Under Utilised Aircraft??
 

Hello All,

I was wandering if there are any owner/operators in the Midlands or North West that have any aircraft that are under utilised and would like to get them racking up a few flying hours, instead of being sat on the ground not earning their keep?

I am currently hour building towards the CPL requirement and have 26 hours to go! I have experience of flying C152, PA28 (Warrior and Archer), AA-5A, G115A, and DA40D. However, I would be happy to get checked on another type if required.

Let me know if you/your group/company would like your aircraft getting the attention it deserves!

Preferential rates would naturally be beneficial.

Happy landing!

Probably at least 50% of the GA aircraft parked up in hangars around the country are underutilized (flying less than 100 hours a year) but are unavailable for what you are looking for due to insurance requiremts and other reasons. It's a shame really. Airplanes love to be flown it keeps them in good order.

It is an unfortunate reality that many privately owned aircraft sit for longer than they should. It's the owner's privilege to have their property sit. From many owner's perspectives, yes, they'd like to have their aircraft fly more, but the risks of excess wear and tear, damage, or worse unreported damage is just not worth it. You rent an enthusiastic pilot your aircraft for ten hours, maybe clear a hundred or so dollars profit, but the slightest thing goes wrong, or gets damaged, and the time and cost to rectify it far exceeds the "income" from the rental - not worth it.

The eager pilot will have the best success getting to know an owner, and allowing them to build trust in you. Invest in their aircraft, either your time cleaning and waxing it, or paying for something it needs - to demonstrate your commitment to their investment. With that trust, you may get the use of the plane, and it might be even better and more free than you can imagine. It's just a challenging start....

I know it can be done, as I have had the great fortune to trusted with many aircraft in my flying past and present, but it was never a casual event, it was always built on getting to know the owner, and paying it forward with commitment to the condition of the aircraft.

Cheers guys, I guess I'll have to scout around for willing owners at my local club. I know of a few pilots at work who have their own GA aircraft (some of which you are never going to get chance to hire through a club!) But it's just the distance of getting to their respective bases :/

What is needed is an SPCA (Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Airplanes).

It should be able to to go to an unworthy owner and say; "You Sir, are not fit to be the owner of this poor airplane due to a consistent pattern of neglect and/or abuse" Therefore we are taking possession of this airplane and giving it to a person who will love and cherish it.

Notwithstanding that I agree completely with BPF - why not look around for an inexpensive share?

The cheapest syndicates on 2 seaters tend to be around £1000-£1500, £50ish/month, £60ish/hour.

Buy your share, fly your 26 hours between now and Christmas - that cost you around £3k for your 26 hours - not a bad rate of £115/hr.

After that, You can sell your share cheaply - at which point your hours cost around £80/hr, or you can hang onto the share, keep your hours up, have something to practice between CPL lessons cheaply, remind yourself why flying is fun, and learn a lot about flying from being a joint owner sharing the chores of looking after an aeroplane.

Pretty much every flying club you visit will have a syndicate or two like that. I can think of three at White Waltham, at least two of which are currently advertising shares for sale.

G

In the gliding world we have something called an "annual insurance share"
This is where someone agrees to pay a portion of the running costs for the year in return for the same proportion of usage. That person would also agree to any insurance excess or repairs accrued whilst they were using it. The full title of the glider would remain with the owner
I am not sure if this would translate to powered aircraft. The advantages to the owner are reduced costs. To the other person, no capital cost unlike a syndicated aircraft.

In the powered aeroplane world, we'd call that a non-equity share.

They go on, and work for some people, but basically they're hire by another name.

G