Many cities that had airline service 30 years ago, no longer
have any service, even an old Beech BE99 doesn't stop
anymore.
Years ago a company with offices in Wichita and Burlington
would have regular staff meetings. In order to get four to
six people to Burlington for an 8 AM Monday meeting they had
to buy six tickets and leave Wichita Sunday morning. They
then had to have rooms at the hotel for 6. The meeting
would run until 4-5 PM, after the last flight out that day,
so another night in the hotel. Then they would travel on
Tuesday, getting home in the late afternoon. Cost was in
the $5,000 range, considering lost time, even more.

But they could charter a King Air for a round trip cost of
$2.00 a mile [higher now] and depart Wichita at 6 AM and be
there for the 8 AM meeting. When they finished at 5-6 PM
they'd go back to the airport and be home for a late dinner
and their own bed by 9 PM. No lost week-end, no strange
hotels, no days missed in the office.

The cost was a King Air, a motel room for the pilot so duty
time limits could have the required 10 hours of consecutive
rest between "days" and a charge for meals and taxi. They
also paid a wait time charge for the pilot and airplane for
time in excess of the flight time waiting.

It is hard to beat the time from LAX to NYC, even with a
personal G-V and most Lear Jets require a fuel stop coast to
coast. But most business trips are under 1,000 miles and a
200 mph Bonanza can cover that in 5-6 hours. The airlines
require you check-in 1-2 hours early, fly a 2 hour flight
and take 1/2 an hour to get your bags.
You can't get any real work done on the airlines and you
"meet the 'nicest' people on the airlines."


"Roger (K8RI)" wrote in message
...
| On 25 Oct 2006 10:51:07 -0700, "Gene Seibel"
wrote:
|
| I have used my airplane to travel to jobsites for many
years. It has
| several advantages.
|
| 1) By the time you wait in line to get on an airliner,
and have extra
| stops and plane changes, especially with today's security
issues, I can
| usually get their quicker.
|
|
| BEFORE today's security issues I could normally beat the
airlines out
| to about the distance of Denver/Boulder/Orlando which is
max nonstop
| for the Deb.
|
| 2) I can often get there cheaper, especially if it's a
last minute
| trip, or when I consider fees for changing tickets for my
unpredictable
| return trip, or fees for extra luggage for the test
equipment I
| sometimes need to carry.
|
| On a last minute trip with a non discount airfare the Deb
would be
| cheaper. With Joyce and I it was cheaper than a pair of
discount
| airfares.
|
|
| 3) Easy to change plans or add a new destination, which I
have done on
| numerous occasions.
|
| If the mood hits you can change.
|
|
| 4) It makes me a happy camper.
|
| I love mine too.
|
| It's certainly not impractical.
|
| But the weather is much more of a factor than it is flying
commercial.
| Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
| (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
| www.rogerhalstead.com