N965VJ

Actually, a local TV news crew in IAH made a report worthy of Geraldo Rivera ("Is Houston A Sitting Duck For Terrorism?") This prompted Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to ask the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the claims made by the TV station. The OIG concluded in a report that General Aviation poses a "limited and mostly hypothetical" tool for terrorists. You can view the report here.

Aviatrix

That's just not true.

If your company's office is an hour's drive from the nearest airport with scheduled flights, but only five minutes from a GA airfield offering air taxi services...

... and your client company is an hour's drive from the nearest airport with scheduled flights, but only five minutes from a GA airfield...

... and flying time between the two GA airfields is an hour in a light twin...

... then it's a complete no-brainer, especially if there is more than one person travelling.

TrophyCollector

Where are you flying from? I have never been to a GAT without security procedures similar to commercial. Except for the queues.

mjcewl1284

I have never flown private, although I would like to fly private at least once during my lifetime.

Jalinth

Look at Wal-Mart. They were located in a very unconnected (formerly) location, so small light planes were commonly used to get staff to/from different locations and also suppliers in and out. Now Bentonville airport does have a number of connections so the need for private aircraft has dropped.

As far as a no-brainer, anytime you go private the cost-benefit ratio becomes a higher bar to cross. Do you absolutely need to travel to this location, can you combine it to see multiple customers, etc... Because at some point, higher travel costs can offset a low cost location.

jbcarioca

Sam Walton was an avid flyer and used to fly himself in his Cessna 414. Once I was at FlightSafety in LGB doing recurrent training for the Cessna 421 I had then and Sam Walton was the only other person in my class. The two a/c are identical except for the engines and use the same simulator. I was astonished to see him there and was pleased that he was a very, very good and diligent pilot as well as being an unassuming, but very confident person.

Many people use private aircraft because of convenience, some because they're usable in places commercial planes do not go, soem because they're cheaper than commercial for their specific uses and others because they save time. Some also do it because they love flying themselves in their own planes.

HotelEdge

Although the would be terrorist is pretty much taking himself and his friends out and not an aircraft with 400 strangers on it. And he also had to pay a whopping bill to book the private flight in the first place.

Great_circle

Weather and budget permitting I sometimes fly single engines from A to B whithin Europe. But that is for leisure, not for business..

TSR2

I fly on my company's private jet when I have to - does that count?!

IndyTim

Five years ago, after 15 years of nearly 100% travel, I got so frustrated with my airline travel experiences that I decided to get my pilot's license and my own airplane. I have a non-stop range of 900 miles, and I live in the midwest, so I can get to most of my destinations non-stop in 5 hours or less. I can't reach the west coast, Florida, or Maine, but can get just about everywhere else. It's obviously not economically advantageous, if I'm flying by myself, but I don't have the sense of powerless frustration when the airline cancels my flight for no apparent reason. And, I have no TSA to deal with.

aroundtheworld76

While most of the GAT/FBOs in Europe do indeed have TSA type security screening, that's not the case everywhere. The only one in the US that does is Signature -BOS with the most generally hateful misanthropes manning it. They use a WTMD rather than MMW, but they are quite obnoxious. Other FBOs rely on a combination of FBO staff and flight crew alertness (either private or through the operators approved security plan/ no fly list screening).

I am crew on private aircraft, and occasionally get to hitch a ride if we happen to have an empty leg from where I am to where I'm going.

myflightforecast

Only for business purpose I fly privately 2 to 3 times in a month. Agree that Flying privately saves much time, but it is costly too.

fairylane

Private flying really is expensive and many could not afford it. But the convenience that you can get and the experience as well seems to be incomparable. I just experienced once flying in a private aircraft when I'm out for a business trip. Checked it already on my bucket list for 2016 year 'round.