Furthest you’re willing to drive to base?
 

Of course opinions will widely vary, but anyone with experience driving more than an hour to work what is a realistic distance to commute back and forth by car regularly on a full schedule without getting burnt out?

I can tell you that driving four hours to CVG to sit reserve for a week then driving four back home does not make for a happy home.

Get a Tesla, set autopilot and take a nap. Repeat. Happy commute.

I have specifically not bought a tesla because I know that would be way too tempting.

"I have specifically not bought a tesla because I know that would be way too tempting."

if you are caught doing that the consequences will make it way less tempting rather quickly

As a line holder, I would drive up to 3 hours to avoid a plane ride. Beyond that and it starts to make sense to commute provided it’s one leg and simple. If it’s more than one leg, or few viable options I’d even consider driving 4. Buy a hybrid something or other that gets 50+mpg and hopefully do it no more than 3/4 times a month.

I used to commute on a 45 minute flight where there were 20 options per day vs a 4 hour drive. I still drove it during the holidays to guarantee I got home. While it would have gotten very old, it was always a great relief knowing when I landed I was going to hop in my car and drive.

I have a 3 hr drive (no traffic) and it's not that bad. I bid to only make the trek 4 times a month. I did the daily office job with 2 hrs in traffic every day for a long time. This is way better....

Yeah that's pushing it.

I've done several drive commutes (as well as 2-6 hour air commutes).

Traffic is a big factor, increases fatigue and irritation. Frankly I won't do traffic for more than a hour, if it's rush hour I'll go to work early or wait it out before I go home (gym, movie, nap, etc).

Also have to consider the types of trips you're doing... getting up at 0200 for a 0500 show to do a transcon is one thing. Getting up at 0100 for a 0400 show to do a 4-5 leg regional day is something else entirely.

Also applies to the drive home, late finishes can be dangerous if you're tired. I'll have a cup of joe at TOD to get me through the arrival and subsequent drive home. During the day I make phone calls and catch up with friends and family. That''s not an option late, so I have a spectrum of driving music... the later the drive home, the more energetic the music culminating with heavy metal and ultimately German heavy metal. If you start doing the head bob thing, pull the eff over and sleep... lost a friend to that years ago.

Up to two hours is easy, I can make that without a bathroom stop. Three hours might be OK, but that's starting to be a lot both for fatigue at work and safety on the drive home.

I've done a five hour drive to reserve, somewhat mitigated by overlapping reserve start time with the tail end of the drive. But that sucked, wouldn't do it again. It was highway but pretty busy highway with half the drive in large metro areas. Air option on that one was two leg through a weather-probe hub, and the second (express) leg got CANX a lot.

If you have little to no traffic, you might be fine with 3-4 hours on cruise control, if you have some say in your starting and ending times. Problem with early starts is if something happens at work, it might be hard to explain to the FAA that you were fit to fly. At least with an air commute you can claim to have slept on the plane. Late finishes are dangerous to your life if you push it the drive home.

I commute via plane but I’d be willing to drive 3 hours to avoid it. Anything more than that gets tiring by the time you get to the airplane.

I think my threshold will be 3 hours depending on my air commute options. DC traffic on my 95 can be hit or miss so I usually do the air commute to DCA especially if I end up one of our other hubs that enable me to self myself from that hub I ended up in (More flight options) home if my last leg of my trip is a DH.