Partnerships

[PilotRPI]

I'm not interested in hearing about how things are going with your significant other (unless they share your plane).

For those of you that have entered into a partnership on an airplane, I was wondering how you liked it. Would you do it again? Did it suck? Could you get the plane when you wanted it? I'm torn between something I can get on my own such as a Piper Pacer or C140, or going in on a partnership for something like a Citabria, or C170.

[Glidergeek]

Start here.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7375&p=95675&hilit=club#p95675

[uncle_rob]

Didn't/Doesn't suck, I'd do it again with the right guys and the right price, and its an awesome way to get something you may not be able to afford on your own.

[d.grimm]

I had good luck with a Pacer in a partnership. The airplane got flown
a proper amount (150 hrs) per year and it didn't just sit around gathering rust
when my schedule was to busy to fly it. I would do it again with the right person.
Dave

[OscarDeuce]

Done it three times. First time ended up in court. Second time all was well until my partner totalled the airplane. Third time was the charm. I eventually bought that partner out and flew the plane another 15 years. Although this will fly in the face of the advice you are likely to get here, I found that the less formality, the better the partnership worked. Maybe it's just me, but if you can't trust your potential partner(s) enough to do business on a handshake run, don't walk, in the opposite direction.

Best,
O-2

[average guy]

Go very slowly. Find pilots with experience and financially stable. Use AOPA's new aircraft partnership program(formerly APA). People you can trust.. check them out...ask around about them. Keep it simple. Use the AOPA suggested co-ownership agreement and change it to your needs. Do an LLC NOT a partnership. DONT use a lawyer. Keep it simple. Take it slowy. Figure out what type of plane you want and need. Find a good plane by sending out letters to owners in your area(200 mile radius) using the FAA listings. Join forums for the plane you want. Let it be known you want a partner and plane on as many sites as you can find. Be very thorough. Research, research, and research. Spend months not weeks looking. Check logs thoroughly by an A&P before even flying the plane. Don't finance..pay cash. Use AOPA for lots of research and questions. Don't fall in love with the plane until after you purchased it.

I got great co-owners(APA) and an award-winning plane(seller from Cherokee Chat). I spent over 2 years looking. One owner is a retired airline pilot and CFII and the other is a retired A&P. We bought a 1967 Cherokee 180 that won several awards at a number of National Piper Cherokee Flyins.

[AndyH]

All good advice. I think the key is to know and trust your partner. I've done it once and it worked out great. There was no formality in our arrangement but it worked because we knew each other for several years and both wanted the same kind of airplane. \
You'll want to make sure you both/all understand how you will handle dissolving the partnership because eventually one of you might want to move on. In my case when I wanted out (so that I could go and buy a float plane) there was no hassle and I got fair value for my share. If I didn't know my partner real well or hadn't discussed this in advance, it could have ended up costing me or I could have ended up being really unhappy in the relationship. As much as you think you know what you want, circumstances change.
I would do the partnership thing again if it were the right situation all the while taking the time to get to know the partner and really understand whether this is the airplane and partnership I want. Good luck!!

[Littlecub]

I suggest an odd # of partners-since a 'tie vote' doesn't 'make' a decision.....
Of course even # partnerships can work, too, it is just one less place for 'things' to 'hop the tracks'......
and there are LOTS of big, medium, and little decisions that are made with airplane ownership.

Voice of experience......
lc

[obxbushpilot]

My first and last partnership was a bad experience. However, I don't believe that all partnerships are doomed, but careful concideration is key and i am interested in trying again. We shared a light twin and used thae standard AOPA aircraft partnership agreement.

I Partnered with a a 767 Capt. who worked for Continental Airlines ( first mistake). For a guy with a pretty reasonable paycheck, he was always broke at the end of the month. He had a lot of credit cards though. His trick was to continuously buy new things for the plane and submit the receipts in lieu of payment. Although this violated the partnership agreement, he decided to test the limits. A typical scenario would develop like this:

I would come to the hangar and discover that lots of money was spent to move the compass from the glare shield to a new mount on the top of the windscreen so he could put his GPS on the glare shield instead of yoke mounting it. Now, the original sunvisors wont fold down, so we got a new pair of Rosen visors. A stunt like this would about equal a month's share of insurance, hangar and airplane loan and he could put it on his credit card and just rack up more debt.

The straw that broke the camel's back resulted in an emergency landing after he performed some maintenance on the right engine prop spinner. Apparently all the screws were put in and not fully tightened when he went to lunch. They were never tightened when he returned and my preflight didn't catch it.

The spinner started coming apart in flight. Once I returned, he blamed me for the damage for not preflighting the plane well enough.

While I will never preflight a plane without being absolutely sure that the screws on the spinner are all tightly fastened, I contend that he should never have removed the spinner and returned the plane to service since he is not an A&P (not the only time that he would tinker with shit that requires an airman's cert that he didnt have.)

I tried to sack him for another partner, but he liked being broke so I sold my half to him. I lost a little money on unrequired maintenece and airplane gadgets ,but got the full share of the plane. He partnered with two others and that disolved quickly. They now have the plane.

Ultimately it comes down to this: Be sure there are no lose screws (goes for partners and spinners) before committing. Don't partner with seemingly rich broke people. I think that in my mind, I assumed that his being a 767 pilot would somehow add value to partnership (bad assumption). It actually made things worse as he had no real practical GA airplane ownership and flying erxperience (it aint like the airlines).