Every so
often, people starting a new syndicate ask about setting up the rules of
engagement. When we set up the Bumble-bee Flying Club, we found two very useful
sources of guidance:
1)
Our
bank – they gave us a guidance document for setting up a club constitution
which would be acceptable to them for us to open a Club account. So head off to
your local bank’s Enquiries counter and ask.
2)
The
PFA – they did an excellent little booklet called “Group Flying”. The booklet
is now out of print but they do publish a suggested set of rules on their web
site [click here]
We set up
our club around these guidelines and came up with the following documents. They
have been “disidentified” so you can just add your own names etc and follow our
model, or you can change whatever you feel you want to change for your own
circumstances.
1)
The
Club Rules and Constitution – [click here] PDF
2)
The
Syndicate Agreement - [click here] PDF
Both these
documents are needed, but you should adapt them as you as a group choose –
they’re your rules, after all.
Other tips
we’ve found worked for us:
-
Only
let people into the syndicate that you feel comfortable with (you are trusting
them with your aeroplane)
-
We
carry full hull insurance (that also reduces the chances of recriminations when
somebody makes a mistake) and the syndicate covers the 3rd party
insurance so we share the cost of that too.
-
Keep
the aircraft properly maintained; there’ll be less chance of recrimination
later if something breaks. It’s a good idea to have one of the syndicate
responsible for coordinating (though not necessarily doing all the
maintenance)
-
Keep a
simple record sheet with the aeroplane where people can note flights, work
done, faults found etc. That makes it easy to keep maintenance on schedule, the
aircraft log book up to date, and to charge members appropriately for their
flying
-
We
charge for flying ‘wet’ and try to leave the fuel tank full at the end of the
day (less chance of condensation in the fuel). Petrol bought is discounted
against receipt against the monthly flying charges
-
Keep
all your receipts in one place (handy for if you decide to sell the aircraft or
even a share of it later)
-
Set
your prices high enough that you build up a contingency fund to cover planned
future expenses.
-
Be
reasonable in applying the ‘rules’, but fair
-
We
find it very efficient to hold the formal AGM standing outside the hangar, in
winter, and only retiring to the pub afterwards.
-
Enjoy
yourselves!
The
small print!:
Nothing here or in any of the
linked pages constitutes any form of legal or financial advice,
we are not qualified and we
don’t know what we’re talking about.
If anything goes wrong it’s
your fault not ours – OK?
Now go out there and enjoy
your flying!