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Fred, percy, Greg, Bob, etc., This is quite a touchy subject for me at present. I have been doing the bookkeeping, on a volunteer basis, for our flying club, for several months now. There have been several contributing factors, cumulative over many years, leading to the club's current pitiful state. But I think what is finally going to kill the club is the fixed costs, especially the outrageous insurance costs. I have had quite a debate with one of the other board members on this topic. The club has to pay out the same amount in ins. every month whether the planes fly 100 hours or none. The cost of the ins is easier to cover if the planes are flying more. Duh. A certain amount of the plane rental cost (based on 7 year flying hour averages) is "supposed" to cover the ins but it doesn't. There is one and only one underwriter that still covers flying clubs in CA. Yeah, I know. We see those ads in the magazines too, but when you start inquiring you find out that there are several "middlemen" who all lead back to the same underwriter and the only game in town for us. In '99 the club's cost of insuring our 2 172s was approx 1/3 of what it is today. We are paying $5000 per plane per year. The club has an outstanding safety and (lack of) accidents record over many years. You would think that would be worth something, but I guess not. Anyway, please excuse me. I am sad to see an organization that has brought so much happiness to so many go under and I am afraid it is inevitible. If the numbers you folks came up with for owning and maintaining a coupe are fairly accurate, coupes are a super bargain and yet another good reason to own of these endearing little planes. A few weeks ago I met a man at Corning CA airport who has a coupe. It wasn't at Corning so I didn't get to see it. The guy doesn't do email so he wouldn't be part of the list, but maybe some of you western coupers might know him? His last name is Rindahl and his son, Scott has some sort of aircraft refinisher business in Orland, CA. Nice man, the dad, that is. Haven't met the son Scott. BTW, Corning is a fairly small community, but they sure have an active, enthusiastic EAA group. These guys really are building planes, not just sitting around and talking about it - although that's fun too. :-) My friend Jim and I have flown over the mountains from the coast to Corning a couple of times now, just to see the EAA guys and what they're doing. Coastal northern CA is so beautiful and I love it here, but I can't help but notice the lack of participation in GA activities. Yet, in the super hot, too hot for me, central valley of CA, many, many guys and a few gals are building, flying, and sweating :-) like crazy. Hmmmm. Also, from what I've seen of OR, there is a very enthusiastic EAA, and overall active aviation community. What's your secret? Enough. Need to get back to work. Spook On Wed, 11 Jul 2001, Percy Wood wrote: > At least you figured the fixed and variable costs, Fred. > Most people just lump `em together. I find that THE FIXED COSTS EAT > YOU ALIVE. In all airplane operations. My brother and I had a Cessna > 150 in a lease-back. When it flew, it coined money. But when we had a > rainy summer, not uncommon on the Wet Side of Oregon, it lost. We > made money two years, and lost much more the other two years. Got out > of business with the losses going onto our taxes. > The key is number of hours flown per year. Direct Costs are only gas and > oil; hopefully not too much of the latter. Everything else = insurance, tie > down, annual inspection, taxes if any, are on a TIME basis. Meaning you > have to pay `em BEFORE you fly hour one. A business man needs to be > able to do cost/volume analysis like a pilot needs to do weight/balance. In > either case, you live or die by it. > Percy in Portland > > > ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiLm.aVzvvT Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
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