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#11
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How often do you Fly?
On Mar 1, 12:44 am, "EridanMan" wrote:
How about how guys... how much do you 'actually' fly? how do you fit it into your day to day life? We fly as often as weather and schedule permit. We put in over 300hrs in 2005 (with several very long x-country trips) but got down to over 200hrs last year. About 80% of our flights are local with ~ 80% practice flights (shooting approaches, practicing maneuvers etc.) and ~ 20% for hobby photography/sight seeing. The remaining 20% are long distance x-country from NY to MI, IL, MN, CO etc. We are mainly weekend pilots with some weekdays or weeknights flights (mostly in the summer). We are planning for a 3 weeks coast-to-coast trip and will certainly rack up a lot more hours in 2007. Hai Longworth |
#12
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How often do you Fly?
On Mar 1, 10:59 am, "Matt Barrow" wrote:
I figure my cutout point is about 200-250 hours a year, after which owning is cheaper. Then, it would be damn near impossible to rent the equipment that we use for our typical mission. Good point there... The rental fleet here in CT is essentially limited to PA-28s and 172s with the odd Seneca thrown in. If you need to move 4-5 people and bags and still take full fuel a PA-32 is pretty tough to beat. There used to be a pair of nice Saratogas available, one FG and one RG, but those are long gone. |
#13
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How often do you Fly?
How often do the rest of you get out flying? once a week? once a
month? We have flown twice per week since we bought our first plane in '98. Weather (like the freezing rain we've been cursed with all week here) eliminates some, but we plan two week-long flying vacations every year that make up for it. Of course, one of those is Oshkosh, where we actually fly LESS than any other week of the year! :-) It adds up to 150 - 200 hours per year. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#14
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How often do you Fly?
Psychologically as a renter you are always concious of that Hobbs
meter running... As an owner the only additional cost for an extra half hour is some gas and a little oil... Owning is lots more expensive than renting, but I prefer owning.... denny I _completely_ agree, and I'll even admit that its pretty illogical, but owning, despite how (obscenely) more expensive than renting it is, really returns more 'valuable' flying experience to me(I can just relax and enjoy the flight and not worry about a clock ticking over my head). As I said, it also tends to spur me to get out flying more than I used to when I rent (the "Well, I'm paying for her anyways, lets get the most of my money!"... I think its the purely psychological - the ownership costs are all sunk into my fixed budget, which I plan out and can tolerate. When I'm renting, the substantially lower renters costs are coming out of my 'fun' budget, which I am much more aware of, and hence the costs are more painful (even if they're substantially less). |
#15
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How often do you Fly?
"EridanMan" wrote:
I _completely_ agree, and I'll even admit that its pretty illogical, but owning, despite how (obscenely) more expensive than renting it is, really returns more 'valuable' flying experience to me(I can just relax and enjoy the flight and not worry about a clock ticking over my head). After owning, it isn't the clock ticking that makes renting undesirable for me -- it's the question marks about maintenance. Yes, I know rental aircraft are required to be inspected more often, but having worked at a place that rented airplanes, I also know that unless it is *required*, it isn't always done, and not every ongoing maintenance item is divulged to renters. You can ask to see the maintenance records of airplanes you rent, but it's still impossible to really *know* the maintenance history or have any control over it like you do when you own...not to mention knowing being in control of who else flies it. |
#16
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How often do you Fly?
On Feb 28, 11:44 pm, "EridanMan" wrote:
I suppose one of the reasons that the forum is so off topic at the moment is whether has most of us grounded... Thinking along those lines though... How often do the rest of you get out flying? once a week? once a month? I've found that since I purchased 4261J, I've been 'forcing' myself to the airport more and more (at least twice a week)... I mean, after you start spending so much for insurance, tiedown, and the rest, it seems like an awfully big waste to not make it as much as possible... I'm actually not complaining (at all), considering my workload at the moment, I'd probably just as well be going home and passing out... this way at least I have at least two hours every week where I actually feel alive... How about how guys... how much do you 'actually' fly? how do you fit it into your day to day life? I can empathize with your position. But, I fly everyday as an instructor and average 800 hrs per year. Sometimes I have to keep my eyes closed when I wake up at 0500 and tell myself..."This is going to be a fun day with your students. Remember, it's new to them." then I get up, have a cup of coffee while I help my wife get the baby ready for nursery school and we each head off to our respective jobs. Really takes some serious self discussion when I hit 8 hours on the job, and know I'm going to keep on saying...."Right Rudder please?" right up to dark and looking at a 12 hr day at the airport. Must be something fun about it all or I'd have quit 20-30 years ago? Most likely will top 24,000 hrs this year at the present rate. Weather has me on the ground today so I get to do housework, vacuum, laundry, pick up the baby, etc. I wouldn't change anything in my life. Really been blessed with this little guy and it makes it all worth while. Ol Shy & Bashful |
#17
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How often do you Fly?
I try to fly once a week. Occasionally, other commitments will result in a two week gap. If it's been more than two weeks, that's when I will "force' myself to head to the airport and take the plane up. Airplanes do not like to sit idle. In the old days, I used to have a lot more maintenance issues when the plane was allowed to sit for long periods of time. John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180) -- JGalban Posted at www.flight.org |
#18
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How often do you Fly?
I rented aircraft at places like that. Once I rented a 172 that you
had to open the window just to be able to hold onto the door to close it. The passenger door had the window sealed shut, so you had to close it from the outside after your passenger got in. I complained and refused to rent that particular airframe. They had the stupidity to raise their rates, everyone stopped renting from them. Eventually they finally broke down and sent their aircraft for major refurbishment complete with all new interiors. Guys were willing to drive 50 miles to rent a brand new 172 at a much higher rental rate, than fly their trash. The learned eventually. |
#19
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How often do you Fly?
"Shirl" wrote in message
... "Matt Barrow" wrote: From March to mid-November, two to three times a week. In 2006, it was 336 hours (that included a five week grounding after surgery, during which I hired a temp Commercial pilot). In 2005, it was 418 hours. It fits my life because 80-90% of those flights are business related. Most trips are 450-500nm. Just curious ... what airplane? Until last December, a Beech B36-TC converted to a turbo-normalized IO-550. Until mid_January, we lived in Montrose, CO (elev 5600) and had to cross the mountains on every trip, so that's were the turbo came in. I did find, though, that the extra two seats were excess; only a dozen or some times did we ever use five seats. Now, I'm getting ready to close on a very nice four place. -- Matt Barrow Performance Homes, LLC Colorado Springs, CO |
#20
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How often do you Fly?
On Mar 1, 9:20 pm, "Matt Barrow" wrote:
Just curious ... what airplane? Until last December, a Beech B36-TC converted to a turbo-normalized IO-550. Until mid_January, we lived in Montrose, CO (elev 5600) and had to cross the mountains on every trip, so that's were the turbo came in. I did find, though, that the extra two seats were excess; only a dozen or some times did we ever use five seats. Now, I'm getting ready to close on a very nice four place. What are you looking at? Cirrus or Columbia maybe? |
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