Just out of curiosity... Lets say I had a small helicopter (which I obviously don't =). And not one of those kit deals with some sort of airfoil or egg beater rotor but a mini copter for 2 people. How long would it take me to fly about 30 miles taking into consideration flight prep, warm up, shut down.... all that stuff? Thanks!
Pre flight: 20 minutes Warm up / Check list: 20 minutes Clearance: 5 minutes Flight time: 15 minutes to TD Power down to shut off: 5 minutes Secure down: 10 minutes Total: 1 hour 15 minutes Monthly payment: $1500 Tie down/Mo: $200 Insurance/Mo: $100 Maintenance/Mo: $2000 Misc/Mo: $300 Total monthly: $4100
Thanks! Guess I'll stick with the 45 minute commute =). We live SE of Duluth, MN and to get to the golf course and for my wife to get to work we have to drive "around" the SW tip of Lake Superior. The places we want to go (work/golf) are only 30 miles straight across the lake.... thus I've always been curious if a person could save time by flying. Thanks again =)
There are a few things wrong with your statement. I don't think I have EVER seen any preflight take over 10 minutes. Larger jets take longer, however; smaller private aircraft can be looked over fairly quickly and thouroughly. Also, warm up at max should take 5 minutes or there is something wrong with your aircraft. The so called "checklist" that you have mentioned...This actually occurs at two different times at two different stages during your departure. Any tower man would get very angered if you spent 20 minutes doing your run up. This process can be done in a total of 10 minutes. You failed to include taxing and fueling. These can take time away. Your air time is dead on. I don't know about the shut down. It can usually be done in a matter of 5 minutes and you can be gone. I would say a more accurate total time would be: 40-50 minutes depending on conditions, traffic, and haste. The last thing, your insurance rate is EXTREMELY low. Please tell me where you are getting it from cause I would like that same rate.
1) Quickly and Thouroughly is a dangerous combination. When I owned and flew a 150 and a 172, my pre-flights took a good 20 minutes. It's pretty annoying finding a problem while in the air that you could of found on the ground if you took more time! 2) A chopper would not taxi to a run-up area as do planes. From start to clearance at a busy field can easily take this long. 3) I left that out because the flight was only 30 miles and the fueling would be done at the end of the return flight. 4) Thank you! 5) Keep in mind the time to secure the craft and added time for fuel. If it's a rental craft, a pre-flight is a good habbit to catch things at the end of the flight that your fellow pilot may miss and end up dead on his or her's next flight. 6) I just wagged the insurance price based on what I use to pay for my insurance on the Cessna's. Back to the pre-flights, in the past five years, I have passed on two flights with guys that paid little attention to a good pre-flight. One of those flights resulted in a crash coming back from Reno that a friend was in (Making a UPS run with the pilot). My friend survived for two days with a broken leg and a dead pilot in his lap until he was found.
Mr. Hill I thought 911 was much older then 16? I recall 18 I bet he also gets the good grade discount on his policy as well as the experienced pilot discount! Erik
