Flight Operations

Text Box: Cold Weather Operations All Artisan Flying Club aircraft are based at Rochester International Airport (ROC) and kept in T-hangers. Each has an electric oil sump and engine block heater for cold weather pre-heats and all fly regularly during the winter months. Our maintenance chief, an electrical engineer by training, built a black box that allows us to activate the electric pre-heat for any of the aircraft by telephone, making winter flying that much more convenient. Insurance The Club provides insurance for all members, and it is paid for as part of the monthly fees. Members who fly the Lance obtain a separate insurance policy under which they are named pilots on the insurance policy, and pay a surcharge on the monthly fees to cover the incremental expenses of the Lance. Currently the club pays premiums of $2900 for the Warrior, $6500 each for the two Arrows, and $5300 for the Lance. All policies are $100K per person / $1M per incident. Club checkout requirements essentially mirror those of the insurance carriers. Warrior checkout requires CFI signoff. Arrow checkout requires 10 hours complex time and 5 hours in type, complex signoff, and CFI signoff. Lance checkout requires 400 hours PIC, 50 hours of complex time, 5 hours in type, high performance signoff, and a CFI signoff. Text Box: Availability Artisan Flying Club aircraft average 300 to 400 hours each per year. Scheduling is done online with Aircraftclubs.com.  Any member can take the aircraft at any time for up to seven days. A member who needs to take a trip longer than 7 days may do so after confirming that no other member wants the aircraft during that time period. Text Box: An important Artisan Flying Club benefit is that regardless how long the aircraft is away from home, the member pays only for actual tachometer time.  There are no minimum daily fees or overnight fees.  This policy has served us well for years and is not abused. In practice members work out conflicts with each other informally, such as shifting a training flight to permit another member's unplanned business or family trip. Vacation trips in the summer are booked a few months in advance, but most trips are scheduled within 30 days of the planned departure, and frequently scheduled a day or two before the flight as weather permits. The beauty of having four aircraft is that a suitable aircraft is almost always available. Members who formerly owned aircraft, alone or in partnership, all find availability is better in Artisan Flying Club than when they owned their own aircraft, simply because we have more aircraft available. As an owner of a single aircraft, when that plane is down for maintenance or away on a trip with your partner, you're grounded. In our club, there's almost always another airplane available. Similarly, having multiple aircraft available enables us to select the appropriate aircraft for the mission - whether a local sightseeing flight with friends in the Warrior or a long cross country with kids and the dog in the Lance.

Approach to Sedona Airport in Sedona, Arizona