History and Overview

Fireside Aviators Association of San Jose, California is a California Tax Exempt (501c7) Corporation. It was founded on March 5th, 1968 by the 12 original share holders.

Corporate aircraft were originally based at San Jose International Airport. Around 1998, the airport started an expansion project and were encouraging privately owned aircraft to relocate. In response to this "encouragement", the aircraft was moved to Reid-Hillview, which is just a few miles South of San Jose International. The aircraft is currently based at Reid-Hillview.

The corporation has only owned a single aircraft. Several of the original owners of N8085W, purchased the aircraft, new, in 1965. In March of 1968, these owners created the non-profit organization "Fireside Aviators". At that time, the aircraft was transferred into the corporation. In essence, the aircraft has only had one owner, even though the ownership changed from a partnership to a non-profit corporation.

The maintenance officer overseas all maintenance for the aircraft. At various times, the maintenance officer was an A&P mechanic. Currently, none of the share holders are A&P mechanics, therefore, all maintenance is done at an FAA approved repair facility that has a long relationship with the corporation.

Our aircraft is checked weekly, with or without member squawks and all records are properly maintained and are available for inspection.

The aircraft is scheduled using a web based and a telephone based scheduling system. Any member may easily and quickly check the availability of the aircraft.

Most members fly an hour or two at a time, while others fly for longer periods, but less often. The average annual flight time for the aircraft is around 250 hours.

Fireside Aviators is a very relaxed organization. We have members from many different professions. All the members are very laid back and it is a pleasure to be a part of this corporation.