Best homebuilt for ~700 nm commute

On Jul 20, 2:26 pm, es330td wrote:
On Jul 16, 9:57 pm, "Jim Stockton" me@nowhere wrote:

" With fuel prices, that would be a significant difference. --
Jim in NC

Following that I would suggest Airtran to DFW. They can handle almost any
weather that you couldn't and a ticket is about the same as 25 gal of avgas.
Alot more practical and a lot less likely to make a smoking hole due to got
to get there pressure. If you want to fly a homebuilt do it, just don't try
to reliably commute in it.
My 2 cents worth.
Jim Stockton

If I can't fly myself the commute becomes impossible. My home is
almost 2 hours drive from KATL and the place I would be is 1.5 hours
from KHOU. My trip one way is 3.5 hours before I am on an airport
property. Factor in security, loading the plane and flight time and
one way is now 7 hours. Doing that twice in a weekend leaves me with
almost no time as I am dependent on carrier schedules. I can afford
the avgas but I can't afford the time.

In the late 60's and early 70's I used to commute between Houston and
Dallas on almost a daily basis. Texas International used to offer a
weekly ticket called the Consecutive Executive. You paid one price
for a weekly pass that allowed you to fly anywhere TI serviced through
out the week. It was great and worked well for me since I lived 10
minutes from the airport in Houston and the office was 5 minutes from
Love field in Dallas. There was no real security checkin and you just
walked to the boarding gate, showed you ticket and walked on.

Even if they offered such a bargain today I don't think it would be
possible to do this today with all the issues of security and check
in. Even if you live close to the airport at both locations, the time
to commute would take longer by commercial than by private plane for
anything less than 800-1000 miles depending on aircraft. I really
believe the distance is probably even greater but allowing for a fuel
stop does affect the time.

What I would recommend is looking for a 4-place aircraft with a bit
more stability. I know that many of the 2-place homebuilts have the
range and speed you are looking for but would be concerned about the
workload factor on long routine flights. You don't want a plane that
you have to fly every minute of the flight. Most of the 4-place
planes have slightly heaver wing loading and will give you a smoother
flight. I am building a Pulsar Super Cruiser (KIS Cruiser) that would
make an outstanding choice. I would also recommend the RV10 if you
don't mind the larger engine and increased fuel burn.