To Partner or Not to Partner.

[[email protected]]

I'm starting to think about buying an airplane.
I'm thinking about something like a 182 or Maybe a hawk XP.

I figure if I go looking for a partner I can buy twice as much airplane for the same amount of $$.

Any comments on experiences people have had with partners?

In general how do you handle the "Who gets to use it today" issues?

With just two people are the scheduling conflicts mostly non existant in any case?

[EDR]

In article >,
> wrote:

> I'm starting to think about buying an airplane.
> I'm thinking about something like a 182 or Maybe a hawk XP.
> I figure if I go looking for a partner I can buy twice as much airplane for
> the same amount of $$.
> Any comments on experiences people have had with partners?
> In general how do you handle the "Who gets to use it today" issues?
> With just two people are the scheduling conflicts mostly non existant in any case?

One of the suggestions I have heard that works is to find someone that
has a different type of work and lifestyle than yourself. This will
lead to different schedules and availablity for aircraft useage.

[Ben Jackson]

In article >,
> wrote:
>
>I figure if I go looking for a partner I can buy twice as much airplane
>for the same amount of $$.

That was my thinking. The hard part is finding a partner, though.
It's got to be someone who wants the same kind of airplane as you,
wants to keep it at the same airport you do, has roughly the same
views on how it should be flown and maintained and who can meet the
financial obligations.

When I decided I wanted to own instead of rent I realized I only knew
a few people who might meet those criteria, and anyone I met in the
short term, no matter how good a fit they seemed to be, would be someone
I had just met.

--
Ben Jackson
>
http://www.ben.com/

[[email protected]]

On 27-Oct-2003, wrote:

> I'm starting to think about buying an airplane.
> I'm thinking about something like a 182 or Maybe a hawk XP.
>
> I figure if I go looking for a partner I can buy twice as much airplane
> for the same amount of $$.
>
> Any comments on experiences people have had with partners?

The topic of pros and cons of partnering (i.e. co-ownership" have been
covered by numerous treads in this NG. You might want to check them out
using a Google Groups search.

I've had a lot of mostly positive experience with co-ownerships (3 airplanes
over 26 years). My biggest piece of advice is to be sure that you and your
partners are able to trust each other and work together in a congenial
manner.

The primary benefit of co-ownership is that fixed costs are shared. If you
individually fly under 100 hours per year, that means that average hourly
cost is greatly reduced. If you individually fly 200 or more hours per year
(rare unless you use the plane extensively for business) this advantage
largely goes away. The "more airplane bang for the buck" you mention is
another possible advantage, of course.


>
> In general how do you handle the "Who gets to use it today" issues?

Assuming two or three co-owners there are two good ways to handle
scheduling. One is to "nominally assign the airplane to each partner during
successive weeks on a rotating basis. You are free to use the plane as you
like during "your" week. If you want to use the plane any other time you
have to coordinate with the partner whose week it is. Weeks can be swapped
as needed to accommodate longer trips or other specific needs.

Another approach (which I like better) is to use an on-line scheduling
system so that each partner is free to "reserve" the airplane for specific
times on a first come first served basis. You may need some rules to make
sure that nobody hogs the schedule.

It has been my experience that if the airplane is flown collectively under
300 hours/year there will be VERY few scheduling conflicts that cannot be
overcome with a bit of communication and negotiation.

>
> With just two people are the scheduling conflicts mostly non existent in
> any case?

Yes. You probably will run into very few conflicts, again assuming that
total usage is not excessive.

--
-Elliott Drucker

[Jay Honeck]

> In general how do you handle the "Who gets to use it today" issues?

The only viable solution is to marry your partner. ;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[ArtP]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 15:03:39 -0800, wrote:

>In general how do you handle the "Who gets to use it today" issues?

Alternating week priority pilot. We print the schedule for the year
with each week going from Wednesday to the following Tuesday. You can
use it anytime during your week without notifing the other pilot. If
you want to use it during the other pilots week you have to get
permission in advance. This way half the time it is your plane and you
can use it at a moments notice without checking with anyone.

[markjen]

> Alternating week priority pilot.

My partner and I have used this system for ten years without little
conflict. I very much like the idea that for half the time, the plane is
"all yours" and you can fly whenever you please. Online systems work fine
too, but it sometimes is a pain to schedule online when you want to go on
the spur of the moment or you're out and about and decide to fly without
ready access to a computer.

With only two people flying moderate amounts (we average less than
150-hours/year) conflicts have been VERY few and far between. The only time
scheduling is ever an issue is for trips where the plane will be out of town
for a week or two. For these, we just do first-come/first-served. I think
we've had one conflict in ten years and one of us simply had to move our
vacation dates a week.

- Mark

[Fred Wolf]

where are you located?

> wrote in message
...
>
> I'm starting to think about buying an airplane.
> I'm thinking about something like a 182 or Maybe a hawk XP.
>
> I figure if I go looking for a partner I can buy twice as much airplane
for the same amount of $$.
>
> Any comments on experiences people have had with partners?
>
> In general how do you handle the "Who gets to use it today" issues?
>
> With just two people are the scheduling conflicts mostly non existant in
any case?
>
>
>
>
>
>

[CriticalMass]

> wrote in message
...
>
> I'm starting to think about buying an airplane.
> I'm thinking about something like a 182 or Maybe a hawk XP.
>
> I figure if I go looking for a partner I can buy twice as much airplane
for the same amount of $$.
>
> Any comments on experiences people have had with partners?
>
> In general how do you handle the "Who gets to use it today" issues?
>
> With just two people are the scheduling conflicts mostly non existant in
any case?

Scheduling isn't what breaks up aircraft partnerships. Upgrade costs do.

When you can't stand dealing with that old obsolete box/es in the panel
anymore, and the cost to upgrade is in the several thousands, lots of
partnerships go tango uniform over that decision.