Some theory first.
For a small club, there must be a clear incentive for the members to vote yes for preventive maintenance items. Even short flights can have costs in addition to repairing the plane. Getting back home from Tangier Island can be quite expensive, especially if the ferry bot has left for the mainland.
Voting no increased your personal chance of getting stuck, and incurring owner like costs. That resulted in spending to keep our plane in top condition.
Exceptional cases were addressed in a friendly manner, and some reimbursement took place.
This also discouraged flying at full rental power all the time.
We had few mechanical failures as a result of those policies.
We treated the plane as owned by the member, from the time of departure, until returned to base, but actual cost of repairs were paid by the club.
Getting home the first time, and ferrying the plane home was all yours.
I had one weather related issue, and left the plane in Cincinnati, OH, with the entire remaining portion of the trip home at College Park MD full of tall pop up and matured cumulus. I bought 4 airline tickets home, then several days later, one ticket to Cincinnati, plus the tach time home. A friend did the favor of flying the plane home.
A mechanical issue, alternator diode failure, resulted in an overnight stay, my expense, repair, club expense.
Weather stops outbound, we stayed until better, then continued. That is how you survive flying your own plane, rented, club, or owned outright. At a guess, weather changes in flight plans cost me about 10 days of vacation, and three trips canceled outright. Several side trips were canceled too, but so what?
Fly it like you own it, and be prepared for unexpected changes, time and dollar wise.
Most important, do not make your decisions on dollar cost, that bites in unexpected times and ways.
Not our club, I was the recipient of some free hours in a late model Piper. Paid airline to Daytona Beach, a night in a hotel, and all other expenses to fly it back to College Park MD. There was some additional non cash benefits for me, as I took my wife, and we stopped for 2 days at her sister's home, a little of our route, but the additional cost of a couple of hours of tach time was part of the agreement.
Other times, a friend flew me to our plane at an airport without facilities, and I repaired the minor problem, and flew home. Tach time only, paid by the flying member. We kept a spare wheel and tire for flats, and a set of spare spark plugs for such minor problems.
The club has survived for more than half a century with those basic rules. They may have been modified since I became an Emeritus member, but that is only the last decade.
