General Thoughts and Guidance on Aircraft Partnerships

[Fritz1]

I was in a partnership in a R182 for about 4 years before I bought my Bravo, it was more like a flying club and the financials were as follows 10 years ago:

$6,000 entry, $250 per month, $50 per hour dry.

There were 3-4 members in the partnership and the airplane flew about 250h per year. All maintenance including oil changes was done by the local FBO. The typical membership roster looked like that:

Daddy big bucks 

The tinkerer / flyer

The hanger on

The safety risk

Almost everybody contributed something, Daddy big bucks owned the company that owned the airplane and several other airplanes that were in different lease or rental deals, he paid all the bills and set policies and procedures, the tinkerer / flyer flew the airplane most of the time, typically 150 hours per year and managed maintenance so the airplane was ready to go for other people to fly. The hanger on and the safety risk performed according to their respective designations. We never had any accidents or incidents though, everybody besides one member was IFR rated.

So why did this work? Daddy big bucks was the only one who could afford the airplane at the time and shoulder the financial responsibility for maintenance. In return the tinkerer / flyer would make sure that the airplane was ready to go when Daddy big bucks wanted to fly. How did it end? Daddy big bucks eventually sold the airplane when he stopped flying himself. Two members that are still flying on the field each bought a Mooney, another one bought a Cirrus. Why did they not just buy one airplane together? Each of them has different priorities and each of them can apparently afford their own airplane. 

Looking back an airplane partnership appears to be more difficult than a marriage, partners are not equal and everybody brings something else to the party. Somebody is the boss somehow. It is over when the music stops and the last sound dissipates in the air.

My $0.02 worth