I am in a co-ownership arrangement that is working out very well. First, myself and my partner are generally pretty mellow guys, and we generally see eye-to-eye on things.
Second, it has very real advantages to both of us. Quite Frankly, without the partner, I could not afford to be an airplane owner. And my partner, who is on a work visa, can not be the registered owner of an aircraft. Those are real hard realities that help everybody keep things in perspective.
We both fly quite a bit, but our schedules are such that conflicts have been minimal. And, as noted above, we are both pretty mellow and working out conflicts has been easy.
My partner and I did not know each other well when we started the process, but we had visited enough to get a feel for each other in terms of temperment and integrity, and in terms of the type of airplane we wanted and the kinds of flying we expected to do.
My partnership experience has been quite positive, but you do need to go into it heads up. Somebody said a partnership is like a marriage without the honeymoon, and that is very true. You will be sharing a valuable asset with someone else, and having to work out conflicting goals. How you get along with the other person (people) will make or break the arrangement.
I guess the best advice I can give is that you need to know the quality of your partner, you need to have common flying goals, and you need to be prepared to give and take.
Reg
