How long can you comfortably fly?

Challenged

Challenged

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I could probably fly a lot longer in my younger days, but for me, and particularly my wife, we can't go any longer than about 3 hours before we get too tired or antsy to continue on. How about you?
 
Doesn't matter what plane it is, from Citabria to Lear my ass gets sore after about 4 hours.
 
Depends on whether or not the aircraft has a lav and how many pilots are aboard. For me in my Tiger, about four hours is the limit, primarily due to bladder capacity (and I ain't talkin' 'bout fuel bladders).
 
Depends on the airplane and my acclimatization to it. I put the most hours in my sailplane, at the beginning of the season about 4 hours is my max. by mid summer an 8 hour flight is pretty easy to do. But then I don't have the fatigue from noise and vibration.

I fly enough power that doing 3 to 5 hours usually isn't much of an issue.

Some airplanes/sailplanes 2 hours is about my max.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
i think 6.5 hrs is my longest glider flight.
 
About 6.5 hours for me too. The type of plane makes a difference, though. That was a 182. A DA-40 is a much shorter maximum.
 
I've done CJR-OSH nonstop a few times in just under 5 hours. Those are about the longest legs I've ever done.
 
(until my arms get tired of flapping?) :goofy:


2 hours in turbulence or IMC.

3 to 4 in easy VFR.
 
My record is 5 hours 31 minutes from engine start to engine stop. I had bottles with me just in case, but didn't need to use them. I was in VMC the entire flight, however, which made it easier.
 
4 hours is about my limit I've found
 
If I ever try another 4 hr 50 min flight (my record) I will call ahead to the FBO to meet me at the plane with a port-a-potty. The walk across the ramp was the toughest part, then opening the door to the FBO almost made me embarrass myself.
 
kgruber said:
Budapest to Seattle with one fuel stop........regularly.
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Yeah, but that plane had a lav I'm betting.

About 4.5 hours is the longest flight I've done simply because the planes I fly don't have enough fuel for longer. I've learned it's much nicer to carry empty Gatorade bottles than to sit there counting the miles. Of course, depends on who's on board.
 
I used to regularly do 4.5 everyday with not a whole lot of issue and no autopilot. But anymore the older I get its about 2 hours and I want to get out for a bit.
 
I can go about 3.5hrs due to feeling cramped and needing to stretch my legs
 
Inverted said:
Doesn't matter what plane it is, from Citabria to Lear my ass gets sore after about 4 hours.
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Depends on the seat. When I bought my Champ it had a 4 hour fuel range and a 1 hour seat cushion. I found that a discarded Captain's seat cushion from a Boeing 777 was a perfect fit so now I have a 12 hour cushion but still only a 4 hour fuel range (which really means 3 hours and 15 minutes)

When we had the Maule it was equipped with Oregon Aero seats and had a 7 hour fuel range. We did a couple of legs that were between 5 and 6 hours but it was more ankles and knees than butt that got sore.

Those are some amazing seat cushions (as are discarded triple seven seats)
 
I've done Vegas to Atlanta non-stop 4 or 5 times, only used the Gatorade bottle one trip. :D It was 4 1/2 hours or so in the Citation, and it was ALWAYS a rush to the bathroom when we landed!:hairraise: Normally, I like to keep it to 2 1/2 to 3 hours for bladder comfort.:D
 
How about with stops how long can you guys fly in a day?
 
I've done 5 1/2 hours in the Pilatus several times. I want to know why they designed the airplane to hold 7+ hours of fuel, but didn't put in a relief tube. That is cruel and unusual punishment. Sure there is a lav, but it doesn't do you any good when you are single pilot.
 
4.8 is my longest leg... and that was with Mrs. SmallBladder on board! 'CT can do a good 5.5 with reserves, but that seat gets hard and my butt/legs get numb. My longest flying day was 7.3 hours... Phoenix to Burns Oregon (no autopilot, that would be much easier now that the AP works) .
 
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I have been 11 hours on ferry flights. The ocean sight is a great stimulus to keep on going.:yes:

José
 
cocolos said:
How about with stops how long can you guys fly in a day?
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I've done 11 hours flying in a day. At the end of that day I was tired, hungry, and ready for bed. I still wasn't where I wanted to be, but was too tired to continue. Oddly enough I can't remember where I was trying to go, although now with the Mooney 11 hours of flying means I'm either headed to Alaska or Nova Scotia, because you can go a LOOOONG way in 11 hours in a mooney.
 
cocolos said:
How about with stops how long can you guys fly in a day?
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My longest one day was FTY (Atlanta) to Sacramento to deliver my Citation for a pre-buy, about 12 hours total with 9 or so hours flight time.:eek: 150 knot headwind for the first leg really stretched out the day!:mad2: 200 knots groundspeed sounds good, it's not when your TAS is 360 knots!:yikes:
 
Yikes, if I had a 60 knot headwind I'd land for the day.
 
11:45 several times from Europe to the west coast or Kuwait City to Bali.
 
I don't mind 5 1/2 to 6 hours in the Mooney with Gatoraid bottle (also like Little John Jrs). Longest continuous PIC was 7 1/2 hours in a glider, but I don't claim it was comfortable.
 
About five hours in my DA40 with Oregon Aero cushions. 14 hours is my longest day but I made such a silly (fortunatley harmless) mistake at my final stop that I'm never doing that again.
 
Seems 3-4 hours is the average here. Which is about what my Ms's can do then we have to find the airport with facilities.:D:yes:
 
3.5 hours is about the max I go, but that is driven to the need for fuel. Otherwise I would think about 5 hours would be max for me.
 
I'd say 5 is my max. Luckily 95% of the time on those long flights I have another pilot on board so I'm not always committed to being the only person flying the airplane. I'd say alone 3-4 would be realistic.
 
I don't even like driving, much less flying, for more than two or three hours without a break to stretch a bit. My hindquarters fall asleep otherwise. Hey, some people's feet fall asleep, other people's buttocks fall asleep. It's part of the wonderful diversity of humanity.

Anyway, for me, two or three hours is about right. The Gatorade bottle works for the bladder needs, but you can't fly properly on a sleepy ass. Besides, I'm in no hurry to get anywhere, anyway.

-Rich
 
15 hrs used to be the norm in the B-52. My longest was about 20hrs in one mission. Inflight air refueling.
In the B-1, 5 to 7 hrs were normal training mission. I think my longest was a little over 10 hrs. War time missions were much longer.

Civil flying, I've done 6 hrs in a glider, and 4.5 hrs in the T-41B. The T-41 can hold 63 gallons or about 6 hrs less reserves.
 
With stops, most flying I did was 30 hours in a 48 hour period. But that was with Danos, so we weren't really single pilot.

Longest single pilot in a day was about 13 hours. Did that twice in a weekend - NC to UT and then LA to NYC, both in the Aztec.
 
The 172's seats make my back hurt. But I also tend to lean forward a bit when flying. I'm really tall, too.

Hell, I could probably fly for four hours straight, but I'd really wanna go stretch or at least stand up for a sec.
 
cocolos said:
How about with stops how long can you guys fly in a day?
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In the summer as soon as it was light enough to see the runway and trees safely until it was almost too dark to land again. (no runway lights and dark mountains involved)
Your brain starts to get stupid after 10 hours no matter how much endurance you body has.
 
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