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From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee)
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: Speed of flying vs driving
Message-ID: <257@terak.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Jan-85 11:31:33 EST
Article-I.D.: terak.257
Posted: Thu Jan 10 11:31:33 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 14-Jan-85 02:46:23 EST
References: <693@ihnp4.UUCP> <797@amdahl.UUCP> <242@terak.UUCP> <19096@lanl.ARPA>
Organization: Terak Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Lines: 47

> Airports are NOT always 40 miles away from start and destination points,
> usually they are quite conveniently placed (even the offices of Terak Corp.
> are near a general aviation airport if I remember correctly).  OK,
> Boulder Co. is a forty minute drive from the nearest airport.  But, from
> ABQ (or further) it's still faster to fly.

Hey, I said Murphy's Law puts airports far away in the wrong direction.
Maybe I should have put a ":-)" on that.  Murphy's Law does tend to
be operational, though.  While Terak is indeed across the street from
Scottsdale Muni (SDL), it is 25 miles from my house.  Fortunately,
the Phoenix area is blessed with way more GA airports than most (good
flying weather and all that), so Falcon Field (FFZ) is only 8 miles
from my house.  In the wrong direction :-)

> I've NEVER spent an hour to refuel (I've never spent 10 minutes refueling
> my car either, unless you count the time wasted going out of my way to
> get to the station).

Interesting.  I've never spent less than 30 minutes on the ground for
refueling, and a hour-and-a-half is not unheard of.  Anyone else on the
net care to offer their experiences?

> planes usually have larger range than cars, so don't need to stop nearly as
> often.

My car has a range of 300 miles on a tank, but I have to stop every
couple of hours or so to drain my personal tank :-).  My 100-mph
plane has a range of 500 miles on a load, but I have to stop every
couple of hours or so to drain my personal tank.  Since I don't
like to arrive with minimum fuel, I always refuel when I make a
"pit stop" in my plane.  Pit stops are more necessary when carrying
passengers.  The practice of always refueling is by no means universal,
but I do recommend it highly.

>  I my case, most trips are point to point with NO intermediate stops.

This should make your plane-to-car times worse.  I admit surprise that
under these circumstances that you find flying to be a lot faster than
driving.

> Bizarre claims about the inconvenience of flight are not bourne out by
> experience (not mine anyway).  If Mr. Pardee finds it inconvenient, I'm
> sorry for him, but his experience is not relevant to me.

Anyone else on the net want to contribute their experiences?

Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug