Malfunction in rental

PGT

PGT

Well-Known Member
Let's say you rent an airplane from an FBO, take off, and notice something wrong so you come back, do you pay for it?


Tonight I was going to go up to log some landings and go out to the practice area because my SE currency is running out. Well the gear wouldn't come up so I came back and put it back in the hangar, .5 hobbs on the airplane.
 
Probably depends on the FBO, but I would hope not. That seems like a lot of time to take off, realize the gear doesn't come up, then return for landing. Did you spend extra time troubleshooting it?
 
You logged a landing and .5, I'd pay for it.

If you never got off the ground, I'd complain about the .2 or whatever it took.
 
I personally know the FBO I was working before would not charge.... Assuming that it is winter and you had to get the plane warm the flight was pointless and thus you did not even get your intentions of the flight accomplished.... In addition its an MX problem of the gear, by the time you run a checklist and land you barely even flew the plane.....
 
I had this happen a couple of times while renting. Both times the flights were .4 and I didn't have to pay.
 
When I was still a CFI and renting out airplanes at our school, if we had any sort of mx issue and the airplane was returned within a "reasonable" amount of time (less than an hour) and the person had not completed the intention of their flight, we'd more than likely refund their money.

Each situation is different and handled as such.

We had a renter say the stall warning horn on our Seminole would go off for about 5 second every 30 mins or so...so instead of returning the plane, he pulled the circuit breaker, completed the flight and then wanted a refund..he didn't get a refund for that!
 
Clocks said:
You logged a landing and .5, I'd pay for it.

If you never got off the ground, I'd complain about the .2 or whatever it took.
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FWIW that is how my college ran. If you found a problem before departure it went on as maintenance. If you got off the ground, your logging flight hours and your getting what you paid for. If something screws up after that you still log the flight hours, but you still pay for them.

Sure you can log the .2 taxiing as well, I am not saying it makes sense, but it is what they did. My opinion was that it was fair.
 
PGT said:
Let's say you rent an airplane from an FBO, take off, and notice something wrong so you come back, do you pay for it?


Tonight I was going to go up to log some landings and go out to the practice area because my SE currency is running out. Well the gear wouldn't come up so I came back and put it back in the hangar, .5 hobbs on the airplane.
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If I had to come back to the field for an emergency or otherwise, I'm not paying for it. If you went out, and trouble shot the gear, you essentially did them a favor. Its up to you, but I'd talk to them about it, I probably wouldn't pay for that.
 
Clocks said:
You logged a landing and .5, I'd pay for it.

If you never got off the ground, I'd complain about the .2 or whatever it took.
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yes and no. I don't think his intention that day was to have a malfunction of the gear, and cut his flight short. At the school I worked at, we wouldn't have charged. He didn't get to do anything he wanted to. If he did in fact have a more serious issue, and he spent an extra .3 or so troubleshooting, would you expect to pay for the flight all because you logged a landing? If it's truly a mechanical issue and the pilot returned the aircraft right away, I don't think they'd have to pay for it.

I remember we had a customer like SurferLucas described. Had an issue, did his whole flight and came back and didn't want to pay. I don't think so! haha
 
Mark815 said:
yes and no. I don't think his intention that day was to have a malfunction of the gear, and cut his flight short. At the school I worked at, we wouldn't have charged. He didn't get to do anything he wanted to. If he did in fact have a more serious issue, and he spent an extra .3 or so troubleshooting, would you expect to pay for the flight all because you logged a landing? If it's truly a mechanical issue and the pilot returned the aircraft right away, I don't think they'd have to pay for it.

I remember we had a customer like SurferLucas described. Had an issue, did his whole flight and came back and didn't want to pay. I don't think so! haha
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/shrug, I just said I'd pay for it.

If it's something you don't think should be charged, then the FBO's response to your complaint should give a good indication of how much they value your business.
 
What is the value of learning gained from troubleshooting a real gear problem?

Sometimes not completing the task at hand is a worthwhile learning opportunity in itself.

That beings said if I have a mtc issue I don't write my name in the book, I just enter it in as mtc and the dispatcher bills it as such.
 
I'd pay for the .5 you flew. I'd just ask it be charged at the non-RG aircraft rate (C-182 vs C-182RG, for example). Since due to the malfunction, you didn't get to use the RG portion.
 
Eh, you made it off the runway. I'd say they'd be justified in making you pay for it. If they wanted to throw you a bone and have you remain as a happy customer, they could knock a little off the price, say .1 or .2.

Now if you'd had to taxi back in before taking off, that you should not have to pay for. My opinion only, of course.
 
Definitely justified to be billed .5.

At our shop, if you run-up and come back, then you won't be charged. If you fly on it, then you are charged.
Not hard and fast, but it a general guide line for our school. If you take it around the patch once and land, that is also likely to not be billed.

.5 though is a lot of time.
 
Clocks said:
You logged a landing and .5, I'd pay for it.

If you never got off the ground, I'd complain about the .2 or whatever it took.
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This. Or at least that's how I'd play it.

I don't mind for paying for the services that I used. But, .2 for a taxi and run-up, only to return back to the ramp. . .they'll have to eat that cost considering the outcome could - potentially - be a plane down at the departure end and the school out 20-150k.
 
I can't even remember how many "free" .3 trips that I have in my book.

The most recent one was last month at SIU in my CFI course, after the 15 minute taxi to the runway (behind 5 brand new students, taxing at 3 mph and taking an hour to do a runup :banghead:) we did the run up and had a bad mag. It took 20 minutes to get back to the ramp (with all of the 10AM departures coming down the taxi way).

So there, .7 without leaving the ground. They werent going to charge me for it, and gave us another airplane. Basically, the same thing happened (with alternator problems this time) and I got another .5.

They wanted me to pay for half of the 1.2 taxi time that I got to log...that wasnt going to happen. After some discussion, it didnt.

If it is thier airplane, and it is broken or breaks, preventing you from doing something that you need to do, then I am not paying; and most places would not charge.
 
If you are paying for an airplane to be in a workable condition and you find out on takeoff the gear won't retract...don't pay end of story. I've had a school try to charge me for .2 on the hobbs with a faulty mag during run up, I politely told them I won't pay for a broken airplane. Worst case, walk out.
 
Roger said:
Eh, you made it off the runway. I'd say they'd be justified in making you pay for it. If they wanted to throw you a bone and have you remain as a happy customer, they could knock a little off the price, say .1 or .2.
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If they rented me an aircraft that is too dangerous to fly and I had to fly it in order to find that out, they're going to knock .5 of that .5 off the bill or they're never going see me again. What I log has no relevance to the issue.
 
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