How does it work?

[Andy_Stotts]

Maybe a daft question but going to ask it anyway!! How does the hourly rates work when hiring planes? Is it the time you are actually in the air or is it from when you book the aircraft out to when you book it back in? What I mean is if I take off from my home airfield and travel to an airfield say 100 miles which may take 1hr and decided to park up and visit the local city or area and return to my aircraft about 3hrs later then travel home which could take another hour. Would I have to pay for 5hrs rental?

2hrs traveling + 3hrs sightseeing/shopping

If anyone understands what I am trying to get at please explain thanks

[AlphaMale]

Andy not sure "Professional Pilot Training" is the place to be asking such a question?

[asuweb]

It depends on the club, however as a general rule, you usually pay block time, i,e from when you first taxi, to shutdown. So, in your example, you would pay a total of roughly 2 hours.

Some clubs impose restrictions on minimum number of hours if taking the aircraft for extended periods. For example, if you hired an aircraft for a weekend, you may be charged for say 5 hours flying whether or not you actually fly for those hours. Obviously if you fly more than the minumum you pay for the total hours.

[Andy_Stotts]

Your right it is the wrong froum I have been reading all the website and thought I was in another forum my mistake:rolleyes:

[AlphaMale]

Your right it is the wrong froum I have been reading all the website and thought I was in another forum my mistake

No you had the right forum. But you posted in the wrong 'section' or 'area' of the forum. This Internet can get mighty complicated can't it :}

... That is why the kind moderator moved it for you :ugh:

[BackPacker]

It depends on the club, however as a general rule, you usually pay block time, i,e from when you first taxi, to shutdown. So, in your example, you would pay a total of roughly 2 hours.

Same at my club. There are some variations, depending to an extent to what equipment is installed in the plane. Some clubs use the honor system, requiring you to accurately write down either engine start/stop, or take-off/landing times, others use the tacho or a hobbs meter. (This leads to endless discussions at club meetings...) But at the end of the day, you normally only pay for flying time and time associated with the flying (taxiing, runup), not for time spending parked.

Most club/rental places offer a "wet" hourly rate, meaning: including fuel. The aircraft comes with a fuel credit card which you can use to uplift fuel at most places. And if for some reason you've got to pay yourself for fuel away from home base, they will have a reimbursement system/agreement to pay you back. If you plan to do serious touring, check this system out, because phoning ahead and looking for the best price can be very advantageous. Also, if you're going to cross the channel, find out who's responsible for claiming back excise duty.

Some groups use a "dry" hourly rate instead, meaning: excluding fuel. I don't know how this works exactly, having never experienced this, but it makes people more aware of fuel consumption and fuel management, so it encourages proper leaning and shopping around for best fuel prices.

Some clubs impose restrictions on minimum number of hours if taking the aircraft for extended periods. For example, if you hired an aircraft for a weekend, you may be charged for say 5 hours flying whether or not you actually fly for those hours. Obviously if you fly more than the minumum you pay for the total hours.

Depending on how well you know the people, how often you rent their planes for just an hour without any downtime and such, this is typically negotiable. But negotiate beforehand, not afterwards.

Also, if you take a plane away for a longer period of time, some of the responsibility for maintaining the plane is also assumed to be yours. This is not like rental cars where you have places all around the country that can help you. So take tie-downs and some oil with you. Perhaps a sponge, soap and a bucket. Make sure you have a list of phone numbers of people/places to contact in case of problems or questions. If you can't fly your plan due to weather or aircraft problems, contact the club as soon as possible so that they can shift other renters to other aircraft. Etc. etc.

Oh, and if you plan to go away for a longer period of time (say 5-10 flying hours at least), check with the rental place a few days to a week before, to see whether there's enough time left until the next 50/100 hour check. If you do this well enough in advance, they can schedule the check a few flying hours early so that you don't get stuck in the middle of nowhere with a plane that ran out of hours.

[tmmorris]

I've rented under the following systems - some more fair than others:

Hobbs hours (i.e. engine start to shutdown)
Tacho hours
Takeoff to touchdown
Takeoff to touchdown plus 10 minutes

The last is perhaps the fairest, if your airfield is large - you pay for the straight taxy time but if you get stuck at the hold (I did 15 minutes at Cambridge recently) you aren't paying for it. The last two also have the advantage of not encouraging fast taxying. The second is nicest to the aircraft - it encourages you not to firewall the throttle all the time just to get there quicker, whereas the first is bad on all counts (people taxy fast then flog the aircraft to get there in the shortest time).

Tim

[foxmoth]

Whilst nearly all clubs just charge for flying time, worked in the various ways described, the other thing to watch out for, especially at weekends, is a minimum rental time, i.e. if you take it for the whole weekend and just go to a flyin and back with half an hour each way (1 hour total) you would still have to pay the minimum of (say) 3 hours/day - one definite advantage of being in a smallish group instead of hiring from a club!:ok: