On 12-Jan-2006, wrote:

In general, how do aircraft partnerships work? Do partnerships exist
for singles? Are they a good idea vs. purchasing a used aircraft
outright? What about flying clubs - do they typically offer good
multi-day rental rates or have aircraft available for scheduled use?


From the tone of your question I suspect by "partnership" you may be
referring to the "fractional ownership" programs offered for sale of new
aircraft. These are popular for turbine airplanes, and are available for a
few popular singles as well. Probably works out pretty well if you really
want a new plane but can't make enough use by yourself to justify the very
high purchase and operating costs.

Clubs vary widely in terms of costs, available aircraft, aircraft-to-member
ratio, and minimum daily usage policies. The best bet is to try to get
contacts for the various clubs that operate in your area and check them out.

Co-ownership (the official term for partnership) of a used airplane is also
an option, and one that works well for vast numbers of pilots who like the
idea of ownership (or who feel overly constrained by the limitations of
clubs or just renting) but who don't fly enough hours to make sole ownership
economically practical. In my experience (co-ownership of three different
airplanes over 30 years) a good 2 - or 3 -way partnership with a total of
150-200 hours of use per year can reduce total per hour costs to the point
where they are below rental rates and competitive with club rates. At that
utilization, scheduling conflicts are very rare, particularly if you use a
good scheduling system.

--
-Elliott Drucker