Commuting via small plane?

[Jumpah 0]

Couldn't find a specific forum for pilots, so into the bonfire it goes...

Does anyone here have experience with using a Cessna (or similar) plane for their daily commute? I'm probably moving to a new city in the next year, which will make my round-trip commute to work around 4 hours by car (sometimes a bit less). My current commute is about 3 hours and it is getting a bit tiresome, and I'm on this contract for at least another year, maybe two. The home and work city both have airports, and the work one is about 1 mile from the building I work in...so a real easy walk or bike ride. The home airport is MHT (Manchvegas, NH) and the work will be PSA (I think...Portland ME)

I've wanted to get my pilots license anyway, so this could be a good excuse to go for it.

So info about the time it takes to get there and off the ground, landing/parking fees, etc, Jet A prices, and any of that.

Thanks!

[AggieDave 6]

What about those bad weather days? Or days that aren't for VFR pilots?

Other then that, I do know a guy that has a R22 that he commutes to work in. Of course he has some land, so he simply parkes it next to his house and then lands in the field next to his office.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Rookie120 0]

SOunds like a good idea. But think about it for a while. The money to get your license, $ for a plane. then the behind the scene cost of maintnance adds up fast. Then you have the days when you cant fly be it thunderstorms or if you get a plane without anit-ice capabilities winter. I think you might be better off just moving closer to work. Just my .02 worth.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

[Jumpah 0]

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What about those bad weather days? Or days that aren't for VFR pilots?

True...didn't think about VFR...winter in ME will basically require it, as it gets dark early.

Yeah...the future Mrs. Jumpah and I have talked about moving to a central area, or having two palces. Commuting isn't an option for her (for a variety of good reasons), and with this contract being 1-2 years its hard to make a decision where to be.

(edited for content and readability)

[pilotdave 0]

I don't think you could find a way to justify it financially, but if you can afford it, sounds like fun. Definitely get an instrument rating though, even if you only fly VFR.

When I was in college, I had no car but lived a 12 minute walk from my flying club's plane. Instead of a 2 hour car ride, I had a 45 minute flight. But someone driving could still beat me there a lot of the time. Get a weather briefing, walk to the airport, preflight the plane, wait a few minutes for some morning fog to burn off, fly out there, tie the plane down, put a cover on it, etc. But it sure beat driving!

Dave

[Amazon 7]

Compromise... get a small studio apt where you are working to spend time during the work week... then fly home on the weekends.. or when the weahter is good.
It all depends on the economics..

[Hambone 0]

What you need is a plane car. then you won't have to worry wih those pesky licences and you won't have to use an airport. Its the best of both worlds. I am sure it exists...I mean we are taling about the internet here.

Yeah...You need to grow up. -Skymama

[Jumpah 0]

haha...like the Moller skycar, right? I've been keeping up with that for the last few years. That would be great!

Thanks for all the responses...we are looking at me getting an apt or renting a room a couple nights a week as well. There will be some fun in having the pilots license, tho, so even if I don't use it this way I'm sure I'll do it in the next few years.

[OATSF14 0]

Do as Amazon says. Find a cheap place to stay and go home on the weekends.

I had a plane for a few years and flew to work for a few months. The cost is very high when you add in everything. The airplane payment is nothing compared to everything else that adds up. Considering the location you are speaking of you could not fly the plane for many days anyway. Instrument flying is for professionals. If you choose to do so you MUST stay current for safety. This equals more cash. Driving a long way to work sucks but using a plane to commute will drain you unless you are very well heeled.

[racer42 0]

http://www.aopa.org/

Somewhere on this website is a calculator for aircraft ownership.

A buddy of mine and I sat down to figure out how much it would cost to own a an airplane. We found a 67 Skyhawk in great shape, low time on the engine,etc. It turned out to just park it on the ramp at a local airport would run us about $1,500/month. Starting the engine would make it expensive.

L.A.S.T. #24
Co-Founder Biscuit Brothers Freefly Team
Electric Toaster #3
Co-Founder Team Non Sequitor
Co-Founder Team Happy Sock

[Spizzzarko 0]

There are some things to think about for aircraft ownership.

1. Maintenance

Maintenance is going to cost you a considerable bit of money, as there will be 100 hour inspections, oil changes every 25 hours, annual inspections, and TBO engine rebuilds ($$$$$). If you get an experimental aircraft and build it yourself then you can apply for a repairman certificate from the FAA. This will alow you to do all of your own maintenance that you fee comfortable with. If you have an IFR rated experimental then you will need to have it IFR certified yearly. Going with an experimental aircraft is probably the most cost effective way to keep an aircraft as long as you do all your own work. A certified aircraft will require TSO'd parts. TSO'd parts are very expensive. The same rubber o-ring that you buy in an auto part store for $.58 will be more like $2.00 because it is certified. This runs your maintenance costs up throught the roof. You can use the $.58 part on an experimental aircraft though. With a certified aircraft you can use the airplane to make a profit, but with an experimental you can not as far as I know.

2. Fuel Price

Fuel prices are going up quite a bit for cars, and airplanes are no exception. 100ll is more expensive than premium for your car. Aircraft don't really use the miles per gallon ratio, but they use the gallons per hour ratio. So fuel economy is calculated by how far you can go in an hour of flight time. Let's say you have to travel 80 miles, and your aircraft cruises at 160mph (this is a fairly fast speed for most small aircraft). Now your engine burns 7 gallons per hour. Your round trip is going to be one hour of flight time, and you will burn 7 gallons of fuel on this trip. If 100ll cost $3.19 a gallon then you will spend $22.33 in fuel costs alone. Now add another $6.00 for engine rebuild costs in the future to that cost of one hour of flight time. Engines normally have a Time Between Overhauls (TBO) recomendation of 2500 hours and cost between $11,000 and $20,000 to overhaul depending on the type ($15,000 / 2500 flight hours = $6.00 per hour). Now your flight hour cost is up to $28.33 just on engine cost and fuel alone. I have not figured in any oil consumptions or oil change costs, but you can probably expect it to get you close to the $30 a flight hour range.

3. Storage

If you owned your own aircraft you will have to keep it at an airport (unless you have the luxury of living on an airport, or having enough land to build your own landing strip). There are two ways to store your aircraft. You can park it on the ramp and tie it down in the elements, or you can hangar it. If you are lucky enough to come across an open hangar, then you will probably rent it monthly for about $150, or you can sometimes purchase a T hangar for about $10,000-$15,000. Most people prefer to hangar their aircraft, as cold weather starts on your engine are not to healthy for it or your starter.

4. Bad Weather Days

If you are depending on your aircraft to get you to and from work you will need to get your IFR rating, and have an IFR certified aircraft. This costs money and time for your training. Even though you may have both of these, it still doesn't mean that you may be able to take off and land, as there are IFR minimums that must be adhered to.

5. Insurance

Most airports will require you to have insurance on your aircraft. Insurance is somehing you want to have, as dings scrapes and other incidents can get really expensive really quickly. Aircraft insurance costs are calculated off of the pilots total flying time, and flying time in type and model of aircraft. So a low time pilot will pay much more on insurance than some one with 1,000 flight hours.

Take all of this into account before you rush out and buy a plane from somebody advertising in Trade-A-Plane. Good luck and do more research.

[akjmpplt 0]

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http://www.aopa.org/

Somewhere on this website is a calculator for aircraft ownership.

As a former airplane owner I can assure you that a calculator is not needed to figure how much money it takes to own an airplane.

it's simple...it takes ALL of it.

SmugMug

[Jumpah 0]

Thanks for the tools...I found one calc that showed it to be pretty steep, way more than I'm up for.

So...maybe I'll just get me a more comfortable car...

Spizzzarko: Thanks for the details!
Thanks!

[kallend 1,625]

Quote

Quote

http://www.aopa.org/

Somewhere on this website is a calculator for aircraft ownership.

As a former airplane owner I can assure you that a calculator is not needed to figure how much money it takes to own an airplane.

it's simple...it takes ALL of it.

As a current airplane owner, with AVGAS being the price it is right now, it takes more than all of it.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.