How Much Should Flying Club Dues Be?

Dues are the most argued-about number in club aviation, and the argument is usually conducted entirely without arithmetic. Here's the arithmetic.

1. The principle: dues cover what exists, rates cover what flies

Hangar, insurance, subscriptions, and the annual exist whether anyone flies - so they belong to dues, split across members. Fuel, oil, and engine reserves are consumed by the hour - so they belong in the hourly rate, paid by the members who fly. Clubs that shovel fixed costs into the hourly rate punish their active members and go insolvent on their inactive ones; clubs that underprice dues subsidize everyone out of the reserve fund until the engine bill arrives.

2. The formula

Monthly dues = (total monthly fixed costs / member count) + margin. The margin isn't greed - it's the cushion for the year the annual finds a cracked cylinder, and boards that price without it are simply deferring a special assessment.

A worked example: a two-aircraft club with $5,200 in monthly fixed costs and 24 members needs $217 per member just to break even on fixed costs before any margin. If dues are $150, the missing $67 per member per month is coming from somewhere - usually the reserve fund, silently. If the flying rate carries surplus, that can legitimately close part of the gap, but the board should be closing it on purpose, not by accident.

3. The capacity number that governs everything

Members-per-aircraft is the other dial: the practical band is 8 to 12 per airplane. Below 8, fixed cost per member runs high and dues feel expensive. Above 12, dues get cheap but Saturday mornings become a lottery and members quit over availability instead. Dues, member count, and fleet size have to be solved together - which is why this is an annual board exercise, not a founding-day constant.

• Recompute the formula annually and whenever insurance or hangar rates move.
• Publish the math to members - dues arguments dissolve when the arithmetic is visible.
• Keep reserve accruals in the hourly rate, never in dues, so wear is funded by usage.
• Decide the surplus policy explicitly: cushion target first, then rate relief.