General Aviation Aircraft Provide Great Utility as Business Transportation - By: Allan Michael Taylor

There are many, many reasons why we fly general aviation (GA) aircraft...from chasing the elusive $150 hamburger to introducing flying to children through Young Eagles flights. But recently as I debriefed from a successful long business flight from Oregon to near San Diego, I reflected on how smooth and convenient this trip was, start to finish.

In 2007, we bought a 1964 Piper Cherokee 235 for both business and pleasure, and on this trip , we enjoyed some of both. It was a trip that would have been impossible on the airlines at ANY price, and proved that flying your own GA aircraft is one great way to get around.

Let's take a quick look at how GA beat the pants off the scheduled carriers. Day One began with an easy southbound leg from Eugene to KGOO (Nevada County/Grass Valley). Funny identifier, but a very nice field actually. We talked shop with a client and were back in the air at 3 PM for the longest leg of this multi-city journey. Just after 7 PM, we touched down on the USS Fallbrook, a little GA airport north of San Diego with major league drop offs at both ends. Fallbrook Airpark (L18) sits atop a "mesa" so it gets plenty of wild crosswinds blowing from everywhere. By the end of this day, we were visiting a niece and her family, including her newborn baby.

This was a day that could not have happened without a GA plane at my disposal. Between landing at larger regional airports, car rentals and drive times, social meetings in both NorCal and SoCal in the same day would have been impossible.

Day two was a relatively drama free trip north to Fresno Air Terminal for two days of business meetings and a Saturday wedding. By landing at Atlantic Aviation instead of going through the cattle yard where the scheduled airlines drop off their cargo, we were in our rental car and rolling before my luggage would have reached the carousel inside the terminal. A serious boost to our productivity.

We packed a lot into the two days on the ground in Fresno, business meetings, lunch with family, dinner with clients, a brief stop at a trade show, and the wedding. Did I mention that we also brought along a rather fragile wrapped baby gift in our GA plane? The gift arrived perfectly intact...an impossible feat via the airlines as it was too big for carry on, and it would have got murdered as checked baggage.

Day three was the simple return trip to Eugene. But our family had an important celebratory affair planned in Portland, Oregon at 4 PM, and our day was starting at a friend's home in the foothills 30 nm east of FAT. By flying GA, we were able to get coffee and arrive at the FBO by 8 AM – which had the plane fueled and ready – and were wheels up at 8:20 AM. The flight plan was spot on all the way north, and we arrived back at EUG just past noon. With the convenience of GA flight, we were able to get our car and were on the road to Portland to make our afternoon function just fine.

Yes, there is a slim chance we could have maybe caught a commercial flight from FAT through SFO to PDX, rented a car and slipped into the function at about 6 PM, two hours late for the gig. But did I mention we also brought back about 20 linear feet of custom picture frame moulding, a large – and delicate – Peacock feather (don't ask) and several pounds of fresh California fruit and grapes? These items could not have survived the overhead bin of the Friendly Skies, or even made it through security, but in our GA aircraft, they made the trip fine.

This, was the kind of trip that our Cherokee 235 was built for way WAY back in 1963, and 45 years later, it is still flying splendid sorties on a near-perfect schedule, sipping 12 GPH at about 121 KTAS. Oh, did I mention that the S-Tec 50 A/P flew every leg of this trip as accurately as a $620,000 Cessna Corvalis? Sure, some of today's composite flying machines are faster, sleeker and have more pretty pictures on their panels. But when you get right down to it, my old school cruiser can complete the same mission in more flight time burning less gas while hauling more useful payload skyward.

And at $555,000 less buy-in and dirt-cheap insurance, that is some seriously affordable utility.

About the Author

Author Dan Pimentel owns a advertising agency that specializes in aviation. He has been a professional photographer since 1980 and displays his work online. He also blogs about aviation on his blog, World of Flying.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Allan-Michael-Taylor/45501

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