Hi there. I am looking forward to starting lessons towards my private. One of the places I am considering is a flight club. They have only three aircraft. I am concerned if this would cause scheduling issues, or are three aircraft an average number for a club with about 50 active members? Thanks in advance for your answer.
Hi Neil,
Hard to say? Different flying clubs have different rules as far as how much use every one in the club gets, how long a plane can be taken out etc. If you’re just going to get your Private, want to fly a day or 2 a week and aren’t in a hurry I’m sure it’ll be fine. If however you’re serious about flying as a career that could make it difficult. Flying skills are build one atop another. The reason the airlines and the military train daily is not just efficiency, it’s been proving that consistency is key to progress. Again if this is a recreational or you simply want to get your feet wet ok, otherwise you might want to look elsewhere.
Adam
Thanks for the valuable info…
I represent ATP when I offer the following:
ATP currently has 669 active students today nationwide. We have a fleet of 293 aircraft. If the flying club had ATP’s ratio of aircraft to students, they would have 22 aircraft, not 3. That’s what it takes to deliver solid aircraft availability to full-time dedicated students.
I’m sure that none of the flying club’s “active members” are as quite “active” as one of ATP’s full-time students, but even so…