How many owners have decided to park their aircraft due to high fuel prices?
I think what we are going to see is people using their planes for business; not the short hop around the area; no hundred dollar hamburgers. 
I am sure people have gotten rid of their planes, but most will just fly less. It is really sad.
Dick Karl wrote about this exact thing in his Gear Up column in the July '08 Flying. Had a picture of him and his wife enjoying a martini inside the plane…on the ground.
Day that happens will be the day I sell my plane.
For what flight and aviation gives me, to be honest is priceless and where there is a will, there will be a way that I do what I really enjoy and that is to fly, even if I have to work several hours more a week to make that happen.
My $100 (now $125) hamburgers runs will still live on as life is too short for any other option. 
That’s a great picture!
What? Work harder for the things we want!!! You’ve been sniffing too much 100LL lieberma, those days are over. Just sit around and bitch and moan like the rest of us Americans… 
Actually, I’m planning my family’s summer vacation now. A friend has invited us to his Oregon coast beach house for the 4th and we have to get there from PHX. I have a family of 4 and an A36, which I’ll own anyway whether I “park it” and I fly commercial or drive, and no way in he^% am I driving 4 days round trip for $750 in gas/hotels/food!!!
Here is the math so far:
US Airways/Southwest, R/T to Portland/Seattle with a change of planes somewhere = $1100.00 + $ for bags + car + gas + hotel + airport waiting + roughly 14 hours travel time (these +'s are actually -'s.)
My do as we want, when we want routing:
KDVT - KSMX, 3 hr flt & check out Pismo Beach for a day or so
KSMX - KAVC, 2.5 hr flt & check out Redwood forrest for a day or so
KAVC - KTMK, 1.5 hr flt & a week’s stay @ friend’s beach house
KTMK - KOAK, 3 hr flt & clam chowder & crab on Fisherman’s Wharf
KOAK - KDVT, 3.5 hr flt home.
Total flight time 13.5 hours
Bonanza = 13 gph (avg) X $6.00/gal (avg) = $78/hr x 13.5 hrs = $1080 + tips for local shuttle drivers + free water/coffee served by my wife + XM radio/weather + numerous pics of NoCal beaches ++++++ (now those are +'s).
Hmmmmmmmmm…
Either way it looks like it’s Ramen Noodles for a month or so kids!!! Ahhhh the sacrifices we ugly Americans have to make…
Take Southwest, not US Airways. No charge for 2 checked in pieces of luggage per person (unless they are overweight).
Plus, Southwest has nonstops to both PDX and SEA from PHX. And free beverages and snacks on board.
Take Southwest, not US Airways. No charge for 2 checked in pieces of luggage per person (unless they are overweight).
Plus, Southwest has nonstops to both PDX and SEA from PHX. And free beverages and snacks on board.
Shhhhhhhh…
Work with me here.
Sounds like a no brainer to me.
Quality time with family enroute… priceless and no chance of lost luggage to boot
And last but not least, you have the best seat of the house with the most leg room!
I have found with spreadsheets I have done that if I am taking 3 or more in a piston (less then a 1000 miles), it can cost less then the airlines.
As both an airline employee, and private pilot, I say this is a no brainer…especially with an A36 at your disposal. I’m thinking of the Ferris Buehler “if you had access to a car like this” line…
Doesn’t a A36 see more like 17-18 gph. Are you flying lean of peak, or just pulling back on the throttle?
[quote=“wazzu90”]
On second thought, take the airline! 
This is how I see it:
**Getting there with the airlines in 14hrs **: $1100.00 + $ for bags + car + gas + hotel
**Getting there in an A36 in 13.5hrs **: $1080 + tips for local shuttle drivers + XM radio/weather
Being the PIC of your own A36 all the way there, providing your family with wonderful views and spending quality time together: Priceless !!!
Who you kidding Allen? An A36 with four aboard and full tanks won’t HAVE any luggage aboard! 
http://img61.photobucket.com/albums/v185/MemoryLane/bolt.gif
[quote=“NeedleNose”]
No need to pick me p for clam chowder and crab. I don’t like sea food.
No kidding, sea food makes me want to…[fill in the blank]
No problem you guys, more for me!
Looks like a no-brainer to me, five mini-vacations in the Bonanza versus one experience of being treated like cattle on a commercial airliner!
Moooooooo!