Practical guides for pilots and clubs.

How to read a METAR That line of code is a full weather report. We'll read real METARs from Edinburgh, Heathrow and Auckland with you, one group at a time. Read the guide → How to read a TAF and decide whether you'll fly Booked to fly tomorrow and the TAF looks like code. We read the Met Office's Prestwick example and explain what FM, BECMG, TEMPO and PROB mean for you. Read the guide → How to use the crosswind clock rule Work out the crosswind in your head in a couple of seconds, then use it with gusts, variable winds and a runway in degrees magnetic. Read the guide →

Aircraft waiting lists: who gets the cancelled slot Saturday's slot is cancelled on Friday night and four members want it. How first come, first served and best match decide, and how long offers should last. Read the guide → Billing flight time on Hobbs, tacho, airborne or brakes-off Same hour in the air, four different bills. How Hobbs, tacho, airborne and brakes-off time compare, and the clock we'd pick for most clubs. Read the guide → Block-hour packages: price them safely and track hours Selling ten hours up front brings money in early, but every point of discount comes out of your margin. Here's how to price a block and track the balances. Read the guide → Booking rules for currency, licences and medicals Let your booking system catch a lapsed licence, medical or currency when a member books, long before they reach the hold with a passenger. Read the guide → Chasing overdue balances without falling out with members Most overdue flying balances get paid after one polite reminder. A written policy, a timetable and wording a club treasurer can copy and send. Read the guide → How to set an aircraft hire rate that pays its way Work out what an hour in your club aircraft really costs, set a rate that covers it, and plan for the engine's 12-year overhaul limit before it arrives. Read the guide → Moving a flying club off spreadsheets in eight weeks An eight-week plan for getting your club's members, licence dates, bookings and balances out of spreadsheets and into club software, one step at a time. Read the guide → Pro-rata membership fees for members who join mid-year Someone has joined in September and you need to know what to charge them. Here are both ways to prorate, with worked sums and wording for your rules. Read the guide → Self-fly hire checkouts and currency rules for your club What to cover before a member hires your aircraft for the first time, and a currency rule renters can actually keep. Read the guide → Syndicate booking rules when you share one aircraft Eight owners, one aircraft, and everyone wants the same Saturday. The booking rules we'd agree in writing, ready to copy, with the weekend maths. Read the guide → Trial lessons: turning first flights into students Most trial lesson customers never book a second flight. Here's how the booking call, the debrief and a quick follow-up bring more of them back. Read the guide → Utilisation heatmaps and your club aircraft's empty hours Your aircraft is full on Saturday and idle on Tuesday. How to read a utilisation heatmap without being fooled by averages, and fill the quiet hours. Read the guide → Wet or dry hire: setting rates for club aircraft What wet and dry hire really change on a club rate card, with the same flight priced both ways and a fair rule for fuel bought away from home. Read the guide →