Why Join Crosswinds Flying Club?
The main reasons why you would want to join Crosswinds Flying Club are:
AOPA recommends that all owners and renters have insurance. As a member of the club, you are covered by the club's insurance policy. This can save you hundreds of dollars a year compared to buying renter's insurance. Our insurance policy provides
- $1 Million Property Damage Coverage.
- $100 Thousand Bodily Injury per Passenger.
- Hull Coverage at full value.
- No Subrogation.
- Our members are named pilots in the insurance policy.
Compare this with a typical rental policy
- $100 Thousand Property Damage Coverage.
- $100 Thousand for Bodily Injury per Passenger.
- Hull Coverage at Policy Limit.
- Subrogation possible.
- Loss of Income charges possible.
And that rental policy with only $60 Thousand hull coverage (which is less than the appraised value of any of our planes) will cost you $925 a year, which is as much as your annual fees with our club. If you want $80 Thousand hull coverage (approximately equal to the value of our Dakota) in a renters policy, expect to pay $1,100 a year.
Crosswinds Flying Club operates on a nonprofit basis, so our rates are based on the true cost of flying and maintaining our fleet. The costs are recalculated frequently to make sure they are reflecting current fuel and maintenance costs and trends. See the "Membership" section for more details.
Aircraft fees are charged as dry tach hour. The term "dry" means that fuel is not included. Many FBOs and clubs charge by Hobbs hours which start when the master switch is turned on or when the engine starts. Tach hours are usually less than Hobbs hours because they don't start running until the engine is started, and the lower the RPMs, the fewer tach hours you use per hour. For most of our aircraft, a tach hour equals a clock hour when the engine is running at 2400rpm. This can be a significant saving (20-30%) while training because you spend a lot of time at low RPMs.
If you're a prospective student member, see our Students section.
All aircraft are fully equipped with communication and navigation equipment and are IFR-certified for instrument conditions. The club puts a priority on maintenance and all "squawks" (reported problems) are addressed immediately by the volunteer maintenance coordinators for each aircraft.
As a Pilot, you are allowed to fly any aircraft that you meet the club, insurance company, and FAA requirements to fly.
To see what planes we own, and how they are equipped, go to the "Our Aircraft" section for more details.
The club allows you to take the aircraft away for overnights, summer weekends and longer trips. We have a few restrictions in order to ensure fairness.
The main goal of these scheduling restrictions is in order to give preference to Students for the Category 1 and 1A aircraft, and to give preference to long distance travel for the Category 2, 3 and 4 aircraft.
We currently have about 80 Pilot and Student members, and 6 airplanes. We attempt to keep the ratio of planes to pilots at between 1:10 and 1:15. Over the years, this has been shown to be the best compromise to keep prices down, utilization high, and member satisfaction high.
The club is careful to not hold itself out as a social organization. However, pilots will be pilots, and members frequently get together to go flying, or just "hangar fly".
There are many advantages of being based at Central Illinois Regional Airport. Some of which are, tower-controlled airport, great services, central to all of Illinois and even the country, easy to get to, and convenient.
Crosswinds uses an electronic scheduling system that enables efficient and reliable scheduling of aircraft. Our scheduling system is provided by AircraftClubs.com.
|
