Well if you have anything to do with aviation you have no doubt heard or used the phrase “time to spare go by air”, well no truer words have been spoken in light of the current airline “safety issues”.  With hundreds of flights being cancelled daily over the last couple of weeks general aviation sure looks nice from the inside out or outside in.

Just the other night there was a news story about several business people in Dallas who kept getting their flights canceled, so they banded together called up a charter company at Addison Airport (KADS) and chartered a plane.  Subsequently the reporter from the news station went out to the airport and interviewed several charter companies swho said they had all their planes out and carrying people a little extra boom as a result of the airlines problems.

I must admit everytime my family and I go to California to visit the in-laws I look and plan and come up with the number crunch of flying us vs. the airlines and on paper a non stop from DFW to LAX or SNA.  I think of the fun family trip the hours logged, then their is the cost since I am renting now vs owning a plane I then I conclude $1,900 and 15+ hours in a 172 does compare with 4.5 hours and $1,000 even with the pain of a strip search at security and then the gamble at the end to see if our luggage made it.!?

However when push comes to shove that seeming 4.5 hours may turn in to longer like our trip did last month (before the ‘safety cancellations’) our problems were all weather related, but because of the thin margins and cut back in actual flights in todays commercial aviation landscape we were forced to spend 4 extra days in California.  All the airlines got impacted so every carriers flight schedule was screwed up and all the flights were full so we got to suffer (wasn’t all bad), but 2 adults and 2 small kids in an airport for 4 days isn’t great!

No time like the present to start learning to fly, General Aviation is a great tool, a fun experience and gives you control over your travel.  If use good judgement when and when not to fly will have a long flying career ahead and some great  fun family togetherness times as well as a tool to build your business in ways you wouldn’t imagine!

Similar Article about GA appeal from Sun-n-Fun 2008