Requirements:
Required monthly meetings for officers. The members will be invited. Required yearly meeting for all members to elect officers for the corporation.
The Board of Directors will consist of the following officers:
The president should be respected by the members and trusted to run the club smoothly and efficiently. The president should be able to resolve minor disputes without having to consult the Board of Directors or the entire membership. The principle duty of the president is to oversee and coordinate the work of the other club officers, making sure they are performing their jobs accurately and on time.
Vice President / Maintenance Officer
The vice-president's main responsibility is to perform the functions of a maintenance officer. He or she is in charge of making sure the club's plane(s) are in good working condition. This person should know the aircraft inside and out and is familiar with the aircraft maintenance procedures. The job of the maintenance officer includes getting the aircraft to the repair shop for both regular and unscheduled maintenance and inspections. This should be done with a minimum amount of down time. The maintenance officer is also responsible for keeping the engine and airframe log books. He or she is responsible for collecting squawk sheets and discrepancy reports from the members immediately after they fly.
As vice-president, he or she will need to also be familiar with what the president does in order to take over in case of the president's absence.
Treasurer
The treasurer is in charge of keeping the Board of Directors and members fully aware of the corporation's financial condition. No money should pass into or out of the bank account without the knowledge of the treasurer. The treasurer has the responsibility for billing members, signing all check (with a co-signer), sending financial statements to all members, and paying all the bills. The treasurer should be authorized to meet all monthly obligations such as hangar fees, aircraft payments, and insurance premiums without having to get the corporation's approval when each comes due. The treasurer's job is one where prior financial experience is almost mandatory. Also, the treasurer must provide monthly reports to the members detailing the club's expenses, income, and the current balance of the teasury. He or she is also in charge of doing a quarterly asset review to determine the value of the corporation's stock.
Click here for the most recent budget [20 November 1998]. Please remember that the calculations you see in this budget are samples and should not be regarded as how we definitely operate. Membership and financial values may change without notice.
Secretary / Schedule Officer
The secretary is responsible for most of the corporation's communications and paperwork. This includes accurate records of all club correspondence, minutes of meetings, notification to members of meetings or special events, membership alerts when the aircraft is out of service, maintenance of the web page, and, if necessary, helping the other officers with their record keeping. Being the secretary is not a grueling job, but it requires organizational ability and a talent of keeping track of several unrelated items at the same time.
The other responsibility is scheduling. The schedule officer is in charge of posting the aircraft schedule where members have easy access to it, scheduling flights and rescheduling them as members change their minds or swap times and dates, notifying members of any schedule changes due to unexpected events (such as unscheduled maintenance), notifying the president when members abuse the schedule, and getting maximum utilization out of the aircraft by keeping the schedule full. Aside from all this, the schedule officer is in charge of creating the scheduling policy which outlines how scheduling operates. This policy must be approved by the Board of Directors.
Programming & Safety Officer
As a safety officer, this person will play a key role in maintaining the club's health, both physically and financially. Physically, the safety officer should keep members advised on proper flight procedures, encourage flying proficiency, notify members of changes in the FARs that may affect them, and help the club establish criteria for aircraft check-outs, recurrent training and time in aircraft type. Financially, a safety program incorporated in the club's bylaws will not only encourage competent, accident-free flying, but can also be useful in demonstrating the club's eligibility in obtaining the lowest possible insurance premiums.
As a programming officer, this person is in charge of the academic portion
of the club. This officer will coordinate with the CFIs and CFIIs
to prepare a curriculum to be taught each year. This curriculum should
not only offer the basics, but also allow more experienced pilots to learn
and grow. At a minimum, basic ground school should be taught at least
once per year. The programming officer is in charge of making sure
that the instructors teach a certain curriculum while at the same time
allowing the instructors leeway in the methods they use to teach.
Students should be able to go from instructor to instructor with little
or no difference in the curriculum.
INSTRUCTION
Certified Flight Instructors
All in-flight training will be conducted with a CFI that has been approved by the Board of Directors. For private pilot and instrument rating instruction, every CFI and CFII must conform to the curriculum set by the club's programming officer. However, the method of teaching this material is left up to the discretion on the instructor. For any additional training where curriculum has not been set, then the instructors may teach whatever they would like.
Individuals must apply to the executive committee for a position as a CFI and/or CFII. The Board of Directors will decide who may be one. Once approved, the instructor will go into a pool maintained by the secretary. Club members must be instructed by an instructor from this pool.
The instructors set their own price rates. These rates will be maintained by the Secretary and all members may have access to these prices. Students are responsible for paying the instructors, and instructors may refuse to instruct individuals for various reasons (delinquent payments, personality conflicts, etc.).
COSTS
One of the main purposes of Hulman Field Aviators is to allows its members to fly as inexpensively as possible. However, in order to maintain the plane, funds must be raised and the bills must be paid. The costs can be divided up into 3 different categories: 1) capitalization, 2) fixed, and 3) operating. To keep cash flowing to cover these costs, it is important that all club members pay their bills on time. Allowing just one or two members to put off paying annual dues, monthly fees, or flying expenses can seriously hurt the club.
Capitalization
The capitalization costs are finite in nature but are an important part of starting a flying club. They usually require a substantial outlay in cash and/or the assumption of a loan. They consist of the purchase price (including licenses, registration, reconditioning, "base" reserves, etc.) of an aircraft if it is purchased outright, or the down payment and monthly principal payments if it is financed.
Capitalization will be covered mostly by a stock system. Please see the section on "Stock" for more details.
Fixed Costs
Fixed costs are the costs that must be paid regularly whether or not the club's aircraft ever flies. They are a basic part of owning an airplane and the fundamental reason for operating the club. These fixed costs become the "shared costs" of club flying and if split among enough members, can substantially reduce the price of a member's total flying cost. Typical fixed costs include the following:
If a member does not pay his or her dues on time, he or she is not in good standing. They are not allowed to fly in the club aircraft(s) until they have paid their bill (and any late fees associated with it). If a member leaves for more that three months, he or she is only obligated the pay for 3 months of back monthly dues. For example, if a member does not pay dues for 2 months, then in order to fly again, the member must pay the current months dues plus the two month's dues that he or she missed. However, if the same person missed 6 months of dues, they would only have to pay the current month's dues plus 3 months worth of back dues.
While the club is still financing the aircraft, a capitalization fee may be assessed to each member of the club. This fee will only be used to pay off the capitalization costs and must not be used to cover fixed costs; the dues are to cover the fixed costs.
Operating Costs
The operating costs will be covered completely by the hourly rate charged to use the aircraft. At the same time, the money collected to fly the plane will not be used to pay for capitalization. Operating costs are based on the costs of flying the aircraft., including gas, oil, reserves for overhaul, etc. The operating costs are not dependent on the number of hours the aircraft is flown and will not vary except for increases in the cost of fuel, oil, and limited number of other variables. Included the operating costs will be:
The capital for the corporation will be primarily financed by the sale of shares in the corporation's capital assets. Even though this sounds like stock, technically it isn't. The key difference is that shareholders do not actually own a tradable piece of property. Share holders cannot sell their shares of stock to other people. Instead, all transactions of shares must go through the corporation. Since part of the membership requirement is that you must own at least one share of stock, this allows the corporation to control who can be a member. Otherwise, any share holder could sell their stock to somebody else, and then that new person is now a part of the flying club.
The technical issues behind the stock will be covered more in depth in the treasurer's policy, but an overview is contained in this section.
Initial Stock
To accumulate enough money to purchase capital equipment (plane and accessories), stock will be sold. The treasurer will set the share price, and there will be a variable number of shares (with a maximum set by the treasurer). As people buy these shares, they now own a percentage of the capital assets of the corporation. For example, if $19,000 worth of stock is sold at $100 per share, then there are 190 shares that have been issued. If the corporation sold all of its assets, and no new shares were issued, and the selling value was $21,000, then each share would be paid $21,000 / 190 shares or $110.53 per share. So, you can see that purchasing stock in the corporation is a true capital investment.
Additional Stock
However, additional shares of stock may be issued quarterly after a capital assesment has been done. The value of these additional shares is equal to the current value of the stock (not the initial value of $100). So, if someone wanted to buy stock with the total value of the corporation's capital was $21,000 (see example above), then each new share would be issued at a price of $110.53.
Corporation Generated Stock
As the corporation accumulates capital from monthly dues, hourly flying rates, and other fees, the treasurer and the board of directors will decide how much of this capital appreciation will go to capital gains and how much will be paid as dividends. The dividends can be paid either in cash or as reinvested shares. These reinvested shares are generated by the corporation and devalue the rest of the stock (because more shares are introduced). That is why there must be some balance between capital gains and these dividends. The large share holders will prefer the capital gains because a small gain in the share price means a large gain in their stock value. However, smaller share holders will prefer the dividends because they can accumulate more stock this way. The exact policy on this will be set by the treasurer.
Liquidation
The stock can be held as long as the corporation is still operational. If the corporation ever dissolves, then all shareholders will be paid their share of the corporation's total assets. However, if the corporation simply liquidates some of its assets, it is up to the treasurer and the board of directors to determine how much of the liquid assets will be paid as dividends (thus reducing the stock's capital value) and how much of it will remain as simply liquid assets for the flying club to use. This applies, for example, to a point in time where the corporation decides to sell an aircraft in order to buy a new one. However, they don't buy the new one immediately, so the liquid assets remain for a period of time. Rather than distributing these assets like you would if the corporation were dissolving, the assets are simply held until they are needed.
Transfer of Shares
All transfers of shares must go through the corporation. The corporation reserves the right to decide whether it will purchase back shares or not. Typically, the corporation will not buy back shares unless:
Ownership of Capital
By owning stock, a share holder is entitled to certain percentage of the capital of the corporation, but is not entitled to any specific rights to the capital. All capital assets are owned by the corporation and not the share holders. This means that a person who owns 51% of the stock is not entitled legal ownership of all of the assets. One share holder could even own 99% of the stock, but the corporation still owns all of the capital.
Benefits
Besides the possibility that the capital will appreciate, other benefits are given to stock holders. The specifics of the benefits will be determined by the treasurer, but can include reduced monthly dues, reduced hourly rates, and other financial benefits. The benefits will not be so large as to cause the corporation to lose money overall, but must be an incentive for members to invest more in the club up front.