The Kelowna Flying Club (KFC) says it hopes to attract new pilots with the purchase of its first club airplane, a 1979 Grumman AA5B Tiger.

“People join flying clubs to fly, and we had not been in a position to provide an aircraft for their use until now,” said club President Dave McElroy. “There is great enthusiasm in the club about this aircraft.”

Some of the 92 club members and others loaned the club money to make the purchase. Eighteen members have already signed onto the flying program and paid for 12 hours of flying over the next year.

“We expect this number to quickly grow to 25, which we’ve set as the maximum number of flying members for one aircraft,”  said McElroy.

The flying program will be managed by club member Jim Hannibal and overseen by the Flying Program Committee, chaired by Chad Gartly.

The aircraft was bought in Oshawa.  C-GVXY is a four seat, single-engine aircraft powered by a 180 Horsepower Lycoming O-360 engine. Cruise speed is just under 140 knots (250 km/hr) and the aircraft’s range is about 500 nm (900 km).

The current Kelowna Flying Club has been in existence since 1984 and occupies a building near the north end of YLW.