Comanchepilot

We flew round trip to Santa Barbara on Sunday and never dealt with the TSA. When we arrived we were personally escorted to the terminal, and given free coffee, water bottles and cookies. We then were personally driven to our destination, picked up and returned directly to our aircraft for our flight home.

Yes, I am a small aircraft owner and this life on the 'other' side of the airport. For the price of an SUV or luxury car we own a 4 seat single engine airplane. I am a pilot and we flew to SBA for lunch and a walk on the beach. We NEVER see TSA. We are never searched or patted down or go though metal detectors and can bring bottles of water or soda or drinks in a cooler for a long flight. Food too. Then we land closer to our destination and are treated as a valued customer.

This is going to happen again when we travel for Thanksgiving. We will leave the house at 8am, drive to the airport, get in the airplane and then 3 hours after leaving the house [slightly less than 2 hours in the air] arrive at our destination, beating the airlines on the same route by about an hour. My brother in law will drive his car onto the ramp and 20 min after landing we will be at the house ready to eat turkey.

It is possible for the average person to avoid this kind of stuff for trips out to 800 miles or so. General Aviation can be our savoir for traveling distances that most folks could drive up to 12 hours.

SkiAdcock

I don't think the general public is going to be buying 4-seater planes anytime in the near future or go through pilot training, etc, so for the majority of folk that travel they'll still need to use the old-fashioned method, which is commercial air & they'll have to deal w/ TSA.

Cheers.

Deinonychus

I think this is the only TSA-free airline in existence in the US right now: http://www.seaportair.com/

Al Coholic

I proposed that on a different thread. What if an organization were to lease a number of jets and sell "memberships" instead of tickets? Something like that:

- Good morning, I would like to get from IAH to CRP

- I am sorry, sir, we are a private club and we do not sell tickets to general public. Would you like to purchase our membership? That would be one dollar, for a year, please. And we do have a flight on that route, departing at 9 am; we can put you on board for $300 aircraft use fee.

Presumably, that would fall under "private jets", no? Any lawyers on board to comment on the idea? Any entrepreneurs interested in implementing it?

BearX220

Perspective check. I'm supporting a teenage son as he gets his pilot's license and each hour of inflight training costs the equivalent of a SEA-LAX roundtrip. There's a reason why most Americans don't own luxury cars, or for that matter get licenses to fly. This post is a little like hearing Paris Hilton wonder why everyone isn't attending the Cannes Film Festival. For normal people it's either out of the question or a huge sacrifice. General aviation isn't going to be a statistically meaningful answer to any of this, your and James Fallows' visions notwithstanding.

cactusmama

When I read this post, my first thought was "Hm, that's a pretty big hole in our airport security."

This is probably another reason why terrorists want to take private flying lessons.

scolbath

Well, to a first order, this business model already exists: It's called NetJets. Unfortunately, the 'membership fee' is a lot more than $1!

michelle227

While I concur that GA is not the statistically meaningful answer, the costs of instruction vary around the country and are also somewhat limited in their duration. Obtaining the PPC is NOT something that drags on for years.

I have not looked at the present requirements, but as recently as a few years ago, one could easily get everything done inside of 50 hours of time, less than half of which required the cost of the instructor in the right seat.

I do hold very real concerns about the target that the government is painting on general aviation though...

The large schools they were going to catered to the same population as aspires to be a commercial pilot. Some of those schools do also offer instruction to the Cessna/Piper crowd, but the terrorists were not looking to fly a single-engine...after all, they can learn more about doing that sitting in front of their computers with the Saitek control modules and any decent flight simulator...

Al Coholic

I am aware of NetJets. What I am proposing is a totally different business model more akin to serving alcohol in dry districts in Dallas (until they got rid of it, that is). You don't purchase ownership, you are not assigned a specific number of hours and you do not fly point to point. You buy hours AS NEEDED on routes THAT AVAILABLE.

redcupr

I simply must chime in here. As the lucky son-in-law of a private pilot (all the perks, none of the cost), I've seen how economical it is to own and operate a GA aircraft. My father-in-law owns a Beechcraft A36, not the most economical aircraft to own, but not the most expensive either. He is meticulous about his plane, it's 31 years old and in perfect condition.

The cost of 75 gallons of 100LL fuel at $5.00/gal will pay for a commerical flight. Add maintenance and annuals to that and you're buying a business class ticket at full fare prices.

Convenient? Yes. Hassle free? Kinda. But I don't know about being in the air within an hour of leaving the house. Between filing the flight plan, driving to the hangar, pulling the plane out to the ramp, do your walk-around, run through the pre-start check, start up, taxi to the run up area, pre take-off check, waiting for the guy that wants come through and do a touch-and-go...

Oh, and I don't think I'd want to get in a plane that cost the same as an SUV, yikes!

BearX220

Just looked up used Beech A36s for sale online. 1970s-vintage examples are on the block for $115,000 - $135,000. 2000 and later-year models run from $375,000 to $450,000 and up. That's the price of a nice house. So much for "how economical it is." So much for "buying a business class ticket at full fare prices." I don't think you'll get many takers when you tell people it's easy and "economical" to avoid TSA checkpoints -- just pour every cent you've got into buying, maintaining, and getting certified to fly a Beechcraft A36. It looks like a roughly half-million-dollar proposition. That's enough to buy at least 100 business class tickets to Europe -- a destination that is pretty difficult to fly a Beech A36 to.

fairviewroad

I believe this is another airline that is TSA-free.
http://www.kenmoreair.com/index.php

Coincidentally, you can connect from Kenmore to Seaport at Boeing Field in Seattle. That said, you really can't go all that far on either one. Definitely both niche airlines.

Comanchepilot

Well, a Bonanza is probably the single most expensive single piston GA airplane out there and it will not get me there any faster than my airplane.
I own a 1971 Piper Comanche 260C - 155kts no wind airspeed - my airplane costs us about $135 per hour to operate - fuel, maintenance, etc. 4 hours to Phoenix and back is be about $540. 3 airline tickets, bought at discount rates, for Thanksgiving Day through Saturday [NOT the peak travel times] cost $178 each with fees and taxes - total $538. Plus parking at the airport. Total cost is a wash.

My hangar is 13 minutes from my driveway. I can easily be wheels up within 60 minutes of leaving home. I certainly am home within 30-45 of wheels touching down.

Sure = I spent money on the airplane and on training. I fly for fun - its a hobby - not a job - but its also practical. For this flight - it costs us the same as using an airline. The blood pressure lowering consequences of being able to arrive at an airport 13 minutes after leaving the house, pulling out my airplane, pre-flighting it, loading it and parking our car securely in the hangar for free while we are gone, and then coming back and having the car right there next to the airplane? Priceless.

As for cost being a determinative of safety or value - - there are people flying day in and day out with Cherokees and Skyhawks and Mooney's that cost $40-50k, with aviation electronics installed in the airplanes which is more advanced that that in the airliner you are sitting in.

mre5765

Somehow the TSA will find or invent a regulation to prevent an general aviation club that flies 737s from taking hold.

megan

They already have:
http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2008/1009.shtm

This nonsense is still being debated, and fortunately the business aviation community has been able to push back