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 piliots 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 aircraft,
and to give preference to long distance travel for the Category
2 and 3 aircraft.
We currently have about 35 Pilot and Student members, and
3 planes. 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.
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