Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
Well, that depends on your destination, doesn't it? If you want to to travel to say Smiley Creek (in Idaho), or even Sun Valley, that 747 isn't going to get you within a couple hours drive. Not to mention that the Cherokee leaves when I want it to, not when the airlines decide to schedule a flight :-)
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Small planes get to fly direct routes. I once flew a Cessna 172 from Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and back. Flight out was 12 hours flying time plus two half hour gas stops, flight back 9 hours plus one half hour gas stop. Commercial air would have been 16 hours each way.
Passenger miles per gallon is not a good comparison because the small plane route was nearly a straight line, while commercial air was three flights covering a much longer distance.
An even better example was a trip from Madison, Wisconsin direct to Grand Haven, Michigan. No good way to get there by commercial air. The driving route was twice the distance and went through Chicago.
And most small planes have more leg and seat room than coach class in modern airliners.