Question: Sharing Ownership and Flying Costs

Steve B wrote:
I have a Mooney that I would like to start a partnership with. I plan
on finding a location on the West Coast to base the airplane.
My question is, with a partnership do you need to set an hourly rate
for maintenance or Engine reserves. Would a low hourly rate help to
keep the cost of maintenance fair so the cost is related to the actual
flying.

In the two partnerships I've been in, we charged ourselves a monthly
amount to cover fixed costs like tie-down, insurance, database
subscription, and annual inspection (just the inspection, not the repair
of deferred maintenance items) and an hourly amount to cover
maintenance. We had the rule that you always return the plane with full
tanks, but you could also have the hourly rate cover fuel if you didn't
want to be filling the tanks all the time.