Capt. Ken's comments

By Ken Armstrong

It had been many years since I owned my own aircraft and this was largely due to the fact I was travelling so much on international trips that I had no time to fly my own machines.
With the advent of a program that has me attempting to retire by purchasing a Diamond Xtreme motor glider to anchor me to the home base, I am recalling the benefits of personal aircraft ownership.
My wife, Linda, and I have been using the aircraft as personal cross country transport and have found we are able to conduct local business much more readily and the Xtreme has also helped cement friendships that were evaporating from lack of attention.
As we get older we are starting to appreciate the finer friends and "things" in life and find the aircraft allows us to enjoy get-togethers we likely wouldn't have had time for in the past.
Over the last 30 days, this has included the COPA AGM in Red Deer, the Arlington, Washington Fly-in and a holiday in the Okanagan with friends who are very important to us.
They are responsible for our initial interest in foreign business and holiday travel and we have been unable to get together for years - due to divergent travel plans.
To visit them in the Okanagan would have required the summer ferry waits to get off Vancouver Island and the remainder of the day and evening to drive to the Okanagan on congested roads.
Another alternative was to fly with Air Canada - or is that Tango - or is that Jazz?
How much would that cost? Well, I called to inquire and the total for both of us, including taxes and airport departure fees would be almost $1000.00.
If I completely avoid the spontaneity and make a 10-day advance booking, the price comes down to $662.22. For this, I would need to get to the airport at about 7 am to get through the security line ups and change planes in Vancouver, with more security and line ups to arrive in Kelowna mid morning. Alternatively, I can take off at the same time in my motor glider from Victoria and beat the airliner to the destination.
The cost? Well, if you count the insurance coverage, capital depreciation of the aircraft, loss of revenue on the money invested in the aircraft, tie-down fees and a host of other costs - you should be an accountant!
Seriously, the sum of the amounts would stagger Atlas unless one flies many hours a year to reduce the sum through "amortization." However, since most of us see our aircraft as a recreational pursuit and an object of convenience, I'll only detail the direct operating costs.
The average duration of the round trip flight would be less than four hours and this results in a total of $64.72 for fuel and lubricants (assuming the use of high quality, blended synthetic oil). If the additional costs mentioned above are brought into the calculation, and based on 100 hours flown this year, the true cost for the trip would be approximately $170 for the two-person round trip.
Of course this makes airlines look rather costly and inconvenient. The same argument could be made for the trip to Red Deer and the Arlington Fly-in or visits to other friends.
Airlines can only become economically challenging to personal aircraft flight when one flies much larger distances. Essentially, the data hasn't changed in the 35 years I've been flying professionally. (I don't necessarily mean flying well – but rather for hire and reward).
If one compares private aircraft costs on a long flight to airline fares one quickly learns that 2.5 people must be carried to break even with the airlines. That ".5" person does not refer to a child but rather to a half airline fare.
This means the carriage of three people on a flight typically beats airline pricing. (This does not take into account accommodations or meals that might be required for extra time required by slower cruising speeds).
Obviously, some private aircraft flight might need to be canceled due to unserviceability or weather; nonetheless, these can also happen with airlines.

COMPARISONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Of course, many of the airline price offerings are a function of international agreements and some are simply marketing ploys. We can have variations in costs as well for our flying when unscheduled maintenance creates problems for us.
Nonetheless, I'll take the convenience, lower costs, efficiency and pleasure of aircraft ownership - especially for the short and medium range flights - and avoid the airlines as much as possible.
I don't need the bacteria re-circulated in the cabin air, the line ups, the security variations that generally only hassle the innocent, security fees, airport terminal improvement fees, surly check-in staff who interpret the rules differently and a host of other hassles I can avoid with personal aircraft ownership. How about you?