Min Distance by plane?

Caramon13 said:
I tried that once..Highway to the Danger Zone. In a Cessna though it's not quite the same feeling. Specially when cars are passing you below on the highway.
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In a Cessna, you either fly really low or listen to Slow Ride. I have the same problem.
 
BPM said:
Congratulations on finding yourself with a GA friendly employer. On the topic of being reimbursed by an employer for expenses, do you believe there is any risk the FAA frowns upon this arrangement and considers it a breach of the "no less than the pro rata share of the operating expenses" regulation (61.113)?
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I fly myself for business all the time. As long as you are solo (no other souls on board), the flying is incidental to your business, and you are not transporting goods or products (you ARE allowed to transport sales materials), you can indeed be fully reimbursed for all of the direct flight expenses of that flight as just a private pilot.

As soon as you have another body on board...regardless of who they are and your relation... the "pro rata share" rules kick in.
 
Caramon13 said:
In a Cessna though it's not quite the same feeling. Specially when cars are passing you below on the highway.
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Coming back through the Banning Pass once I was getting about 35-40 knots over the ground, in a 172N with 180 conversion basically giving her all she had. Looking down at the highway and seeing cars going faster was sobering. I figured the way home would be slow, on the way TO Palm Springs I had 160 over the ground a few times, fastest I ever saw in a 172 for GS
 
I just did this exercise this morning, coincidentally. Developed an algebraic formula find the distance of a trip required to save at least an hour, door to door, by flying. If I can’t save an hour it’s not worth it. Came out to roughly 250nm in a rented Archer, about 200nm with my former steed and hopefully the next one.

Hmmm, that’s kinda far. Like any good pilot, I’ve changed my criteria to justify flying, to at least 30 minutes’ savings. That’s 180 and 150nm respectively. That’s better, but. . . , makes the Hill Country on the fringe.

Ok, seriously, if I break even time-wise, that makes sense, so much less stress than driving . . . .
 
My break even is about a 2.5 hr car ride. Any more than that and I prefer the plane. Now, if I must be there, I’ll leave when I would have if I had taken my car. That way, if the plane is broken, I can jump in the car and drive. I’d rather watch some YouTube and eat a bite at my destination than spend that amount of time in my car.
 
Salty said:
Also my company won’t allow me to fly myself so I’m sitting in an airport now waiting for a flight I could have done faster myself. (But not cheaper)
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I'm in the same situation. Company won't let me fly myself.


When making the determination n the fly versus drive for non company business I start with the overall cost. That usually convinces me to drive. I flew to SC the other weekend and it cost me $700 and 6 hours total flight time. Add the rental car in SC as well as the 30 minutes to drive to the airport to get my plane and I could have driven myself and saved a bunch of $$.

If I have accepted the cost of the flight, I then look at the time to include my time to the airport and back home plus preflight. That adds 1.8 hours total to my "flight."
 
K9Medic, please delete your post. No one mentioned cost, only time. Justifying the use of a personal plane (whether owned or rented) is difficult enough as it is and we’re working hard collectively to support each other’s own silly rationalizations for doing so. If you’re going to bring cost into the discussion we might as well all go home. :fingerwag:

(I kid, I kid. . . )
 
Heck, if it’s a wash time wise, I’ll usually fly anyway. It’s more enjoyable!
 
The other day a friend and I flew 4 miles (SNC-42B) for dinner. 15 minute minute flight including takeoff and landing, would have been a 15 minute drive if the drawbridge over the river wasn't open.
 
Blatham489 said:
K9Medic, please delete your post. No one mentioned cost, only time. Justifying the use of a personal plane (whether owned or rented) is difficult enough as it is and we’re working hard collectively to support each other’s own silly rationalizations for doing so. If you’re going to bring cost into the discussion we might as well all go home. :fingerwag:

(I kid, I kid. . . )
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Well I did convince my wife that buying an airplane would be cheaper in the long run for us...
 
I had to about 120 miles away for a few days last week for training. I could drive through MA, which could be anywhere between 2-3 hours depending on traffic. Last time I did it, I drove and it took 3.5 hours to get home. This time I flew. VFR pilot, knew I had to take off early to beat some weather in. And the outlook for friday was looking good, so I flew. Fueled up the plane the night before, 45 min flight each way.

So much less stress, costs are about even.
 
Caramon13 said:
I've got a meeting schedule up in Jacksonville next week and I'm based out of KSRQ. Drive time for me is about 4 hours one way.

Flight time is half that.

It's a pretty important meeting so I am thinking of driving it even though it's going to be a major pain in the @#$ because I don't want to risk missing it. But it got me thinking..what is the minimum distance point-to-point that you guys consider flying as an option?

Half day? Full day? Multiple days?

Cost-wise if I did decide to fly it, I'm looking at about a $700 difference in cost since I'm renting. That's not including the Uber I'd need at the airport to get to the meeting.

The only reason I'm considering it is because I really don't want to spend 8 hours on the road for a 1 hr meeting. Flying gets me back in time to actually enjoy my day instead of sitting in gridlock traffic during rush hour before a holiday..

Ideas?
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Someone may have already said this, I did not read all 3 pages, but there's an old aviation saying;

If you absolutely MUST be somewhere, drive. In other words, there's too many variables in flying your own plane that are out of your control or can cause 'get-there-itis'.

If I don't 'have' to be there, as for time enroute, I would almost always rather spend a fraction of the time required flying, as opposed to the spending a longer amount of time driving.
 
I'm a snow bird with a business in NY and house in Vero Beach. I use GoToMeeting or just conference in on my cell every Tuesday for a weekly staff meeting that usually lasts 2 to 4 hours. I fly up to NY every 5 to 7 weeks in my turbo Saratoga for a face to face. Door to door in my ship it takes 6.5 hours on average. Time wise commercially it's about the same except I don't have to Uber to Orlando, deal with security and the Mickey Mouse crowd or Uber on the other end.

I dislike flying anywhere on the same day when I'm expected to be there at a certain time. So under those circumstances, I'll arrive the night before. I hate the stress that comes with weather delays and the chance of a maintenance issue when pressed for time. I can't imagine dealing with a rental plane on top of that.

We all know the inherent risks that come with stress and decision making. Keep it real and safe and remember the old saying, "Time to spare, go by air."
 
Caramon13 said:
I've got a meeting schedule up in Jacksonville next week and I'm based out of KSRQ. Drive time for me is about 4 hours one way.

Flight time is half that.

It's a pretty important meeting so I am thinking of driving it even though it's going to be a major pain in the @#$ because I don't want to risk missing it.
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Just leave early enough that at any point in the operation you can switch to driving (including a mid-flight diversion) and you're good to go. If the flight doesn't work, you still get there on time; if the flight DOES work you get there way earlier and you got to fly. On the way home, you likely get home way earlier too... ESPECIALLY in holiday traffic!

But it got me thinking..what is the minimum distance point-to-point that you guys consider flying as an option?

Half day? Full day? Multiple days?
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Three seconds? ;)

OK, for real... A couple of examples that I've done both ways multiple times:

1) Flying club meeting, at the airport 48nm from my home field: About 1 hour to drive, about 1 hour to fly (25 min to airport, 15 min preflight & taxi out, 20 min flight). So that's pretty much the break-even there, about 50nm. Now, if I'm going to be doing something that isn't at the airport, it favors driving.

2) My parents' house, about a 5 min drive from an airport 57nm from my home field: It's about 1.5-1.75 hours to drive. 40 min drive to airport & preflight, 25 min flight, 10 min to secure the plane and jump in the car and 5 min to get to their house: Flying wins by between 10-25 minutes. I'll still drive sometimes (especially at xmas when we have a ton of crap along with us) but for day trips almost always fly.

I would say that anything that's more than a 1.5 hour drive, I'll be leaning toward flying and will only drive if there's major inconveniences involved in ground transportation at the other end.

As far as the upper end: I figure that, from southern Wisconsin, with limited exceptions (like Bangor or Miami or if my final destination is right next to a major airline airport) my Mooney can beat the airlines anywhere in the ConUS east of the Rockies, and I'll lean towards Mooneying everywhere. If I'm going to the west coast... Well, why? Visiting my brother in San Jose, I'll just take the extra time to fly myself out there. If I had to be there for work I would probably airline it (reluctantly, of course)...
 
Bit of an update: The plane I was going to fly had some mechanical difficulties this weekend and the IPC I was going to take in it turned into a ground review as a result. Taxied out to the end of the runway, doing run-up and checking amps -> 0. Shortly after the gps goes black, so we taxied back. Luckily the battery wasn't crap so had radio. Thinking alternator, but they said it just came out the 100 hr, so that's real strange.

There are other planes to rent if I need to, however they are about an hour slower (2 hr flight one way instead of 1.5 hr) which makes the trip less beneficial by air. Time to airport about 30 mins, pre-flight and go another 30 minutes. Leave by 5 PM, arrive 7 PM (ish). Tie down, uber to hotel get in about 8 PM maybe 8:30 PM. If I drive from here to JAX hotel, get there about the same time.

The time savings on the way back is better though seeing as I'd be leaving a bit after lunch and hitting rush hour traffic a day before 7/4 holiday. It's almost 6 hours one way (worse case) on the way back.
 
Three hours. If I can drive in three hours or less, it makes more sense to drive. But, I do nonsensical things sometimes...
 
Caramon13 said:
Thinking alternator, but they said it just came out the 100 hr, so that's real strange.
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You'd be surprised what *doesn't* get checked on a 100hr/annual. Don't ever expect the plane to be functioning perfectly when it gets out of either... In fact, if anything, it's LESS likely to be functioning perfectly than on other flights.
 
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