how far would you travel for a share?
 

Hi all

Just putting the feelers out to help me make a decision.... I tend to go to lengths others wouldn't entertain so want to see what people on here think and would do.

If you we're to buy into a share how far would you be prepared to drive?

One had come up for me but its 70 miles away.... I'm in two minds :/

I find the prospect of moving from an airfield 6 miles away to an airfield 10 miles away too much of a challenge! So, not far.

For most of my flying I have been around 1 hour away by car from the airfield and this is my max. If I had not been prepared to travel that far then I would have had no choice but to give up long ago. At an hour it is practical to be at the aircraft for 9:00am and get 5 hours touring in but you are not going to fly in the evenings or socialise much after flying. I am now around 25min and that allows me greater flexibility. In terms of distance, 50 miles (one way) is the most I have travelled on a regular basis.

Rod1

I'm really sick of driving currently at least 1 hour to the next best aircraft... so if I'd buy into something it would certainly need to be very close.

I'm currently looking at the problem the other way round. The aircraft is fixed but I am trying to move home. At present I am 30 minutes drive from the airfield and am trying to buy a house about 40 minutes away. I would not want to be much further than that particularly as, this Winter, there have been many fruitless trips to the airfield. Even 30 minutes away the weather at home can be totally different from that at the airfield.

I found myself renting for a while from a club 75mins drive away (via the Dartford crossing - so often more!) and it really ate into my enthusiasm. Now sharing at a field 15mins drive away and loving it.

I found the prospect of a long fruitless roundtrip on marginal mornings meant that I was more likely cancel, only to find that the weather had improved an hour or so later.

Circa 50 miles/1 hour is my comfortable maximum to go fly an aircraft for fun.

Depends on the roads of course, there are airfields nearly 70 miles away I can get to within an hour, living next to a motorway.

Thanks guys that's the kind of response i figured I would get.

While the idea now is ok, after a few months I think I would be sick of the journey and wishing I'd get something nearer.

Thanks everyone, just saved me wasting a lot of money!

After 16 years in a group, 6 miles from home, 4 miles from work, I moved on retiring. I'm still in the group 6 years later, now with a 50 mile each way 1h 20m minimum drive.

I used to have to drive 90 minutes to Perth (passing two perfectly usable airfields on the way) and that was a pain. Only once was the weather bad when I got there. Now I'm 15 minutes by car, 35 mins by bike from the strip where I keep my pride and joy. This is a huge improvement.

90 minutes on the train each way. I check the NOTAMS and weather before setting out and do all my flight planning on the way.

Wouldn't drive more than 15 miles/30 mins. My airfield is 8 miles, depending on the time of day it can take about 25 minutes. Although once I had a call at 7am when I was in bed from a mate who told me to look out the window and get my arse up the airfield because it was going to be a boomer. I was there at 7.20.

I used to be a member of a flying club that far away; it was 1 3/4 hours of driving each way. I would often set off very early in bright sunshine in the morning (spring or autumn; before anyone was there to answer the phone) and arrive at a completely fogged-in airfield. Also happened that the weather worsened otherwise during the drive. The airfield closed at 19:00 so I could never use summer evenings after work for flying (either take time off or use weekends). When I finally got to fly, I was gone for the better part of a day just getting 1-2 hours flying in, which pleased the family immensely (not).

I now fly from an airfield 30 minutes drive from where I live and never had these problems again. If it should close, then it'll be +1 hours drive to the next airfield and then I'll quit flying.

I think you have decided very wisely.

I think an important consideration that no one has mentioned yet is how much you like the aircraft is it something interesting or vintage? if its just another spam can like a c152, C172, PA28 etc its probably not worth a 70 mile trip but if it was a vintage or an aircraft of interest I would definitely travel 70 miles

Biggles

If it were a share in a Spit (Assuming I could afford it, which I can't,)

I'd move. Now which continent did you say you were based in?