Flying your own plane to work

[Rgbeard]

I fantasized about flying myself when I had an office in Fallbrook, CA right next to the airport and had to spend 2 days in Camarillo, CA every month. I usually kicked myself every month for not doing it ... usually about the time I had to queue up in one of the westbound freeways that were nothing but taillights by 6 am ... alas, I never did fly it.

@gkainz





Was your office near here?

My wife worked for Morgan Stanley, later Merrill Lynch out of the same office here on Mission. Just a couple of blocks from the runway.

Romantic thought to fly there a lot, but I don't miss the Fallbrook airport. A 2,100' runway that has a high penalty for failure. It even caught the locally-based CAP by surprise, and they flipped a 182.

 

[Sac Arrow]

After I wrecked my 1200RT, I replaced it with a Concours C14. I really liked the RT a lot better even though it was slower. Better wind protection, better slow speed handling, cruise control, light throttle and clutch pulls. The Connie was just heavy, and top heavy. It was a chore to whip u-turns on. A 400 pound top heavy sportbike I don't mind. A 600+ pound one, ugh.

And the main reason for riding was for commuting. If I wasn't flying to the Bay Area, I was riding if the weather was reasonable, to take advantage of lane sharing and HOV use. But now the local toll roads require motorcycles to have a Fastrack, and are charged tolls on bridges, so the advantage of riding has gone down significantly.

 

[UngaWunga]

A little mud on your license plate should take care of that problem...

 

[gkainz]

@gkainz

View attachment 83743



Was your office near here?

My wife worked for Morgan Stanley, later Merrill Lynch out of the same office here on Mission. Just a couple of blocks from the runway.

Romantic thought to fly there a lot, but I don't miss the Fallbrook airport. A 2,100' runway that has a high penalty for failure. It even caught the locally-based CAP by surprise, and they flipped a 182.

@Rgbeard Close ... directly across the street from Dominick's ... 1667 S Mission Rd, corner of S Mission Rd and Rocky Crest, from 1985 to 1990

 

[Rgbeard]

@gkainz - I know that building. Yeah, you were a block closer to the airport than my wife's office was.

It was a fun place to live.

 

[n2230b]

UngaWungaaaaa!!!!!Biiiiillllllll!!!!

You are just wrong on these levels:
My 1200GS looks like a Big Bad INSECT!
Riding ergonomics make you feel like a Panzer Commander.
Look down between you knees and those 2 Cyls remind me of,,,,,,well,,,,,Breasts.
With my Russell Daylong leather saddle 1000 mi in 1 day is no prob.

The only other bike that comes close is a ‘77 Norton Commando.
And please don’t mention racer replicas. OK, Ducati 900 pretty also.

IMO.
Regards,

 

[N1120A]

I have thought about doing this if I were to take a job at HQ. But winter weather kills that dream with a commute in Illinois. Plus trying to commute daily into Chicago Exec is not my idea of cheap or convenient.

It would be an hour flight versus a 3 hour drive. If I were single or without kids, maybe.

I'd think you'd need something FIKI to make that work.

My dad was a pro wrestler in the Tennessee territories and some of the other southeastern territories in the 60s and 70s. He also worked a full time job. He got his license and starting flying to and from the matches so he wouldn’t miss work. His Apache was burned to the ground at the airport in Harlan Ky by fans in the early, mid 70s ( people thought it was real then and he was known for being very dirty) He then bought a 310 that he kept until after he quit wrestling and stopped flying in the early 80s. He ended up with around 2k hours and and actually got his instrument and commercial along the way. Was a big reason I always wanted to become a pilot.

Great story. There are several pro wrestlers who fly/flew. Ronnie Garvin is a CMEL and flew all over. Jimmy Garvin actually became a corporate pilot (maybe Net Jets) after retiring from wrestling. If you think about the old territorial system, especially when the territories got a bit larger, it was perfect for light GA.

I fly out of Gillespie so it has less June Gloom than Montgomery.

Every time I see your picture it brings back memories. Ive had quite a few hours in 626FT prior to leaving Plusone

I dislike SEE for many reasons, but you definitely can get in there VFR more often. One problem is when ceilings go anything remotely low - like below 800' - you're diverting.

626 is definitely a great plane. I bought her from Larry because of how much I enjoy flying her. Been up in AUN getting a big panel upgrade for months. I have to settle for the Bonanza, but I prefer flying 626.

 

[jd21476]

You bought 626 from Larry? I offered to buy her about 3 years ago but he wouldnt sell her. Congrats

 

[N1120A]

You bought 626 from Larry? I offered to buy her about 3 years ago but he wouldnt sell her. Congrats

Yeah. Start of last year. Actually, we've been partners on her and I'm fully taking over. I've been managing partner since joining. Full G3x suite going into the panel.

 

[jd21476]

Nice panel. Larry never said he was a partner on it. But I thought he had another one as well, right?

 

[N1120A]

Nice panel. Larry never said he was a partner on it. But I thought he had another one as well, right?

He wasn't till last year. He does have another one, which he has at RNM.

 

[jd21476]

Well, congrats on the really nice plane. Maybe Ill see you out and about flying around San Diego

 

[Rogue_Ryder]

Anyone Regularly Commute to work with their plane Along Colorado's Front Range?

I'm curious because we're talking about moving from Colorado to Wyoming (Gov Polis passing certain laws recently is the main driver for wanting to leave CO). I work next to the Boulder Airport and while we do have a lot of sunny days here, we also have some serious wind and much more so in Cheyenne or Laramie (where we're looking to relocate to). I can sell my modest house here and buy a place with enough land to have my own grass strip up there. Just not sure that we'd have enough days where I could fly to make it practical. The flying wouldn't make or break the deal for me, just curious if anyone else does it or has done it? More than likely I'd get a Cherokee 140 if it were a viable option. As it is, if we can make this move happen I would do 2-3 days in the office with a 3hr round trip in a car (ugh) and Telecommute the other days, so this wouldn't be a 5 day/wk commute.

 

[Jmcmanna]

Speaking as a controller, Arnold used to commute from SMO to SMF daily M-F in a G-IV. Every morning at 8am they’d be off, and they’d arrive back at SMO about 6pm.

 

[N1120A]

I feel like a Cherokee 140 wouldn't be a great choice with the high DA.

Speaking as a controller, Arnold used to commute from SMO to SMF daily M-F in a G-IV. Every morning at 8am they’d be off, and they’d arrive back at SMO about 6pm.

Yeah, can't get a G-IV off SMO anymore. Wonder if he still has that plane?

 

[bflynn]

Since the thread came back, I’ll mention this. I live 15’ from my main office and like 3 miles from the corporate office.

however right now I will probably fly to visit clients. Would never have been allowed before but on my trip a couple of weeks ago I was denied entry to the client site because I had used mass transit, including airlines. Now I have a legit reason to fly myself to client sites. Silver lining in every pandemic.

 

[Jmcmanna]

Yeah, can't get a G-IV off SMO anymore. Wonder if he still has that plane?

Actually, he used NetJets! No idea who paid the bill; him or CA.

 

[N1120A]

Actually, he used NetJets! No idea who paid the bill; him or CA.

He paid the bill. The state would have never done that, rightfully. If anything, the most he would have been reimbursed is what legislators get to fly Southwest, and probably not for flying every day. My guess is he's a NetJets member. I would have thought all that flying he did would have warranted buying a plane. A GIV makes no sense for such a short flight though.

 

[Jmcmanna]

California was bankrupt at the time too (I got an IOU for my state tax refund in 2007), so him paying the bill himself makes sense!

 

[Shawn]

He paid the bill. The state would have never done that, rightfully. If anything, the most he would have been reimbursed is what legislators get to fly Southwest, and probably not for flying every day. My guess is he's a NetJets member. I would have thought all that flying he did would have warranted buying a plane. A GIV makes no sense for such a short flight though.

He didn't pay the bill nor did the state...It was all mostly Political Action Committee funded...aka "special interest" donations

He was all NetJets. Surprisingly apparently even with the daily flights and frequent international trips at his peak travel he was still only NetJets #2 client...makes me wonder who was #1!

It was about convince and service, not economics...he never had to worry about a plane or Mx and they would apparently even send a backup jet for occasional mission critical trips at no cost.

State has a King Air for the mortal Governors to fly on but it rarely gets used. Brown was all Southwest but Newsom is reportedly using the King Air a bit.

 

[gkainz]

Anyone Regularly Commute to work with their plane Along Colorado's Front Range?

I'm curious because we're talking about moving from Colorado to Wyoming (Gov Polis passing certain laws recently is the main driver for wanting to leave CO). I work next to the Boulder Airport and while we do have a lot of sunny days here, we also have some serious wind and much more so in Cheyenne or Laramie (where we're looking to relocate to). I can sell my modest house here and buy a place with enough land to have my own grass strip up there. Just not sure that we'd have enough days where I could fly to make it practical. The flying wouldn't make or break the deal for me, just curious if anyone else does it or has done it? More than likely I'd get a Cherokee 140 if it were a viable option. As it is, if we can make this move happen I would do 2-3 days in the office with a 3hr round trip in a car (ugh) and Telecommute the other days, so this wouldn't be a 5 day/wk commute.

I would be right there with you, my friend! Except we're staying here "because of the grandkids" (or "I would be single if I moved to WY", as much as I would like to be back to some semblance of conservative governance, so it's not happening ... yet).

 

[EdFred]

my work is about 17 miles closer to my house than the hangar is, so.......

 

[kgruber]

Back in 1969 when I was in the 142nd fighter wing, I lived in Seattle. The Oregon Air National guard was in Portland.

They let me fly my Cessna 185 to weekend meetings and park WAY back on the flightline.

I also flew to Anchorage with the base commander's son, for two-week summer camp. The three of us then went fishing, in my floatplane, to Lake Illiamna. The Air Force had a fishing camp there. I have no idea WHAT the F-102s were doing at Elmendorf......NEVER went there!

 

[Rogue_Ryder]

I would be right there with you, my friend! Except we're staying here "because of the grandkids" (or "I would be single if I moved to WY", as much as I would like to be back to some semblance of conservative governance, so it's not happening ... yet).

The good news is the woman is 100% on board with moving up to WY; it's just the commute would be horrendous in a car (although doable). We took our son up to Laramie for his 3rd birthday for skiing at the Snowy Range and as much as I love Laramie the wind is just brutal in the winter (doubtful they get many light aircraft in and out of there often in the winter).

We've got our eye on Cheyenne but seemingly many others do as well between work from home during the pandemic and the chaos of the riots over the summer many have flown the coup and relocated up there. A coworker of mine just bought a place in Piedmont SD and supposedly there's a large influx of people there too. He's in the midst of building a Velocity Kit plane that he plans to use to fly back and forth "Someday" but will telecommute for now. I really thought it might be feasible to get a large enough place up there that I could fly something like a Zenith 701 right off my property fly it to Boulder and zip over to my office on a bike; probably more a pie in the sky dream than a practical solution. The odds are still pretty high that we'll be selling our CO property and moving there, just going to have suck up the long days and intermix telecommuting, ideally we want to relo before our kiddo has to start school.