Why a Club?

Flying Club membersThere are many advantages to joining TSS.

The TSS Flying Club advances the interest in general aviation by offering its members a fun and rewarding environment. The club currently has four quality, modern light aircraft to support its members’ interests. We routinely conduct a wide range of stimulating membership activities and benefits designed to maximize the enjoyment of flying.

The club’s members span a wide spectrum of ages (from teens on up), occupations, interests, backgrounds, and flying experience – student, private, instrument, commercial, ATP (airplane transport pilot), and flight instructors (from one hour of flight time to tens of thousands). There is more to the club than just a place to add flight hours to your logbook.

Competitive Pricing
We are committed to keeping flying affordable! The club operates on a non-profit basis, so our rates are based on the true cost of flying and maintaining our fleet. The costs are recalculated frequently to make sure they are reflecting current fuel and maintenance costs and trends. Our rates are lower than those of a typical Fixed Based Operator (FBO) because a club’s overhead is significantly lower and we have no profit motive.

Tach Time
TSS charges by Tach Time, which allows you to get more flying time your money. The average is about 15-40% less than the Hobbs meters which most flight schools or FBO rentals use.

Hobbs meters start counting when the engine or power is turned on and count in real time no matter what the airplane is doing. The renter pays the same rate whether taxiing for 20 minutes or at full cruise for 20 minutes.

Tach meters, on the other hand, are designed to run at a normal pace when the engine is at high cruise (2500 rpm). When the engine is running slower during ground operations, the clock only runs at a fraction of the pace.

Note: The Vans RV12 is charged on Tach time because all of the maintenance for that plane is tied to the tach. The lowered rate reflects this change.

Examples:

High cruising at 2000 RPM for 60 minutes would be 1.0 on the Hobbs and .8 on the Tach
On the ground and idling at 1000RPM for an hour would be 1.0 on the Hobbs but .4 on the Tach

Well Maintained, Safe Aircraft
All aircraft are fully equipped with communication and navigation equipment and are IFR-certified for instrument conditions. The club puts a priority on maintenance, and all “squawks” (reported problems) are addressed immediately by the volunteer maintenance coordinators for each aircraft. The planes, since they’re owned by the members, are usually maintained better and handled with a bit more care. As a pilot, you are allowed to fly any aircraft for which you meet the club, insurance company, and FAA requirements to fly.

Overnight and Longer Trips
The club allows you to take the aircraft away for overnights, weekends, and longer trips. You may take the plane for up to 10 days at a time, and longer with board approval. We have much fewer restrictions and “minimums” than an FBO typically requires.  The result is more flexibility, more flying fun, at a lower cost.

Insurance
As a member owner of the club, you are covered by the club’s insurance policy. This can save you hundreds of dollars a year compared to buying renter’s insurance. Our insurance policy provides $1M in Property Damage Coverage, $100,000 Bodily Injury per passenger, and Hull Coverage at full value. All club members are individually included under the club insurance policy. An FBO’s policy usually only covers the FBO, and NOT the renter. Therefore, if the FBO’s insurance company decides that you, the renter, is at fault, it has the option of pursuing legal action against you personally to recover costs associated with an accident. This is referred to as subrogation.

Instruction
There are several certified flight instructors who are active in the TSS Flying Club. Members coordinate directly with the club flight instructors to arrange for individual flight instruction. While the club does not have a formal flight school, our members are usually able to achieve their personal flying instruction goals through the services offered by the club instructors. Prospective members who are not pilots, but are interested in learning to fly, are most welcome!

Aircraft to Member Ratio
We attempt to keep the ratio of planes to pilots at between 1:10 and 1:15. Over the years, this has been shown to be the best compromise to keep prices down, utilization high, and member satisfaction high.

Scheduling
You can schedule aircraft 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using any standard web browser and your existing Internet connection or via a touch-tone phone.