"Tina" wrote in message
ps.com...
You may want to reconsider the type airplane you'd like -- there's a
huge difference in ease of flying between something like a 172 and a
Columbia, and that really matters for pilots who don't have a lot of
experience and are not likely to fly 100 plus hours a year.

What may work best for you is to form a partnership with one or two
others and jointly own the airplane. The fixed costs, like insurance,
get spread, and if the airplane gets used 200 or 300 hours a year its
availability will not be an important issue, either. 200 hours a year
is about 4 hours a week -- one or two days a week at most.

The insurance will be based on the least-experienced/fewest-annual-hours
member of the partnership, so he may have a hard time finding a group unless
he's willing to pick up the bulk of the insurance tab. That seems to be his
main issue.

You already pointed out there are several clubs in the area spreading
the use of one airplane over many members. If some of those are
frustrated with not having the bird when they want it there may be an
opportunity to get the pilots you need without a lot of effort.

If the demand was there...