On a typical sunny sunday afternoon, the FBO at my airport may schedule as
many as 4 90-120 minute lessons back to back in a 172. They will bill 4-6
hours of time for the day, plus they get a "vig" on the instructor's bill.

On the other hand, if I rent the plane for a day trip, I may only fly it 2
hours. If I take the plane overnight, I may further reduce their billings.
When I used to rent at that particular FBO, I used to get a hard time about
renting overnight, and in one instance was instructed to request permission
from the leaseback holder. They didn't want my paltry 4 hours when they could
get 12 elsewhere.

I believe the FBOs want students more then renters. The key incentive for
them to "create new private pilots to trickle up to Commercial, IFR, Multi,
etc." is to hire them or train them or both. If they go fly for American or
United it doesn't really do the FBO any good...

I too belong to a flight club. It's been a great experience, and it has kept
my aviation costs in check. My annual aviation costs have gone up, but not
nearly as much as the FBO's. This particular club has Archers, Arrows, and
Bonanzas, so over time I have built up the necessary experience and training
to fly the whole gamut. I pay about the same hourly price for a Bo that
cruises 170kts as I would for a 172 at the FBO. But I can go almost twice as
far in that time, and I can take my whole family in the plane with full
tanks. I can take the plane for multi-day trips even if I only fly an hour
away, and if I want to go somewhere, even at the last minute, there's almost
always a plane available (although not always a Bo). Summer weekends are a
little bit busy, but the club has instituted rules to prevent abuse and help
ensure availability.

For renters, I think it's the perfect scenario. We've had some members buy
their own planes or partner on a plane and leave the club, but to be honest,
I think they're crazy. If their plane goes in for service, they're SOL. If
one of the club planes goes in for service, there are several others to
choose from...

Anyway, I think to answer Jeff's original question - clubs are the way to go
to keep this industry alive. Every club is a little bit different, but there
are many flight clubs out there. And if there isn't one near you, find a
couple of owners and start one! One of the members of our club did that when
he moved to the next state.

Clubs. It's the next plastics.

The only other way to save this industry (and maybe this country) is to kill
all the lawyers and insurance companies.



Andrew Gideon wrote in
news
On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 06:51:57 -0400, Kyle Boatright wrote:

The bottom line is that FBO's and Flight schools need to work very hard to
create new private pilots to trickle up to Commercial, IFR, Multi, etc.
ratings (and aircraft) or we'll wake up one day and aviation as we know it
will be gone.

The problem with this reasoning is that the FBO has little control over
its stream of new/upgrading pilots. The case cited of an FBO that
[effectively] ditched flight training, for example, may be more savvy than
you think. If I were an FBO owner, I'd know what percentage of renters
were from my flight school, what percentage of graduates I lost, and what
percentage of renters were trained elsewhere.

If I found that my stream of students wasn't helping my rental business, I
could easily see myself ditching training (or at least not losing money on
it) for the obvious business reason.

For example, I did my PPL at an FBO where I rarely rented afterward. I
shifted to an FBO with better gear (and then joined a member-owned club).
On the other hand, I did my IR with that second FBO (the one with the
nicer gear). Even though I don't rent there now, I still recommend them
for both training and rental.

Another factor is MX. It may be cheaper to rent a long-suffering 152,
but that aircraft may cost more in MX than something newer and more
expensive to rent. Where should the FBO allocate its dollars?

That second FBO I mentioned, for example, ditched its older 172s (in
favor of SPs, a DA-40 or two, etc.). I wondered how this would do for
them; they do seem to be flying their aircraft with some regularity.

I guess my point is that there are a lot of variables, and - from outside
- its hard to judge exactly how factors balance out. But [cheap] flight
training may not be the income generator we'd all hope.

- Andrew