From: geoff@peck.com (Geoff Peck)
Subject: Re: Renting woes...
Organization: Geoffrey G. Peck, Consultant, San Jose CA
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 04:03:34 GMT

In article <1992Sep13.012513.1@pomona.claremont.edu>
jhenderson@pomona.claremont.edu
(Javier Henderson) writes:
> Wouldn't it be nice if there was some sort of standard by which every FBO
> would check renters, so you can just walk up to the rental counter at your
> vacation spot and rent whatever plane you usually fly at home? The remote
> FBO could contact your FBO to verify the accuracy of your logbook. This
> checking could be done in advance even.

In article <Sep.13.14.49.05.1992.1381@pilot.njin.net> ron@pilot.njin.net
(Ron Natalie) writes:
> I think in order to get this type of thing it's going to take some
> innovative insurance company.  All of the wierd minima/hours/check-out
> requirements of FBO's I've come accross are mandated by the
> insurace company.

Well, yes and no.  As your pilot experience goes up, you'll find that it's
easier and easier to rent an aircraft away from home.  I don't expect to be
able to walk up to the counter and have them flip me the keys (or, better
yet, do what Hertz does with its Gold Service), simply because I think that
we all agree that safety in aviation is a very high priority.  It behooves
the FBO to simply verify that you really are who you purport to be, and you
really have the experience you claim to have -- and what better way of doing
this than _watching_you_fly_ for at least a little while?

The last few times I've rented away from home, it's taken a single quick
circuit around the pattern to convince the FBO that I'm OK.  I have had a
few FBO's who've gone a little overboard (a half-hour checkout for me in
most simple aircraft is "overboard"), but in each case I've been able to
identify the precise reasons why the FBO is doing what they're doing.  And
the reasons, unhappy though I might be about the extra dual flying time,
are valid.

I've also been in the reverse position -- as an instructor who has to
check out an itinerant pilot.  Sometimes, the person's just fine, and off
he or she goes after a quick trip around the pattern.  Sometimes, though,
the rust is apparent right from the start.  And it turns into a full
lesson.  I try to sense during the initial conversation with the pilot
whether this might be a possibility, and if it might be, I explain up
front what might happen and why.  Simply put, I wouldn't want the
_personal_ liability for having released a pilot who was incapable of
safely flying the airplane _in_this_area_.

Is a magic insurance company the answer?  I don't think so.  Even if
you walk into an FBO with a copy of your high-hull-limit renter's
insurance policy, or even better your aircraft owner's insurance policy
with a non-owned aircraft clause, the FBO won't want you to crash.  A good
FBO is concerned not only with their own property (or the property of their
lessors) -- the aircraft -- but with the safety of general aviation ... and
_your_ safety ... as well.  That's why a checkout, unpleasant though it
might seem, isn't such a bad idea.

Could something be done to provide "Hertz-like" ease of renting?  Well,
it's been tried several times.  Beechcraft Flight Centers may still offer
"exchange privileges" with other Beechcraft Flight Centers.  A while ago, a
company attempted to set up a nationwide FBO chain with similar equipment
(all new Piper Archers, as I recall) at each FBO.  They went bankrupt.
It's possible that someone might try a new and innovative approach in the
future, but I suspect that it would require backing from diverse sources,
ranging from "alphabet soup" organizations like AOPA to the FAA to
insurance companies.

As has been suggested by other netters, one possibility, particularly for
the lower-time pilot who can expect a thorough checkout at each new FBO,
would be to check out in a new aircraft type.  It might take a few hours,
but it could be fun and interesting!  If you've been flying Cessnas, try a
Piper.  If you've been flying Pipers, try a Grumman Tiger.  And so on.

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  :-)

						Geoff
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