little venting........

[LearLove]

today I went to rent the same c-152 that I've rented since 1990. I've maybe flown 200 hours in that plane over the years, I was also a line guy and instructed at this FBO over the years.

It was the usual flight around the hometown and a few landings. 0.6 on the hobbs. Land, pay the bill (debit card) then BS with the fellow bums for awhile then it was home to watch the games. A few minutes ago I look at my bill to put the balance in my checkbook and see I was charged 0.15 for a "reservation min fee". I've never seen this before. I've done plenty of 0.5 (or less) flights in college when i could only scrape 25-30 bucks together for some flight time. No notification of any changed policy either.

Guess 16 plus years of bussiness doesn't make someone a valued customer anymore.

 

[PropPiedmont]

today I went to rent the same c-152 that I've rented since 1990. I've maybe flown 200 hours in that plane over the years, I was also a line guy and instructed at this FBO over the years.

It was the usual flight around the hometown and a few landings. 0.6 on the hobbs. Land, pay the bill (debit card) then BS with the fellow bums for awhile then it was home to watch the games. A few minutes ago I look at my bill to put the balance in my checkbook and see I was charged 0.15 for a "reservation min fee". I've never seen this before. I've done plenty of 0.5 (or less) flights in college when i could only scrape 25-30 bucks together for some flight time. No notification of any changed policy either.

Guess 16 plus years of bussiness doesn't make someone a valued customer anymore.

Don't you have a wife you can vent to or a significant other?

 

[JediNein]

Perhaps a conversation with the FBO owner might be in order?

 

[siucavflight]

Don't you have a wife you can vent to or a significant other?

Dont know why, but this made me laugh.

 

[Lear70]

Dont know why, but this made me laugh.

Don't laugh, I can't talk anything aviation with my wife either.

She doesn't get it, doesn't want to, and that's just life.

She also doesn't complain that I'm gone 12-15 days a month either, so I kind of figure I can't get too mad she doesn't "get" my career. I'm just happy to have someone who doesn't freak when I'm gone and takes good care of the kids and house.

p.s. A while back I went to the same flight school I had been CHIEF PILOT for back in '95; they wanted to give me a "check out" flight. Had to call the owner at home to get them to p*ss off.

Anything for that extra .5 for the instructor I guess. Some people.

 

[urflyingme?!]

That's why it's called aviation, not "sanity".

 

[Hung Start]

Unfortunatly,, the minimum rental fee is probably going to be a fixture in the future. I'm surprised it hasn't happened more.

I'm not saying it is right to do it, but it is basic business. It is hard to have a $20,000 or more investment that probably is costing you $300.00 a month just in insurance be tied up for what really is 1 1/2 hours and only generate .5 or .6 on the hobbs.

When I owned a FBO, we had a guy that would show up once every 90 days, tie up the plane for 2 hours, wait until nobody was around in the patterrn, start and gun the aircraft to the runway, take off, scream around the pattern, cut the engine on final, glide to the runway, restart the engine when he hit, and repeat the process 3 times. Last landing he cut the engine on final, and roll off the taxiway and roll to the tiedown spot.

Got 3 landings and never paid for more than .5

Hey, I'm as cheap as the next guy, but WTF?

Then, he would drink the coffee, take 2 bags of popcorn and complain about how expensive it was in aviation. Yeah, I funded my retirement with him!!

Hung

 

[CA1900]

When I owned a FBO, we had a guy that would show up once every 90 days, tie up the plane for 2 hours, wait until nobody was around in the patterrn, start and gun the aircraft to the runway, take off, scream around the pattern, cut the engine on final, glide to the runway, restart the engine when he hit, and repeat the process 3 times.

The first time someone did that would be the last time he ever rented from me. Why did you keep renting him the plane after seeing how badly he treated it?

 

[Hung Start]

No, I retrospect, I should have,, but,,

It was a small FBO in a small town in Maine. He was well know by everybody, and at the time we needed all the .5's we could get. Hope springs eternal,, you just keep thinking that maybe NEXT time he will put a couple of hours on it.

Funny thing is,,, he drove up in a fancy Beemer, that must be how he afforded it.

Hung

 

[acaTerry]

Darn this is refreshing to talk about a 152 isn't it? I love that thing.

 

[Huck]

A friend of mine leased-back his Baron to a flight school in BHM, until the instructors figured out the Hobbs meter only worked when the gear was up - they were flying cross-countries with the gear down for free.....

 

[Lear70]

I've seen guys get behind the panel and pull the Hobbs meter grounding wire just after taxiing away from the flight school.

Those guys never rented from us again.

My Aztec I leased back was luckily billed to the engine hours tach on the gauges. I lost about .2 each hour it flew, but no one ever screwed with it and we had the rate adjusted accordingly anyway.

I try not to fly them unless I just absolutely have to. An hour here in a 172 is up to almost $100 bucks. That's just rediculous. The cost of fuel doubling works out to about an extra $25 an hour in a 172; not $50. WTF?

If MY wages haven't doubled in 10 years, neither should theirs...? No wonder the flight school shut down last fall, no one can afford $100-150 an hour for a 172 and instructor.

 

[Goose Egg]

Got 3 landings and never paid for more than .5

Just for the record, you don't need to cut the engine on final to get 3 landings in .5.

-Goose

 

[FlyBunny]

Don't laugh, I can't talk anything aviation with my wife either.

She doesn't get it, doesn't want to, and that's just life.

She also doesn't complain that I'm gone 12-15 days a month either, so I kind of figure I can't get too mad she doesn't "get" my career. I'm just happy to have someone who doesn't freak when I'm gone and takes good care of the kids and house.

p.s. A while back I went to the same flight school I had been CHIEF PILOT for back in '95; they wanted to give me a "check out" flight. Had to call the owner at home to get them to p*ss off.

Anything for that extra .5 for the instructor I guess. Some people.

And what, Sir, makes you think you DIDN'T need a check out? Most places I have flown at require a checkout if you haven't flown 'THEIR' planes withing the last 90 days or so. To make you feel 'not so ABOVE others', we had a NWA DC-10 captain in 2001 who wanted to rent a 152, but he was more than happy to go on a check out ride.

Get off your high horse!

A billing dispute is something else, a check-out ride is a different scenario.

Bunny

 

[PropPiedmont]

Don't laugh, I can't talk anything aviation with my wife either.

She doesn't get it, doesn't want to, and that's just life.

She also doesn't complain that I'm gone 12-15 days a month either, so I kind of figure I can't get too mad she doesn't "get" my career. I'm just happy to have someone who doesn't freak when I'm gone and takes good care of the kids and house.

p.s. A while back I went to the same flight school I had been CHIEF PILOT for back in '95; they wanted to give me a "check out" flight. Had to call the owner at home to get them to p*ss off.

Anything for that extra .5 for the instructor I guess. Some people.

LearLove:
today I went to rent the same c-152 that I've rented since 1990. I've maybe flown 200 hours in that plane over the years, I was also a line guy and instructed at this FBO over the years.

It was the usual flight around the hometown and a few landings. 0.6 on the hobbs. Land, pay the bill (debit card) then BS with the fellow bums for awhile then it was home to watch the games. A few minutes ago I look at my bill to put the balance in my checkbook and see I was charged 0.15 for a "reservation min fee". I've never seen this before. I've done plenty of 0.5 (or less) flights in college when i could only scrape 25-30 bucks together for some flight time. No notification of any changed policy either.

Guess 16 plus years of bussiness doesn't make someone a valued customer anymore.

I think I just figured it out. LearLove, Lear70.....Coincidence? I think not. I've gone back to places where I use to work or ran the joint and never expected any special treatment. What makes me different from any other customer. I go to give back. To help give that struggling instructor an hour of flight time and 25 bucks. If you don't want to pay for renting an airplane or pay to meet the FBO's legal insurance requirements, then don't rent. If an extra .5 hours of a rental fee is that important, maybe you need to rethink your financial position and start putting more money in the bank.