On 27-Oct-2003, wrote:

I'm starting to think about buying an airplane.
I'm thinking about something like a 182 or Maybe a hawk XP.

I figure if I go looking for a partner I can buy twice as much airplane
for the same amount of $$.

Any comments on experiences people have had with partners?

The topic of pros and cons of partnering (i.e. co-ownership" have been
covered by numerous treads in this NG. You might want to check them out
using a Google Groups search.

I've had a lot of mostly positive experience with co-ownerships (3 airplanes
over 26 years). My biggest piece of advice is to be sure that you and your
partners are able to trust each other and work together in a congenial
manner.

The primary benefit of co-ownership is that fixed costs are shared. If you
individually fly under 100 hours per year, that means that average hourly
cost is greatly reduced. If you individually fly 200 or more hours per year
(rare unless you use the plane extensively for business) this advantage
largely goes away. The "more airplane bang for the buck" you mention is
another possible advantage, of course.



In general how do you handle the "Who gets to use it today" issues?

Assuming two or three co-owners there are two good ways to handle
scheduling. One is to "nominally assign the airplane to each partner during
successive weeks on a rotating basis. You are free to use the plane as you
like during "your" week. If you want to use the plane any other time you
have to coordinate with the partner whose week it is. Weeks can be swapped
as needed to accommodate longer trips or other specific needs.

Another approach (which I like better) is to use an on-line scheduling
system so that each partner is free to "reserve" the airplane for specific
times on a first come first served basis. You may need some rules to make
sure that nobody hogs the schedule.

It has been my experience that if the airplane is flown collectively under
300 hours/year there will be VERY few scheduling conflicts that cannot be
overcome with a bit of communication and negotiation.


With just two people are the scheduling conflicts mostly non existent in
any case?

Yes. You probably will run into very few conflicts, again assuming that
total usage is not excessive.

--
-Elliott Drucker