Operating Procedures — North Jersey Flying Club, Inc.

How to fly Club aircraft: what you need before your first flight, how to book one, what to do on the day, and what to do when something is not right.

These procedures are binding on all members. The Board adopts and amends them (Bylaws §12.2); where they and the Bylaws conflict, the Bylaws control. The Bylaws are the governing agreement — this document does not repeat them, so for membership, money, and governance, read them there.

1. What you need to fly

To act as pilot in command of a Club aircraft you must be a member in good standing, checked out in that make and model (§2), and current under §3. You also need:

1.1 Ratings and endorsements appropriate to the aircraft and the flight — an instrument rating to file IFR, and a high-performance or complex endorsement in an aircraft that requires one.

1.2 A current FAA medical or BasicMed.

1.3 A current flight review (FAR 61.56). The Club’s insurance does not cover a flight flown without one.

1.4 Experience. These minimums apply to every Club aircraft unless §1.5 sets a higher figure for a specific one.

1.5 By aircraft. N8528C (PA-28-151 Warrior) carries no requirement beyond §1.4. Higher figures for a more capable aircraft are added here when the Club acquires one.

1.6 To fly IFR you also need an instrument rating, instrument currency under FAR 61.57(c), and 10 hours in that make and model.

1.7 Records. Tracking your own certificate, medical, flight review, and currency is your responsibility. Give the Club a current copy of each — the Club’s insurance requires it to hold proof for every pilot who flies its aircraft, and you may not fly without it on file.

1.8 Age. The Club’s insurance does not cover pilots over 78, so a member over that age may not act as pilot in command. This limit is the insurer’s and changes if the policy changes.

2. Your checkout

2.1 Before you fly as pilot in command, you complete a checkout covering the aircraft’s systems and limitations, Club procedures, ground handling and fueling, normal, abnormal and emergency procedures, and enough flying to show you can handle the airplane. The Club then adds you to the scheduling system.

2.2 A separate checkout is required for each make and model in the fleet.

2.3 To fly at night, you must also have a night-time checkout.

2.4 You choose your instructor from those approved for checkouts (§11). The Club sets the standard the checkout must meet; it does not assign or pay your instructor.

3. Staying current and proficient

3.1 Being legally current is the floor, not the goal. To keep scheduling privileges you need, in each make and model you fly:

• 2 hours of pilot-in-command time in Club aircraft within the preceding 90 days, or a flight with a Club-approved CFI; and
• one flight with a Club-approved CFI every 12 months.

3.2 If you fall below either, a short proficiency flight with a Club-approved CFI restores your scheduling privileges once it is logged.

3.3 Keeping track of where you stand is your responsibility. Log your flights in the scheduling system and send the Club proof of any proficiency or recurrent flight, so the Club can show its insurer that every pilot meets these requirements.

4. Booking an airplane

4.1 The system. Reservations are made in the Club’s online scheduling system, which is equally accessible to every member. No member gets scheduling preference.

4.2 Reservation points. Each member holds four reservation points:

Points return when a reservation is completed or cancelled, so the limit is on how much you hold at once, not on how much you fly. There is no limit on how far ahead you may book. The Board may adjust these limits as the fleet grows.

4.3 Book what you will use. A no-show reservation expires 30 minutes after its start and the aircraft becomes available. Cancel as early as you can — it frees the airplane for someone else and your points sooner.

4.4 Longer trips. Multi-day and cross-country trips are welcome, up to 12 days. There is no daily minimum: you pay for the tach time you fly, not for the days the airplane is away.

No reservation, and no series of contiguous reservations, may occupy parts of two weekends without Board approval.

4.5 Fair use. The Board may limit a member who monopolizes an aircraft, so that access stays fair.

4.6 While the Club has one aircraft, no reservation may exceed three days without the prior approval of two directors. This Section is revised or removed once the Club has more than one aircraft.

5. Fuel

5.1 Do not top it off when you return. Bring it back with no more than 30 gallons total — 15 a side. A full airplane costs the next member useful load they may need, and they cannot take fuel out. Leaving it low lets each pilot fuel for their own weight and balance.

Fuelling before your flight is therefore your job, not the previous pilot’s. If you are on your way to the airport and know what you need, call ahead and have it fuelled.

5.2 Away from base. When you buy fuel away from base, the Club reimburses it up to the home-base price for the month of the flight, so you are not paying twice for fuel already covered by the wet rate. Anything above that price is yours.

Reimbursement is a credit on your bill. Send the receipt to the Treasurer within five days of the flight, and no later than the first day of the following month.

5.3 Fuel type. Use only the correct approved grade. Report any misfueling immediately and ground the aircraft.

6. Passengers

6.1 You may carry passengers consistent with the FARs and the Club’s insurance. A passenger may not act as pilot in command.

6.2 No flight may be flown for hire or compensation.

6.3 You carry the risk you bring aboard. A claim by one of your passengers is yours to indemnify the Club against — see the Liability Release §4 and Membership Agreement §6, both of which you sign. The Club’s liability coverage carries a per-passenger limit, and anything above it is not covered.

6.4 Brief your passengers. Before you carry anyone, tell them that this is a small aircraft flown by a private pilot for recreation, that the risks are real and cannot be eliminated, and that they are choosing to fly.

7. Using the aircraft

7.1 Airworthiness is yours to determine. Before every flight, review the squawks, required inspections and documents, and preflight the airplane thoroughly. If you are in doubt, do not fly, and report it to the President or the Maintenance Officer (§8).

7.2 Prohibited operations. A Club aircraft may not be used for aerobatics or for towing, and may not be landed on an unimproved, soft-field, or off-airport surface, unless the pilot in command determines that such a landing is necessary in an emergency.

7.3 The engine. Lean per the POH, on the ground and in the air. Warm the engine before the run-up, avoid large or abrupt power changes, and let it idle to cool before shutdown. Use the POH’s hot-start procedure rather than cranking a hot engine repeatedly.

7.4 On the ground. Taxi at a walking pace, hold the yoke for the wind, steer with the rudder, and use the brakes sparingly. Run up on pavement clear of loose stone, with nothing behind you to catch the propeller blast.

7.5 Dispatch. Record the tach time, the Hobbs time, and the number of landings.

7.6 Putting it away. Tie it down, install the control locks, and fit the Warrior’s cover and strap it down. Return the keys to the storage box and make sure the storage box is shut and locked.

Take out all rubbish and clean up any mess you made. Leave the fuel per §5, the times recorded, and any squawk reported.

8. Squawks, grounding, and maintenance

8.1 Report squawks immediately in the scheduling and maintenance system, and tell the President or the Maintenance Officer about anything affecting airworthiness. Reporting a squawk is never held against the member who reports it.

8.2 Grounding. Any member who believes an aircraft is unairworthy shall ground it: mark it grounded in the system, placard it or leave a visible note to the next pilot saying what you found, and notify the President or the Maintenance Officer and the members affected. Only the Maintenance Officer or the Board returns an aircraft to service.

8.3 Repairs are arranged by the Club. Maintenance must be pre-approved by the Maintenance Officer or the Board. A qualified member may perform owner-permitted preventive maintenance (FAR Part 43, Appendix A) only if a Board member or the Maintenance Officer approves it in advance and it is properly logged.

8.4 Unreported damage is presumed caused by the last member to fly the aircraft. Report any incident, hard landing, or abnormal event promptly, whether or not you can see damage.

8.5 No insurance, no flying. An aircraft stays on the ground whenever its insurance is not in force — cancelled, lapsed, or not yet bound. You will hear from the Board as soon as that happens.

9. Accidents and incidents

9.1 Report immediately to the Board, and to the Safety Officer if one is appointed. Handle FAA and NTSB requirements as they apply.

9.2 Cooperate with the Club, its insurer, and the authorities in any investigation.

9.3 What it costs you. Financial responsibility for damage — and your right to a hearing before anything is assessed — is set by Bylaws §9.4. Members are strongly encouraged to carry non-owned aircraft insurance including hull-deductible reimbursement, which covers that exposure and is usually inexpensive.

10. Billing and payment

10.1 One bill a month, calculated by the 5th. It combines two things that point in opposite directions: your dues for the month you are in, and your flying from the month that just ended. The bill you get by July 5 covers July’s dues and the hours you flew in June.

10.2 Dues are billed whether or not you fly. Aircraft time is billed on wet tach time, which already includes fuel.

10.3 Payment is due by the 20th, by bank debit. Late payment is handled under Bylaws §11.3.

10.4 Your first month is prorated. Dues for the month you are admitted are charged from your admission date to the end of that month. Join on 16 September and you pay 15 days of a 30-day month — half that month’s dues. The prorated amount is due with your buy-in.

11. Flight instruction

11.1 The Club maintains a list of approved instructors. You may fly with any instructor you like, as long as they are on it.

11.2 Not every approved instructor may do checkouts. Some are approved for checkout flights, and the list says which; the rest may give ordinary instruction — an instrument or commercial rating, say — but not your checkout.

11.3 An instructor must be covered by the Club’s insurance, or carry their own flight instructor liability insurance in an amount the Board has approved. A CFI who is not on the list yet can complete a Club checkout to be added; contact the President or Treasurer.

11.4 You pay your instructor directly, on every flight — your checkout, a proficiency flight, and any flight the Club asks you to complete. The Club is not part of that arrangement, and does not recommend or assign instructors.

12. At the airport

12.1 Comply with all airport rules and FAA Order 5190.6B, and keep good relationships with airport management, the FBO and flight school, and the neighbors. The Club’s own hold-out restrictions are in Bylaws §2.1.

13. Changes to these procedures

13.1 The Board may amend these procedures by majority vote, consistent with the Bylaws, with notice to members.