Yep, the 4P is a going places machine alright. Guy I know in California owns a turbine version. On another note have you even seen one of these little guys? Looks like great fun: http://iconaircraft.com/

I’ve been a fan since day 1, get the emails, saw mockups and prototypes at shows, etc. They only just got the papal blessing from FAA (where every office is the Office of Aviation Inhibition) and started shipping customer aircraft.

So did you fly as part of your SF or MI duties?

On another note…if you belong to a flying club, and they rent planes to the club members and you take an overnight trip with one, do you pay a rental fee for “flight time” or do you pay a rental fee for all of the time it is away from it’s home airport where it will likely sit idle most of the time?

I did not ever fly for a military position, just got hauled around a lot… and jumped, rappelled, fast-roped, STABOed, etc. I did use a plane sometimes for travel, and got paid the mileage rate for using private airplane.

Rentals are usually based on the time on the “Hobbs meter,” which is the time the aircraft master switch is turned on. If you’re going to take a rental for X days you need to coordinate that… places where the plane might be making a lot of money in those days want to know you’re going to use it enough hours to justify it being away.

I guess another way to ask the question, or what I’m really interested in is this:

You have a family of 4. You are going on a 4-day trip somewhere that is a 4-hour plane ride each way. The cost of round-trip commercial plane tickets is 4X. The cost of private plane rental is Y. Which form of transportation is the most cost-effective?

IMHO, the short answer is going to be commercial aviation…

If Hognose wants to provide some of the variables, it shouldn’t be too hard to run the calculations… but his “y” might be different from your “y” (what you would pay for the rental versus what he might pay for the rental, differentiated by aircraft type plus regional differences?) Another consideration is weight – are we talking two slender adults (@170LB X 2) plus two younger kiddos (100LB max X 2) or “American size” adults X 4? As well as how much luggage is going along with you?

IMHO, most “general aviation” aircraft will already be maxed out at “American” X 4… and as I think about it, I’m going to dare say you are limited in your flying experience… My father has a private license and many times “commercial air” turned out to be more cost-effective, although he has flown as far as the east coast to Alaska mainly for the “fun” of it! Oh yeah, don’t forget what you will have to spend on fuel!

I figured commercial aviation was cheaper. I have a wealthy friend that tries to convince me that the costs of private aviation are “not that big a deal”, so I should get a pilot’s license and either buy or rent a plane and take my family on various vacations. If I had his dough, I certainly would.

Depending how much you fly, buying your own plane can be a better choice than renting from someone else (i dunno, will your friend let you borrow HIS plane?)

I also forgot to add – depending on your aircraft, weather will also be a factor as well… I don’t remember the link but I saw a VERY interesting video/graphic about “airspace congestion” when landings (and takeoff) were temporarily halted as a thunderstorm passed over Hartsfield/Atlanta Intl… it was almost like seeing an elaborate christmas light display as each incoming flight was represented as a short colored arrow, which turned into a small circling arrow as it was “parked” in holding while air traffic control waited for the thunderstorm to pass… I think at least 20 planes (or more?) got circled up while waiting for the storm to pass (viewed in a time-lapse view that shortened a much longer period of time, maybe 1 or 2 hours, down to 2 or 3 minutes)

So, add the cost and the time to certify all the way up to “instrument rating” (so you can still make it to your destination without checking landmarks on the ground)… BUT if you can afford it, I’m sure you will find (as with many other pilots) the sense of independence of climibing into the cockpit, firing up your aircraft, and accomplishing something that most other people have no choice but to pay someone else to do for them, not to mention your avoidance of the TSA fun times…

Unless you’re being reimbursed for travel, or in a tax bracket where the roughly 50¢ per (statute) mile travel expense translates into a significant deduction, it’s hard to make a private plane work financially if you travel less than 200 hours a year. Because you have high fixed costs (storage, insurance, annual inspection, semiannual flight review, licensing etc.) and high variable costs (the largest of which is depreciation or, on an older machine, maintenance reserves, the next largest is fuel).

There is a whole art of fuel savings. Once, you could run autogas, but since the farm lobby via the EPA has insisted that all autogas contain 10% or more low-quality corn ethanol it is no longer safe for use in most certified aircraft (some light-sport aircraft with the Rotax 912 series engine can tolerate ethanol-adulterated fuel).

Also, a couple hundred hours a year is a pretty good baseline for proficiency.

That said, weather is a limiting factor. You could probably benefit from an instrument rating in most places, but there are two weather conditions that are unsafe for small piston planes, thunderstorms and icing (which occurs in some precipitation or in some clouds). There are planes with known-icing equipment, but it’s hard pressed to compare with a northeastern US or Midwest winter and in my opinion gives you a second chance to exercise discretion and run away. On any critical trip you take by small plane, you need to have a Plan B and be willing to execute it. Slipping the trip a day or two works. Renting a car and coming back for the plane when the weather’s better works (having the rental place retrieve the plane, or having an instructor you know do it if it’s your own, can work too, but it’s expensive).

“Time to spare, go by air.” If that is your mindset you get where you’re going in good spirits and rested. It’s much more draining to fly in foul weather.

If you like the high-speed Lancairs,take a look at n54sg.com. It’s the personal website describing the aircraft of a pilot who flies a Lancair Legacy in the Reno air races. The plane is heavily modified with aerodynamics from Aerochia and a twin-turbo TSIO-550 engine. The plane averages over 265 knots flying cross country, and 324 knots top speed during the race!

This guy Ryan has the same engine on his 4P and he claims to flight plan 270kt! I’ll take a look at 54SG. That has to be boosted and tuned very differently to fly in those desert races.

“Most ” flying clubs have a minimum number of hours for rentals when the plane will be absent the home base for more than a day. Typical could be 3 “Hobbs” hours per day. Often there is a grace period before the fee must be paid so that the time can actually be flown off.

EXAMPLE:

Plane gone for 4 days, 3 hour minimum =12 hours charged.

Plane actually flown 10.5 hours. Payment made for 10.5 hours, 30 days to fly off the 1.5 hours not used.

If flown just paid for a t regular rates. If not flown the member still has to pay the 1.5.

Some commercial rental/FBOs have similar arrangements.

Thank you for that explanation.

IIRC, the builder/pilot of the Lancair told us that he did not particularly enjoy building or flying it. Okay then. He also said he has never stalled it, even deliberately in perfect conditions for practice. That’s the aviation equivalent of making something “too big to fail” – it only guarantees that when the failure comes, it will be disastrous.

So says the guy who owns a collection of airplane parts, a student certificate, 15 hours in the old logbook, and a pretty cool teenage son (the BlogNephew.)