Tips and advice for sharing your plane

Aircraft benefit when they are flown more hours, not less. And for those who own an aircraft, and don’t fly it enough, the idea of sharing their baby is likely equal part terrifying and exhilarating.

That idea, sharing, was the topic of a recent Touch & Go column.

I had received an email from a person seeking to fly, for personal use, an acquaintance’s airplane. The writer was seeking feedback on the idea before broaching the topic with the owner.

As luck would have, I’m in a similar arrangement. I’m one of the lucky ones. I get to use a friend’s Piper J-3 when time allows.

Our arrangement? I’m a named insured on the owner’s policy, I provide my own renter’s insurance, of course, and split the cost of the annual with the owner. That allows me access to fly the Cub. When I’m done with a flight, I top up the fuel tank and put it back in the hangar just as I found it.

But I was most interested in hearing from General Aviation News readers. I wasn’t disappointed.

Your Examples of Sharing

“I have a Cherokee 6 and the only high performance airplane in the area. A trusted friend who is a CFI would like to use the plane on rare occasion to sign off a student on high performance aircraft,” says Kevin via email. “The friend is on our insurance policy at no additional cost. When a student needs it I add him to our insurance policy and he pays me a portion of the fair hourly expenses (~200 per hour) and his insurance cost for the month (~80). The CFI is already on my insurance plan and what the student and he work out is up to them, not me. This plan was created on the basis of talking to people at Avemco and Pilot Services at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).”

“I have many years ago allowed a friend to fly my C-172 to get some training and then he flew it solo. He paid for all the insurance and bought all the gas. It worked out fine for us,” said Rich in a comment at GeneralAviationNews.com. “When I moved to Texas I let my neighbor fly the same 172 while he hangared it in his hangar next door while I used my hangar to house a recently acquired Champ along with a different partner. Neighbor was named on the policy and paid half the insurance. It all worked out fine. Of course no one wrecked anything. If you wanna do some sharing I seriously suggest contacting the AOPA for some guidance.”

“Our airplane is a partnership. We have all four owners listed, but also have an open pilot policy that covers other pilots should they fly,” says Brian M. Neenan. “Works for us.”

“I share my Sonex with my mechanic. He maintains the airplane (I buy the parts) and has access to fly any time he wants to. He maintains non-owned aircraft insurance and tops it off with gas whenever he flies, which is really not enough. I wish he would fly it more, but he keeps very busy working on other airplanes, which, unfortunately, keeps him too busy to work on mine much of the time,” says Ron Jacob. “This works out fine for both of us. I only wish he had more time to keep the airplane up and running.”

A Bit of Advice about Sharing

“It certainly is a popular way to keep an aircraft flying sufficiently to justify its ownership. The one item I did not see in the article is a very important issue. The owner of the aircraft must title the bird in an LLC or other legal entity,” states Salvatore A. Lagonia, an aviation attorney and media analyst, via email. “To fail to do that could lead to liability for any negligence by either pilot. Insurance coverage is important, but could very well not be enough or be denied. An example that I have seen in my practice is a personally owned aircraft flown by the sharing pilot. The pilot violated a FAR during the flight, which led to an accident and a legal claim. The insurance company disclaimed the insurance because of the violation (its in the policy) and the innocent owner was left holding the bag. By registering title in an LLC, the limit of liability is the assets in the LLC (most often just the aircraft).”

Lee Taylor left a detailed and rather lengthy comment on my column. The end of his comment made me smile. Partly because I have two daughters (21 and 19 years old) but also because his thoughts are straight-forward and simple.

“People you would share your plane with. Would you allow them to take your 16-year-old daughter on a weeklong trip by themselves? That’s the person you should possibly THINK ABOUT sharing your plane with. Nothing else really matters. Have a formal written understanding, of course, about liability, repair costs, use of the plane hour-wise, and fuel costs. Fuel —EVERYONE leaves the plane topped up. Don’t ever leave any plane with half-empty tanks, even you. That is begging for water in the fuel. Other than that, sharing a plane is far more practical, good for the plane, and good for everyone’s social life, than just pride of ownership. Share the washing of it, too.”

There is no one perfect template that will work for all — which, when I think about it, is both frustrating and liberating.

So, whichever side of the equation you find yourself on, be prepared to have an honest conversation about the idea of sharing/partnering an aircraft. Loop in an insurance and legal expert as required.

Be prepared to walk away, though. If an arrangement doesn’t work for all sides, it doesn’t work at all.

But don’t let the idea of a failed attempt sideline you. After all, when we do a go-around, we don’t just throw our hands up and say, “forget it.” We try again.