Fly with Us!Lease Opportunities
Cost Recovery
Many aircraft owners use their personal plane for only about 50 to 100 hours a year. Such planes are valuable, but underutilized assets. Renting a plane out via the Stanford Flying Club can bring its cost per flight hour down significantly to where ownership can become more affordable, justifiable or even profitable.
Sales Tax Avoidance
In California, owners who lease out their airplane may instead of paying a sales tax at the time of purchase, elect to have renters pay a use tax, saving the owner thousands of dollars.
Income Tax Benefits
When you are in the ‘business of renting’ out an airplane, you may deduct an annual “tax depreciation”, much larger than your plane’s actual market value depreciation. Additionally, you can deduct your plane’s operating expenses (such as maintenance, insurance, parking, admin services), as well as the interest of any loans to purchase and own the plane.
Rental Revenue
Stanford Flying Club offers access to a platform enabling you to lease out your plane by the hour. You can determine at what rate and for how many hours, or who and how many qualified pilots may use your airplane. Your plane will be flown only by pilots who meet the qualifications necessary for your plane. And, under policies and regulations, well-thought-out and detailed by the FAA, your plane can generate revenue while it is flown only by select, conscientious renter pilots.
Leasing Frequently Asked Questions
Consider the “90% rule”. What type of equipment will meet 90% of my needs? If you will only occasionally need a 5th seat, consider renting for the few times you’ll actually fly with 4 passengers.
Also consider what will be popular with Stanford Flying Club members. Members most often seek affordable training aircraft such as Cessna 172s and Piper Archers. Established pilots look for faster, cross-country capable aircraft such as Cirrus SR-series.
In the past we did manage a mix of airplanes: some owned and some offered for rent on behalf of others.
Planes provided for rent by others is more attractive than owned planes. The club can offer better and more equipment for education and training without the need to tie up its modest operating capital or credit in a fleet.
Aircraft owners can generally provide lower cost aircraft, as they can save thousands of dollars from tax benefits, which Stanford Flying Club is unable to use.
Both new planes and pre-owned planes can be good for rental purposes.
Newer aircraft have more student/renter appeal than old aircraft. To finance the purchase of a new aircraft, the available interest rates are generally lower than for used aircraft and may be eligible for bonus depreciation. Newer planes tend to have lower maintenance costs due to warranty.
Cost components include the finance Costs, maintenance & repair, data subscriptions (e.g. GPS databases), insurance, depreciation, reserve fund for maintenance, parking, property taxes, and some administrative & marketing expenses.
Yes!
Yes, though there are several IRS requirements that your aircraft rental business must meet if you want to use tax incentives.
We will work with you to set a rental price that is both competitive and covers the costs associated with your airplane, and includes a desired profit per hour.
Planes must meet club insurance requirements. The club has a master policy for such purposes; however as the owner of your airplane you are responsible to pay for all of the expenses of the plane, including the insurance.
The club can help manage maintenance services.