[Clarkie]

I'm considering partnering in a friend's airplane. I know the basics in that we will split the hangar fees and all the small stuff, but how do you guys handle the following:

1. The airplane is parked at a field that has high fuel prices and we would typically refuel at another airport. Sometimes it's just not feasible to refuel the airplane before you "put the airplane to bed at night." How do you keep track and make sure that you're not hosing your buddy when bringing it back less than full? In some cases you or the other guy do not want the airplane full if one is going to do acro with another good-sized adult.

2. What about maintenance? I figure we would obviously split routine preventative maintenance, but what about the big stuff? Do you split the annual cost and any necessary repairs right down the middle or do you prorate it as to how much one particular guy used the airplane? Lets say I fly the airplane twice as much as he does or vice versa - Does the guy flying more pay a bigger portion come annual time or do you keep it 50/50?

How about if the airplane breaks through no fault of you're own when you're flying it? For instance, I could've flown it 10 hours in January and then on February 1st he jumps in it for the first time in say two months and the starter goes or an alternator - you get the picture. What then?

What about when the engine comes time for overhaul? I know some guys put monthly "dues" into an engine fund, but do some of you have other arrangements or ideas? 50/50 or pay based on who used the airplane more?

3. Scheduling. How do you handle this? We both fly professionally and have really weird schedules. I'm sure this won't really be an issue, but trying to get some feedback from guys who have experience with this.

Again, airplane ownership and partnering is relatively new for both of us and we sure appreciate any advice or insight you could pass along. Thanks.

 

[AltonD]

What I did as a third partner is a 172:
We had weeks, during your week, it was your ariplane.
If you wanted to fly during someone else's week, you called and got their permission.
You left the plane full of fuel at the end of your week
fixed cost were equally shared: insurance, hangar, annual inspection fee, Time based maintenance (ELT battery, IFR cert).
Everything else was based on hours flown. IE, If you had flown 90 hours on the starter, and the other guy had flown 10 hours, your got 90% of the bill.
If you broke it, you fixed it.
Don't get a cheap partner, don't be a cheap partner. Everything worked for us.

YMMV.

 

[Bill_H]

AOPA has a good draft partnership agreement. Send me an email and I'll send you one - a friend and I modified the AOPA one for a Bonanza. Worked great. Dealt with all the issues you mention. Billhollifield at iname dot com. As an example, when you buy into the plane based on market price. say the engine has 1200 hours on a 2000 hour TBO. (Don't start ranting about TBO, you have to start with something.) Pick an overhaul cost and divide that by the remaining 800 hours. That's how much you charge each person per flying hour into the "overhaul fund". We also dealt with partnership dissolving and fund balances, etc. It was not that complicated, was fair, and we never had an argument. If you are the type to get upset about 50 bucks here or there, do not get in a plane partnership!

 

[RV10inOz]

Here is my 22c worth, having had an excellent plane partner for 9-10 years now, and not one problem.

All fixed costs, including but not limited to initial purchase, hangarage, insurance, bits and bobs like tools, tow bars etc. All split 50/50.

Variables such as maintenance items are covered from a sinking fund. We allow for our RV10 for example $35/hr to cover oil, filters, air cleaners spark plugs, magneto work etc and the cost of overhaul at TBO for the engine and prop. Make sure you conservatively do this, an extra dollar or two an hour should be added for a buffer margin.

Other variables such as landing fees or fuel are on a user pays system. When the plane gets pushed into the hangar, it has full mains tanks. End of story.

When you decide you want a storm scope down the track....50/50.

Get a joint bank account and set up a small business set of accounts, MYOB, Quicken Quick Books or similar, and just run it like a small business. I do the accounts on a monthly basis, I invoice myself and Chris, we pay our bills and right now at 730 hours we have about $20K in the fund.

As you explained with the alternator, that is usually a 50/50 expense, and given that we fly between 60/40 and 50/50 it matters little if we take it from the sinking fund or just go halves, but to be fair it is a maintenance item and is from the fund. Hence allow a bit extra in your hourly rate. At the end of the partnership if you have money left over, and you will, even after an overhaul, it is a simple 50/50 split.

We started off with a written agreement....I am sure neither of us even knows where that is now. If you find the right person you never have a problem and Chris and I are always racing each other to get our wallets out, so neither of us feels like the other is trying to cheat the system.

I recommend this to everyone wanting a plane/boat/ or similar partner. The hard part is knowing you have an honest and reliable partner.

PM me if you want to ask any specifics.

PS....as for scheduling, we just talk regularly, no schedule, we rarely have a time where there is a clash of dates. That is the benefit of just two partners, enough to share the costs, not enough to have conflicts.

And one last thing, my partner is a retired 38 year serving QF B744 Captain, and you know how cheap these guys can be..... So you guys should be fine!!

 

[BobTurner]

I was in a partnership for 25 years and here is what worked for us:
Put everything in writting.
Keep a small log in the plane. Every flight, log tach hours and fuel added.
Pilot is charged $40 per tach hour(of course your number may be different). This is intended to cover engine overhaul at TBO, prop overhaul, and other maintenance such as oil, filters, plugs, tires, etc. Maintenance costs were paid from this kitty; but if the kitty came up short, e.g., engine didn't make TBO, then each partner was assessed the same amount to bring the kitty back above zero. Same for upgrades, they were split equally. Upgrades required a majority vote of partners. It was agreed up front that the airplane would be kept equipped for ifr.
Pilot is expected to return plane with full fuel. If not the spreadsheet (all log data was transfered to an excel spreadsheet once a month) calculates the cost of the fuel lacking based on an assummed useage rate plus ten percent (13 gal per hr) and the cost of gas at the home field. This money does not go into the kitty, but is credited to the next pilot to fly. The extra ten percent is to discourage pilots fron not re-fueling, and as a "inconvenience" factor if the next guy has to fuel before leaving. If A wants B to leave it unfueled due to whatever, they have to work out the fuel cost adjustment between themselves, to fix the ten percent surcharge.
We charged each partner a fixed amount ($450) per month to cover hangar, insurance, taxes, and the inspection part (not parts) of the annual.
Any incident, the pilot flying was responsible for the insurance deductible. Other partners could waive this if they felt pilot was not responsible, at their option.
Scheduling: each week one partner "owned" the plane, and could fly anytime during that week without notification. Other partners had to get permission to fly that week from the "owner". Partners could swap "ownership" weeks as they saw fit.
Leaving: Partner who wanted out was responsible for finding his replacement. Replacement had to be acceptable to the insurance company. Remaining partner had right of first refusal - but if he rejected proposed replacement, he had to buy out the departing partner for the same terms as the rejected replacement. We did write in that if a partner died the remaining partner would find a replacement, we didn't want to burden a widow with this. (unfortunately this did happen).

 

[BillFear]

Partnership

Our 3 person partnership has worked out great on the RV7a.

1) Our field does not have self-serve fuel so it is often put away unfueled. That has not been a problem so far. If it is really low we usually send an email to the other partners to let them know not to fly it until it is fueled. We try to leave it around 1/2 to 2/3 full when practical.

2) We have a checking account and a savings account for the plane. We have monthly dues for the fixed costs (that we know we will have) and then charge ourselves $53 per hour for fuel and engine reserve. We put $13 per hour into the engine reserve savings account. Anything that comes up in between we cover from the checking account or special assessment and pay 1/3 each. We do not worry about who flys the most.

If something breaks that is normal, we split it 3 ways. If there is damage caused by one pilot, they pay for it themselves. We have not had any insurance claims.

3. We have a google calendar account where the plane can be reserved for longer trips. For the normal daily stuff, we tend to email each other. Our members are great and we try to fly together when possible. We have had zero issues with conflicts. In fact, it does not fly nearly enough.

We put it all in writting with a contract written around the AOPA agreement. Came in handy recently when one of our partners had to sell his share because of a major illness.

PM, if you have specific questions.

__________________________

I'm considering partnering in a friend's airplane. I know the basics in that we will split the hangar fees and all the small stuff, but how do you guys handle the following:

1. The airplane is parked at a field that has high fuel prices and we would typically refuel at another airport. Sometimes it's just not feasible to refuel the airplane before you "put the airplane to bed at night." How do you keep track and make sure that you're not hosing your buddy when bringing it back less than full? In some cases you or the other guy do not want the airplane full if one is going to do acro with another good-sized adult.

2. What about maintenance? I figure we would obviously split routine preventative maintenance, but what about the big stuff? Do you split the annual cost and any necessary repairs right down the middle or do you prorate it as to how much one particular guy used the airplane? Lets say I fly the airplane twice as much as he does or vice versa - Does the guy flying more pay a bigger portion come annual time or do you keep it 50/50?

How about if the airplane breaks through no fault of you're own when you're flying it? For instance, I could've flown it 10 hours in January and then on February 1st he jumps in it for the first time in say two months and the starter goes or an alternator - you get the picture. What then?

What about when the engine comes time for overhaul? I know some guys put monthly "dues" into an engine fund, but do some of you have other arrangements or ideas? 50/50 or pay based on who used the airplane more?

3. Scheduling. How do you handle this? We both fly professionally and have really weird schedules. I'm sure this won't really be an issue, but trying to get some feedback from guys who have experience with this.

Again, airplane ownership and partnering is relatively new for both of us and we sure appreciate any advice or insight you could pass along. Thanks.