How do schools rent for multi-day XCs?

[MichaelP]

The harsh fact of life here of course is that operators make little or no money from aircraft rental.

The reality is that 'profit' comes from value added.
The more dual flying that is done, the more money a school makes.

Groups such as Air Share here are very successful and provide an excellent resource for their members as there is a lot less overhead.
A school can never compete with a well run group.

So the reality is that if you want real freedom to go places either buy your own aeroplane or join a group.

Joining a group is an alien idea to many Canadians who are loners and individualistic for the most part. Change your culture and many things become possible.
Here the RAA Chapter 85 and the Boundary Bay Flying Club has made valiant efforts to create social flying opportunities, but too many people look towards their future as professional pilots while missing an excellent opportunity to learn while having a lot of fun along the way.

In my beginning here I had a Cessna 120 I'd rent to people for $50 an hour, problem was no-one wanted to be bothered to learn to fly tailwheel while aiming for that CPL...
I used to fly to Boundary Bay and ask if anyone wanted to go flying... "Chilliwack anyone?", I never did so much solo flying before, I don't smell that bad!

So, frustrated with schools?
Get together in a group, buy and operate your own aeroplane and learn a hell of a lot more!

[Shiny Side Up]

One way to deal with the multi-day X-C is to treat it like a commercial flight. If Joe/Jane budding comercial pilot is time building they should treat the X-C not as a jollyy but as a serious use of an aircraft to get a (pretend) passsenger from A to B. Like good commerciall ops, there should be clear and unambiguos dispatch approval and every leg has to have a OFP submitted before takeoff. The thing that has to be absolutely clear is the destination and route of flight can be requested by the renter but it is approved by the school. In other words the plane goes where it is told, just like in real commercial operations.

This works well in theory when it comes to renters, and indeed works well on CPL students. It all comes down to the motivations for the flight. Non-student renters simply have too many outside factors which will govern their go/no-go decisions when they're away from home. They are also notorious for not following what's been approved during said flight - all in all its the main reason I've largely shut down said multi day flights here. Even non-student renters who are commercial pilots simply don't behave like commercial pilots when they're renting. Lets just say I've had more than my share of conversations with the friendly people at FSS and the DND people when a renter decides to deviate from procedure or plan. In my experience the longer a renter figures he'll need for his adventure, the greater the chance I'll be having one of those conversations.

If there are weather delays the operator eats it, just like in real commercial operations.

Personally I'm always prepared to eat lost revenue when it comes to the weather. When it comes to multi day rentals though, the longer the trip is planned by said renter, the greater the chance that there's going to be a weather delay. The farther away they plan to go, the greater that chance becomes as well. Reasonably one has a pretty good idea what the weather is going to be like for the next 24 hours, and a pretty good guess what it is going to be like in the next 48 - from there the chances are really a crapshoot. Probability wise if a trip is planned to extend outside of that, the chance that the weather will intervene becomes an almost certainty - especially given the distances we're talking about and time frame. Remember as well the type of pilots most renter pilots fall into - our margins aren't as low as one could expect out of commercial working pilots, nor is their own ability to judge the weather, especially given that some may be travelling additionally to unfamiliar territory.

Bottom line - while as the person renting out airplanes I'm always having the weather affecting some of my income and take that into account, I'm simply not willing to make that a near 100% chance that I'm going to suffer a loss on the transaction. Keep in mind that in terms of a chance of a problem with the flight that I might have to lose revenue on we've only considered the weather problem - I could get out of hand if I went into the other probabilities that renter pilots often get up to.

The harsh fact of life here of course is that operators make little or no money from aircraft rental.

Personally I have to disagree with Michael on this one, though it does depend on the operation. When the airplanes are flying here, they're making money. It is preferable that they do a certain ammount of "added value flying" if mainly because the instructors need work too. One could make a go of it, simply renting airplanes if you have the right location and source of customers - I won't delve too much into how the school and the rentals feed off of one another to increase business in general, that's another topic. In the end managin airplane rentals is all about managing risk vs reward. Multi day rentals in most cases present too much risk vs too little reward.

[Shiny Side Up]

So the reality is that if you want real freedom to go places either buy your own aeroplane or join a group.

In reality, this hits right on the head and realistically if you're renting an airplane for multiple days your're treading into the area where it becomes more cost effective to own, much like anything else you might be renting. I should mention that those who usually can't afford to own also usually can't afford to fly very often and since they fly so infrequently are usually the last people in the world you want taking care of your airplane for any length of time. I don't know how many times I've gotten this request: "I haven't flown for a year so I want to get checked out quick and soon as I'm done the check out can I book the airplane for five days, I was thinking about doing a business trip three provinces away and we have to be there the next day, but back the day after that...." Recipe for disaster.

On one hand while I would love to encourage more people doing more ambitious flying, a majority of those who fall into the airplane renting category simply don't display the personal responsibility to be up to the task.