Anyone know of a Tailwheel trainer around Tri-Cities WA. Ive wanted to do it for years, but worked instead on Instrument. Now my neighbor has a Citabria that he cant fly because he lost his medical, so I might be the new pilot for that bird but its a Tailwheel, so I need to get endorsed soon.

So here lies the issues, Any ideas on how to make it a good partnership. Meaning he owns the Citabria and has let the insurance lapse. Hes a little leary on the Liability to let me fly it. I have come up with a few options but since Ive never done this, I hope yall can chime in. Id hate to see the good old Citabria go to shit for just sitting in a hangar and not getting flown. I think he is in agreement with that.

One option Ive come up with. I get renters insurance up to 70 or 80K, he says he bought it for $55K so the extra coverage in case I buy the farm would ease tension I believe and I/he/bird would be covered. I offer to pay for Annuals to get it up to snuff. I pay for the fuel. And maybe on top of that I give him a flat rate of 30 or 40/hr for a rental fee. Buit then if he "rents" it to me, he would have to do 100hr inspections, correct?

Another one is to form some sort of a club, but I have no idea what that entails.

Another one is to flat out buy it, which Im not sure I can swing a $55k loan at this moment nor do I exaclty want to be in debt.

Im not sure how to bring a reasonable offer up to him without knowing a plan. I think my option is pretty good, but Im not sure if it'd work. Any ideas or knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Bergstroms at Pasco has a couple of good tail wheel instructors, if you have your own plane, George one of there instructors also instructs out of his J3 Cub. The other instructor Jim Fish is the DPE for the area.

Brian Thompson in Yakima. Best of the best.

http://exploreaviationllc.com/

Get your t/w endorsement, and get on the policy as a named insured. That should take care of his liability concerns. Then either pay him X amount for each hour flown, or buy a half-share of the airplane and split costs as in any normal partnership.
I know a guy who was a 1/3 partner in a Pacer years ago. It was ideal, as one of his partners didn't fly anymore and just wanted to ride along once in a while. The other partner worked up in Alaska on a two-months-on / two-months off basis, and owned another airplane to boot, so he didn't fly the Pacer that much even when he was around. So the first guy basically had his own airplane, but with someone else paying 2/3 the fixed costs. Very sweet deal.

Thanks Hotrod. Ill suggest something like that to him.

I know Mr. Fish and George. Jim gave me my PPL checkride. And George was my instructor for a numer of years. Soloed me for the first time.

Classic Wings in Hood River has a Cessna 140 for rent, and instructors. I'm also in the Tri Cities and spent a weekend in Hood River doing it. They will also let you rent it solo. I've flown with Brian as well, doing a checkout in his Stinson.

If you can train in the Citabria, local options are probably easiest. I heard some hangar talk that Jim Fish had lost his medical. Not sure what his status is now.