SE Wisconsin/NE Illinois Clubs

BJM23

BJM23

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jan 5, 2025
Messages
3
Display Name
Display name:
BJM23
I’m a PPL holder moving to the Kenosha/Waukegan area and wondering if anyone had experience with any of the flight clubs or FBOs at either airport or had any recommendations (Westosha/Stick and Rudder/etc)

Fly about 50hrs a year mostly on weekends. Preference is to join a club for a few years before hopefully purchasing or joining a partnership, but also open to FBOs that have good plane availability.

Appreciate any help or recommendation!
 
Last edited:
I believe one of my employees step dads is a club member in Waukegan. I'll ask tomorrow
 
haha thanks for the mentions. Unfortunately I leave most of my money much further south like PWK and DPA. I heard Stick and Rudder is a good club, but haven't heard from anything else. In PWK I rent from Boraam. They have a couple of 172s, a 152, and a PA32.

Happy Flying!
 
Westosha flyers. Used to be based out of Westosha until a gravel company tore the runway down. Now they're out of Kenosha.

Dad had a hangar at westosha for a brief period. The one runway seemed like it had a cliff at the end of it.
 
Welcome to the neighborhood!

Westosha is a really good option. They maintain the planes well and their hourly rates are the lowest in the area. There is a one time application fee and checkout, plus a monthly club fee. Assuming you fly the 50 hours you’ll come out well ahead of stick m rudder money wise. As others noted, I own now, so I have no idea what those fees are now. I’ve been in other rentals and most of them seem beat to crap relative to Westosha.

Also, airport location wise, Kenosha has easy highway access compared to Waukegan. I made the drive from south of both airports and timewise it was about the same. There is about 10 minutes of surface road driving to get to Waukegan from the highway.

Not flying out of KUGN means you have to stay outside of the bravo when IFR. Everyone has to stay outside VFR. See my others posts if you want my thoughts/bitchin on the oddities of Ohare tracon. Point is - flying out of Kenosha ifr to any point south will mean a detour around the bravo and more flight time.
 
BJM23 said:
I’m a PPL holder moving to the Kenosha/Waukegan area and wondering if anyone had experience with any of the flight clubs or FBOs at either airport or had any recommendations (Westosha/Stick and Rudder/etc)

Fly about 50hrs a year mostly on weekends. Preference is to join a club for a few years before hopefully purchasing or joining a partnership, but also open to FBOs that have good plane availability.

Appreciate any help or recommendation!
Click to expand...

Welcome to the Waukegan area! I’m based in the city and I learned to fly at Stick & Rudder. When I was learning there, they had 3 Cessna 172s and now they just got a 4th one. One of the 172s has 2 G5s, GTN650, and GFC500 autopilot. The other 2 have GTN650s. So equipment is pretty good. They are looking at upgrades for the 4th airplane.

The Stick & Rudder flying club has a nice social aspect to it, and many members come in to hang out at the club. There’s a table, sofa, TV and fully stocked fridge. I’d definitely recommend to stop by and have a look and see if it’s your vibe. Prices cannot be beat. There’s an online scheduling system so you need to go online and book when you want to fly. It is definitely a training club and the schedules can get packed. I would book at least a week out and I’m usually particular to which airplane I would fly (personal preference). If you want to take the airplane the entire Sat or Sun every weekend, that might be a bit tricky, as you are taking the airplane away from students. But I have seen some club members do that a few times in a summer season without issue. Booking the airplane for 2-4 hours on the regular should be no issue. I used to fly 5 times a week pretty consistently.

There’s another school at Waukegan called Skill Aviation, it’s definitely a school with a PSI testing center and a wide selection of aircraft (Cessna, Diamond and multi). Skills prices were higher and I wanted the social aspect of Stick & Rudder so that’s why I chose S&R. They are right next to each other, so you have two clubs that you can check out in one go. Mind you the airport is repaving the taxiways in sections now so Skill is parking their aircraft by the self serve fuel pump for now accessible on the other side of the airport. S&R operations are normal.

I also have a hangar at the airport so I’m not at the club as much anymore. Although I am getting ready to start my CFI training (already did the written) so I will start going again soon. DM me if you end up joining.

Cheers.
 
masloki said:
Welcome to the neighborhood!

Westosha is a really good option. They maintain the planes well and their hourly rates are the lowest in the area. There is a one time application fee and checkout, plus a monthly club fee. Assuming you fly the 50 hours you’ll come out well ahead of stick m rudder money wise. As others noted, I own now, so I have no idea what those fees are now. I’ve been in other rentals and most of them seem beat to crap relative to Westosha.

Also, airport location wise, Kenosha has easy highway access compared to Waukegan. I made the drive from south of both airports and timewise it was about the same. There is about 10 minutes of surface road driving to get to Waukegan from the highway.

Not flying out of KUGN means you have to stay outside of the bravo when IFR. Everyone has to stay outside VFR. See my others posts if you want my thoughts/bitchin on the oddities of Ohare tracon. Point is - flying out of Kenosha ifr to any point south will mean a detour around the bravo and more flight time.
Click to expand...
Appreciate the good review on Westosha. I've heard some very good things about the club and hoping to check it out after I complete my move. Curious if you know how the social aspect of the club is and if it is more geared toward flight training than renters? Being new to the area and not knowing many people, a good social aspect is a plus. KENW is closer than KUGN, but not a major factor. Thanks!
 
mandm said:
Welcome to the Waukegan area! I’m based in the city and I learned to fly at Stick & Rudder. When I was learning there, they had 3 Cessna 172s and now they just got a 4th one. One of the 172s has 2 G5s, GTN650, and GFC500 autopilot. The other 2 have GTN650s. So equipment is pretty good. They are looking at upgrades for the 4th airplane.

The Stick & Rudder flying club has a nice social aspect to it, and many members come in to hang out at the club. There’s a table, sofa, TV and fully stocked fridge. I’d definitely recommend to stop by and have a look and see if it’s your vibe. Prices cannot be beat. There’s an online scheduling system so you need to go online and book when you want to fly. It is definitely a training club and the schedules can get packed. I would book at least a week out and I’m usually particular to which airplane I would fly (personal preference). If you want to take the airplane the entire Sat or Sun every weekend, that might be a bit tricky, as you are taking the airplane away from students. But I have seen some club members do that a few times in a summer season without issue. Booking the airplane for 2-4 hours on the regular should be no issue. I used to fly 5 times a week pretty consistently.

There’s another school at Waukegan called Skill Aviation, it’s definitely a school with a PSI testing center and a wide selection of aircraft (Cessna, Diamond and multi). Skills prices were higher and I wanted the social aspect of Stick & Rudder so that’s why I chose S&R. They are right next to each other, so you have two clubs that you can check out in one go. Mind you the airport is repaving the taxiways in sections now so Skill is parking their aircraft by the self serve fuel pump for now accessible on the other side of the airport. S&R operations are normal.

I also have a hangar at the airport so I’m not at the club as much anymore. Although I am getting ready to start my CFI training (already did the written) so I will start going again soon. DM me if you end up joining.

Cheers.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the run down. Most of my hours are in older 172s. I will give Stick and Rudder a call and see if I can stop by for an informational as the social aspect is very appealing being new to the area. The planes look very nice on their website. Skill was not my list but looks like has a nice variety of aircraft to mix it up as another option. Hopefully there aren't any wait lists at any of the clubs.

I typically would look to book 3-4hours the majority of weekends to fly XC, so finding a club with decent availability is my goal. I typically book 2-3 weeks in advance of flying right now due to my current place booking up fast. I will be sure to DM you if I join S/R but also will also look into Westosha since KENW is a bit closer.
 
BJM23 said:
Thanks for the run down. Most of my hours are in older 172s. I will give Stick and Rudder a call and see if I can stop by for an informational as the social aspect is very appealing being new to the area. The planes look very nice on their website. Skill was not my list but looks like has a nice variety of aircraft to mix it up as another option. Hopefully there aren't any wait lists at any of the clubs.

I typically would look to book 3-4hours the majority of weekends to fly XC, so finding a club with decent availability is my goal. I typically book 2-3 weeks in advance of flying right now due to my current place booking up fast. I will be sure to DM you if I join S/R but also will also look into Westosha since KENW is a bit closer.
Click to expand...
IMG_6928.jpeg

Ask for Ken and tell him Mike with the Arrow sent ya. He takes awhile to warm up to, bring a case of beer to fast track this process haha. Here’s the club calendar for this coming Saturday. I blocked the names but green is booked, each airplane runs vertical. It’s busy but there are open slots.
 
BJM23 said:
Appreciate the good review on Westosha. I've heard some very good things about the club and hoping to check it out after I complete my move. Curious if you know how the social aspect of the club is and if it is more geared toward flight training than renters? Being new to the area and not knowing many people, a good social aspect is a plus. KENW is closer than KUGN, but not a major factor. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Being compared to how MandM described Stick and Rudder, I’d say social is on the light side. They do two plane washes a year which will draw a good crowd, and usually a summer bbq. Other local events are shared but left to the members to coordinate.

The primary audience is flight training, but there is no issue taking a plane for a weekend or week. They request you hit minimums of a few hours per day. But to take a plane for a weekend, you’ll need to plan ahead and reserve. I’ve also had help from instructors to move students off one plane to free it up for a weekend trip. The planning ahead by a few weeks is frankly where I sucked so ownership makes sense in that regard. The scheduling limits anyone to three total bookings so most students are not booked that far out since they are booking two or three flights per week. But holiday weekends will book out earlier than other ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top