Airliner passenger playing navigator...

cowman

cowman

Final Approach
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Flew commercial from MSP to LAS and back a week later. To pass the time I pulled out my ipad and opened up my VFR maps on foreflight. Spent most of the trip identifying my position and anticipating my next landmark.

During the "turn off your devices" portion of the flight I really wished I'd brought a couple of paper sectionals along.. and a plotter... and my e6b. Just because.

Ended up having a lot of curious watchers, one of whom on the return trip ended up being a former student pilot who never finished. He was really into foreflight, no such thing existed when he was flying. Had a pretty long conversation with him about pilot training and aviation in general.

Also, my wife booked the tickets way in advance... I should have asked and I didn't. Found out too late- Spirit Air. I knew about the budget airlines from reading posts here... what I didn't fully appreciate was the full horror of the seats. I take back everything I ever said about airline seats not being that bad. To make it worse this was after a 2 day long mule ride through the grand canyon.. so my butt was especially not happy to be on that rock-like seat. Lesson learned.
 
Well at least you could back up the crew to insure they landed at the right airport. Prefer jet blue for seats.
 
Spirit still has a "turn off your devices" portion of the flight??

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
dukeblue219 said:
Spirit still has a "turn off your devices" portion of the flight??

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

you actually have to submit a plan to the FAA . . . the FAA is all about plans and paperwork.

Spirit decided not to spend a dime changing anything... as of right now.

Tell your spouse if she ever buys a ticket on Spirit again you're flying GA - even if you have to leave 4 days early!
 
Oh I pretty much put a moratorium on all commercial flights within the continental US after this one.

Also pointed out that our 3 hour flight really took about 8 hours door to door. I can't beat that time all the way out to Vegas but most places we'd want to go it probably comes out close to even if not better... also no TSA, no large crowded airports, essentially no limit on baggage... as I can't imagine what we'd carry that would go over gross in the Archer with me + her + full fuel. Also no arguing over the window seat... and shockingly enough more leg room.

We're talking about some trips... not sure what we'll do first. Niagara Falls, New Orleans, the FL Keys, and the Bahamas have all been pretty serious thoughts though.
 
cowman said:
Flew commercial from MSP to LAS and back a week later. To pass the time I pulled out my ipad and opened up my VFR maps on foreflight. Spent most of the trip identifying my position and anticipating my next landmark.

During the "turn off your devices" portion of the flight I really wished I'd brought a couple of paper sectionals along.. and a plotter... and my e6b. Just because.

Ended up having a lot of curious watchers, one of whom on the return trip ended up being a former student pilot who never finished. He was really into foreflight, no such thing existed when he was flying. Had a pretty long conversation with him about pilot training and aviation in general.

Also, my wife booked the tickets way in advance... I should have asked and I didn't. Found out too late- Spirit Air. I knew about the budget airlines from reading posts here... what I didn't fully appreciate was the full horror of the seats. I take back everything I ever said about airline seats not being that bad. To make it worse this was after a 2 day long mule ride through the grand canyon.. so my butt was especially not happy to be on that rock-like seat. Lesson learned.
Click to expand...

I did something similar the other day flying out to Steamboat. I used Avare though. It was neat watching us turn to follow the victor airways. I had always wondered why we turned in the middle of a flight. The worst portion was on a 757. I was in an aisle seat with no GPS signal and the sweat were terrible. The fixed armrest went almost all the way up to the seat in front. Probably 6" clearance when the front seat was reclined. Made getting up real fun. Much more room in a 172
 
This thread makes me wonder if a person could just get GA hops to assorted U.S. destinations in a more organized way than simply going from airport to airport and hoping for the best.

We need to set up a Pilots of America overhead railway system of some sort. For example if I wanted to fly up to Seattle from San Diego I would post it on POA then assorted pilots could respond with what they could do and what my share would cost, and of course when.

Example: I'm in San Diego trying to get to Seattle, I want to be there by February 25th.

Someone could respond with: I have a 172 and can take you to the Bracket this coming weekend, your share would be $50.00.

Someone else could respond with: I can pick you up at bracket and take you to Oakland in my Barron Sunday afternoon. Your share would be $150.00.

And so on. I guess several folks could respond so that an actual flight plan could be worked out in some manner so you could make a reasonable guesstimate of an ETA.

Pilots could refer to the forum to find people who will share in their costs for a trip they were sort of planning anyway, or even to find someone to help pay the costs for some hour building time.

Anyway, just a thought. It would be cool if it could work.

-John
 
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