rockies

Glenwood Springs Flying Club

Depending upon what your specific goals and plan is, joining the Glenwood Springs Flying club  may or may not be right for you.

Essentially, the club has about 15 members and 2 early 70's aircraft.  Both aircraft are Cherokee 235's.  The aircraft are older, and given the small number of users they are readily available.  Buying into this club (a 1/20th share)  is about $3000, and once you are a member you operate the aircraft for cost (roughly $120/hour fuel included), you'll also be responsible for monthly minimums, and quarterly fees.

Now the benefit of this club is that their aircraft, Cherokee 235's are very capable, and after you have your license then you'll have a plane to fly.

Unfortunately, many people join this club just to learn to fly, thinking that they can sell their membership later - very few ever do, finding a buyer for your membership if you want to get out of the club later is nearly impossible.

Now if your entire goal is to just learn to fly, and you're really not interested in owning an aircraft there are better avenues that will cost you less.

As an example, we rent our Diamond Katana DA-20-C1 Katana Evolution for $129 per hour, fuel included.  If you purchase in a 10 hour block you can rent the Katana for $119/hour.  As you can see, as a member of the club you'll be paying nearly $120 per hour to fly a 40 year old airplane, mean while you could be spending the same and flying a thirty year newer aircraft, and you didn't have to buy-in for $3000, and you don't have monthly minimums, and you don't have quarterly dues.

There are some other advantages learning in the Katana at Eagle - First, students in glenwood spend a good deal of time travelling to the larger runways of Eagle and Rifle to practice landings because student practice is difficult and time consuming at Glenwood Springs because of it's runway length and placement in the valley.  Learning at Eagle means you spend more time practicing and less time commuting to other airports.  The result is that your training time is less, and therefore the cost is less.  The second major advantage that the Katana provides is a simpler aircraft that is easier to learn in.  This means you get through your training faster as well.

If you're considering learning to fly, we would like to invite you to come out to Eagle airport and take a discovery/intro flight.  You'll have a chance to meet our instructors, fly the plane for an hour, see our training curriculum, and get all your questions answered.  We offer discovery flights that are 1 hour of flight time and 2 hours of instructor time for $199.00.  Call 970-401-5105 to schedule one today.

by admin