Plane broke down. Who covers expenses?
- Thread starter subpilot
- Start date
DE727UPS
Well-Known Member
You're the one that rented the car and left for personal reasons. If I was the owner, I'd give you hotel room up until the plane was fixed. (And that might be generous based on the rental agreement). Then, I'd expect to have my airplane returned to me. That's it. That's what I think....
subpilot
Squawking 7600
In this scenario, the renter called the flight school and the flight school paid for the hotel room and rental car. This is not an issue of a renter doing all this on his/her own prerogative. The question came up when someone strongly disagreed with the schools decision and insisted it is the renters problem the plane left him stranded.
SurferLucas
Southern Gentleman
Had this happen to me one night, same exact scenario. Rented 172SP from Air Orlando, flew down to TPA...went to leave around 10.30-10.45 and had a mag drop of 500rpm's and wouldn't burn off. Called the name on the contact sheet (owner of Air Orlando). He offered to pick up the hotel and send a 172 down the next morning for us to fly back and they'd fix the broke plane.
Air Orlando def did right by me.
Air Orlando def did right by me.
thevideographer
Well-Known Member
It varies by company. I had one rental agreement that said if anything goes wrong, eff you and you better bring our plane back. Another agreement said that the company would arrange transportation for you to get back even if it meant they had to send a plane to come get you, and pay lodging if necessary. One more reason to start standardizing aircraft rental.
z987k
Well-Known Member
You should have never told anyone you went to law school
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
It's hard to hide at a point. I either went to school or I've been homeless for the last few years ya know?
njboeingfan
Well-Known Member
I had this happen during my instrument training. CFII and I were flying 400 miles and landed about 10pm. We were gping to fuel up and tirn around but the plane wouldnt start.
The school said they will send a mechanic down in the am and to not fit it there. We stay the night at a hotel and return to the airport in the morning. My CFI tried to hand prop it again but no luck.
School sends a cfi and a mechanic (turns out he was a car mechanic) down and it fires right up when he tried the key. Turns out it was a bad connection on the starter.
School semds me a bill for the plane, cfi and mechanic. I called the owner and said over my dead body will I pay the bill. There was no rental agreement and I did not agree to having them send a plane, pilot and mechanic to fix her plane.
It wasnt until I had my firm send her a letter that they backed off. From what i gather, this was SOP. I finished my training at another school
The school said they will send a mechanic down in the am and to not fit it there. We stay the night at a hotel and return to the airport in the morning. My CFI tried to hand prop it again but no luck.
School sends a cfi and a mechanic (turns out he was a car mechanic) down and it fires right up when he tried the key. Turns out it was a bad connection on the starter.
School semds me a bill for the plane, cfi and mechanic. I called the owner and said over my dead body will I pay the bill. There was no rental agreement and I did not agree to having them send a plane, pilot and mechanic to fix her plane.
It wasnt until I had my firm send her a letter that they backed off. From what i gather, this was SOP. I finished my training at another school
njboeingfan
Well-Known Member
Come on train, all lawyers know it's have the breakdowm first, get divorced and then become homeless.
Pilot Fighter
Well-Known Member
As a renter, I'm going to determine the policy BEFORE I fly and base my decision-making on the policy and my needs. What's fair? That's a matter of opinion. I think covering a rental car is fair and probably my minimum threshold for renting. Covering a hotel is nice but not a deal-breaker.
rframe
pǝʇɹǝʌuı
Without a written agreement...??? You're giving the judge/arbitrator little to work with so whatever their particular inclination is what you'll have to live with.
Implied warranty laws might vary by state, but in general implied warranty for merchantability would say the airplane needs to fly. A lessor couldn't rent you an non-airworthy airplane. Implied warranty for a particular purpose would mean the airplane is suitable for a particular use. If you went to an FBO and stated "I would like to rent your Skyhawk for a 2-week trip around the west coast to get to critical business meetings in different locations every day"... then you've made them aware of your intended purpose and if they agree to rent to you with no other conditions, it may be interpreted that they are providing an "implied warranty for a particular purpose" and may be liable if their aircraft cannot deliver in that role.
Now, what damages are appropriate? It might be ruled that you shouldnt' have to pay a minimum daily rental fee for those days when the aircraft is down. Or, it might be ruled that you should also receive compensation for expenses you incurred during that outage. I think the extent of damages would largely depend on the attitude of the judge and any related cases in the past.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, just my understanding of basic commercial contracts
drunkenbeagle
Gang Member
No one has ever tried to charge me a minimum rental per day when an aircraft was down for a maintenance reason. There are some places where it wouldn't surprise me if they tried.
Rental aircraft are about the only thing I can think of where you pay hundreds of dollars, something breaks/possibly kills you, and you are still expected to pay for it. The places I've rented planes from around here have been pretty good at flying a mechanic out/authorizing repair. Cost of doing business, and at the end of the day, happy customers tend to spend more.
Autothrust Blue
"Well, on the Brasilia..."
ha, ha, ha!
Rocketman99
Frozen Guppy Manipulator
It's always on the renter. Always has been anywhere I've ever been. I'm surprised to hear of places that will cover a hotel or rental car as I've never heard of that before. I'm absolutely astounded people actually expect that to be provided to them!
SpiraMirabilis
Possible Subversive
Does the renter pay if they flat spot a tire?
Fly_Unity
Well-Known Member
So our company did 800 NM charter in a Cessna 340 (5 passengers so it required a fuel stop). Just 1 hour after takeoff, pilot had a mechanical irregularity and the pilot landed at the closest airport. I dispatched a king air and after a two hour wait for the passengers we pick them up and continue the trip (no fuel stop required in the king air).
We send them a bill for the original quote (Cessna 340 price) and passenger refuses to pay for it saying that he had to wait two hours at an fbo and arrived two hour late to his destination. I knocked off a couple grand off the price, and he agreed to pay it. ( we lost over ten grand that day). What's the standard procedure for this kind of situation?
We send them a bill for the original quote (Cessna 340 price) and passenger refuses to pay for it saying that he had to wait two hours at an fbo and arrived two hour late to his destination. I knocked off a couple grand off the price, and he agreed to pay it. ( we lost over ten grand that day). What's the standard procedure for this kind of situation?
