Rental Cancellation Policies

"Greg Esres" wrote in message
news
[...]
One real problem is VFR pilots that reserve an airplane for a week or
weekend, then cancel because of low ceilings, or other mild weather
that would not be a problem for a more experienced pilot.

IMHO, that depends on what you mean by "mild weather". Different places
will set their standards differently, of course. But generally, I think the
pilot should be given the benefit of the doubt, and the rental outfit should
not worry too much that maybe there was another pilot who would have taken
the plane in those conditions.

The chances of such rules being abused are pretty minimal, IMHO. I'm sure
that once in awhile, someone will take unfair advantage of them. But the
goal should not be 100% honest compliance; it's not practical to attempt to
judge that. The downside of encouraging pilots to fly in weather they
aren't capable of handling far outweighs the minimal risk of pilots getting
off scot free when they really could have handled the conditions.

The FBO or club shouldn't be silly, of course. A pilot who says they can't
fly because the ceilings are down to 5000' and the visibility is only 10
miles doesn't have a legitimate claim. But if a pilot says they aren't
comfortable with a 2000' ceiling or 5 miles visibility (for
example...conditions that many experienced pilots would be fine with, but
which could be challenging or worrisome to a new pilot), that ought to be
just fine.

IMHO, it also depends on the situation. I'm assuming that the rules CJ
writes about are for planned flight lessons only. Especially when an
instructor is involved, it seems like weather should be less of a
consideration, at least when the instructor is comfortable flying in that
weather. When the pilot will be acting PIC, I think they ought to be given
more slack, and IMHO a single "get out of jail free" card isn't sufficient.
The "one free" should apply only for an egregious violation of the weather
cancellation policy.

I have had limited experience with cancellation policies; most of my flight
time is in my own airplane. But for the two places where I rented
regularly, I was never penalized for cancelling. I didn't cancel often, but
I'm sure I cancelled at least a half dozen times or so for weather over the
years, and I can remember at least one time I cancelled for health reasons
(sinus congestion). I was never penalized for any of those times, nor do I
think it would have been reasonable for me to have been.

Pete