Fwd: Flying club
Hi Dean,
I was nice talking to you earlier and I hope your event went well.
I spoke with a few people this afternoon, including an FAA inspector, an aviation attorney and a person in charge of AOPA's new flying club initiative and I have some answers for you. You can definitely operate as a private flying club exclusive to your employees. The flight training would have to be done in accordance with FAR part 61 whether you are a flight school, flying club or independent instructor, but as opposed to a Part 141 flight school, your curriculum does NOT need to be approved by the FAA. Flight instruction is also exempt from the commercial operator certificate requirement. (Part 119) The next question is whether you would be subject to the same maintenance requirements as a flight school and that comes down to whether your employees would be paying you (the company) for their flight training. If you provide the aircraft & instructor 'for hire', you would be required to comply with the 100hour mx requirement. If that is a concern, there seem to be a few ways around it and an attorney who recently researched this for AOPA is looking into it so I can have more information for you next week. The FAA rules are pretty straight-forward but there may be additional insurance requirements as well as local airport operating rules governing flight training at the field. I understand the premiums vary quite a bit depending mainly on the number of pilots per aircraft in your flying club and their experience. I tried to speak to an insurance rep but he was gone for the day so I can check on that next week.
As far as airplane recommendations, I instruct mostly in C172s with G1000 avionics but our school has a fleet of over 20 planes ranging from light sports to high performance Cirrus SR22. I've flown most of them and I have to say the Cirrus safety features like the stability protection, cuffed wings, parachute, FIKI and enhanced vision camera are very impressive. If you are looking for the best single engine piston, that's the one I would recommend. The downside of these high performance airplanes is a longer learning curve for someone who has never flown a plane. The SR22 may be a bit too fast but the SR20 could be a good option. It has a constant speed prop just like a 182 but instead of a separate prop control it uses a cam actuator in the throttle to increase prop pitch with increase in power. That's why some students find the Cirrus easier to fly than a C182. Both would work very well for what you are trying to do so it just comes down to your preference...
Have a good evening and I look forward to talking to you soon.
Best,
CEO, Aviloop llc
FYI
Begin forwarded message:
From:
Subject: Flying club
Date: April 20, 2013 12:24:15 AM EDT
To:
Hi Dean,
I was nice talking to you earlier and I hope your event went well.
I spoke with a few people this afternoon, including an FAA inspector, an aviation attorney and a person in charge of AOPA's new flying club initiative and I have some answers for you. You can definitely operate as a private flying club exclusive to your employees. The flight training would have to be done in accordance with FAR part 61 whether you are a flight school, flying club or independent instructor, but as opposed to a Part 141 flight school, your curriculum does NOT need to be approved by the FAA. Flight instruction is also exempt from the commercial operator certificate requirement. (Part 119) The next question is whether you would be subject to the same maintenance requirements as a flight school and that comes down to whether your employees would be paying you (the company) for their flight training. If you provide the aircraft & instructor 'for hire', you would be required to comply with the 100hour mx requirement. If that is a concern, there seem to be a few ways around it and an attorney who recently researched this for AOPA is looking into it so I can have more information for you next week. The FAA rules are pretty straight-forward but there may be additional insurance requirements as well as local airport operating rules governing flight training at the field. I understand the premiums vary quite a bit depending mainly on the number of pilots per aircraft in your flying club and their experience. I tried to speak to an insurance rep but he was gone for the day so I can check on that next week.
As far as airplane recommendations, I instruct mostly in C172s with G1000 avionics but our school has a fleet of over 20 planes ranging from light sports to high performance Cirrus SR22. I've flown most of them and I have to say the Cirrus safety features like the stability protection, cuffed wings, parachute, FIKI and enhanced vision camera are very impressive. If you are looking for the best single engine piston, that's the one I would recommend. The downside of these high performance airplanes is a longer learning curve for someone who has never flown a plane. The SR22 may be a bit too fast but the SR20 could be a good option. It has a constant speed prop just like a 182 but instead of a separate prop control it uses a cam actuator in the throttle to increase prop pitch with increase in power. That's why some students find the Cirrus easier to fly than a C182. Both would work very well for what you are trying to do so it just comes down to your preference...
Have a good evening and I look forward to talking to you soon.
Best,
CEO, Aviloop llc