Want to get a commercial pilot’s license? This might be for you

In a sport that requires a hefty amount of capital to break into, five young pilots, led by Patrick Liddell of Columbia Falls, have found a way to pursue their passion without breaking the bank.

Liddell, a 30-year-old pilot who works as flight instructor for Red Eagle Aviation, grew up flying with his father while being raised between the Flathead Valley and Arizona. By the time he left high school, Liddell had already logged 40 hours behind the controls of a single-engine aircraft to obtain his entry-level private pilot license.

But it wasn’t until Liddell began pursuing the next tier in flying certification, his commercial pilot license, that he truly started seeing the prohibitive cost of flight.

While working as a raft guide on the Middle Fork of the Flathead — on a sabbatical from using his Montana State University engineering degree — Liddell decided to revisit a career in flying and thus began chipping away at the 250 hours required for a commercial pilot certificate.

He began renting aircraft for the standard $100 per hour fee, occasionally wrangling several guiding buddies interested in splitting operating costs for a cruise over the mountains in 172 Cessna four-seater.

Yet for someone on a raft guide’s salary, the $100 per hour rental prices

greatly limited his air time, even with the intermittent pitching-in from buddies.

“It kind of turns into a lot of money, when you add two zeros on the end of that 250 flight hour requirement,” said Liddell.

After about three years of logging around 100 hours, Liddell was determined to find another way.

“To get another 150 hours would have been about eight more years,” said Liddell. “So I decided if I wanted to make much progress with it then I needed to go buy a cheap airplane.”

Having found a friend equally excited about the prospect of owning a plane and willing to make it a joint venture, Liddell was able to find a $16,000 150 Cessna two seater training plane. He was finally able to fly to his heart’s content for an $8,000 investment.

Eventually, his friend wanted to sell his half of the plane, by then, there was already at least four people wanting a share.

To deal with the demand he started a 501(c)(7), known as a “social club” that has a “limited and defined membership”where “members of these clubs pay dues to support the activities and the facilities, and the clubs might also charge additional usage fees, [but] it must be organized for pleasure, recreation, and other non-profitable purposes.”

The four other members bought a $4,000 share in the 501(c)(7), the “entity” that owns the airplane, and now pay dues to the club of around $400 per year for fixed expenses such as hangar rent and maintenance, along with a $35 per flight hour user fee that builds a fund for gas as well as eventual larger repairs.

After an initial up-front investment, the pilots are able to achieve their flight certificates at nearly a third the regular cost, while also owning a share in an entity that owns a plane.

Liddell currently has a waiting list for shares.