Rates and Dues
Initial Buy-in
All members that wish to join the club must pay a one-time, nonrefundable buy-in. The intention of the buy-in is to ensure that joining members are invested for the longer-haul, and not joining just to treat the club as a short-term rental service.
The current buy-in fee is $5000.
Monthly Dues
Monthly membership dues are necessary to cover the fixed costs of the club not tied to flight hours, like insurance, hangars, and annual aircraft inspections.
Current dues are $230 per month.
Hourly Rates
To cover the operational costs of the aircraft, the club charges an hourly rate for each aircraft, charged by tach time, which includes the cost of fuel. The biggest variable to our hourly costs month-to-month is the price of fuel, which we base on the prices of AeroAir at KHIO.
Worth noting, if a member fuels the plane from another provider, they can scan the receipt into our flight tracking system and the fuel component of the hourly rate will be adjusted. Many members will fuel at less expensive locations before heading back home, and can save significant money on the cost of the flight.
| Tail Number | Type | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|---|
| N7499C | Cessna 172 | $124 |
| N1228M | Cessna 182 | $198 |
| N117JC | Piper Saratoga | $262 |
Rates current as of May 14, 2024
Other Information
Scheduling
The club uses Flight Circle for all aircraft scheduling. Members can edit schedules 24 hours a day, seven days a week via the website. The service can provide e-mail alerts when users drop a schedule during a time you wanted to fly, and provide messages when alterations were made to your schedule due to maintenance.
There are a couple of restrictions to ensure no single member monopolizes an airplane, but in general, members are free to reserve an aircraft for overnight or multi-day trips. A minimum of one hour is charged per day (two hours per day for weekends and holidays). For example, members have flown club aircraft to Oshkosh on many occasions as well as to vacations in Canada, Pacific Northwest and the Bay Area.
Insurance
Membership includes liability and full hull insurance coverage for club aircraft. The insurance deductible per member is $2,500 for a non-moving accident (damage sustained while the airplane is not moving under its own power), and $2,500 for moving incidents. Members are encouraged to consider self-insuring to cover the cost of the deductibles.
Initial Checkout
After you join the club, you will fly with a club CFI to receive a checkout and sign-off in each aircraft that your membership allows you to fly. The checkout will introduce you to the club's operating procedures for each of its aircraft, and assess your readiness to fly. There is no set time estimate for a checkout; it could vary from an hour for a pilot well qualified for a given aircraft, to ten hours or more for a pilot who hasn't flow in a while.
Tach Time vs Hobbs Time
Most rental places charge for hobbs time, or clock time. HFC charges for tach time, which is driven by engine rpm, and often cheaper than hobbs.
Hobbs time increases as the clock moves forward while the engine is running. Tach time, on the other hand, moves faster or slower depending on engine RPM. So for example, while taxiing, tach time is only about 40% of Hobbs time. For pattern work, it's somewhere between 60 - 70%. For a long XC trip at 2500 RPM, tach time is close to or in some cases more than Hobbs. So the amount of money you save with tach time really depends on the type of flying you'll be doing.
Club Meetings
The Hillsboro Flying Club is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization that is governed by a membership-elected Board. The Board meets each month, usually on the second Tuesday of the month, but may vary with board member availability. Upcoming meetings are announced on the club’s Slack service. Members are encouraged to attend, and visitors who are evaluating membership are also welcome.