AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2013 - 20

SAFETY PILOT

Join the club

BRUCE LANDSBERG
President, AOPA Foundation

The benefits of flying together

BRUCE LANDSBERG

was named president
of the AOPA Foundation
in 2010. The AOPA
Foundation helps fund
the work of the Air
Safety Institute.

FLYING CLUBS are a great way to lower the cost of flying and upgrade the experience, which can result in
increased social interaction. I’ve been a member of
three large flying clubs and they’ve all been well run.
The first was the Vandenberg Air Force Base Flying
Club when I was stationed in California. The club
had Cessna 150s and 172s and an Air Force control
tower that presided over our comings and goings. We
were always reminded to “check wheels down” when
cleared to land—the Air Force has its procedures after
all. The club, being protective of its insurance policy,
focused on proficiency and procedure. In addition to
the usual checkouts and required safety briefings, it
had a great fog strategy. Vandy-land is located near
Point Concepcion, which juts into the really cold
Pacific. Warm air periodically comes in contact with
cold water, so fog was an ever-present possibility.
Frequently in the afternoons we would fly into the
surrounding hill country and return to find the base
fogged in. The nearby airport of Lompoc was usually
cloud free, so the drill was to divert to Lompoc and
hitch a ride back to the base, which was only seven
miles away. The Lompoc FBO understood, the club
understood, and we understood that there was no penalty or foul for doing the safe, smart thing. Somebody
would pick up the airplane as soon as the fog cleared
and there was no extra charge to do so.
My next duty station was Grand Forks, home of the
University of North Dakota, which was just starting
its now well-known aviation program. I was a graduate student there while monitoring missiles in the
tundra and joined the UND Flying Club. Cessna 150s
and 172s proved their mettle in that very cold country.
The two seasons—July and winter—provided ample
opportunity to learn cold-weather operations. Copious
training was given on when, how, and where to fly. I
don’t recall exactly, but I think we stopped flying when
the mercury slipped under 10 to 15 degrees below zero.
One learned about preheating and what to do with an
occasional engine fire during starts (I never had one).
Flight plans were filed on every flight and survival gear
was mandatory.
One of the many benefits of club flying, verified
by AOPA’s research, is that clubs may have more seasoned and less transient CFIs than might be found
at a typical FBO. That can make for a solid training
environment and a good incentive to upgrade ratings.

20 | AOPA PILOT February 2013

Most clubs require at least an annual check instead of
just a flight review every two years. Instrument proficiency standards are also often more stringent, and I
got in the habit of taking a six-month instrument proficiency check.
My last club was the Cessna Employees Flying
Club in Wichita, sporting new aircraft ranging from
152s to 210s. Naturally, we used the Cessna Pilot Center
training materials and all members were encouraged
to fly often and to train. It was my first exposure to
a safety management system where there was a process for discussing safety and operational procedures
in a non-threatening environment. Single pilots don’t
really have a good way to implement that, but as soon
as you have more than one pilot, the idea starts to make
a lot of sense.
There are two words that can make clubs a
great experience or not: consideration and leverage.
Consideration is that that everyone leaves the aircraft
the way they’d like to find it for their next flight: clean
and functional. If something is broken but not critical,
advise the next pilot on the squawk sheet or call him
and the club maintenance officer if it is. Rental aircraft often are treated the way some people treat rental
cars, but with club aircraft, it’s easy to find out who left
the interior looking like a frat party the morning after.
Leverage is a courteous way of saying that the
group decides what’s right and the lowest denominator probably is not going to be the decider. Don’t want
to play by club rules? Hit the road, Jack! This applies
both to maintenance and flight ops. Since everyone
is invested financially, there has to be consensus on
how the aircraft are operated. One large club requires
anyone who’s had an “oops” that results in damage, to
write up what happened for the club newsletter—and
what they learned to not repeat the problem. If the
club doesn’t maintain aircraft to your standard, maybe
it’s time to move on.
A club can be a really great way to meet new friends,
share expensive resources, and save money. AOPA has
a complete guide to flying clubs on its website (www.
aopa.org/flyingclubs). The AOPA Foundation is helping AOPA’s Center to Advance the Pilot Community
(www.aopa.org/CapComm) to expand flying clubs in
the United States.
AOPA
WEB

www.airsafetyinstitute.org

http://www.aopa.org/flyingclubs http://www.aopa.org/flyingclubs http://www.aopa.org/CapComm http://www.airsafetyinstitute.org

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2013