Lee,

I'm a pilot/owner and heavy business traveler located in Boston, so I have
some perspective on this...

I think the concept of a small-plane fractional system a la NetJets could
have some potential in specific markets.

I travel 100k/mi year and over the past few years the airlines have really
trimmed back connections to secondary markets. If you're based in Albany and
have to visit a client in Bangor, then you're screwed. No way you can drive
out and back in one day, and even flying the airlines is tough because
you'll have to connect in Boston- better hope you can synch schedules well.

Now, with an SR-22, that becomes an easy one-day trip. This gets the
businessman back home, relaxed, not spending a night in some fleabag motel
in a dingy town (nothing against Bangor). It will however cost a lot more
than a car trip would. Also, the reason why there isn't better airline
service between Albany and Bangor is that there aren't that many people
doing it. That should sound a cautionary note.

Of course, there's a lot of flights that will get scrubbed in an SR-22
because of icing, so this isn't a good plane for you. Remember, the key
value you provide is time savings, so you darn well better not scrub too
many flights. So now you're in it for a FIKI bird, probably a decent-sized
twin so the pax don't get nervous. You like flying in small planes, but your
customers often won't. Now, a 421 would be great, but that's going to cost a
lot more per hour to run than the Cirrus, which means your "tickets" will be
more expensive, which means a lot fewer people will buy them. This is one
reason why these sorts of things aren't more prevalent. It's also why the
Safire/Eclipse/etc microjets are a potential "big deal." If they can offer
turbine reliability and mission flexibility at low operating cost, I am
absolutely certain you will see air taxi services sprouting up like
mushrooms on manure after a rainstorm. However, many aviation veterans far
more knowledgeable than I do not believe this is currently possible. I have
no skin in the game so I have adopted a "wait and see" attitude.

Come to think of it, the ideal plane for this would probably be something
like a Caravan, which will have good operating flexibility but lower costs,
especially insurance and maintenance, and fewer mechanical failures. Of
course, if you're in the Rockies this might not work, you might need a
pressurized plane.

All BS aside, the real issue here is, which is more solid, your dream or
your business? I'll bet somebody could build a business like this and make
it work. But they'll be doing most of their flying wearing green eyeshades
sitting behind a desk. If you want to fly, and nothing else, get a flying
job. They're out there and you will find one eventually, and you'll get to
do a lot more flying. If you want to build a business, OTOH, my advice
(following what an earlier poster said) would be to find your model (like
NetJets) and go work for them and learn everything you can, then rip it off.

Best,
-cwk.