I don't necessarily count all the hours except door to door.

Flight planning may take time, but so does shopping for a ticket price, or
making sure the car is ready for the trip. Also, being considerate, I over
value the time of my host when I visit someone. No one minds driving 15
minutes to get you, but when are asking them to pick you up at a major
airport, you can be taking a lot of their time.

Anyway, my most common trip is a 3-3.5 hour drive, and realisticly not much
better door to door in the airplane (maybe 2.5 at best). Now, if I could
talk the wife into moving away from downtown, I could save an hour each way
( I live 15 to 30 minutes from the airport depending on traffic)

To me, its the fun of flying there that makes it worth it anyway. But then,
I have a fun plane, rather than a serious hauler. Also, when I get there, I
can take my friends flying.


"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...
"TTA Cherokee Driver" wrote:
...I also don't think GA pilots
honestly account for how long a flight takes.

True. I often fly from Mobile to Dothan, AL on business. The round trip
drive from my house is 6.5 hours. The round trip flight is 2 hours, 40
min. - flying time that is. But here's the real story:

get weather, read NOTAMs & file (DUATS): 10 min.
drive to KBFM: 15 min.
get in gate, load & preflight airplane, (incl. some task like adding
oil) 20 min.
start, get ATIS & clearance, taxi & runup: 15 min. (it's a long taxi)
fly to KDHN: 1 hour, 20 min.
taxi & park, leave fuel order: 10 min.
get a ride to the terminal & pick up rent car: 15 min.
drive to customer's site: 10 min.
drive back to KDHN: 10 min.
get weather, get NOTAMs & file: 10 min.
preflight, startup, get ATIS & clearance, taxi & runup: 10 min.
fly to KBFM: 1 hour, 20 min.
taxi & park, unload & secure airplane, get out gate : 10 min.
drive home: 15 min.

Total: 5.17 hours.
So I save an hour+ by flying, and that's on a good day when everything
goes perfectly. Still, even if I saved only half an hour, I'd fly
anyway. I hate that drive.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)