It all sounds like something of a misunderstanding...I would like to know if it's actually a club, as in non profit, or if it's a commercial enterprise and the owner is just that. I'm in France, where we do have a lot of non profit associations, and usually the pilot is expected to sort out the return to base. If, for whatever reason, this isn't possible then the club will normally send another aircraft, with the ferry pilots paying half usual rate. The club swallows the rest. There is also a bit of insurance thrown in with the FFA membership that we all have, to cover such happenings. We tend to only claim on the problems that happen a long way from home.
Fifteen minutes away? Might send a car.
Just one thought. Was this a fairly local flight or were you returning from a fair distance away? Because if it was a short trip, something went wrong with the trip planning and forecast. Did it look like the wx was going to be comfortably VMC all day? Personally, and that's just my two pennies worth, I would have been inclined to stay with the aircraft and wait for a short clearance, unless it was getting close to dark.

It's a 'flying school' so most of there business is in training and trial flights etc. In terms of the weather it wasn't forecasted to get that bad and was due to be VFR. It remained IMC until the airport was closed. It was a 'local' flight but had been on a navigation route that was around 2 hours flying time. The invoice I have been given isn't that detailed but states a total of 1.74 hours chargeable time. To me this seems like I've been paying for someone to have a 'Jolly' and not just the minimum cost to recover the aircraft. I don't know who collected the aircraft so can't comment on the legality of if it.



I have since paid the cost to avoid any bad terms with the owner however I will most likely fly somewhere else in future.

To me, this sounds entirely reasonable.

You mentioned that the airfield is 15 minutes flying time away. So it'll be at least 30 minutes by car. Commercial schools don't have taxi drivers on the payroll. The only people around at short notice are instructors. So two instructors hop in a car, one is dropped off at the airfield to recover the plane, the other drives straight back. Instructor #1 then ferries the aircraft home in 15 minutes. Total time for instructor #1 and #2 combined: 1.75 hours. Other costs that would be entirely justified IMHO: 15 flying minutes, plus 60 car minutes (or something like 5-10 liters of petrol), plus landing fees and such.

Yes T1, I'm with Backpacker on this, the charge was fair. I'm sure it's adding insult to injury that you had to pay someone else to fly a plane you would have liked to have fly, but sometimes life's circumstances happen that way. (I remember having to hire a helicopter once for a two hour recovery mission into the bush, oh how much I wanted to go! But, I had another more important task then). This is a time in life when you can choose to be big about things. The airplane operator is not ripping you off, they're just in business. It'd be difficult for the operations manager to justify to the boss not charging you.

But, hint for next time... be the person... Be the person who is just "around" the airfield in your spare time, it's amazing what comes up! I was that person, the airport rat, always around doing something, and that something was always interruptible to go to pick up or deliver a plane. This time, someone was the person to your problem, next time be the person for someone else's problem!

When a youngster did exactly the same, managed to gain quite a bit of free flying towards a CPL. Later in life I was employed flying in a capacity that gave no scope for light aircraft, so I used to drive for 2 hours to the nearest aero club for a two yearly BFR. Perchance on one occasion, following the check flight, the instructor asked if I could accompany him on a 300 mile flight to pick up an aircraft that a club member had left at an airfield when weather curtailed his flight. Unfortunately had to decline due other commitments, but what an opportunity it was, absolutely beautiful weather, no wind to speak of, and stunning scenery to over fly, and three hours free flying, what's not to love.