doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (12/15/84)
> I never thought that the trainers would be good transportation planes! > Still, it would make a casual trip into the city a little easier (100 > miles each way by car, 60 miles each way by plane). Weather is no > problem - I don't take a casual drive in bad weather, so why should > I expect the plane to go in bad weather either. > Maybe I should have been more explicit. The problem is precisely that you DON'T expect the plane to go in bad weather. But if you're using your plane for transportation, you are going to be at your destination long enough for the weather to change (overnight). If you trust the Weather Bureau now, you'll quickly learn otherwise after you start flying. It only takes a couple of times being stranded by an unexpected storm, having to pay to airline it home so you can get to work the next day, then having to pay to airline back to your abandoned bird the next weekend, before you get absolutely and totally disgusted with the idea of flying in a fair-weather plane. My wife lost her job when we were stuck overnight in Oregon because there were no available airline seats that night. Les Brown and his Band of Renown had been stranded when the same unexpected storm had prevented their private plane from arriving to pick them up, and had booked everything they could find to make their next gig. Heck, they had to buy seats for the basses, drums, etc. too. It's kinda funny, now. We had to pay for a rental car, a motel room, and two airline tickets in order to get home on Tuesday. I ended up paying for a ferry pilot to airline to Oregon to get my plane. Until you've had it happen to you, you cannot imagine the anguish of having your plans, your time, and your money all taken away at once. Makes a total mockery of your attempt to save time, save money, and have fun by flying yourself instead of airlining. Of course, some folks go ahead and fly anyway. The CAP is looking for one that took off in the snowstorm yesterday en route to Reno. (White plane down, probably covered with new snow -- no chance). > More than two seats? > I'm single - I plan to remain single for a while yet - I nearly always > travel alone - if I did want companionship on a trip, why would I take > more than one extra person? - in other words: I don't need more than two > seats! > I repeat my claim: new pilots start out believing that a 2-seater will do, but later feel that they have to move up to a bigger plane. Unless you NEVER intend to get married and raise a family, my claim stands. When you have your first young'un, you will be hit not only with the ordinary expenses of raising a child, but also the expense of a larger plane (and possibly a larger car, but that's not at issue here.) I would be foolish to say that you CAN'T travel cross-country in almost anything that flies. But General Aviation is being "sold" as Transportation like cars or airlines. But it ain't so. If you can afford to travel cross-country by car now, you can reasonably expect that in 20 years you will also be able to afford to do so in as good or better comfort. If you can afford an airline ticket now, you can reasonably expect that in 20 years you will also be able to do so, with as good or better service. But being able to afford cross-country travel by private plane does NOT imply that in 20 years you will be able to afford to do so, at least not in anything that you'll WANT to travel in. The problem is that after your first few cross-country flights, you will discover that compared to inexpensive airplanes, cars are better for shorter trips and airlines better for longer trips. Then sometime you will find out the hard way that you cannot afford to own true Transportation airplanes for all of the next 20 years. You reluctantly come to the conclusion that selling the plane is absolutely necessary to get your finances into line. Then comes the heartbreak of realizing the time and money that you've put into chasing a mirage. The anger at the folks who all told you that it was real and possible, because they had something to sell you as long as you believed. Oh, I know I can't change your mind. But no one will be able to say that I was one of those singing the siren song, eh? Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug