Total Motorcycle Community Forums

yeah, definitely not cheap. I looked into flying, and it costs about $5000 to get the basic license, + you need to keep flying to maintain the license. And if you want to get your own plane, the cost gets totally obscene. Unfortunately this is not something I can afford, especially since flying is 100% recreational (it's not like you can commute to work on a plane). At least with a motorcycle you'll eventually end up saving enough on gas to justify it (*).


(*) not really, but that's a nice cover story. "plausible deniability" and all that...

Around here (Greater Los Angeles Area) there are many people who commute daily by airplane. It's much easier and quicker to get from the inland empire or Orange County to Los Angeles (or Vs. Versa) by plane than by freeway. The biggest deterrent is weather, and our weather is famously good. Not only do you save an hour or so of being stuck in traffic, but you get to look forward to two flights every day! And flights at the best times (morning and evening tend to have calm air and sunsets are beautiful). A true win/win.

I'd seriously consider commuting from near my house (nearest airport is 15 miles away) to my office (nearest airport is 2 miles away)... it would be a 20 minute flight, a total of maybe an hour including preflight and postflight necessities (inspections, tying down, opening and closing flight plans, getting from house to plane and plane to office, and so forth).... An hour beats the 70-80 minutes I typically spend on the motorcycle.

A commute by plane would perhaps quadruple my incentive to go to work each morning.

Sadly, my plane don't fly yet... and my plan is to finish it about the same time I "semi-retire" (4 more years) ... so I'll probably never do a daily commute by plane... but not because it isn't practical.

Dieziege has the right idea. Although he has to build his own plane, he won't be at the mercy of FAA licensed mechanics and ridiculously priced parts suppliers to keep it in shape. He can do it all himself. Maintenance is about 2/3 of my yearly flying budget. It's obscene, but I don't have the organizational skills required to build my own. I just help other people build theirs

I use mine to get me places that you can only get to by air and I fly on business instead of going commercial. I haven't stepped onboard an airliner since 1999.

It keeps me broke, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's just too much fun!

Back on the topic of twisty roads...

We have a great all day/two day ride, (depending on how you ride) called the Duffy Lake Loop. This trip goes through some of the most senic areas in BC.

Starting in Vancouver, this route is totally different depending on which direction you start it from. Heading north west out of Vancouver on hwy 99 this route follows the coast up to Squamish BC. That stretch of hwy is twisty and usually quite congested, the further you travel on this hwy, the less the traffic, so don't be discouraged.

From Squamish you head inland to the #1 ski resort in north america, Whistler BC. (The Whistler Blackcomb ski resort has more verticle than any three US resorts combined.) While this is a faster road to ride, the best is yet to come, if you're into sight seeing, be sure to take in Whistler village, lots of sidewalk cafes etc...

From Whistler you head up into the mountains for real, the road takes you through Pemberton, Mount Currie and then climbs up the twisty mountains towards Duffy Lake then Lillooet. Some people like to call it a day here and finish the loop the next day, but it can be done in one. Take a look at this site and don't judge the road by that map, it's a pretty large area that it covers

http://members.shaw.ca/bjs1/duffy_lake_loop.htm


This is a scale comparison for those that might like to think about doing the run, I layered a grayscale map of the loop over the Los Angeles area for a comparison just for an idea of scale. The loop travels in remote back country, not built up suburbia or such...

Blues is doing this trip on the weekend...
I can't wait for the blog on it...

flynrider wrote:Last week I was doing some backcountry flying in Idaho, when I realized I was flying over my favorite piece of twisty real estate. U.S. 12 between Missoula, MT and Lewiston, ID.

OK...that ain't fair....you get to fly *and* ride....

I hope at least you're ugly.

ShawnKing wrote:OK...that ain't fair....you get to fly *and* ride....

I hope at least you're ugly.

That's why I'm called Fly-n-rider

My GF assures me that I'm no George Clooney, but I have a heart of gold

dr_bar wrote:Whistler BC. (The Whistler Blackcomb ski resort has more verticle than any three US resorts combined.)

Although Whistler Blackcomb is a great ski resort, that is simply not true. The top three ski resorts for vertical drop in the states are Snowmass at 4,406 feet, Big Sky at 4,180 feet and Jackson Hole at 4,139 feet. As you can see, those resorts add up to more than twice the the 5,280 feet of vertical at Blackcomb.
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VermilionX wrote:nice!

if you could fit your bike on the plane, you should do a halo drop w/ it.

Verm, please tell me what the acronym of H.A.L.O. stands for, then rethink whether you'd want to do it with your bike in tow. (Oh, and try not the go straight to wikipedia or something, try to think about it).

So what's more fun... airplane or bike?

Flak Monkey wrote:

dr_bar wrote:Whistler BC. (The Whistler Blackcomb ski resort has more verticle than any three US resorts combined.)

Although Whistler Blackcomb is a great ski resort, that is simply not true. The top three ski resorts for vertical drop in the states are Snowmass at 4,406 feet, Big Sky at 4,180 feet and Jackson Hole at 4,139 feet. As you can see, those resorts add up to more than twice the the 5,280 feet of vertical at Blackcomb.

I apologize, I mis-quoted a magazine article and it was any two, not three resorts. The total for Whistler Blackcomb is over 10,000, as there are two mountains side by side with 5000+ each...