Originally Posted by
CX500T
If you don't mind me asking, roughly where do you fly in from? We have been looking at leaving VA, and while the Seniority in NYC is nice, GA in winter is to put it nicely, a **** show barring the expense (de-ice, need a FIKI plane a lot etc)
As it is, pre-COVID I was sitting reserve at home knowing under the old (now new again) commute rules if I didn't get on the late RJ to NYC, I had to drive and there was maybe one day a week where the reduced flights (Saturday I think) there was 2-3 hours where a min call = just drive. (5-7 hours to NYC airports for me)
Positive space/no backup COVID I had a 2-3 hour "no mans land" window, but never had to drive it.
Now? We've lost our 50 seater service, used to have 13 flights a day on DL RJs... Plus another 7 or so between American and United. Now? 8 on a good day. And nothing after 1645. I was entertaining the GA commute again.
I fly out of Fresno when I jumpseat. BTW, thanks! I just checked and we are down to 1 direct flight a day that leaves at 6:25am. Without your input I would have thought we still had 2. That just doesn't cut it for a 11pm SYD departure. I've done the 2-leg commute thing on DL through SLC and that just sucks and really not doable unless PS; WN through LAS works better. Not to mention, it is a 45min drive to FAT for me. My home airport is 2O6 and is 5 min from my house, hanger lease is $1,200/year. I usually preflight the day before just to make sure everything is good (didn't leave the master on or stupid stuff like that). Now the bad: winter. When and if we ever get rain, the freezing level tends to be quite low; the MEA for the direct routes is 9,500. They often close I-5 also due to snow. After the rain we get Tule fog and the horizontal visibility is almost nil but surprisingly the VV is good. I’ve flown VFR into our airport when visibility was reported 0/0 as you can see through the fog all the way to touchdown; it makes taxiing interesting. It’s class G airspace below 1,200’ here, no instrument approach and no fuel on the field. On the days I can’t get back in I VFR, I just do an ILS to MCE which is like 15 miles north and if that fails, I head for one of the VFR mountain airports MPI, O22, to wait it out and enjoy their coffee and reasonable fuel prices.
Probably way too much information, I know. Figuring out a routine and doing it a few times is like riding a bike (get on, fall off, repeat). The turbo Mooney is a great airplane. You’re not going to carry 4 PPL, bags and fuel but you can pick 2 out of 3, well 2 1/2. You can climb high and haul ass at 170kts burning 11-12 GPH or pull the power WAY back to 120-130kts burning 5.5 GPH. Bottom line, airplanes are expensive but being able to leave my house and be in the air in less than 30 min is great. No drive and parking at the airport, leaving a backup flight, all to sit around the crew lounge for hours before report. BTW, when I do commute due to wx or the airplane being down and such, my backup is to drive so I still allow 4+ hours from the last departure. Driving in LA traffic is horrible and the drive home consist of 3 hours of dead straight road, boring. The replies are going to be “just move closer to the airport.” NO THANK YOU. We love living in a small red-neck town.