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.

It depends entirely on what schedule your seniority will hold. 18 day trips a month? No no no. 3-4 long trips a month, sure. Reserve would suck, but it always does outside the distance you could make the callout from home.


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Just depends on your situation and what’s important to you. I live in base, or well I did until they closed it. When I first upgraded I drove to DCA. Out the door around 0200 and in the lot by 0445, for my 0500 reserve. It was nice because I never missed a commute home.

I’m a line holder now with a further drive. Currently the company has to give me hotels, which is important. I’m going to drive down tonight (4.5), because the gas spent is cheaper than airport parking. Also the return flight isn’t looking promising and we have a lot of commuters fighting for the jumpseat. Later this month I’ll exclusively drive when I have to start factoring in hotel costs ($60-$70).

Cost savings is most important for me since I’m trying to close on a place and move to base. I don’t sweat the miles since I’m going to run the car until the wheels fall off. It’s just what’s important to you.

I did a 3 hour drive over the last year. It’s OK even for home reserve, just sit somewhere an hour closer. It sucks for day trips. Lots of nights spent in my car in the employee lot with an early show the next day. With a line it was not bad at all especially with longer trips.

The mileage gets expensive though. Get a Costco account for gas and tires.

I drove 1.5 hours for 2 years to & from base for trips as a line holder and as a reservist. It wasn’t an issue for work because I would make the round trip 5 or 6 times a month on a 75-90 hour monthly schedule. For reserves it was a 2 hour call out so I could hang out at home. For non-rev travel purposes, however, it wasn’t the best. We quickly learned to always schedule the first flight of the day in case we were bumped to the next one. The one time we scheduled the last flight of the day and were bumped we drove back home to then try and catch a flight the next day. Driving 3 total hours and waiting an additional hour only to get denied is 4+ hours wasted only to drive back again the next day. Sure, we could’ve gotten a hotel room but your own bed & food an hour and a half away can be a double edged sword.

I'm a line holder who minimizes trips and lives six hours from base.

When Covid hit, I lost my sweet one-hour flight to base.

I still don't drive. Six hours is way too much.

I used to live 45 minutes from base but in LA traffic that easily became 1h45'. It wasn't terrible on 3-8 day trips but when the company switched to all daytrips, doing it 8 days in a row drove me bat**** crazy. So much that I moved back to my hometown, changed to a more commutable base and did a transcon commute instead. Even when it ended up being 2 legs it was less stressful than driving in LA every single day. Now I found a job back home with no commute and it's even better.

My driving is 1h:50m ish. Not a bad drive to work. . However I fly to n from now wheels up/down 25 mins . On a normal schedule arriving at 9p day 4 to drive 2 hours. I’ve found myself falling asleep. I had to sleep 2 hours then finish up a 2 hour drive. That particular occasion I flew just under 8 hours

Tesla autopilot i agree is simultaneously too much and not enough

but it you haven’t used garden variety civic/corolla smart cruise control... it’s a game changer Especially in traffic

I've used Subaru's. Works fine on multi-lane highway but sucks on a 2-lane whenever another car comes around a curve opposite direction it catches it in the corner of it's sensor arc and triggers the auto brakes... usually on MAX.

Subaru uses a camera-only system that’s different from most that’s more of a doppler radar setup.

But I would put windy 2 lane roads on my “do not drive” list regardless

Agreed. The Volvo system uses all sorts of sensors and keeps you mostly pegged right in the center of the lane.

I just loop the seatbelt through the wheel and hope for the best.

Ah good, I’m not the only one in a pilot uniform screaming the lyrics to Du Hast at 4 am.

It’s been more like “Amerika” and “Deutschland” for me lately.

Before the furlough this year i was driving 8 minutes. And by driving I mean sitting in the back of the uber.

I fly win a captain who is fairly senior in my base and company-wide. He drives 5 hours each way, which I think is nuts. He used to drive 2 hours to a smaller base but now drives 3 additional hours (and literally drives past his previous base). That’s always gonna be a no from me. At least on a flight across the country, you can kick back, eat, watch movies, nap. Driving is exhausting, I would rather take most jumpsests.

I'm still trying to decide where to live. Base is CVG, trips are either a 17 day block, or 2 blocks, so 2 back and forth drives per month max. Company buys a ticket to/from work, but I'd rather drive than flying as a passenger lol. How far would you guys drive with this type of schedule?.
Nashville is 4h, but that sounds like a bit too much.

4 hrs isn't that far if its 1-2 times a month. Many do 2 hr drives each way, 4 times a month so it'd be a wash.

Probably not a lot of traffic along that route, so I don't see why it'd be problematic

Maybe I'm stating the obvious here....but, why wouldn't you just live in CVG? There are certainly worse places to live. If you don't have any commitments, just move to base. Your QOL will thank you later.

4 hours twice a month? I’d do that, no problem (3 hours drive is my commute). That said, watch for the length of your day on the way home. For me, that’s the hardest part... trying to keep awake on the way home from a long day. On the way TO work is easier. Your likely tired when flying with another pilot that will help with your alertness. On the way home in your car, you’re tired by yourself.

That said, if I had a flight option, I use it as often as possible. I don’t drive the 3 hours of my commute often because flying is possible most of the time.

Take a look at Clarksville TN. About 30 to 40 minutes north of Nashville. TN has no state income tax so worth the extra drive time to stay south of KY. Clarksville is a military town so there are plenty of things to do and prices are cheap.

yep. Been there, done that, 5 hours is my max, 4 isn’t pleasant but only twice a month... no big deal. Invest in a car you enjoy driving and be prepared to pop for a hotel room or find a rest stop if you’re too tired when you get back to base. Like Rick said, it’s not worth dying over.

That being said, CVG is a fun town. I actually prefer the Kentucky side, Covington is cheap and there’s plenty to do. Lots of cool old houses. Mainstrasse is a blast.

The key thing is the willingness to stop on the way home if you’re tired. Often a quick catnap at a rest stop or gas station mid trip can help.

easy, live in base

Plus, Southern is positive spacing him to CVG. No brainer. It’s not like it’s a regional 4 on 2 off schedule where you have to lose half of your 2nd off day to commute back to base and get a hotel. If you could be home for a week or two at a time, losing that half a day for a transcontinental commute with a confirmed ticket isn’t even a blip. Road warrior frequent flyer business travelers do that kind of stuff several times a week.

I guess a few issues could exist that I wouldn’t like. For example, I live in PHX and there aren’t any nonstops to CVG at the moment (I think DL used to do one a day, but it looks like ATI is the only one right now). Obviously that’s not ideal. So a route reduction or cut would suck. If I lived 2-3 hours from CVG and my flight was cut, then it’s a wash because the drive time is going to be the same as airport/park/security/flight/deplaning/get to the cargo terminal. Also I don’t know what time the trips start, and how early they book your arrival. If you fly 3 hours across the country and then have an hour to change into uniform and show, I guess that’s not bad. If you fly in from across the country, have 5 hours till show, and show time is midnight, that’s rough. So I think that would be the big deciding factor for me as well. Ties into your driving end fatigue comment. I guess if you had a long drive home and you’re tuckered out, maybe on can go nap in a crew room before the drive. My commute home got me in between 2300 and 0000, but I had a 4 hour flight to nap and then a quick 30 min drive home.

Yes we get positive spaced to CVG, but that wasn't the point. On the other hand, most of our trips or more than half at least, on my fleet, start somewhere else, so living in base is not the real deal. It'd make more sense to live in Chicago or Tampa actually, but cost of living is a killer. Anyways, thank you all for your input.

Our CVG long overnight hotel is a block from Mainstrasse. Lost days in CVG can get real messy :)

Second this and if you're single its a college town too. It's actually a pretty fun little gem.

Deutschland is utterly amazing.

Check out Sabaton, Nightwish, Epica, Smash Into Pieces, and Within Temptation for more amazing European metal

For the few months I was still working, I was driving to JFK from ORF, 370 miles, about 6 hours if you go in the middle of the night.

Pre Rona, I could sit long call at home, but with the understanding that there was a window of a couple hours when if I did not get on the last plane out, I had to drive.

I would usually end up driving once or twice a year.

I may have been singing Sabaton on the drive.. A lot.