UK version of OpenAirplane.com?
Discussion
I'm not a pilot but I am a tech guy and a while back I was talking to a pilot (PPL) friend of mine and had an idea of a sort of AirBNB for pilots (not Wingly). So anyone with a PPL could find planes to rent in a particular place/area.
Having done a few searches I see there is openairplane.com in the US which seems to be similar to what I was thinking of (though their website could certainly be improved), but there doesn't seem to be anything in the UK/Europe?
Would such an idea work over here? Would there be a demand for it?
Having done a few searches I see there is openairplane.com in the US which seems to be similar to what I was thinking of (though their website could certainly be improved), but there doesn't seem to be anything in the UK/Europe?
Would such an idea work over here? Would there be a demand for it?
I think the guy who started it featured on the Inspired Pilot Podcast.
The major hurdles he had to overcome were finding owners willing to rent out their aircraft, insurers willing to cover the pilots, and FBOs willing to carry out checkrides. He managed to make it work but the GA community in the US is huge compared with the UK.
The idea was that the person wishing to hire had to take a checkride/assessment at an approved school which then signed them off as competent on that type. The insurers would then cover them flying and aircraft of the same type belonging to someone else.
I believe he sold the idea to the schools on the grounds that they would get more business in the way of checkrides.
However, imagine if you wanted to rent a Corsa from, say Avis, you would need to have a driving test with them. And then the next time you wanted to rent an E-Class, you needed another driving test, maybe with them, or maybe someone else.
Does the OpenAirplane model offer anything that flying your local club's aircraft doesn't? After all, you would still need to be a member and have currency on that type?
The major hurdles he had to overcome were finding owners willing to rent out their aircraft, insurers willing to cover the pilots, and FBOs willing to carry out checkrides. He managed to make it work but the GA community in the US is huge compared with the UK.
The idea was that the person wishing to hire had to take a checkride/assessment at an approved school which then signed them off as competent on that type. The insurers would then cover them flying and aircraft of the same type belonging to someone else.
I believe he sold the idea to the schools on the grounds that they would get more business in the way of checkrides.
However, imagine if you wanted to rent a Corsa from, say Avis, you would need to have a driving test with them. And then the next time you wanted to rent an E-Class, you needed another driving test, maybe with them, or maybe someone else.
Does the OpenAirplane model offer anything that flying your local club's aircraft doesn't? After all, you would still need to be a member and have currency on that type?
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