Group Shares

[Hamish 123]

Having recently completed my PPL, it's become clear that hiring from my flying school is a) very expensive and b) difficult at weekends without planning weeks in advance, as everyone wants to fly then. OK, both these points should have been obvious from the start, but I was totally focussed on just getting my licence. Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I'm now looking at buying a group share (somewhat earlier than I had planned when I started my PPL 18 months ago), as from the few I've looked at so far, they appear to be much more economical, and offer greater flexibilty and availability.

Can anyone offer a their thoughts/opinions/warnings or deal-stopper type questions I should ask before I commit to anything?

[rjakw]

There is lots of advice around on this & other forums (try searching here, PFA, Flyer etc.) about specifics to look for with regard to agreements & arrangements etc.. so I won't regurgitate it yet again.

My advice is to look at the people in the group first - they're the key and it has nothing to do with aircraft. If you feel comfortable with them then go into the detail - if you don't, stop right there & look for another.

[Heliplane]

I'm in a group and think it's an excellent way to own/fly.

It's stating the obvious but the main two things to get comfortable with are the plane and the people. Most important things in my mind are as follows:

- How many other members are in the group: this is getting at the availability of the plane and whether you will be able to have it when you want it and on short notice.

- What are the other members like: meet all of them, preferably fly with them. You'll want to make sure you get on with them and are comfortable with the way they fly. (If it is a conscientious group, they will probably want to fly with you - this would be a good sign).

- What condition is the plane in and why is the share being sold? How much time is left on the engine? What is the maintenance record like? Is it maintained locally - can you speak to the engineer?

- What is the group agreement as to allocating/booking time in the plane? Is this fair? Is there scope for one member to dominate the bookings? Does this fit in the flying that you would like to do.

- What are the arrangements as to maintenance, fuel, fixed costs and hourly costs?

- If a member wants to sell his/her share, what right of veto do you or other members have over a potential new member (this is important as you will want to ensure that an inappropriate pilot does not fly your plane).

Just to give you a flavour of how my group works (and I think it works very well), there are 4 of us and it's a single engine, fixed prop, fixed gear 180hp plane. We charge ourselves £140 per month to cover insurance, parking, scheduled maintenance and other incidental fixed costs and then £70 per tach hour (for fuel and an engine reserve - although this might now have to increase with the costs of fuel rising). We have a healthy group bank account that should pay for all or substantially all of the overhaul when that becomes necessary. We would otherwise pay money in specifically if a one-off expense were ever to arise but would all agree on this beforehand (such as installing a Mode S transponder).

We have an online booking system and the rule is that any member can have no more than 2 future bookings at any one time, no more than 2 consecutive weekend days can be booked and no single booking can be longer than 6 days. Any of these rules can be bypassed with the consent of the other members - eg it is generally never a problem to plan a 2-3 week trip from time to time.

I'd recommend having a written agreement.

Lastly, as a new-ish PPL, I'd assume you haven't owned a plane before. Might be an idea to look at simple planes (eg no constant speed props or retractable undercarriage) as this will keep the maintenance down and ease you into the ups and downs of aircraft ownership. You may well find a great plane that is a bit more complex but this is just a thought.

Good luck!