Wet vs dry rate: what a flying club's hourly rate includes, and what fuel adds

A wet rate is an hourly aircraft rate with the fuel included; a dry rate leaves the fuel out, so the pilot pays for the fuel on top. The difference sounds small and is not: in our cost model, fuel is the largest single cost of what a flight hour uses up. This guide works out how large, with the same cost model as our aircraft ownership cost calculator, shows what real flying clubs charge, and explains how to put a dry rate next to a wet one.

Short answer: in a Cessna 172S burning 33 litres (8.7 US gallons) an hour, fuel is €106 of the €168 the hour uses up at European prices (63%) and $61 of the $121 at US prices (50%), with AVGAS at €3.20 a litre or $7.00 a US gallon. Without the fuel the same hour costs €62 or $60. To compare a dry rate with a wet one, add the aircraft's fuel burn times your fuel price. Of the 17 flying clubs whose rate pages we read, 10 say their rate is wet, 1 says it is dry, and 6 do not say.

One flight hour of a Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP: what a wet rate covers, and what a dry rate leaves to the pilot

The only difference between the two is the fuel — the largest single cost the hour uses up.

European prices: wet €168 · dry €62 · fuel 63% of the hour

Cost	Per flight hour	Included in
Fuel (AVGAS 100LL)	€106	wet only — dry: the pilot pays
Oil	€2	wet and dry
50/100-hour inspections	€45	wet and dry
Engine overhaul reserve (Lycoming IO-360-L2A)	€15	wet and dry

US prices: wet $121 · dry $60 · fuel 50% of the hour

Cost	Per flight hour	Included in
Fuel (AVGAS 100LL)	$61	wet only — dry: the pilot pays
Oil	$2	wet and dry
50/100-hour inspections	$40	wet and dry
Engine overhaul reserve (Lycoming IO-360-L2A)	$18	wet and dry

What a wet rate and a dry rate include

The clubs that state it put it in one line. TSS Flying Club: "The cost of fuel is included in the aircraft rate (i.e. wet rates.)" The FAA Flying Club charges "$150/tach hour wet (includes fuel and oil)". Mitchell Flying Club, the one dry rate we found: "Fuel is not included in the hourly rate. Members pay for their own fuel."

Everything else is the same in both. The rate pays for what each flight hour uses up — oil, the 50- and 100-hour inspections, and the engine overhaul reserve — and in many clubs it carries part of the fixed costs as well, on top of the monthly dues. In the calculator's numbers that dry part of the hour is €62 at European prices or $60 at US prices; the fuel is €106 or $61.

What flying clubs charge: wet, dry or not stated

We read the published rates of 17 flying clubs in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany on 16 October 2026. Ten say their rate is wet: TSS Flying Club, FAA Flying Club, Hokie Flying Club, Westchester Flying Club, Skyhawk Flying Club, Oregon State Flying Club, International Flying Club, RAF Brize Norton Flying Club, Sabena Aeroclub and Fliegerclub Nürnberg. One, Mitchell Flying Club, says its rate is dry. The other six — Fox Flying Club, Southport and Merseyside Aero Club, Civil Service Flying Club, Bristol Aero Club, Vliegclub Twente and KLM Aeroclub — publish a rate without saying whether fuel is in it.

That last group is worth noticing if you are choosing a club: a rate that does not say is a rate you cannot compare until you ask.

What US flying clubs charge an hour, wet — and the one dry rate with fuel added

• Published rate
• Fuel added to a dry rate

Club and aircraft	Hourly rate	Wet or dry, meter
TSS Flying ClubCessna 172S	$175	Wet, tach time
Oregon State Flying ClubCessna 172M	$155	Wet, Hobbs time
FAA Flying ClubPA-28-151	$150	Wet, tach time
Westchester Flying ClubPA-28-181 Archer	$144	Wet, tach time
Mitchell Flying ClubCessna 172R	$80 + $61 = $141	Dry, tach time
Skyhawk Flying ClubCessna 172	$105	Wet, Hobbs time
Hokie Flying ClubCessna 172M	$94.39	Wet, tach time

The six US clubs with a published wet rate charge $94 to $175 an hour, for Cessna 172s and Piper PA-28s billed on the tach or the Hobbs. Mitchell Flying Club's dry rate is $80 an hour for a Cessna 172R. If that aircraft burns the 8.7 US gallons an hour the calculator assumes for a Cessna 172S, at $7.00 a gallon, the fuel adds $61 and the hour comes to $141 — within the range of the wet rates, not below them. Here the dry rate is not the cheaper club; it is the same hour with the fuel paid separately.

How to compare a dry rate with a wet one

Add the fuel per hour to the dry rate: the aircraft's burn in litres or gallons an hour, times the price at the pumps you will actually use. Two things change the answer.

• The fuel price. At 33 litres an hour every €0.10 a litre adds €3.30 to the hour; at 8.7 gallons an hour every $1.00 a gallon adds $8.70. A wet rate set when fuel was cheaper falls behind when it rises, so a club with a wet rate has to review it; a dry rate passes the change straight to the pilot.
• The meter. A rate per tach hour and a rate per Hobbs hour are not the same price, because the Hobbs usually runs longer than the tach for the same flight. Compare like with like; Hobbs vs Tacho: which time counts shows how far apart the two meters run.

Wet or dry: what each asks of a club

A wet rate is one number per hour. The member sees the whole price of the flight before taking off, and the club buys the fuel, so it needs a fuel account and a rate it reviews when the price moves. The one awkward case is a member who fills up away from home: that member has paid for fuel the wet rate already charges for, so a club with a wet rate needs a rule for giving it back — as a credit against the flight or a refund, and with what receipt. That rule belongs in the operating rules.

A dry rate keeps the club out of the fuel price, and each member pays for exactly the fuel they used. In exchange, every flight has two parts to settle — the hours and the fuel — and the club needs a rule for the tank: does each member leave it full, or is the fuel measured and charged per flight?

There is a third way, which keeps one wet rate but takes the guesswork out of the fuel part. North Jersey Flying Club publishes its wet rate for a Piper Warrior (PA-28-151) as a base component of $70.25 plus a fuel component of $80.30 — 10 gallons at $8.03 — for $150.55 per tach hour. Fuel is 53% of that rate, close to the 50% of the hour in our model at US prices. Its fee schedule spells out the method: "Fuel component = the gallons per tach hour published for that aircraft × the fuel price for the month of the flight." The base component changes only when the board changes it, and the fuel bought away from home is settled against the same number: "The same monthly home-base price caps reimbursement when a member buys fuel away from base". The member still sees one rate per hour; the club no longer carries the fuel price between rate reviews.

In principle, neither choice changes what a member pays over a year if the rate is set right. It changes who carries the fuel price between two rate reviews, and how much bookkeeping each flight takes.

Wet and dry rates in Pilot-Next

In Pilot-Next a wet rate is a single rate per hour, charged on the Hobbs or the Tacho time of each flight. A dry rate is a rate per hour plus a second rate the club sets up for fuel, per litre or per gallon, which is billed on the quantity the pilot enters when settling the flight — a whole number in the app's settle dialog. Both can be set for one aircraft or for all of them, and both land on the same flight invoice, on the pilot's account balance. What Pilot-Next does not do is credit fuel back: a rate and a quantity are never negative, so fuel a member bought away from home is settled outside the flight invoice: an administrator books it as a correction, with a description, on the member's account balance. The flying club billing guide shows how the rest of the settlement works, and what a flying club costs puts the hourly rate next to the dues at 17 clubs.