In article <2vjjij$…@search01.news.aol.com> edwi…@aol.com (Ed Wisch) writes:
>A couple of folks wrote that GA is more expensive than the airlines. This
>is not necessarily true., especially if:
>* you have several people in the plane
>* the airlines don’t go where you need to go
>* your time is worth anything
>* airline times don’t fit your schedule
I fly from West Lafayette, Indiana to (a) Ann ARbor, Michigan and (b) Columbus,
Ohio several times a year. In our club C172, I can make either trip for
about $160-$175 (we charge $40/tach hour); occasionally, I’ve rented a
Duchess from the local FBO and end up paying about $400. By comparison,
Northwest has a commuter flight from Lafayette to Detroit Metro; RT fare
is $497, with nothing cheaper for advance purchase. And, of course, I
still need to get to ann arbor from metro. To get to Columbus, I’d need to
fly out of Indianapolis, which is a 65 minute drive. Fares were several
hundred dollars the one time that I checked. So, GA is cheaper; I usually
take along a co-pilot and that’s how I maintain instrument currency.
Finally, I can make the trip to Ann Arbor on Northewst and still have
time for business, but not to Columbus. From march to mid-November,
I’ve been able to make about 90% of my planned trips. The rate
drops a lot in winter–to about 50%–because of forecast icing. The
people that I’m meeting are used to this and appreciate the flexbility
of arrival and departure times tht I get with GA.
–
Robert Kail
Department of Psychological Sciences
Purdue University
r…@psych.purdue.edu
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
In article <CsuLnL….@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>, r…@brazil.psych.purdue.edu (Robert Kail) writes:
> In article <2vjjij$…@search01.news.aol.com> edwi…@aol.com (Ed Wisch) writes:
>>A couple of folks wrote that GA is more expensive than the airlines. This
>>is not necessarily true., especially if:
>>* you have several people in the plane
>>* the airlines don’t go where you need to go
>>* your time is worth anything
>>* airline times don’t fit your schedule
> I fly from West Lafayette, Indiana to (a) Ann ARbor, Michigan and (b) Columbus,
> Ohio several times a year. In our club C172, I can make either trip for
> about $160-$175 (we charge $40/tach hour); occasionally, I’ve rented a
> Duchess from the local FBO and end up paying about $400. By comparison,
> Northwest has a commuter flight from Lafayette to Detroit Metro; RT fare
> is $497, with nothing cheaper for advance purchase. And, of course, I
> still need to get to ann arbor from metro. To get to Columbus, I’d need to
> fly out of Indianapolis, which is a 65 minute drive. Fares were several
> hundred dollars the one time that I checked. So, GA is cheaper; I usually
> take along a co-pilot and that’s how I maintain instrument currency.
> Finally, I can make the trip to Ann Arbor on Northewst and still have
> time for business, but not to Columbus. From march to mid-November,
> I’ve been able to make about 90% of my planned trips. The rate
> drops a lot in winter–to about 50%–because of forecast icing. The
> people that I’m meeting are used to this and appreciate the flexbility
> of arrival and departure times tht I get with GA.
There are other sides to the above as well.
I need to go to Monterey, CA and Plano, TX on a more or less regular basis,
from Ventura, CA (nearby airports are Camarillo and Oxnard, the latter being
served by a couple of commuters [AA Eagle and United Express]).
GA is cheaper than the airlines if I wanna go to Monterey.
The airlines are cheaper if I wanna go to Plano.
Also, the dispatch rates for the airlines is better than GA’s, especially
during the winter. And, after a long day of work at our lab in Monterey, I may
not be up to a long (2.5 hours) flight home, especially if it’s gonna be in
IMC.
I don’t mean to be too negative, I wish I could fly myself everywhere I need to
go, it’s certainly much more convenient than catching flights at big airports.
–
Javier Henderson (JH21)
hender…@mln.com