Leaseback Program

Owning a leaseback airplane is a great way to fly for free. You purchase the plane (with our assistance if you’d like see “Aircraft Purchase Assistance” services below)*, you pay for all costs of operation; we rent the airplane to our students and renters, coordinate the maintenance with Bill’s Air Center, and we write you a check for each month’s “net rental fees” (net of operating costs).

The operation costs netted out of monthly aircraft owner payments include fuel, oil, our hourly management fee, aircraft cleaning, tie-down (parking) fees, and aircraft liability insurance. Aircraft maintenance performed by Bill’s Air Center (the maintenance shop that we work with and have an excellent relationship with) is paid directly to them.

The most popular leaseback aircraft on our flight line, and therefore the most rented and successful aircraft from an owner’s perspective, is the Cessna Skyhawk 172S/172SP. Either the analog gauge or G1000 (with WAAS).

Individuals interested in leasing back an aircraft to the flight school should review the ownership information packet of documents via the link below, then fill out the contact form to schedule an hour with the General Manager, Nitasha Chand. The ownership packet includes the following:

  • Our Leaseback Ownership Information Sheet
  • Our Aircraft Leaseback Agreement
  • C172 Estimated Operating Costs
  • a Sample Owner Statement (an example of an actual statement for one of our aircraft)

* Aircraft Purchase Assistance:
Purchasing an airplane can be complex and daunting. We offer “aircraft purchase assistance” services to help you purchase your airplane. Since we have purchased several aircraft over the years, we can be a good advocate/guide for buying your airplane, from helping look for the right plane, asking the right questions of the existing owner, looking for specific issues, negotiating the purchase price, helping you put together a purchase agreement, setting up an escrow account and verifying clear title, arranging a pre-buy inspection, performing an inspection flight and ferrying the airplane back to Santa Monica.

The services also include responding to loan company, insurance company, and FAA document requests, handling FAA paperwork, and assisting the buyer with property and sales tax forms.

These tasks may sound overwhelming, but by engaging our Aircraft Purchase Assistance Services, we walk you through everything. The link above also contains our “Aircraft Purchase Assistance Agreement,” which spells out the terms of those services.

Reach out to us to discuss more details about the leaseback program