How far do you drive to fly?

Around 30 minutes give or take for me
 
According to the GPS in my car, it is 11.2 miles from my garage to the hangar. It says 31 minutes, which on a good day, with no traffic (does that exist in Chicago?) is probably realistic. With normal traffic it is 45 minutes, Friday evening or when it snows, anywhere from an hour to 2 1/2.

I think my record early on a Sunday morning was 37 minutes. My worst was 3 hours around Christmas.

The best part is that it is a private airport. So from the moment I park the car, I can have the plane out of the hangar, preflighted, picked up my clearance and be in the air in a 1/2 hour.
 
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This is interesting in how short most of the drives are. Wonder how drive time computes into student retention? Or are the long drive pilots just embarrassed to admit how far they drive for a fix?
 
ClimbnSink said:
This is interesting in how short most of the drives are. Wonder how drive time computes into student retention? Or are the long drive pilots just embarrassed to admit how far they drive for a fix?
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Close proximity of the field to my place and work meant I was able to finish my private pilot in just over four months during the summer/fall.
 
Almost exactly 1 hour (nearly all highway) if there are no speed traps on the way and assuming I leave straight from my house. This is really impractical but my flying club, wingsofcarolina.org, makes the trip worthwhile because of their quality aircraft, conscientious maintenance team, great instructors and wonderful facilities. I wish it were closer, but then again I would probably fly more than I would work and that wouldn't be good either.:frown3:
 
80 minutes to the club airplanes. Of course, there's a perfectly good little GA airport 5 minutes from my house, but we're in the middle of nowhere, and there are no club or rental airplanes here. If I owned, it would be much closer.
 
When I was training for my PP I drove from DC to FDK after work a little over an hour. From home it was about 30 minutes. It gave me time to review the plan in my head.
Now I keep my plane at HSV about 12 miles from home-about 15 minutes if i don't get stopped by the train.
 
10 minutes for me.

I've got 4 other airports I could relocate to that are a lot cheaper but would be a 40-60 minute drive. For me being close is important. I'm not likely to fly as often as I want if I need to spend 1.5 to 2 hours round trip just getting to my hangar. I'd rather be flying than driving so am willing to pay the premium to be closer.
 
My plane is hangared 15 minutes away, my ultralight is hangared within eyeshot of the kitchen window
 
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