There are many advantages to joining a flying club such as TSS!

The TSS flying club advances the interest in general aviation by offering its members a fun and rewarding environment to its members. The club currently has 5 quality, modern light aircraft to support its members interests. We routinely conduct a wide range of stimulating membership activities and benefits designed to maximize the enjoyment of flying!

The TSS Flying Club is more than just a place to rent a plane. There are get-togethers, banquets, plane washes and BBQs, and various “fly-in” trips. It’s also a place where people with an interest in flying can get together and share flying stories, also commonly known as “hangar flying”. But of course, the real fun is participating in actual flying activities! In addition to individual flying, the TSS Flying Club has group activities such as our recent, very successful club trip along the Hudson River by way of New York City.

The club’s members span a wide spectrum of ages (from teens on up), occupations, interests, backgrounds, and flying experience - student, private, instrument, commercial, ATP (airline transport pilot), and flight instructors; from 1 hour of flight time to tens of thousands. There’s more to the club than just a place to add flight hours to your logbook.

We’re committed to keeping flying affordable! The TSS Flying Club operates on a non-profit basis, so our rates are based on the true cost of flying and maintaining our fleet. The costs are recalculated frequently to make sure they are reflecting current fuel and maintenance costs and trends. Our rates are lower than those of a typical FBO, because a club’s overhead is significantly less and we have no profit motive. Also, TSS rates are based on “tach time” versus “hobbs time” which equates to a lower cost per hour, especially where there are a lot of low power operations (such as extended taxi operations). Most FBOs charge by the more expensive hobbs rate method. We encourage prospective members to compare hourly rates and terms between TSS Flying Club and the local FBO.

As a member of the club, you are covered by the club’s insurance policy. This can save you hundreds of dollars a year compared to buying renter’s insurance. Our insurance policy provides $1,000,000.00 Property Damage Coverage, $100,000.00 Bodily Injury per Passenger and Hull Coverage at full value. All TSS Flying Club members are individually included under the club insurance policy. FBOs policy usually only covers the FBO, and NOT the renter. Therefore, if the FBOs insurance company decides that you, the renter, is at fault, they have the option of pursing legal action against you personally to recover costs associated with an accident. This is often referred to as subrogation. Further insight to this topic is available on the AOPA website.

All aircraft are fully equipped with communication and navigation equipment and are IFR-certified for instrument conditions. The club puts a priority on maintenance and all “squawks” (reported problems) are addressed immediately by the volunteer maintenance coordinators for each aircraft. The planes, since they’re owned by the members, are usually maintained better and handled with a bit more care. As a pilot, you are allowed to fly any aircraft that you meet the club, insurance company, and FAA requirements to fly.

There are several certified flight instructors who are active in the TSS Flying Club. Club members coordinate directly with the club flight instructors to arrange for individual flight instruction. While the club does not have a formal flight school, our members are usually able to achieve their personal flying instruction goals through the services offered by the club instructors. Prospective members who are not pilots, but are interested in learning to fly, are most welcome!

The club allows you to take the aircraft away for overnights, summer weekends and longer trips. We have much fewer restrictions and “minimums” than a FBO typically requires. The minimum time slot for reserving a TSS aircraft is one hour. Most FBOs have much higher minimums, especially for overnight trips. The result is more flexibility, more flying fun, at a lower cost!

We attempt to keep the ratio of planes to pilots at between 1:10 and 1:15. Over the years, this has been shown to be the best compromise to keep prices down, utilization high, and member satisfaction high.

You can schedule aircraft 24-hours a day, 7 days a week using any standard Web browser and your existing Internet connection or via a touch-tone phone.