In 2007 I bought a used Cirrus SR22, but like most pilots, I was only flying about 4-6 hours a month (FYI, according to the FAA, the average general aviation plane sits on the ground 94% of the time, with the average pilot flying just 3.3 hours/month). However, in spite of only using the plane for this small amount of time, the expenses did not stop Garmin 430 updates, monthly subscriptions, insurance, hanger fees, routine maintenance, and then came the dreaded annual. I was spending about $15,000/year, or $350/hour to fly my own plane! I decided to try and find another experienced pilot to share my plane, so I posted flyers on the bulletin board at my local airport with no luck, and then finally listed the partnership on the Cirrus Owners website (cirruspilots.org). Here is my original post from 2008:
To my surprise, I quickly got a number of calls from local highly-qualified pilots (instrument ratings and high time-in-type) and settled on two pilots who were signed-off by my local flight instructor, added to my insurance (at no additional charge) and who paid me 10-hour blocks in advance to fly the plane.
The plane was flying and happy and well kept, I was flying and happy, and best of all, I was making valuable money to cover my fixed expenses and then some. This dramatically changed the aircraft ownership equation for me. It was a win/win and the best part was even with all three of us flying all we wanted, there were few, if any conflicts, easily resolved! I was getting $185/hour dry and this was awesome. My wife Jill said to me, “hey there might be something here – this is really needed and could be great for a pilot and general aviation overall.” – as I explored this further, I found that many pilots already shared their planes, but the process of finding other pilots was difficult and inefficient. General aviation airports bulletin boards are littered with flyers from pilots looking for airplane shares, hanger shares and ownership partnerships, and there was no single website where one could post or find a share, but there were many fragmented owners’ sites, where shares were posted in forums, only to be lost, when the next post was added.
There had to be a better way and so came the idea of - SHAREMYAIRCRAFT.COM. SMA was shelved for a number of years due to the economy, until we finally decided it was the right time – so about in late 2016, we started working on SMA – and now everything is lining up to make this the best time for SMA! Why?