MarioWife

Any one who knows of a flight school for sale? I want one that owns a hangar, no leasing.. I have searched the web and see some interesting schools, but maybe one of you guys work at one that you think it might be worth for me to take a look at. How hard is it to start your own flight school? Part 61 I have heard is really easy, but what about part 141? Can you just buy one?

Appriciate if someone knows of some nice schools, or prospective nice schools...

TurboDog

I am sure Delta will sell you the Delta Connection Academy. Be prepared to pay top dollar for it though.

Ewfflyer

I would say that they are all for sale, as with anything in aviation. Whatever the reasoning or means might be for purchasing one, just remember one thing: Unforseen expenses. Students are obviously your customers, but they are also what drive prices up by use, damage, and other creative means to your facility and aircraft.

Some questions I'm wondering about are:

What location are you looking?

What types of training are you wanting to accomplish?(basic, instr, comm, mutli, ATP?)

What types of aircraft are you wanting to use(new/old, piper/cessna/cirrus/diamond, fixed/complex/twin?)

What type of airport are you wanting to operate out of?(uncontrolled, 1 rwy, multi-rwy, towered, class-c?)

Each factor down the list will add complexity to your operation, and hence greater cost. Right now, with the market the way it is, high complexity and cost are obviously going to run you under before you get started. What is your business plan? Good Luck!

(BTW, our flight training is always up for sale/lease, but pending on where you're at/wanting to be, I don't know if that would work)

reloader30cal

Look at International Airline Training Academy in Tucson, AZ (www.fly-iata.com). 141 flight school that just shut down on Nov 12. All aircraft, buildings, hangars, for sale under chapter 7 liquidation.

MarioWife

If I had top dollars to spend I would just go out buy one.. But unforenatly I dont.

What location are you looking? A good deal / Any

What types of training are you wanting to accomplish?(basic, instr, comm, mutli, ATP?) At least Cpl and IR. But I want to do it dual, So the students can both get Fix wing and Helicopter at the school.

What types of aircraft are you wanting to use(new/old, piper/cessna/cirrus/diamond, fixed/complex/twin?) New, Piper or Cessnas, a nice and new Seminole or simmilar, for multies and complex. And only Schweiser for Helicopter training, a good work horse. I am also thinking maybe a B206 for turbine transitions and as a student attraction, its cheap to run and a good helicopter as long as you dont use it with max payload.

What type of airport are you wanting to operate out of?(uncontrolled, 1 rwy, multi-rwy, towered, class-c?) Any, where they let me buy the hangar. Preferely one close to some IR approaches.

MarioWife

I am thinking small.

Everyone I know is pilots, so its basically to save my friends from bankruptcy and furlough, and to try something fun and new.

ChickandTricks

[quote=Ewfflyer;509954] What is your business plan? Good Luck!)/quote]

How about Playboy Girls as flight instructors?

usmc-sgt

Look into contacting the owner of stowe/minuteman airport in Massachusetts. The airport is 12 miles west of one of the busiest class D corporate hubs in the northeast (KBED) and just around 20 miles west of KBOS.

They are trying to turn the place around and make it up and coming in a sense and would probably be a steal. They have multiple hangars and business spaces available as well as cheap fuel and a restaurant on the field. The owner sent me a letter a ways back asking me to open a flight school there or refer anyone who may want to. It has 2 runways, 1 VERY short grass strip and one relatively short paved strip. It can be a handful as it is situated between some tall trees and is narrow with a steady crosswind but I flew a twin in there all the time since our MX hangar used to be there. There are more instrument approaches within a 10 minute flight then you would know what to do with, DME ARC, ILS, RNAV, WAAS, VOR and even PAR.

CaptainCarl

You may want to consider weather conditions. The farther north you go, the less daylight you will have year round. And winter operations is something to think about.

So, PPL through CPL? No ATP or CFI training?

Piper and Cessnas is a good idea. They are a known quantity in the training world. Seminole is a good choice as well. But not the only choice.

IMHO, I would prefer an uncontrolled field for flight training. It depends how big your operation gets though. Sometimes its good to have a CTO watching after your students in the patch.

I'm sure you will find something that suits you

MarioWife

[quote=CaptainCarl;510631]You may want to consider weather conditions. The farther north you go, the less daylight you will have year round. And winter operations is something to think about.- I have one response to that, Good training. But as you say, you trade some days in the air for better training.

So, PPL through CPL? No ATP or CFI training? Maybe CFI

IMHO, I would prefer an uncontrolled field for flight training. It depends how big your operation gets though. Sometimes its good to have a CTO watching after your students in the patch. Some schools at uncontrolled fields pays their students that have a higher licence than ppl, to pretend atc, on a radio, and give the planes around an indication if the runway is free for obstructions or if there is many people in the pattern.