Just returned from a trip down south in my Citation . What a wonderful trip no problem scheduling & cancelation nightmares of the airline . Makes you feel sorry for the people that must fly commercial. Especially Southwest.

Edit: a little green font helps, or an emoji

Mooney Ovation Vs. Airline (can't) Car (no way)

Dec 26, F45 to SAV - 2:07 Flight time. To far to drive, not feasible by airline.
Dec 29, SAV to AVL - 1:17 Flight time. To far to drive, not feasible by airline.
(NOTE, orig going to drive 2 hours to Charleston and sightsee. Last minute, decided to jump in Mooney and fly to Asheville (she's never been). Quick rent a car res with Signature and 1.5 hours later we're in town)
Jan 1, 2023, AVL to F45, 3 hours ESE, To far to drive, not feasible by airline.

Citation, someday soon we hope or a TP.

Mooney, fantastic for these types of flights.

Com'on people... recognize sarcasm....

We did 0W3 - KTIX for a few days.

Going down was 5.5 with some nasty headwinds. Mooney 252. Commercial would have been at least 8 hours, more likely more than 9. Assuming no additional delays.

Coming home was 5.3 total flight time, but included a fuel stop (can't fly past $4.85 gas).

Have cousins at Coco Beach used to fly into TIX all the time , nice airport & good people at FBO .
Flew down 12/16 163 knot quartering headwind , One of the slowest ground speeds I’ve ever had .

I wasn't high enough up at Cessna to get a Citation for a trip with only one or few people, but made a number of trips in a Citation with a larger group or more senior people. Sure was nice.

One time we had a meeting with Indianapolis with Allison that flight test wanted to attend, so we took an X ticket 750. We had a legitimate reason for us engineers to fly to observe one thing or another, but had a good excuse to not take anybody from Purchasing.

Can’t beat it!

Last week’s Christmas trip from NorCal to middle of nowhere MO (where my in laws live) was 3:47 in the Mustang nonstop. Dropped wife and kids off, flew to Wichita for recurrent in the sim, 2 days later back to MO. Lovely Christmas vacation and back a couple of days ago in CA enjoying quiet ATC (with 3 mentions by airline pilots that it “sure is quiet without the Southwest guys”)

I’ve always hated the airline experience - GA by jet is the best way to get around bar none!

It’s not just jets, 12/30 I flew the family Jacksonville FL, Nonstop Kingston NY 4:17 with a slight tailwind in an otherwise stock Bonanza. Airline would have been 6+ hours. This is a regular trip for me and do it anywhere 4:00 to 5:30 if I have to stop for fuel or have a tailwind.

When comparing travel times GA versus airline, don't forget to add the departure latency of airlines. They rarely leave at the exact moment you want to leave, so there's added hours of delay.

The GA plane goes when you want it to.

Mike C.

Don't forget the 2 - 3 hours in advance for security checks either. Then there is finding a parking space, getting on the bus to the terminal, etc.

And the need to plan ahead to get tickets.

With GA, you can decide to go and be in the air in a hour.

Not only can you leave at the last minute . If you need to cancel , just call & cancel the rental car .