Starting a flying club

J

Jim Logajan

Administrator
Staff member
I've been planning to build an aircraft (of my own design because I'm crazy that way) for some time and need to save some of my discretionary pennies for that. But in the mean time I'd like to do more flying, which currently averages approximately zero hours per month. That is because the closest place to rent is a flight school whose two Piper Warriors see pretty constant use. The next closest place is an hour drive away and has a lonely Cessna 172. And unlike the flight school, which uses an online scheduler, one has to call the more distant place to schedule time.

So I'm seriously considering starting a flying club. Or maybe a simple co-ownership. I've joined the local EAA chapter and asked a couple people if there was any local flying club. None currently operational. At the next monthly meeting I'll ask around who is interested in either becoming founding members of a flying club or if anyone interested in co-ownership with me.

Mean time I've found that AOPA and EAA offer useful guides and other resources on clubs and co-ownership.

I'll use this thread to post my progress.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
Do you want to clarify Jim where you are and local airfields? In case any visitors might be interested?
Click to expand...
Good point!
Rapid City, South Dakota.
Possible airfields to base the club are KRAP (Rapid City Municipal) and 49B (Sturgis Municipal).
First step is finding and recruiting founding members.
 
As you get a bit further along and if you decide you want to use an LLC as the legal structure for the club, I have a copy of an operating agreement and bylaws that I have used where you could change names and modify. Just let me know.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
As you get a bit further along and if you decide you want to use an LLC as the legal structure for the club, I have a copy of an operating agreement and bylaws that I have used where you could change names and modify. Just let me know.
Click to expand...
If it is intended as a non-profit flying club both EAA and AOPA advise against an LLC. A corporation is only modestly more difficult to form and more appropriate for a non-profit. If the non-profit aspect is disregarded then an LLC is one option for simple co-ownership, but so is a simple handshake deal and a more formal corporate form. Lastly, EAA and AOPA also provide sample bylaws and operating rules.
All that said, I would want to see your documents!
 
I think one of the first things you should do is contact an insurance broker and discuss this. I think there’s a threshold for a certain number of pilots where the insurance goes through the roof.
 
nddons said:
I think one of the first things you should do is contact an insurance broker and discuss this. I think there’s a threshold for a certain number of pilots where the insurance goes through the roof.
Click to expand...
According to EAA and AOPA material that threshold is typically around 4 or 5 members. Above that the rates can roughly double - or worse. So the usual recommendation is to shoot for either 5 or fewer or at or above 10 to 12 if the club starts with one plane.
 
My understanding from a lot of people is that if one is not going the non-profit route, the formality of an LLC is likely a good idea, given the conflicts that can often arise over time.
 
Status so far: I spoke with the president of the local EAA Chapter. He has some interest in seeing a club started and will put it on agenda of the next Chapter meeting on October 11.
 
Yes, these are actually all part of the same organization. And if you are a member of one you can also fly the planes at the others.

So there could be a Rapid City Area Flying Club as part of it.
 
nddons said:
I think one of the first things you should do is contact an insurance broker and discuss this. I think there’s a threshold for a certain number of pilots where the insurance goes through the roof.
Click to expand...
The other thing about a club is the insurance may impose additional restrictions like the one we got hit with, any club pilot over 75 year old, must have another pilot under 75 in the other seat. We have looked at removing that restriction but that would add another 50% to the cost
 
I did announce that I was trying to start a flying club at the local EAA chapter meeting. Since most there already own planes I wasn't expecting much of a response. I've heard from one person so far.

So next recruitment step: I've downloaded the FAA airman's database and extracted 370 pilot names and addresses that are in local zip codes. I can snail-mail postcards or letters announcing and inviting prospective members. Not sure whether I should propose a physical meeting someplace or request on-line and/or phone contact replies. Opinions?

Question for anyone who cares to opine on a name for the club, using semi-unique local place names as a basis I've narrowed some possible names to these:

Rapid Creek Flying Club
Pactola Flying Club
Sheridan Lake Flying Club
Black Hills Flying Club

There are a bazillion firms and such whose names start with "Black Hills" so that one, while locally obvious, is not my personal choice. A Black Hills Soaring Club already exists, which could be confusingly close.

So which name(s) look good?
 
Jim Logajan said:
not sure whether I should propose a physical meeting someplace or request on-line and/or phone contact replies. Opinions?
Click to expand...

I think to start I would just ask for phone or email replies. Then once you have a list, an organizational meeting. I suspect hardest part will be getting the actual cash commitments.

Jim Logajan said:
Rapid Creek Flying Club
Pactola Flying Club
Sheridan Lake Flying Club
Black Hills Flying Club

So which name(s) look good?
Click to expand...
I think like Pactola the best. Short and sort of unusual.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
I think to start I would just ask for phone or email replies. Then once you have a list, an organizational meeting. I suspect hardest part will be getting the actual cash commitments.
Click to expand...
That seems to be the way forward. My name and phone number are already out there - the EAA 39 web guy already posted my contact info on the Chapter's web site:
https://chapters.eaa.org/eaa39/latest-news
(He posted my message which had a link to this thread - so now this thread is in an infinite loop!)

PeterNSteinmetz said:
I think like Pactola the best. Short and sort of unusual.
Click to expand...
It is an interesting name with an interesting history, quoting from a few pages of Wikipedia:

"Pactola Lake is the largest and deepest reservoir in the Black Hills, located 15 miles west of Rapid City, South Dakota, [...] Pactola Dam was built in 1952 by federal authorities to provide Rapid City with a new water supply, following the related construction of Deerfield Dam in 1945.[3] The new reservoir inundated the mining town of Pactola. [....] The town's early name, Camp Crook, was named in honor of General George Crook, who started his headquarters in the town. Pactola was chosen as the community name in 1878, when the miners were asked by lawyer and journalist H. N. Maguire to find a more interesting name. Pactola is derived from the ancient Greek placer mining operations on the Pactolus River, an ancient river in Lydia. [...] Pactolus (Greek: Πακτωλός), now named Sart Çayı, is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Mount Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Gediz River, the ancient Hermus. The Pactolus once contained electrum that was the basis of the economy of the ancient state of Lydia which used the naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver to forge the first coins under Alyattes of Lydia. [....] According to legend, King Midas divested himself of the golden touch by washing himself in the river.[1] The historian Herodotus claimed that the gold contained in the sediments carried by the river was the source of the wealth of King Croesus, son of Alyattes."
 
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