Membership in the North Shore Aero Club has many benefits!

 

There are many benefits beyond just low cost.  Please consider the club as the lowest cost to OWN an aircraft with a many of the benefits and only a subset of the responsibilities: after-hour use (just "book and fly"), multi-day trips (with no minimums!), any published airfield (including grass and short field), shared flights amongst members, a finite number of aircraft users, and much more!  Then we can talk about lower cost.  The example below is a few years out of date but the general concept applies today just as did then.

 

Flying with the club is the best deal in town! We strive to match our prop charges with our costs.  Instruction is only $55 / Hobbs hour.

Interesting Perspective by Mark Cameron, a new NSAC Member (prices reflecting the time of writing, 2012)

I loved doing business with a premium FBO based at KBED. For a 172 driver it was as close to ‘rock star’ flying as I will ever experience.

It is an impressive operation with a big rental fleet including a C172SP with G1000 glass cockpit. It's $160 times HOBBS, no soft fields, and 3000+ hard surfaces only. Immaculate planes topped off and preheated. Just grab the key and go fly!

A leisurely brunch flight KBED to KSFM is $288 in a 2008 glass with TIS behind 180 flying horses from the former home base.

That same trip is h-a-l-f the cost in N172EF. Yes my friends, $110 times TACH in comparison is only $143.

(Assumptions: 1.8hr Hobbs x $160 vs. 1.3hr Tach x $110).

Okay, so the ‘rock star’ flying experience isn’t quite the same at NSAC. Since joining the Club last spring, I haven’t had to shovel or preheat... yet.

But the fun factor is still immeasurable and the bucks go twice as far as they ever have. For me, it translates into “buy one flight, get one free”.

Now that’s what I call weighing facts and balancing costs.

Blue Skies!

Mark Cameron

Club members are named insured on our master policy, in contrast to FBOs that insure themselves, not the renter. This eliminates the need for most pilots to get separate renter's insurance, which often costs as much as our monthly dues.

Unlike most for profit FBOs, the North Shore Aeroclub allows its members more freedom to use the aircraft to go on extended cross countries.

Per the Club Documents:

Extended Cross-Country flights (XX-C) – What is the definition of Extended Cross Country Flight (XX-C)? Per the Code of Conduct it is

(a) Weekdays in excess of 48 hours, and

(b) Weekends encompassing time on both Saturday and Sunday or a Holiday and Saturday or Sunday.

Overnights during the week are not extended cross country if you are away less than 48 hours. An overnight on the weekend is not an extended cross-country if you are not away on Saturday night (except for holidays).

In the case of scheduling an extended cross country flight, the member is required to obtain the approval of the Club president prior to initiating the flight.

Extended cross-country flights are generally allowed on up to three planes at a time so that the fourth aircraft will be available to the other Club members.

We have two brand new Schwinn folding bicycles and a couple of old, but serviceable bikes available in the shed for members to use. Click on the bike to go to a Youtube video demonstration on how to set it up and fold it up.