Co-owners: how do you handle scheduling?

MetalCloud

MetalCloud

Line Up and Wait
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MetalCloud
I’ve never co-owned, and I may or may not go that route. I’ve read about it and everything is pretty straightforward (structure, expenses, etc.). However, one thing I want to understand better is scheduling.

Right now I own my own plane (well, my company does.. whatever). I have sole access to it. I love it. Renting was nice in that I didn’t have to manage maintenance, but access was always a *****.

I’ve heard some folks do it on a time-share basis.. e.g., own half the plane, you get it for 26 weeks of the year. If you want it for another week that the other guy “has it” and he’s not using it, you give him a week. I’m not sure I like that, but is that common?

Seems to me a good way to do it is just to keep it relatively open. If you need it for a trip, put it on a shared calendar. If you want to go somewhere for the weekend, see if the other guy has it first.

But I have no idea. I’m sure it probably varies, but I’d like to understand how co-owners handle scheduling.
 
Text, call, whatever. We have 4 owners, two rarely fly, myself and the other are good friends and just work it out in person. I don't think we've ever run into a conflict.
 
Google calendars, first come, first served. Meeting early in the year to resolve any important conflicts (July 4 week, Thanksgiving, Christmas most common) and have a few beers. No more than three events on the calendar per person at one time (e.g., can't schedule every weekend in deer season to go to the deer lease). No trips longer than 2 weeks without agreement of others. Seldom have had a problem and those few were resolved amicably, over 26 years of various partner membership. With 3 or 4 partners, plane flown 200-250 hrs/yr. All rules documented in partnership agreement.
 
Over the years I have co-owned 3 planes. We used Google calendar to schedule the plane. All was going well until one year the other 2 owners scheduled all the holidays a year in advance. I got out after that and love being the sole owner of a plane.
 
My club is big and uses an online scheduling tool through MyFBO. It's old and clunky, but it helps keep track of things like 50 hr oil changes and annuals. It also allows you to create a reserve reservation, so you're in line if someone with a reservation cancels.

Resevation confirmations are emailed and include an ics file to add to your calendar.


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Depending on how many people and how well you know each other.. something like schedulemaster also helps with cost allocation, etc.

Or like others said a shared Google calendar or just call and text
 
Thanks guys. Yeah, it may or may not be an option. Lots of dependencies... just trying to get ahead in case something does ever arise. It’s just not something I know much about. But I like the schedule as you please but sort out the holidays early
 
Google calendar. Nearly 14 years with 2 other partners and only 2 conflicts which were easily resolved. If the plane is flown less than 300 hrs and year and everyone is generally reasonable, it shouldn't be too hard. Advantage of being in SoCal is weather isn't as big a factor in schedule shifts.
 
Remember, the partner you choose is more important than the airplane. If it's just you and one other, you could try split weeks. One weeks it's his, the next it's yours. This way when it's your week you know you can go to the airport and the plane is there waiting for you. If you want to fly during the other's week, just call or text. I did that for about 10 years. Had a great partner and it worked out well.
 
Online calendar; ShareZen on the first and Google on the second. Both were open calendars, we just understood that everyone else also wanted to fly it. With 3 or 4 total partners it's been quite rare for a conflict. On the first plane we had maybe two real conflicts, i.e. two people wanting to go somewhere at the same time. First person got it as per the rules. The rest were someone thinking about flying due to great weather and finding someone else already had it on a trip; "oh well, another day".

It depends upon the type of plane, how much everyone flies and their personal schedule (8-5 job, flexible work schedule, retired, ...). If you have a fun plane (acro, biplane, ...), then people are going to fly shorter times and during beautiful weather, so often with shorter notice, but also more than one person can fly it in a single day. A traveling plane and people will take it for the weekend/week and not as much during the weekdays for a short flight.

In both plane partnerships everyone worked, with mostly regular M-F work schedules. M-T either plane was typically in the hangar. Both planes were traveling planes, first a SR22 and second a Baron 58.
 
We have three airplanes, and around 30 owners. One guy has been the point person for a long time to call. Either him or his Wife. They are retired and even on vacation are available to call. They update a calendar in a drop box. Rare not to have any airplane available, but I will admit it is like calling to ask Dad for the Buick sometimes.
 
Our club is 2 planes, 14 owners. We use AircraftClubs.com. It costs $12/mo per plane. Does the job.

The downside of google calendar is that everyone can edit whatever they want to. Sorta like google sheets where we're having some fun with each other on the Dam fly-in roster ;)
 
I think our club has about 30 members but not 'owners' for 1 plane. We use 'Schedule Master'. Even with that many it's not hard to schedule. Everybody just doesn't fly that much. For the most part the schedule is only booked a couple of weeks in advance, and pretty light at that. I fly during the weekdays mostly and that part of the week is even more open.
 
Hangar neighbors have a setup that has worked for them for over 20 years. One month the plane 'belongs' to one and the next month it 'belongs' to the other partner. They do work trades for things that happen in life and they do get along pretty good. Both have told me that in the time they've been together they've only had a few conflicts and were able to work them out. They meet at the hangar on the first day of the month for the 'official' transfer of control, as they call it.
 
Mooney with two owners: Google calendar.
Flying club with 30 members and 3 airplanes: AircraftClubs.com. Flight Circle is another option that's relatively new and looks pretty nice.
 
Two owners. We just text, email or call with plans. So far we've had no conflicts.

That said, we do have very specific terms spelled out in our LLC membership agreement. No limits on who can fly or when, but officially we have an alternating "priority" scheme. One guy gets first pick depending on the month. Next month the other guy has priority. Like I said, so far we've never needed to resort to that for schedule resolution, and in fact are looking for a third partner.
 
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