Im sure you never fill your tanks everytime you land at PDK.
Thats what you need to do with these shares.

I like to buy fuel pretty much at all airport were I land but rarely fill it unless a long trip and I need full range.






When does any of this happen?

That's not true at all.

AscensionAir (the program I posted) does everything for you. It's not a rental program. Staff is there when you load up and is there to greet you when you land. You do nothing but fly.

Adam,
I think you have that backwards. You saved $500k by having the inconvenience or you are flying equipment you could not afford or you have access to two different birds (for different missions). Of course, the amount of hours flown by each of the three partners would be important. You would not want three peeps all flying 500 hours a year. However, for people who only use their cross country plane 3-4 times a month, it might work out and allow them to be flying a jet.

Plane sharing agreements are like partnerships.
Sometimes they work, sometimes they do not. The key is to understand your requirements and the requirements of others in the partnership/program.

For example, if I had stayed in TN there was a potential partner I was in discussions on with for a small share in a Citation. They used the plane extensively for business almost every week from Tuesday through Thursday, I would have really on used it on one or two weekends a month. For a small buy in, it really was ideal.

It all comes down to matching the requirements and the costs. If you want the flexibility to have both a Jet and Piston plane that you can fly at any time, then look to spend 3+ million over three years, likely a lot more then that. Or with one of these programs, you can spend $800K and have lower costs/risks but at the sacrifice of some availability.

Tim

The only beef I have is the plane is left full of fuel every time you fly that's not something you want in a jet or any turboprop.


That's not true at all.

AscensionAir (the program I posted) does everything for you. It's not a rental program. Staff is there when you load up and is there to greet you when you land. You do nothing but fly.

Once again..... That's not true at all. What are you talking about? Are you reading what I';m writing?

or anything bigger than a quicksilver

I have only seen this done for training aircraft or at owner specifications.
Who else does it?

Tim

I would have to say that I am not sure someone flying 3-4 times a month should really be flying a flight level plane in a most weather mission. Flying the plane is not hard, but learning to handle the curve balls thrown by mother nature and ATC requires more time in the saddle IMHO. Maybe if you are an experienced cross country high altitude flyer and moving into an SF50, that works. But most of these position holders are new to pressurization, new to turbine, new to jets, new to flight level flying, new to radar, new to real icing, new to high altitude convection, new to SIDS and STARS. Not sure you can do that flying 3-4 times a month.

Sorry, I disagree. The SF50 is shorter ranged then you are used to thinking in terms of jet. It really is more like a turboprop in terms of incremental performance. The SF50 probably best compares to a Meridian or KA-90.

I probably made a larger jump from a Cirrus SR20 to an Aerostar 700 then many of the pilots in these programs are making.

Tim

How many Piper M500's owner/pilots are out there flying 100ish hours a year? IMO, a lot more than we think. But, I agree, even though the single engine turbo prop and SF50 are quoted as being, "easy to fly" they are going to be flying around in high workload environments.

I am fascinated by the SF50 and look forward to watching it roll out to see how it gets flown. I know this, it seems like every fourth plane I hear on ATC is a Cirrus these days.

A random (possibly irrelevant) sample: About 2.5 times more SR22's showing up on Flightaware right now than A36's.

Define high workload.

Tim

Define high workload.

Tim

Seems to me the higher I go on the equipment ladder the easier things get.