Wed Oct 14, 2020 3:39 pm
#1802900
flyingearly wrote:I would say 80% of my time would be grabbing 1 - 2 hour slots - mostly weekday evenings in Summer, or a Sunday morning at the weekend - and just stretching the legs without a particularly purpose. 1 - 2 hours doesn't really get me very far from where I am (as in, if I'm flying somewhere, landing and returning, it's not a big range), but my point is: I would feel a lot happier bimbling with no specific purpose if it wasn't costing me £150 - £200 each time.
At the moment, the other 20% is choosing somewhere specific to fly in and visit - and trying to make that a much longer trip. At the moment, for me in the C42, that 'longer trip' isn't actually that long - from Deanland to Sandown a couple of weeks back is an example - but if I had access to something faster, I'd go further. For this, I typically book a morning or full day off work.
This is something close to what I do, albeit with two different shares.
The PA17 is 10 mins drive away and works out at less than £50 an hour. It is mainly local bimbles, especially summer evenings (and the odd early morning) but it does go on some burger runs and the odd longer trip. Vintage taildragger fun.
The TB10 is an hour away and I fly it when I want to go somewhere, usually with my girlfriend in the right seat. At a minimum it is a day out, more often a night (or multiple night) stop. It being a four seater and a fairly good load carrier means that two-up with bags for a week and full fuel we don't even need to do a W&B calculation - it'll still be almost 100kg under MTOW.
My logbook for the last year would probably show 80% in the PA17. Not necessarily of hours, but number of flights.
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.