AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2013 - 88

P&E

OWNERSHIP

Opening the
rental skies

Start-up hopes to streamline the checkout process,
get more pilots flying
B Y J I L L W. TA L L M A N
YOU’RE VACATIONING in a sunny place—let’s
say the Florida Keys—and you can’t help
but dream about how nice it would be to fly
along the coast. But you have no airplane on
this trip, and your schedule doesn’t really
allow for the half-day it likely would take
to get checked out at the local FBO. So you
set aside your dreams of cruising the coast
for another day, yet again.
For the past two years, a team of aviators
has been quietly working on a project that,
by the time you read this, could be changing
that familiar scenario significantly.
OpenAirplane, launched in beta mode in
April, is aimed at helping pilots find aircraft
to rent and streamlining the checkout process, thus making it easier—and quicker—to
rent an airplane. The founders hope this
will, in turn, boost business for participating
FBOs while getting more pilots flying—an
impact cofounder Rod Rakic calls “a dent
in the universe.”
That sounds good, but is there any
checkout involved? Yes. A pilot finds a
participating FBO online (ideally near his
or her home base) and completes a universal pilot checkout, or UPC. The UPC

88 | AOPA PILOT July 2013

is tougher than a standard checkout—and
it’s designed to be tougher. For one thing,
it’s a pass/fail event. “You either fly to the
[Practical Test Standards] or you don’t,”
Rakic says. If you fail, you’d receive some
additional training and return to complete that portion of the UPC, just as you
would if you were having a bad day on a
flight review.
Rakic points out that there are some
advantages to completing the UPC. For
example, it resets the clock on your FAAmandated flight review. If you hold renter’s
insurance, your carrier may offer up to a
10-percent discount for completing the standardized program. “Your local flight school
has not made that deal,” Rakic says.
The UPC is good for one year. When
signed off, you’re given access to a network
of the same make/model aircraft available
at any OpenAirplane operator, no matter where you completed the UPC. You
choose and reserve your airplane via a free
web app that can be accessed from a smartphone, iPad or tablet device, or personal
WEB

computer. The app contains pricing information, detailed descriptions, photos, and
user reviews of the aircraft—as well as pilot
information (ratings, certificates, and other
credentials) that the FBO can review on its
end before processing the reservation. (The
FBO retains veto authority on your reservation.) When you arrive, you’re given a
local briefing, escorted to the airplane, and
handed the keys. OpenAirplane handles the
payment processing and keeps 10 percent of
the transaction.
While its marketing materials describe
the OpenAirplane process in a hypothetical fashion, it’s no longer hypothetical.
Six operators are on board. On March 30,
2013, Chicago Executive Flight School at
Chicago Executive Airport handed the
keys to OpenAirplane’s very first client. He
and a passenger took a scenic tour along the
lakefront.
“We still have so much knitting of the
payment and booking system and ratings review system,” Rakic says of the app,
developed by cofounder Adam Fast. “All
those things are all built, but are getting knit
together.”
More than 5,400 pilots have signaled that
they’d like the chance to put OpenAirplane
to the test. Pilots have been following
OpenAirplane’s progress through social
media channels; some have volunteered to
photograph aircraft for the website.
Rakic insists that the emphasis is not on
getting pilots to sign up—there’s no charge
for that—but to get them flying. “I’ve actually gotten emails from pilots who are not
flying today [who say] that if OpenAirplane
launches [they] will get back in the game
because now [they] have a reason to fly,” he
says. And more people flying leads to more
oil changes, more engine overhauls, more
fuel getting pumped, more flight instructors. In short, “all the good that we can drive
comes from one thing and one thing only—
Hobbs time,” Rakic says.
Will FBOs be willing to try something
new? “About 85 percent of the time when
we approach an operator, they’re very
interested,” Rakic says. Some are less than
enthusiastic. “If your fleet is getting the
utilization that you’re looking for, don’t

For more information, visit the website (www.openairplane.com).

http://www.openairplane.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2013