DA40NG Partnership Opportunity in Orlando FL (KORL)

[Jayduino]

Hello,

I have a brand new 2024 DA40NG that is going to be delivered to me in Q1/Q2 2024. I am potentially looking to add a partner or two. The plane will be leased back to a club but will also be available for person use as needed.

Let me know if anyone here is interested. Thank you!

Jay

[chili4way]

Jay, how well this will work depends on several considerations.

How the flying club plans to use the airplane. Will it be used primarily for club member training (primary, instrument, commercial), or is it "reserved" for cross-country travel? Mixing the two will favor the training mission because students flying regularly is essential. If your plane is the only DA40NG in the club, there may be a Catch-22. If the plane is regularly taken for a week's vacation, students will be less likely to pick it for their training airplane. This can have a downside to the financials associated with your leaseback. Weekend XC trips conflict with prime training time for club members.

How will the owner/partner scheduling work, and what, if any, priority is granted? (See cautions above.) Two scheduling systems will undoubtedly lead to problems. This also raises the question of why one should buy into the airplane vs. become a flying club member. Consider how many reservations any single pilot can make and hold at once and the consequence of a non-weather-related cancellation.

The expectations you set for all pilots about fueling and cleaning the plane and the pilot checkout requirements. The experience level of the club instructors with the DA40NG and the Austro engine is likely low. There are significant differences, e.g., 1) ensuring the Austro engine operates at less than 10% power for at least one minute before shutting down to cool off the turbocharger. 2) Ensure the pilot looks at the engine page to ensure all gauges are green (especially the gearbox temperature, which is only visible on the engine page) before initiating the ECU self-test. There are others.

Where will you get your DA40NG serviced, and how well do you understand the long-term maintenance costs? (This will help you set the proper pricing for your leaseback. See thread on DAN.). I've spoken with other owners considering the same approach, and this became a stumbling block, especially when the Flying Club maintains their airplanes to save cost. They will likely be ill-prepared and equipped to do the Austro maintenance—plan and budget on using Premier in Ft. Lauderdale.

I've operated my 2019 DA40NG in a shared-access arrangement with as many as four pilots for nearly five years.

[michael.g.miller]

plan and budget on using Premier in Ft. Lauderdale.

I would add that MyFlight (which has an ORL base, and does maintenance at X04) has a lot of experience dealing with Austros. While they don't have an IA on staff quite yet, they are certainly well versed to do routine maintenance on Austro engines.

[chili4way]

That's good to know; on field MX is best (if they make house calls from X04). And if not, it's only 10 minutes away.

This makes adapting the MX budget spreadsheet easier to do. In addition to differences in hourly rate, it's worth checking on parts sourcing and prices/markups (if they cannot order parts and kits directly from Diamond).

[Jayduino]

Hi there!

Thanks for the detailed response chili4way! I think I have a good response for all of the items you covered. If anyone is interested in partnering on the new plane I will definitely go more into detail with how everything will work.

I currently have another DA40NG at the club that has been flying for about 8 months now and have a lot of data to help them make a good decision on if this partnership would work for them or not. Feel free to reach out and DM me with any additional questions!

Jay