Jump to content
  • entries
    22
  • comments
    64
  • views
    211

Airlines vs GA

Nels_Anderson

Entry posted by Nels_Anderson

7,194 views

 Share

This past weekend I actually had the chance to get away for a few days. Most people go to a resort or some such for a vacation. I went to Dayton, Ohio.

 

Dayton may be a bit down on its luck right now but it does have some points of interest. Amateur radio ops reading this surely know why I was there. Dayton is of course also the home of the Wright Brothers and even though Kitty Hawk was where their first flights took place it was in Dayton that they actually invented the airplane. Dayton is the home of the USAF museum and its impressive displays, but that is the subject for another article.

 

On the way home I ran into a friend who was taking the same route back to Logan. Interesting couple...the wife is a pilot, the husband one of those unfortunates who gets queasy in a light plane. The wife had flown to Dayton with an instructor as part of her IFR training and she and the instructor had just been dropped off to start their flight back. This is interesting, we had a race here to see who gets home first.

 

Since their Cessna 172 was on an IFR flight plan we could track them all the way. While waiting for our flight at KDAY we could see the C172 had just started and was a few miles east. Our flight to KLGA was on time and off we went.

 

The C172 would be stopping in State College, Pennsylvania to refuel both the plane and pilots. We jet travelers would have an hour on the ground in New York.

 

We were off from La Guardia on time and back at KBOS on time too. After grabbing our bags and heading to ground transportation to wait for the Logan Express bus it was time to check the flight of the 172. Well, what's this? It's well into Massachusetts and in fact not all that far from its destination at 6B6. It took about 15 minutes for a bus to arrive, then some 30+ minutes for the bus ride and then it would be 20 to 30 minutes to get home for the airline passenger. The GA pilots would need to tie down and drive 20 minutes home. Now while I was not actually there for the reunion at their home it looks like the GA travelers won this race! Who would have thought.

 Share

9 Comments

Recommended Comments

mqytn
73's!. Thanks for Flightsim.com. See anything interesting there? I think I'd go HT and antenna crazy. Maybe we can say hi on echolink one day. Edited by mqytn
Link to comment
  • Founder
Nels_Anderson
  • Founder
Ah, someone who knows why I was in Dayton :-) See anything interesting? Well, yes you could say that...two days isn't enough to see everything. Not usually connected to Echolink but I'm regularly monitoring repeaters on the IRLP 9125 reflector. 73 de K1UR
Link to comment
vh-jda

Great to see some one else into both flight sim and radio.

hope to talk on IRLP one day I run node #6300 down under in VK3

 

73,s

David

VK3JDA

Link to comment
mqytn
Good deal. I have to do some reading about IRLP. I can't imagine how big the Dayton fest is. It's got to be quiet interesting to see. 73, KF4BYE.
Link to comment
Tom

Nels, Fun Blog. I missed Dayton this year.

What do you think the cost comparison might be between Comm and GA to Dayton.

Tom

W1ICU

Link to comment
  • Founder
Nels_Anderson
  • Founder
Cost comparison, interesting question, I did not consider that in the original article. I know a number of people who went to the event from here by airline and ticket prices were in the $350 to $400 range round trip per person. The Cessna 172 would require 5 to 6 flight hours each way and burn about 10 gallons per hour. Fuel at my local airport these days is going for $5.39 and I believe most places charge more, but it's a reference at least. So, for 10 to 12 hours of flight time fuel alone is $539 to $646. Roughly speaking, though, fuel costs are only about half of what it costs to fly a GA aircraft. Given that estimate, the GA flight cost roughly $1078 to $1292. This of course moved two people, and probably could have carried three if their luggage was light. So it looks like a full plane with three people and luggage would just about break even compare to the airlines.
Link to comment
doorstep
Ah' date=' someone who knows why I was in Dayton :-) See anything interesting? Well, yes you could say that...two days isn't enough to see everything. Not usually connected to Echolink but I'm regularly monitoring repeaters on the IRLP 9125 reflector. 73 de K1UR[/quote']

Happy Dxing from G7USL:cool:

Link to comment
  • Founder
Nels_Anderson
  • Founder
Well yes, I went to the USAF museum too...my article on that is still on our home page and in the features section.
Link to comment

Quick Links

Store  Links

Please note the Store and the forum use two (2) separate login systems. You need an account for each

Forums Rules - File manager Policy

×
×
  • Create New...