Need to fly more. (Fort Worth)

[Undercow16969]

Hey all, first post after creeping for years.

I was wanting to garner a few opinions as to the availability of aircraft that aren't owned by me. I do not have a mooney but there will be one in my future. I am at 110hrs currently and I would like to get up in the air a little more than what I am doing at the moment. I am part of a flight club but they do not have what I am looking for in aircraft selection and its getting a little crowded to boot.

I was wondering if anyone in or around Fort Worth may be interested in renting their aircraft. I know its not something many owners are particularly interested especially since I do need transition training and endorsements (I have instructors for that). 

Ideally I would like to find someone that has a bird which is being underutilized that I could have access to. After that initial transition  training I would like to fly maybe just a few hours a month here and there, mainly just to go up in general for a few hours or with family and friends without having to schedule 3 weeks out and hope the plane isn't down for maintenance or pray the weather is good at that time.

I am not looking for a partnership as I am starting a commercial pilot course in August, gotta make the VA pay for something ;-). I also have my own insurance which I will update.

I've been around aviation for many years and have owned, maintained and restored multiple aircraft so I know my way around them.

If anyone knows anyone or can offer some insights that would be super cool.

 

Edited May 23, 2022 by Undercow16969
Grammar...

[LANCECASPER]

Congrats on taking steps to flying more. The biggest challenge with what you are asking is going to be adding you to the insurance policy. You may have non-owned insurance but at 110 hours and no Mooney time you won't meet the open pilot clause on the owner's policy. @Parker_Woodruff knows much more than I do on this subject.

[Undercow16969]

1 hour ago, LANCECASPER said:

Congrats on taking steps to flying more. The biggest challenge with what you are asking is going to be adding you to the insurance policy. You may have non-owned insurance but at 110 hours and no Mooney time you won't meet the open pilot clause on the owner's policy. @Parker_Woodruff knows much more than I do on this subject.

Thanks @LANCECASPER

I did take a look back at the insurance quotes from a few months ago and it looks like I can get insurance, just need 10 hrs in the mooney before solo and 20hrs TT for the named requirement. Of course that doesn't satisfy the open part of the policy which mine was 300tt, 100 retract, and 20 type. I could imagine it is similar for an owner as well.

I'm finding it is rather difficult to get complex or high performance training around dfw unless I go to a flight school and then I'm looking at $250 wet with instructor from the places I have looked into.

Any ideas on how else I can do it?

[LANCECASPER]

1 minute ago, Undercow16969 said:

Thanks @LANCECASPER

I did take a look back at the insurance quotes from a few months ago and it looks like I can get insurance, just need 10 hrs in the mooney before solo and 20hrs TT for the named requirement. Of course that doesn't satisfy the open part of the policy which mine was 300tt, 100 retract, and 20 type. I could imagine it is similar for an owner as well.

I'm finding it is rather difficult to get complex or high performance training around dfw unless I go to a flight school and then I'm looking at $250 wet with instructor from the places I have looked into.

Any ideas on how else I can do it?

@Parker_Woodruff is an insurance broker (https://airspeedinsurance.com/about/), a Pilot & CFI with Mooney ownership experience, and probably a lot of other things. Plus he's in the Metroplex. He would be a good person to get to know.

[hammdo]

Ah, Hicks and Meacham...

I had to get my time at Hicks too, the F for rental there. Not cheap for sure. Parker would be a good contact to know what would be possible to do. Not sure what owners could 'rent' a plane legally without some kind of leaseback -and the 100 hr inspections too if they did that...

Parker would know...

-Don

[Hank]

13 minutes ago, hammdo said:

Ah, Hicks and Meacham...

I had to get my time at Hicks too, the F for rental there. Not cheap for sure. Parker would be a good contact to know what would be possible to do. Not sure what owners could 'rent' a plane legally without some kind of leaseback -and the 100 hr inspections too if they did that...

Parker would know...

-Don

He could become a non-equity partner and pay an hourly fee . . . . Ive heard of people doing this, but have no personal experience. 

[Undercow16969]

55 minutes ago, Hank said:

He could become a non-equity partner and pay an hourly fee . . . . Ive heard of people doing this, but have no personal experience. 

Thats kinda what I was thinking actually. Don't mind paying a more than fair rate for access either. Maybe 5hrs a month is all I am looking for.

[LANCECASPER]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

He could become a non-equity partner and pay an hourly fee . . . . Ive heard of people doing this, but have no personal experience. 

For me as an owner, unless I'd flown with the person and was very comfortable, the large potential risk would never be worth the small reward, especially since there's no skin in the game. 

[kortopates]

Certainly possible. Whomever is willing to do this would want to see you added as a named pilot; paying the additional premium to add you. Plus whatever hourly rate you two work out. But you’d want to avoid dealing with two different insurance policies non-owned and the owners insurance, given you’ll want to fly it for a period of time.
Parker is the guy for insurance. But in the end you’ll be talking with the owners broker.


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[ArtVandelay]

Anyone who rents their plane needs to have it owned by a LLC.

[Parker_Woodruff]

The biggest thing you need to look at is figure out if the owner's insurance policy will allow for rental.  Many policies just allow reimbursement for operating expenses plus a an additional charge equal to the fuel.

Your non-owned policy will protect you.  But the owner's interests also need to be protected by staying within the limits of his/her insurance policy.

[Fly Boomer]

13 hours ago, LANCECASPER said:

especially since there's no skin in the game. 

And in my observation of several partnerships, most partners are "minimum effort".  That said, I think it's the partnerships I know of with more than two partners that seem to suffer the curse of the "minimum effort" partners the most.