Flying Clubs Archives - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Is your flying club an “old boys club?”

Scott Spangler recently wrote an interesting post for Jetwhine about how flying clubs welcome or don’t always welcome new members. His observations (in part) were brought by Tim Lemke, the president of the Winnebago Flying Club, in a conversation the two had after the latter gave a presentation at a recent AM Oshkosh.

To begin with, Scott pointed out that flying clubs make aviation affordable by sharing the fixed costs of operating an aircraft among a number of people with active and lapsed pilots being the obvious benefactors. However, Scott then observed that:

In focusing on their immediate needs, members of many clubs have, without realizing it, created a closed society. Without new members to propagate the pilot species, their number will dwindle with time, adding to the survivor’s financial responsibilities

Scott added that in his experience with flying clubs, there does not tend to be much outreach or recruiting activities and that in many cases they are “old boys clubs whose members often share narrow views of what aviation should be.” He went on to describe how some flying clubs are dedicated to a specific make or model airplane, an aviation era, a specific activity or even a landing gear configuration and those not interested need not apply to be members. The problem of course with such “closed societies” is that the future of a flying club can be computed based upon the age of the youngest members. And if all of the members are older pilots, there won’t be much of a future for the long term.

If you do belong to a flying club whose future days may be numbered, its worth mentioning that General Aviation News has reported that various flying club experts will host a webinar on Wednesday, January 9 (8pm EST), to share tips and tactics for improving a flying club and no doubt the recruiting of new members will be discussed (To learn more or to register, you can click here).

With that said, we would like to ask you our readers, especially anyone in the UK where flying is ridiculously expensive, a simple question: Is your flying club an “old boys club?” If so, what are you doing (if anything) to change that to ensure that your flying club survives for the long term and for younger pilots?

Does flying and flight training need to be expensive?

We know that flight training and flying can both be expensive, but does it need to be that way? According to Jamie Beckett, who recently wrote an article on the subject for General Aviation News, the answer is no.

Jamie began her article by writing that the high cost of flight training itself is the result of a simple math problem. Specifically, the math problem:

…can be expressed as the cost of the airplane per hour, plus the cost of the instructor per hour, times the number of hours required to become proficient. It looks like this: (COA + COI) X NOH = Cost of Flight Training.

However, Jamie also goes on to say that most would be pilots just walk into a flight school and start writing checks – after accepting whichever flight instructor was assigned to them. Moreover, to many would-be pilots do not go out and get references and find a flight instructor who they actually enjoy working with.

Jamie then writes about an alternative to the traditional flight school model where a flight school does not require students to rent an aircraft. Instead, Jamie suggested that a flight school sponsor a flying club with a reasonable rate or a flat rate to buy into the club. The rate could cover items like maintenance fees, hangar expenses and other administrative costs. Flying club members could then use the club’s aircraft at a very low hourly rate for instruction and then to remain current after receiving a pilot license. This would also help to avoid the problem of someone getting a pilot license and then realizing that they can’t afford the $150 an hour or whatever the price is to remain current.

Jamie believes that the above model would also open up general aviation and flight training to more potential pilots. Hence, Jamie Beckett’s entire article about the costs of flying and flight training is well worth reading and it should be noted that it has already gained more than 30 comments from readers that are also well worth browsing through.

Is “hangar flying” or airport camaraderie dying?

Todd McClamroch has written an interesting post for MyFlightBlog.com about the death of “hangar flying” or camaraderie around he airport in recent years. Todd began his post by noting that when he was first learning how to fly, the flight school he was at had a couch where you could sit and watch or listen to the activity at the airport. He noted that this was a great way to stay motivated through bonding as well as to learn from other pilots.

However, Todd then pointed out that:

Unfortunately, since moving home to Chicago in 2005, I have been unable to find true aviation camaraderie around the airport. I can find it online but it was missing at the airport. I belonged to a flight club that, despite a healthy membership roster, did nothing to foster social activities between members. I came to the airport to fly then left right after.

After becoming fed up with that experience, he found a new flying club (Leading Edge Flying Club) that focused on the social aspect of flying. This new club offers monthly fly-outs plus organized cook-outs on the tarmac. Most importantly, he noted that they offer a welcoming environment in the hangar clubhouse that encourages loitering after a flight. In fact, Todd now advises prospective student pilots that if their flight school does not have a couch, they should simply walk out.

Hence, we want to ask you our readers about your experiences around the airport and with Flying clubs lately and how it compares to what you may have experienced in the past. In other words, is there still plenty of camaraderie around the airports you fly in and out of a regular basis?