wrote in message
oups.com...

I'm a new plane owner, and in an unusual stroke of luck I own the plane
outright. The problem is that financially I'm not in a position to
maintain it (or own it for that matter...), so I'm looking into various
partnership setups to help offset costs such as fractionals,
co-ownerships and leasebacks.

There was a flying club I joined a few years back. It worked like this:

There were no more than 10 members.

The plane was a Warrior II.

Each member paid $250 for their portion of the corporation that owned the
plane. I think you bought 1% with that.

Monthly fees were $50.

Hourly fees were $60/hour wet (Hobbs).

The plane was extrememly well maintained. When I was a member, it had just
gotten out of the paint shop, had a 400 hour 180HP engine, full IFR, and had
a wing leveler installed just before I dropped out.

I think the plane flew close to 500 hours per year.

The $250 purchase price also happened to be the same amount as the insurance
deductable. Because everyone was an owner, we were covered by owner's
insurance. (This has probably changed - the insurance company probably
couldn't make any money off us).

When I dropped out, I got my $250 back.

I ended up getting a 1099 at the end of the year, because the corporation
had made a small profit, and I was taxed on 1% of that. The profit was only
a few thousand dollars, so my 'taxed income' was under $50.

All scheduling was done with the owner. He always carried the schedule
around, so all you had to do was call his cell phone.

Everyone got their own set of keys.

The reason I dropped out was due to availability. I could not plan in
advance to schedule the plane. By the time I figured out I had a slot open
(I can fly NOW), it was usually booked. I figured out I was paying $98 per
hour after all was said and done. I think I flew less than 20 hours in that
year. This was my fault for poor planning, not the fault of the club.