Ever dream of piloting an aircraft over a remote location with the ability to direct it wherever you want on a whim? I have. I pursued that dream under the old adage that if you love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life. To a fair extent that’s true but it was so expensive to achieve the training that I have to work hard to pay for my passion of flying and I’ll be paying for years. With that said, I have no regrets. The kicker is that there are cheaper ways for the frugal pilot to not only fly aircraft, but own one too. I know, it’s a lofty goal.
Here is one way to do it, share the cost. An aircraft partnership is a fantastic way to save money if you’re passionate about flight.
I know plenty of pilots who haven’t flown in years and it often boils down to money. To fly safe requires using your skills on a regular basis. Unfortunately, just renting an aircraft may be $125 per hour. That’s simply too much money for many people to justify on a hobby. What if it were half that much to fly? There would be many more aviators out there pursuing the $100 hamburger only instead it would be the $50 dollar hamburger. Many of us like to attribute the cost of recreational flight with visiting an airport for lunch and paying for a hamburger.
The meat and potatoes of a partnership boil down to the aircraft and number of owners. For my partnership example I use four owners to express the cost/benefit. If you go out and buy a used plane for $50,000 alone, it’s a rather large investment. With only one partner you save $25,000. It’s simple math and with four partners, you save $37,500 total. Each additional partner has diminishing returns. You may save more in total but instead of a $25,000 savings with the first partner it is only a $2,500 savings with a fifth partner.
With a partnership you split not only the initial cost of aircraft acquisition but also the recurrent annual cost associated with aircraft ownership. The annual maintenance inspection, insurance, hangar, and perhaps scheduling service, may run around $5,000 annually. That’s a lot of money if you have to pay alone, but splitting it up among four individuals saves you $3,750. That boils down to about $104 per month to be an owner. I know people paying that much for their phone service.
That leaves the operational cost, primarily fuel. A light single-engine aircraft may burn about 7-8 gallons of fuel per hour at a rate of $5.00 per gallon which gives us $40 dollars an hour. Most partnerships will also factor in a small contingency expense for unplanned maintenance and upgrades. For this example I will use $9 in addition to fuel bringing the hourly operational cost to $49. That’s better than the $125 rental rate by $76. You don’t need to fly many hours to justify owning an aircraft.
You can easily make the argument that owning is safer than renting. An owner will likely fly more, remain current on their piloting skills and intimately know the status of their aircraft and how it’s operated. If you find that you are not benefiting from the aircraft, you may elect to sell your share. The initial investment doesn’t have to disappear if you have to move or lose your medical certificate.
Most successful aircraft partnerships are formed as a sub chapter S corporation and limited liability corporation. The intricacies of how aircraft are used and the liability associated with such use are spelled out in partnership guidelines. Some websites, such as AOPA.org, have templates for forming partnerships available. It may be just what you’re looking for.
It’s my goal to create a partnership in Western North Carolina for people that want to fly more and spend less. There is no doubt in my mind that sharing the cost is the key to making aviation more affordable, safe and fun!