Membership is Ownership!
Metro Flyers Club is an exclusive club limiting membership to 16 partners. Members are the equal owner-partners of a for-profit corporation which owns the aircraft. 100 percent of money collected over expenses is put back into maintaining and upgrading the aircraft.
Our members include a broad spectrum of aviation experience and professions including insurance agents, engineers, college professors, AP mechanics, doctors, IT managers and airline pilots. If you ever thought about owning an airplane, but do not want all of the overhead costs and headaches of ownership, Metro Flyers might be the right place for you.
Membership is available through either the sale of a member-owned share or a club owned share. When we are at full capacity, we maintain a membership waiting list used to offer prospective members first chance at owning a newly available membership share.
Once a share becomes available, the share is purchased from the existing share holder. Please note that there is a one-time $1,000 administrative fee that will be deducted from the mutually agreed amount. Once the transaction is complete, you now own an equal share of Metro Flyers LTD, which in turn owns two outstanding aircraft.. If the club owns the share, then club members will decided on the the value of the share. The cost of the share is typically based on the market value of the aircraft.
Once the seller and purchaser have agreed to the sell/purchase the share, we ask that your provide some details about yourself and your flight experience. This information is shared with our members and they vote on your acceptance. Once your membership is approved and the financial transaction has been completed, you will be asked to fly with our club approved instructor to learn about our airplanes, their avionics and systems, and how we wish our airplanes to be operated. After a positive report has been made by the instructor, you are welcome to enjoy your membership privileges as frequently as you wish.
Each member is required to pay monthly dues of $350 in order to remain in good standing with the club.
Aircraft usage is billed based on the amount of tachometer hours logged when using the aircraft (there are no Hobbs meters!) Current rates are $150 per hour for the Skylane and $170 per hour for the Bonanza. Rates are wet rates (fuel costs are included). Any purchase of fuel away from our home airport will be reimbursed. Don’t lose that receipt!
SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES
Membership dues are priced to aid in covering the fixed costs associated with owning two aircraft. These costs include payment of our debt obligation, hangar rent, insurance for hull and liability, routine maintenance, database subscriptions, and a bit more. Some portion of the dues also subsidizes the rental costs, allowing us to keep the hourly rental cost as low as possible. Dues are invoiced at the beginning of the month and must be paid promptly.
Rental Costs are priced to cover variable costs associated with operating the aircraft. Examples of what this covers are required inspections, paying for fuel and oil, purchasing and replacing wear and tear items, building reserves for replacement engines and upgrades, and a few other items that are not routine nor a fixed cost.
Scheduling — We use Schedule Master (an online system) to reserve the aircraft. Members are allowed to schedule the aircraft well in advance of their needs. We just ask that popular dates such as holidays not be selfishly tied up by a single member. Just like sharing the airplanes, we should be neighborly and share the more desirable dates of the calendar.
Overnight policy — Want to take one of the airplanes on a multi-day trip? Please do!! A significant perk for being one of our part-owners is that there is no minimum usage per day like you would see at some FBO’s and flight schools. All we ask is that a reasonable amount of usage happens for the amount of days you have reserved and are using the airplane. A good example would be a 7 to 10 day trip that resulted in many hours of use. A bad example is reserving the airplane for 3 weeks or more and only putting two or three hours of use.
Insurance — As mentioned above, the club does cary adequate insurance for both hull and liability. A membership privilege is you are covered as a named insured" when operating club aircraft.
Questions? — Feel free to reach out to our club secretary or one of our officers to get your questions answered. We can also arrange a meet up at the airport to speak with you in person and show you the airplanes.
