had fun flying 'blunty' during my time in the group but make sure you do your own research on the costs, the group accounts, the number of members in the group and the throughput of members over the last few years. A happy / stable group generally has a very small turnover of members, a high throughput is a sign that not all is well.
As for flying it, its not a difficult thing to fly at all and not that demanding, a few more systems to consider than your average spam-can but its fun enough if you can handle the fuel costs! Typical speeds are about 180kts econ cruise, 220kts if your not so fussed burning fuel and max chat S&L on the deck is about 270kts.
Regards
UA
Last edited by Unusual Attitude; 7th May 2012 at 14:25.