What Makes A Good Aero Club ??

[Throtlemonkey]

My local club is going down the tubes and has been for some years now, so i'm curious as to how many aeroclubs there are out there that are successful - and if so how do they do it ?

[Kermit 180]

Aero clubs are slightly different from schools. Schools produce pilots and rely on a constant flow of incoming students.

An aero club, i believe, not only trains pilots, but also provides them with ongoing skill-enhancing and social flying events, and an environment of comradeship for pilots with similar aviation interests. Together with a professional image, a good core of instructors, pilots and managers, marketing, and consistent returning (therefore flying) of customers, I think there is a recipe for success. Politics, particularly open politics in clubs, can destroy the friendly environment and this is one aspect of aero clubs I havent noticed as often in schools. Perhaps the concept of a committee can also be a club's undoing if the right mix of people isnt there.


Kermie ;)

[Jungle Strip]

True about the fallibility of committees Kermit, but my local club is owned and run by one person. It's a dictatorship. Person XXX is given to ejecting people, or changing fundamentals, on a whim. The club, once a very pleasant place to fly, learn and socialise, now has an atmosphere that almost affects the viz. In that sense, although we pay our subs, to call it a "club" is a misnomer; it is a private business. This seems to be the case with many "clubs" in the UK.
Doesn't a good club have to be run by its members, for starters?

[Vfrpilotpb]

Hi JS,
A club by any other name is indeed a collection of like minded people who want to all do somthing nearly alike, unfortunatly it seems to end there, for none of the people who join ever seem to be able to get on and enjoy the main pastime, some one always wants to show the others that he/she has a better grasp of the club rules, or is more able to express themselves in commitee minutes,that's when it starts to get Sh*tty, and people dont care about the actual club but just go to get on with their pastime, but then Flying officer Kite will realise that more revenue can be had if you all pay more subs or pay to use the Karzy, or pay more to have a coffee/tes, thats when the membership starts to fall off, untill eventually Flying officer Kite is all on his own still with his blazer and cravat but no body comming through the doors, Sherburn, one of the oldest clubs in England has recently had a very close call with total extinction and possibly bankruptcy, it was only due to the dilligence of a good hub of members who cared, that it was saved, some times it can be a better thing to be a
" member" of a private limited concern, for the owner/directors will always want to have some income, and thus will be approachable(unless they are stupid)
sorry for the length of this reply!!

[chicken6]

Jungle Strip

I know what you mean. It seems that your best options would be to start bringing in people (new students or friends) who think along the same lines as you and eventually there will be too many people to ignore, or you could backstab this person who may well deserve it, talk everyone else into starting up another club run properly with people on the comittee who want to see it grow and simply sidestep the problem.

I don't think there's a politically nice way to tell someone they're a tosser. Especially if you want action. But this person needs to be told. My motto in situations like this is "they might genuinely not know they're damaging the ________" (club, business, school, whatever).

Good luck whatever you choose.

As for what makes a good club - regular new people! Two new students per month every month, who continue until at least first solo. This of course means advertising. Out of ten to solo, you might get one to PPL, you might get five to PPL, if the instructors are keen enough and sell themselves well you might get ten. Each PPL might bring in $3000 profit over the course of their training. Might be less, but it's all money.

Competitions! There was a report from the RNZAC a while ago that proved a direct linkage between competition strength and club strength. Maybe it's because of the competitions themselves, maybe it's because of all the extra things that competition-organising people organise. Either way, there must be some 'extracurricular' activities for want of a better phrase.

Get the people keen and play 'wag the dog'.

And good luck again.

[UKPPL]

TM,

Although there are many good, friendly, well run clubs around the country, equally there are others which are an absolute joke and shouldn't be in business.

It's not rocket science to realise pilots who go along to a flying club are going there to ENJOY themselves, whats more for most pilots they are spending a large portion of their disposible income with the club and precious amounts of valuable free time. They expect (and deserve) prompt, friendly, professional service, a well priced and servicable choice of aircraft with good availability and a feeling of being 'involved' with the club.

The last club (rather, should I say business) I 'attended' was a joke. The managers and owners hid from the members, wouldn't return phone calls and generally avoided all possible contact with their clients (yes the very people who paid their wages). The arogant attitude they displayed was amazing to the point you were made to feel as though you were doing them a favour by hiring an aircraft! There was little or no communication with the members - example being when a club aircraft crashed at the beginning of this year (resulting in severe injury) due to incorrect (bad) maintenance. Instead of being open about things and discussing the issues involved with members, there was a wall of silence. Their staffing provisions (where's the CFI?) were (are still?) also very dubious. What a joke.

The problem is that novice pilots attend clubs like this and get completely the wrong idea. Result... few people start training after a trial lesson and the whole industry suffers.

The biggest joke is when clubs like this whinge that business is bad... wake up and smell the coffee !! ... I wonder why this is?
Also the CAA don't seem to be able to see through the clouds of bull**** the club operates under.

Thats my rant for the day!

[Reichman]

what makes a good aeroclub?

Long runway.
Warm hangar.
Cool beer.
Cheap fuel.

Shallow? Me?

[Vmike]

My perfect flying club:

1. Half a mile from home (walking distance), grass strip with two runways, in pretty countryside, in uncontrolled airspace, with good drainage and no neighbours other than pro-aviation people.

2. Three Chipmunks, a Tiger Moth, a Stampe, a Pitts S2, a J3 Cub and a Harvard - all for hire to members at £50 an hour.

3. Nice clubhouse with lots of big comfy leather armchairs, model aeroplanes on the ceiling, good food and real ale in the bar and a friendly bunch of like-minded people to fly with. It would be such a nice place that, every Saturday, the wife would say: "You pop down to the club and go flying and I'll join you later for a couple of pints".

Does such a place exist? Only in my dreams, I suspect. :D

[Negative 'G']

The one thing that influences a good club is the runway length,an ideal being 500m GRASS :confused: :confused: :confused:,YES 500M GRASS,the reason I say this is because such a strip attracts vintage & pfa types with generally excellent airmanship & a realistic financial budget along with the occasional careful spamcanner.
But what it does achieve is the exclusion of the many "Splash the Cash types"from your strip,yeah you know the ones with the Twins,Jets,Helicopters etc.....The ones which think that money can buy anything even NOISE COMPLAINTS :( :( :(

Neg G

p.s I know its a rather cynical outlook to have & not everbody with money is like such,but having witnessed both sides of the "Flying Circus" I know which one I'll be sticking too ! :D :D