Is a plane faster than a car over 126 miles?

Good video and a topic that I often think about. I live 120 miles due east of Dallas off of I-20. I have about a 15 minute drive to my Class D airport just to get to the airplane to start the trip. I do fly to Dallas occasionally just because sometimes I don't feel like dealing with traffic and I kind of enjoy letting Uber drive sometimes to get me to my destination from the airport. I don't think that it really saves any time and it definitely is more expensive, but it is more fun, which does count for something.

One thing I do a few times each year is to take (or pick up) family and friends to Dallas Love Field or DFW. It is short enough of a flight where I don't have to worry about the expensive fuel and really neither one is terribly expensive for a quick turn. I am flying my son to DFW on Wednesday for him to catch a flight somewhere (I don't even know where).

Good video and don't pay attention to the chatter on here too much. Some of these guys don't fly very much - just sit in front of their computers all day. Keep up the good work!
 
EdFred said:
3 minute drive to work which I go to WAY more than I do the airport. So your solution is to put on way more miles on a vehicle every day.
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at one time I worked at an USAF base (i.e., at the airport)...

I lived close to work and to the airport (I live just inside the OM for ILS 29).
 
Stephen Shore said:
...my Class D airport...
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That is another BIG consideration when it comes to flying vs. driving: How busy is your airport. Where I currently live, engine start to takeoff takes 15 minutes max doing my run up and taxi to the runway. No clearance required as we don't have a tower. However, when I lived in Vancouver and was based at one of the top 5 busiest airports in the country, I usually waited 30 minutes just to get a takeoff clearance. My record was nearly an hour at one occasion.
 
Brad W said:
the 4th tab about the drive to the airport and preflight has already been covered
then there's another tab that applies to some folks...the flight school or FBO's rental schedule.... now it really IS starting to get complicated.....
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I've done my drive to the airport enough times to know how long it takes and how much an accident - a fairly rare event - usually adds to the time. Plus, the route that Google Maps gives me is pretty bad. My route is both shorter and faster.

As for the rental schedule... yeah, that sucks.
 
Another data point from the lunatic fringe in an old biplane, my weekend trip to the cabin:

Driving, 110 miles, 2 hours no traffic, 2.5-3 hours in typical Friday afternoon traffic.

Flying, 93 miles@80mph, 1:10, 15 minute drive to home field, 45 minute drive from destination airport to cabin for 2:10, say 2:30 including pre-and postflight.

So flying’s usually faster even in a slow plane, and certainly a lot more enjoyable. OTOH I’m going to need a solid weather forecast for the entire weekend, I need a ride at the other end, I gotta remember not to have a beer with my lunch if I’m flying home later, and I have to be sure I get home by sunset.

Oh, and sometimes I make videos and sometimes I post them here... :cool:
 
The "no drinking" rule killed my Napa weekend a few years ago. Got in Friday, left Sunday evening. Saturday was fun, but wineries get boring quick when you're not drinking!
 
Tantalum said:
The "no drinking" rule killed my Napa weekend a few years ago. Got in Friday, left Sunday evening. Saturday was fun, but wineries get boring quick when you're not drinking!
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Flying up for a Napa or Sonoma weekend, and enjoying yourself requires flexibility of "often-stricter-than-required-by-law" personal standards.

I'm pleased to fly up on Thursday or Friday, enjoy Saturday, all day, and Sunday morning, stopping wine noon-ish, and then fly home Monday.

Our friends appreciate us flying up there. The "Suburban of the Skies" has cases of their acquisitions as well as ours, making it very handy for those involved.
 
I'm just glad I remembered. We were in the tasting room Sunday morning when it hit me
 
Lindberg said:
You have a 250kt airplane? And average 75 mph driving? Nice.
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Speed limit out here is 80 mph and our plane cruises 260 KTAS. Will be taking my partners DA40 next week as my partner has a better need for the Turboprop. So about half the performance. Will still beat the driving time, by a little. But way more fun, and way more relaxing. Just glad I have the option. We pilots are a fortunate bunch.
 
murphey said:
Denver (CFO) to Leadville - 4.5 hrs driving in nice weather and no bicycle rallies. 1.2 hrs in the cherokee. Frequent trip for our lunch bunch (as is Salida, just down the road, same time)
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4.5 hours Denver to Leadville? Roundtrip maybe, but not one way.
 
In my world I've learned the best way to generate lift is:

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And air molecules form strong bonds with other air molecules so they go faster over the top of the wing so they can meet their friends again on the trailing edge
 
EdFred said:
Where I am traffic is rarely bad. So that 126 miles is going to be pretty much 2 hours. (I'm 3 minutes from the expressway) And it's also about 40-60 minutes from leaving the house to wheels up. Depends on how much is getting loaded into the plane, whether I need go-juice or not. Then which direction am I going? Does the 20 minute drive to the airport count for me or against me on that 126 miles?

The golf course in Manistee and Sweetwater Sound is a good benchmark for this test for me.

It's about 140 miles by car and a shade over 2 hours, and it's north. The plane is south. By the time I get the plane loaded up with golf clubs, I'm just over an hour from the golf course. With the winds today it's a 52 minute flight - airport to airport. Now I gotta tie down and unload the golf clubs and either sign out the crew car (haven't checked to see if they have one) or wait on Uber for 10-15 minutes and then it's a 12 minute drive from the airport to the course. With a car I win on time, even for 140sm miles car and 104nm airplane. However it is much cooler for whoever I went there with to say "Yeah man, we flew up north and went golfing," rather than "we drove up north and went golfing."

Headed to Sweetwater Sound in Ft Wayne to buy another guitar, it's shade over a half hour flight, I'm not packing up the plane, and I'm only maybe 20 minutes further down the road since I had to drive 20 minutes in that direction anyway. I get a crewcar from Sweet Aviation at SMD (I've done twice to buy guitars so far) and it's 7 minutes to Sweetwater from the airport. I'm already in the store with the plane and if I'm in the car I'm just barely past I-94 and still have quite a few miles to drive.

Now if I'm headed to a Brewers game in Milwaukee...
(I fly over the lake)
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Interesting, it seems the 'spam' has sparked a discussion, no?
 
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