Going Freelance

[ElyJs]

I own an airplane and am now going full bore on my own. After working for a flight school for a little over a month, I have decided to do it all myself. I had trouble getting my numbers to working with a plane online and getting cut on both the airplane and my instruction. Any suggestions for improvement to the website or starting my own flight club?

-Jason
www.flatironsaero.com

[clumpinglitter]

Originally Posted by ElyJs

I own an airplane and am now going full bore on my own. After working for a flight school for a little over a month, I have decided to do it all myself. I had trouble getting my numbers to working with a plane online and getting cut on both the airplane and my instruction. Any suggestions for improvement to the website or starting my own flight club?

-Jason
www.flatironsaero.com

The picture on the home page is fantastic -- it will really catch attention. Actually, all the flying action shot pics are great. Get your site to show up in the first page of search results on google for search phrases like "colorado flight training." Links from other pages are going to help with that, and so will lots of unique text content. You can register yourself on AOPA and other flight school directories (don't know any URLs off the top of my head).

I've always heard that being expert in a niche is good for independent freelancers. You may want to emphasize your mountain flying course for that. Just a thought.

In the FAQ under "Sightseeing," I've been asked often what to wear on the flight. Might want to add something about that, especially for people in the backseat who will freeze their ##### off in winter. Also -- consider stating somewhere what the full cost of the private pilot's license should be. That way, people won't pass out when you tell them in person. I find being up front about it is very much appreciated -- it's not cheap, but it's definitely worth it.

I belong to a very small flight instructing club (one airplane). I'm no expert on how to run a club, but I do have a couple of spreadsheets we use for estimating and tracking expenses. If you want a copy, PM me.

Good luck!

-Christine

[sdfcvoh]

The website is arranged very well. Best of luck in your new adventure!

[DE727UPS]

Your website looks great. I'd keep an eye on the forums for prospective students and CFI's. Get a guy like Midlife Flyer, other active freelancers in your area, to use your plane.

Keep us informed on how it goes. Are you doing this pretty much full time? I'm curious what your paying for insurance and who it's through? Reasonable insurance is hard to come by.

[ElyJs]

Avemco has insurance policies for this; cost is about $2,000/yr for 6 or 7 named pilots. I am lucky enough to have a pretty steady flow of renters to start but I am not quite at the break-even point yet.

I bought the plane with 3 hours, went through all my ratings in about 10 months and am now instructing with it. I beat any flight academy by thousands to get all of my ratings.

Now the plane has to serve utility, make money or go. I am 22 years old and am quickly realizing planes add up quick! I have the plane on the market, but am instructing in it full time right now. I don't expect the plane to move off the market for a quite a while (but anything could happen).

On the other hand this flight club could take off and before you know it I could be adding a friends twin or managing other planes.

I never put all of my eggs in one basket. For now, I plan on keeping the plane and myself as active as possible, come March I am thinking of heading to Alaska. Maybe try and get the plane on 135 or something.

I will be sure to keep you all posted on how Flatirons Aero is coming along. It just started today and people are beginning training tomorrow, hopefully the future will bring lots of flying!

-Jason
www.flatironsaero.com

[whichwayisup]

Good luck with your venture!

[dc3flyer]

I think the website looks great! Other people have given you some good advise. All I can think of is maybe to establish a set of bi-laws, or rules for the club. Put them in writing and make them accessable on the site. Another thought is to give student pilots a cheaper rate than people already holding a certificate, say $10/yr difference, just to add incentive.

Once you start making money, I do think more selections of planes would help attract more variety of people. I don't know if I would jump into twins right away, but maybe a 182, Cherokee, or even a taildragger in that area!

[t82]

You might want to add some links to interesting/useful sites. (jetcareers?)
Also scans of W&B etc so students/renters don't take your POH home.

[DE727UPS]

I don't think Avemco is really gonna work for you. It will be fine if you train three or four guys that are gonna use the plane a lot. But, to add Joe Blow to take the plane to ABQ and back three times a year, it won't work too well. And, wait until you try to add another CFI? I'll bet they say no way. That's what they told me a couple of years ago.

Good luck with it. Avemco is a great deal, if you can live with their terms. I just don't see it fitting the operation your website seems to be shooting for. There is insurance out there that is more liberal, but I'd be it will cost you twice as much.

I think if you stick with this, you'll make bank. It takes a while to get established. If your goals are to quickly move on, then that's fine, too. But I love it when I guy bucks the system, finds a niche, and does well with it. I've known freelancers that make as much as RJ Capts and are home every night. It's just that most guys want to move up the ladder, which is probably your desire as well.

[aerospacepilot]

Originally Posted by dc3flyer

Another thought is to give student pilots a cheaper rate than people already holding a certificate, say $10/yr difference, just to add incentive.

Agreed! $30/month for a 1 airplane club is pretty steep. $30/month is what I have paid at Journey's (and they have 20+ airplanes). Maybe offer a daily rate for people who don't fly that much (like Journey's does, $10/day for use of the plane).

Another thing to consider is the price of avgas in Boulder is $4.67 (FS) and $4.17 (SS). Filling 20 gallons at $0.50 a gallon adds up to $10. That's quite a difference. Would you offer your renters and incentive to fill up using cheaper gas?

I do like the website. In fact, I think it is better than most flight school websites I have ever seen. That should help you out.


I live in Boulder and would potentially be interested in renting your plane, but it is too expensive. When I flew at Journey's in Spring 06 (avgas was $4 a gallon) and I rented 180hp 172's for $75/hr (734QD and 64055). Journey's then raised the price a few times. Plus they have a much more reasonable monthly/daily fee. I think a combination of slightly lowering the aircraft price, but more importantly lowering/eliminating the monthly fee, or charging a reasonable daily rate would entice a lot of people.

How often is the plane flying? Remember all the fixed costs involved in owning your airplane. The insurance still costs you whether you fly 60 or 90/hrs a month. The tie down fee still costs you the same whether you fly much or not. I would recommend lowering the price as it is slightly on the high side.
Good luck,
Ross

[ElyJs]

I have flown the Journey's airplanes and will not be lowering my price. QD and 055 are not nearly as nice as 394. Gas prices have increased and now even those airplanes are going for a much higher rate. The advantage to Flatirons Aero is flying with small club that only has a few pilots flying the airplane. You do not have to deal with large flight club bureaucracy. If anyone is interested in flying with Journey's I can recommend an instructor.

I am very seriously considering a $10/day casual membership, but the whole idea of having a monthly fee is to help with the fixed costs while keeping membership to those that will fly more than once or twice a month. I encourage those that are interested to come for a discovery flight (even those already with their tickets) this will allow you to get to know the airplane and myself.

It is my responsibility to keep the airplane full of fuel. A .50 cent/gallon price difference equals 5 dollars per hour (quite a bit at 10 gal/hr w/ an 0-360). I will fill the airplane at KBDU SS as long as the price remains within .25 cents of KLMO. As soon as it goes higher I will fly over and fill up at Longmont. Renters will really never fill up the airplane unless they are on long x-countries.

-Jason

[ElyJs]

Thanks for all of the advice from all! I am really excited about making this work and have been enjoying the process quite a bit. I really want to continue the fun flying I have done in the past. I want to create club with a relaxed atmosphere, that encourages enjoying the flying. I have been at flight schools where students have never enjoyed flying 500 feet over the farm fields with the windows open, power pulled back, enjoying the flying. I know CFI's that have never landed on a grass strip, let alone a backcountry strip. Flatirons Aero will be a departure from that and instead be a group of friends, pilots, students, mentors that love aviation. Interested in a 141 school and a straight path to the airlines? Flatirons Aero probably isn't it, but come for a discovery flight to see what it is about.

-Jason
www.flatironsaero.com

[moxiepilot]

heh heh, very google page editor esque

i just used the same - doesn't have all the tools, but great for a start. i should have time later tonight to look at it and will get in touch.

go to www.statcounter.com its a fun little tool to embed to see how many hits each of your pages are getting.

[ElyJs]

Haha yeah editor makes it so easy, the website went up in 6 hours and cost $10 bucks for the year. I am not a computer geek, I don't know the first thing about HTML, flash etc. but I can still have a website. People always forget a website is about content not form! Just make it simple. Look at all the time consuming flash and whatnot that goes in most school's websites, just confusing as hell.

-Jason

[DE727UPS]

"I am very seriously considering a $10/day casual membership"

Let me know if Avemco bites on that. Might change the way I do things with my airplanes.

[JaceTheAce]

Hey, that's awesome! Very well put together. It's great to see motivated entrepreneurs like yourself in our younger age group.

[moxiepilot]

nice looking site, pics etc. very easy to read - that's the type of comments i am getting also because of the form and style.

the only suggestion i have is to embed your contact information so that crawlers/spiders/bots don't start a massive spam campaign.

what i recommend is a hyperlink with "email me" or something like that so that the link connects the user to your email addy.

as to name/address, i cant really say good or bad, might be something you address by email when contacted.

looks good