Commuter Airplane

woodchucker said:
I can't really answer the question posed, but is it realistic under any circumstance to expect to commute that far, by air, to a job? Seems too much is against it. Cost and safety primarily. I would think it's best to live near where you work, and fly for fun?
Click to expand...

I think it depends on the job and how flexible your schedule is and what the alternate plan is.

What do you do on the days when the weather won't support (IFR below mins/ice/bad t-storms....etc)?

What do you do on the days you have a bad cold and aren't fit to fly? ( obviously call in sick, but a bad cold might take you out of the office a day or two driving a car while it could be several days before you are fit to fly again)

What do you do when you get the the airport and something is wrong on the run up?

250nm round trip is at least a 2.5-3 hour drive each way (290sm) and possibly even more in some parts of the country.

When you wake up in the morning and can't fly, you aren't going to be able to hop in the car and make it on time, so how will that effect your job?
 
woodchucker said:
I can't really answer the question posed, but is it realistic under any circumstance to expect to commute that far, by air, to a job? Seems too much is against it. Cost and safety primarily. I would think it's best to live near where you work, and fly for fun?
Click to expand...
What's best for commuting isn't always practical, especially when in comes to uprooting families for a short term assignment.
 
woodchucker said:
I can't really answer the question posed, but is it realistic under any circumstance to expect to commute that far, by air, to a job? Seems too much is against it. Cost and safety primarily. I would think it's best to live near where you work, and fly for fun?
Click to expand...

When I used to work (on occasion) in Hawthorne, California (and what a garden spot that is), I came to know that there were dozens of Northrop employees commuting daily from the "Inland Empire" in cost-sharing planepools, mostly 172s and Cherokees, but I also saw some Bonanzas and Comanches. Learned all this because (at least at that time) the cafe at the airport (called, amusingly, "Icarus") was the only place nearby that was not a titty bar or a fast-ffod restaurant with bulletproof glass 'twixt servers and customers.

In chatting with a guy who did it daily, he told me that they made the drive/fly decision at 0430 (or thereabouts), had to scrub something like one day in eight on average, and that it would have been utterly impractical without the instrument rating.
 
woodchucker said:
I can't really answer the question posed, but is it realistic under any circumstance to expect to commute that far, by air, to a job? Seems too much is against it. Cost and safety primarily. I would think it's best to live near where you work, and fly for fun?
Click to expand...

I was thinking about the time involved. Even with a "fast plane", you're still looking at a couple of hours each direction, every day. Seems like that would wear a person down over time. I know there are people that commute that far to work by car, but it just seems like that's a lot on a person. If it were me, I'd probably be looking at getting a cheap apartment and flying back a couple of times per week.
 
rbridges said:
I was thinking about the time involved. Even with a "fast plane", you're still looking at a couple of hours each direction, every day. Seems like that would wear a person down over time. I know there are people that commute that far to work by car, but it just seems like that's a lot on a person. If it were me, I'd probably be looking at getting a cheap apartment and flying back a couple of times per week.
Click to expand...

You'd have to have the right setup. Live right near the airport, work right near the airport. Yes, it'll be along commute and would have to be the right plane and pilot.
 
woodchucker said:
I can't really answer the question posed, but is it realistic under any circumstance to expect to commute that far, by air, to a job? Seems too much is against it. Cost and safety primarily. I would think it's best to live near where you work, and fly for fun?
Click to expand...

I have known a couple people in So Cal who did daily commutes by plane to SF or Sacramento. It depends a lot on the climate you live in.
 
There was a Lockheed engineer that used to commute between Burbank and his ranch in the high desert. This was in the 70s and he built himself a C-150 with 150hp and state of the art IFR panel. I remember the right side of the panel was about 3 inches higher than stock to make room for all the avionics. It had a climb prop on it and would climb like crazy out of Burbank and right up over the mountains. You could probably find a beater RV4 or 6 that would fit the bill. Remember, when you get done the airplane will be worth about the same as when you bought it. Don
 
Personally I'm working on shifting to a job where I travel some and can fly myself for some of that travel. But that's more like a week at a time. Currently considering an M20J. If it works well I may look at upgrading to something with FIKI in a few years.
 
Given he lives in California, I'm gonna guess the traffic sucks?

290 miles round trip a day driving could mean 7-8 hours in the car as opposed to 2.5-3 hours in a plane, depending on the winds. So while it is impractical usually, this guys situation might be one that actually supports it.

If it's impractical to commute by car (and I'd say 290 miles a day is totally impractical to drive) then flying might be the only option. Either that or move.

Personally, I'd just move and spend that flying budget on a really nice 4-6 seater and do some traveling as opposed to burning all that gas for work.

If it's a short-term deal for a few years that you want to grind through, rent an apartment and fly there and back once or twice a week.
 
Last edited:
California is one of the places where commuting by GA is really feasible. The IMC is 98% benign, and typically gone by 10am. I still prefer a twin because off airport landing options are typically quite ugly, but plenty of people do it in a single.
 
mmarqu said:
Hi All,

This is my first post, and I am looking into the possibility of purchasing an airplane to commute to and from work 5 days a week (250 NM RT each day). Assuming the total annual NM would be 60k.
MMARQU
Click to expand...
Am I to understand, that the commute will be a 125 mile leg? If that is what you are doing, that is a little over an hour in a Cessna 150 (commuter ) On auto fuel at 4-5 gallons per hour, they insure for about 850 per year, you local A&P-IA will usually inspect them for less than $1000.
I think It can be done well within your budget.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top