are things complicated yet?

Oh! One More Thing About Maui! We Rented A Plane!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you guys about the time we rented a plane in Maui.

A very big THING in Hawaii are helicopter tours of the islands. We did one of those in Kauai, on our honeymoon, and it was very ohhhh-ahhhh. HOWEVER. There are a few things about helicopters that make me somewhat uncomfortable about doing that again.

Thing The First

A helicopter tour is pretty spendy. Helicopters cost a FORTUNE to insure (waaaaay more than a single engine aircraft) and they're not cheap to purchase in the first place. Training is also very expensive. (On the good side, they do drink the same fuel.) A complete tour of Maui runs almost $400/person. That's...a lot for an hour and a half flight.

Thing The Second

Helicopters crash with more frequency in Hawaii than in most other tourist destinations. There are probably a couple of factors that play into this: frequency (both in number of total flights per day and flights per day per helicopter versus other general aviation in the area), dramatic terrain changes what with the VOLCANOES RISING FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR, and frequent, severe, weather changes due to that terrain and the ocean (fog,rain, and a helluva big crosswind, all probably changing minute-to-minute and mile-to-mile). 

In the past 30 years there have been 60 helicopter crashes in Hawaii. 17 were fatal. That's...a lot.

Per a local blog,

There is a proposal in front of the FAA that would establish a minimum altitude of 1500 feet in order to avoid obscured mountain peaks that are frequently found in Hawaii. Hawaii operators believe that the increased altitude could result in additional crashes from reduced visibility in clouds often present at higher altitudes.

So, yeah. It's a tricky thing to fly in Hawaii, helicopter OR airplane. 

We started asking about renting a plane and circling the island ourselves. Mostly, it sounded a HELLUVA lot cheaper. Turns out, you can do that!

This is Big Beach, in Wailea. I took this picture and I am very proud of myself.

We rented a 2003 Cessna 172 SP from Maui Aviators. It's going for $164/hour these days and we probably paid close to that or the same when we did this in 2009. We had the engine on for about two hours and we circled Maui, Molokai, and Lanai. I think the total bill was about $400. If you'll notice, the above price for a helicopter tour does not include Molokai or Lanai. And? Our plane also seated FOUR people for that price. We only took two plus the instructor, but there was plenty of room for a fourth.

For the price of ONE seat on a SHORTER helicopter tour, we got THREE passenger seats and a LONGER tour. Much better value.

Oh, yes, the instructor. It's very common that a shop will require you to take an instructor until you get "checked out" in their aircraft. Only after you've been checked out can you rent solo. This is very typical with any rental operation, no matter the location. It's not exactly like renting a car: there's more cash at stake and it's easier to kill yourself. They have to be confident a pilot knows how to handle the aircraft and is familiar with the local airspace and regulations.

For example, in Hawaii you do not file a traditional flight plan, you file an Island Flight Plan. You check in over the radio at each waypoint (a physical landmark or set of coordinates) and say how long it will be until you get to the next one. If you don't make it to the next waypoint and check in on time, Flight Service will immediately begin overdue aircraft procedures. This way, they have a very good idea of where you are and where to send search and rescue, which is important because there are mountains to fly into and a big, big ocean below and it's super easy to die fast out there.

Oh, this is fun to talk about right? IT'S FUN! COME ON!

Anyway, we had to take one of their instructors with us, but that was a SUPER GREAT thing and we would have wanted him anyway. He knew all the waypoints (and how to PRONOUNCE them) and he was a great tour guide. Chris did the flying and our instructor handled the radio and provided some live narration.

The views were amazing - the high wings on a Cessna give passengers an unobstructed view and there are lots of windows. Another great thing about taking a plane up ourselves was if we want to go back and look at something? Or get a little closer? We can do that! We're not on a schedule or trying to make a razor thin margin off this flight. We're just payin' by the hour.

So, we DID do that. We were trying to see some whales off of Kapalua, and we thought we saw one, so we edged over that way and circled for a bit. We ended up seeing a few, which was really exciting to see from above.

This one is actually the Pipiwai Trail, that I mentioned in the last post. That waterfall up top is the 400-footer and you hike basically from the beach up there and back. It's AWESOME.

I also really enjoyed flying along the far side of Molokai, with the sea cliffs. These are the highest sea cliffs in the world. I had thought the cliffs on Kauai, along the Kalaulau Trail were spectacular, but these were just jaw-dropping. I wanted to double back and see them again, but the wind and weather were not in our favor. The Kalaupapa Peninsula was also interesting to me, as I'd gotten really wrapped up in Father Damien's story a few years ago and had spent an odd amount of time reading historical fiction and actual biographies about/from that era. I could see the church and the cemetery and it was just...kind of somber and unexpectedly meaningful to see from above.

So, yeah! We rented a plane in Maui and it was totally kick butt. Owning an aircraft isn't for everyone - Hell, if you don't have a far-off place to go on the regular, it doesn't make any fiscal sense. To make it worthwhile you have to actually fly the damn thing pretty often.  

There are a lot of recurrent costs to ownership that you can escape with a rental. The best scenario is to get your license and get checked out with a local group. That way, if you want to go to New Orleans for the weekend twice a year, and you enjoy flying yourself ANYWAY, you can do that for a DRAMATICALLY lower annual cost in terms of access to a quality aircraft. (And trust me, this is a WAY more quality aircraft than the one we own, it's almost 40-years newer.) And, since you're already checked out, you would be well past needing to take an instructor with you.

Then, obviously, you can also do things like this with a pilot's license - see other places from above, as you dictate the route and schedule.

***

I've been thinking A LOT about taking my first flying lessons in the next few weeks and I have to admit, I AM SO NERVOUS. I don't know why! I have spent more than a hundred hours in a tiny-ass airplane and I am pretty familiar with how it works. But, there you go, I AM NERVOUS. I'm thinking about it a lot more often than I used to though, and the idea appeals to me more every day.  I'd like to start soon, but I think it'll be more like this fall before my first flight with our instructor. I'll start working on some ground school items this summer and take my first lesson this fall, once the heat breaks. 

I hope I don't barf. That would be really embarrassing.

I'm just going to throw a bunch of pictures up here from last weekend and leave it at that

In case you were wondering, the best car seats for the back of a 1965 Mooney are two Britax Roundabouts.

You're welcome.

After we took off, we went over interstate 35 and woooooo was it backed up with cars. I always get to feeling really smug when I'm flying over a lot of traffic. But then I remember that they can pack whatever they want in their cars and they have air conditioning so maybe it's not SUCH a smug feeling.

Here I am with my bangs that I cut for myself.

On approach to College Station, looking at campus from the north.

About to land.

While the rest of the family was at the football game, I went shopping in Houston with my mother in law. I happened to drive through Magnolia, which is where one of the largest wildfires was in the past few weeks. More than 1,000 homes were destroyed. The city was obviously still in recovery mode and visible fire damage and burns were right on the highway. It was pretty awful.

Here's what Magnolia looks like where it hasn't burned:

Here's a section that did burn. Just really, really terrible.

On the way home, Claire held Charlotte's hand so she "wouldn't be scared" even though Claire is usually the one that demands I hold her hand. 

Just for kicks, here's a picture of Charlotte without hot pink headphones on. I hope you're all having a lovely September because duuuude. I'm too busy to post much of anything else around here.

 

That was a fun airplane post a few weeks ago, wasn't it? Let's keep talking about that.

Our airplane was built in 1965 in Kerrville, Texas by the Mooney Airplane Company. They still make them today but they are much fancier than they were in 1965. (As one might expect.)

Mooney airplanes are known as "low wings" which means that you step up on the wings to board, rather than ducking your head underneath.

See? Low wings on our airplane:

And, a Cessna with high wings:

Our airplane only has one door, which is totally annoying, but it does cut down on the weight and make it more aerodynamic. (Or so I'm told. I have many internet degrees but Aerospace Engineering is not one of them.) We also have retractable landing gear that Chris manually pulls up and puts down with a lever. It is very 1965. See the flap under the wing up there? That's a panel that the wing gear goes up in. It's not mechanized like on a 767 where you push a button and the gear comes up automatically. Chris has to put some muscle into it.

This sounds like a pain in the butt, but it's actually kind of okay because fewer mechanical parts = less shit to break. And, believe me, when you fly something built when LBJ was the President, you are very interested in limiting your "shit that can break" window of opportunity.

When things break on our airplane, or have to be replaced because they've simply reached the end of their lifespan, it can get expensive pretty fast. Did you know that if you attach the word "airplane" to anything it suddenly it costs more? It does. For example, last Christmas one of the blinky lights on the belly of the plane stopped working. It's just a red blinky light, one of six on the aircraft, that lets other aircraft see us when we're flying at night. If you want to get real specific about it, it's called a "positioning light." Anyway, the blinky light was out. Simple. This sounds like it will be cheap, right? Perhaps a light bulb needs to be replaced?

Wellllll, not really. When we replace things on our plane we always try to find an old part that has been salvaged from another plane. It's way cheaper to get old stuff than buy new. In this case, we could not locate a used blinky light because it was made in 1964 and the motor that makes it rotate? Nobody makes that any more and they stopped a long time ago, so there wasn't a salvage option. We had to buy a new one.

One blinky red light: $500. For serious.

After we had it installed I told Chris, "Oh, Merry Christmas. I hope you looooove that blinky light. Let's go admire it right now, actually."

We don't need a blinky light to get airborne, but the FAA mandates the blinky light so...fine. It's one of the costs of ownership. Sometimes, things break and we have to fix them. It's a known factor when you buy an older aircraft.

Our Mooney is 46 years old, which is rather elderly to me. I mean, who wants to be flying around in something with 1960's technology? Well, a lot of people do. The mechanics of flight are pretty elementary and you don't need a lot of fancy whosits and doodads. Planes built in the 1960's fly just fine today, provided they have been properly maintained and the engine and other parts replaced at scheduled intervals. There have been some upgrades to ours over the years (most notably the addition of GPS) but none of these are FAA mandated. They are simply for pilot ease.

Chris does not have to renew his license every year or take a new test in twenty or anything like that. Once you earn a pilot's license, it's yours for life (unless you break the rules or something and then the FAA can yank it). You have to take a medical exam every year to make sure you're fit to fly (again, per the FAA) but other than that, it's fairly low maintenance. Chris does have an actual, physical license, issued by the FAA and it's kind of a cheap looking bit of paper. I think two or three years ago they upgraded to plastic. (FANCY!) You're supposed to carry it when you when you fly in case you get ramp checked by an FAA agent. But, Chris has never been ramp checked and he doesn't know anyone who has. (He carries his license like a good pilot should.)

Every year we send the plane to Tom, our mechanic, for an annual inspection. (Also FAA mandated. They are quite fond of rules over at the FAA.) He strips the airplane and the engine down and examines it in minute detail, performs Mooney-issued maintenance and tells us if we need to replace anything. This is how you get 50+ years out of an aircraft. If you stripped your car down to its cylinders every year and performed mandated maintenance as outlined by the manufacturer then it would probably last longer too. Aircraft are also designed to last this long. They're designed with the knowledge that some parts will wear out and be replaced but others will need to last longer (like the frame). So, it might be old, but it's not ancient (yet) in aircraft-speak.

This year, there were no blinky lights to fix, but our transponder and emergency locator transmitter (ELT) were busted. The transponder is what talks to air traffic control (ATC). When they sweep us with radar, it pings them back with our tail number and altitude. It basically tells them who we are and it made sense as the past few times we'd been up ATC had mentioned that they couldn't "see" us and they asked us to cycle the transponder on and off. That seemed to work, but at inspection it was pretty kaput. This is an important part and we can't fly without it. We ran into the same, "They haven't made this for a loooooong time" problem and we had to buy a new one. That kind of sucked.

The ELT is what they look for if we go down, to find where we landed or, um, crashed. It basically sends out some sort of ping so if we're in a mountain range or a desert they can find us, rescue us, render medical aid, etc. It's not important until the moment you need it and ours was so dead they couldn't hear it with the reciever right on top of it. We had to replace that too.

One ELT and one transponder: $800

Oddball stories that have no narrative thread, but I want to tell you about anyway:

On the radio we often hear about "jumpers in the air!" That means that a skydiving plane is nearby and everyone has jumped out. I have always wanted to see them plummeting towards the earth or see their chutes, but I never have. I think ATC (wisely) gives jump planes a wide berth.

Remember how I explained why we do not have air conditioning? Well, Chris found this device that will actually air condition the plane except it will take up ALL the cargo space, which means no luggage. Not feasible for us. But, the cool thing about it is that it's removable! So, in the winter when you don't need it you can take it out and recoup that space and weight. Neat, yes? It costs $5,000. FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. This is why we don't have air conditioning in our plane. It's heavy, it takes up too much space and 20 minutes of discomfort on the front and back end of a flight are not worth $5,000. No thank you.

It turns out I only had two oddball stories. Hmm, this is all I can think to tell you about the plane. If you have any questions, pipe up in the comments. Chris positively loooooves to answer your curiosities on this topic.

Airplane adventures

For those unfamiliar, Chris is a pilot (by hobby, not trade) and we have a very, very small aircraft that we cram everyone into on the weekends and use to shortcut traffic to go visit family. It is awesome.

We keep it hangared at a small airport a few miles away. When we want to go somewhere we drive up to our hangar, unlock it and load up the plane with our things. Chris performs a pre-flight inspection (10 minutes), we get in and buckle up, taxi to the runway and take off. The whole thing takes less than a half hour. There is no security to go through, I do not have to pay to park, I keep my shoes on and I take as much bottled water and as many nail clippers on board as I like. It is nice to leave when we want and come back when we want (weather permitting) and not waste so many hours of our lives with the total bullshit that is the entire commercial air travel experience. 

Chris has held a pilot's license since 2000 and he has an IFR rating and is about to earn a Commercial rating. (Ratings to non-professional pilots are kind of like Karate belts. You earn the next one up simply because you can and want to learn and get better, not necessarily because you want to fly people around for money.) Chris is, very exclusively, a private pilot that ferries his family around on the weekends. He flies by himself, sometimes, just because he loves it. It is kind of like golf or fishing or hunting. It's his hobby. I love it because it's something we can ALL enjoy and get utility from, versus golf or something similar (which can easily cost as much from a day-use standpoint).

Owning an airplane is kind of a weird thing. You say you have an airplane and people automatically, without thinking about it really, assume that you are swimming in gold coins every night like Scrooge McDuck. This is not true. I do not have a pool of gold coins. (And if I did? I would keep them in a safe deposit box like a responsible person and not like an elderly duck that wears clothes.)

But seriously, do not get any ideas about lumping me in with those Private Airplane Owners that politicians love to blame for our nation's problems. (Thanks, Barack! We appreciate the dig. We get it: you hate aircraft owners and they are an easy target to pick on as the evil money-grubbers of the nation, no matter the reality of our nation's actual general aviation population, which you seem to be DRAMATICALLY out of touch with.) (Which, what is it about people that own airplanes that is so AWFUL? Why do Americans continue to buy this line of horse crap about how if you don't fly Delta you don't pay enough income tax? What???? HOW DOES THAT IDEA EVEN COME ABOUT? What about people with Aston Martins? People with quarter-million-dollar Ferraris?  Why aren't we picking on them? Those cost more than a small plane, they are bound by the same speed limits as a 1981 Corolla and THEY DO NOT EVEN FLY. Those cars aren't even made in America. FOR SHAME, FERRARI OWNERS.)

Ahem. Anyway.

Our aircraft is very tiny. I am limited to about 35 pounds of luggage, including the weight of the bags themselves, FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY. I have become very good at packing light in the past two years. It has 4 seats, but the back seats are really only meant for children as they have almost no leg room. It is a tight squeeze, but our family of four fits and that's fine by us. I do not care to own (and pay for) more aircraft than we need.

This is our airplane. I do not mind at all telling you that it cost less than a Corvette (never mind a Ferrari). A 1960-1970 Mooney, depending on the avionics and how it has been maintained, will run you $35,000 – $75,000. 

We have taken it to Orlando and New Orleans, but we mostly stay in Texas because that is where our family is and we like to visit them. The fastest it's ever gone, while I was in it, is about 200 mph (with a rare 50 mph tailwind) but it normally goes about 160 mph with no tail or headwind. Fast, but not crazy-fast. (You need a jet to go crazy-fast.) With a strong headwind, I have seen our speed plummet to a pathetic 90 mph. We try not to fly at altitudes with big headwinds. (The wind blows different directions and speeds at different altitudes.)

Chris normally takes us up to 7,000 or 9,000 feet, depending on the length of our trip. It takes a lot of fuel to climb quickly and if we're not going very far it's not worth it. Then again, the higher you are, the more time a pilot has to recover if something goes wrong (EEP!) so I am always a fan of flying as high as we most efficiently can. Plus, it is colder up there than at lower altitudes.

Ah, yes, here is the part where you become screamingly jealous about my airplane and how hoity-toity it is because the damn thing is NOT AIR CONDITIONED. (What do you say about my so-called fancy-ass airplane now, Mr. President?) Air conditioners are heavy and they take up valuable cargo space where my 35 pounds of bags are supposed to go. If we had A/C, we would not be able to fill up with gas all the way and I would have to half my luggage. Most older and cheaper single engine aircraft don't have A/C. It's a serious luxury, particularly since you don't really need it once you get in the air.

You should also know that since our airplane is small, it has small wings and wings are where aircraft store their fuel. We can take on 50 gallons of Avgas ($4.50/gallon these days at our airport, can go up to $6 at fancier airports which HA HA NO we do not buy gas there). That 50 gallons gives us a range of about 4 hours (650 miles-ish) before we have to land and fill up again. Because Chris is an intelligent person, we never go that far without filling up because you don't really want to be close to E when flying an airplane as runways are not exactly everywhere (like the shoulder of a highway is) and it takes time (and fuel) to descend and land safely. Plus, the gauges on an aircraft are only required to read correctly when it's on E. (I know, I was also shocked when Chris told me that.) If it says it's half full? That's just sort of a guess. It's up to the pilot to monitor speed and time and keep close tabs on fuel consumption. Because there are two wings, and two tanks, Chris also has to rotate the tanks every half hour via a manual dial on the floor. Otherwise, if we emptied the right wing first the aircraft would be all lopsided and the weight/balance ratio would be off and...bad things would happen.

Flying is hard work, dudes. Someone has to pay attention while I take pictures. (There is only enough room to take the same self-portrait, over and over again. I told you it was a small airplane.)

It takes us 5.5 hours, door-to-door, to drive to see my parents. It takes us about 2 hours, door-to-door, to fly. It costs about the same in gas (and snacks and milkshakes and fancy coffee, which I require when we drive but not when we fly). The flight itself ranges from 55 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on the headwind/tailwind situation and how busy things are in the sky that day. Taking our plane is a HUGE timesaver. Three hours each way? Six hours total? That's half a freaking day! We arrive not-beat-down, not tired, not cranky. It's nice.

We've done lots of math about how owning our aircraft nets out versus flying commercial and, most of the time, we come out ahead flying ourselves. If we're going to any destination within range of one tank of fuel, we DEFINITELY come out ahead based on time and it's often cheaper. But if we're going from Texas to, say, California? We should probably fly commercial. The distance is quite far, our plane is quite slow (compared to a jet) and the number of fuel stops required really lengthens the total trip.

Then again, there's something to be said for controlling your own destiny. If we fly commercial, we're subject to weather, capacity, schedule changes, airline rules, TSA, unexpected fees, etc. It could easily take longer to fly commercial to California if there were a couple of delays with an airline. When we fly ourselves, we can see bad weather coming and change our plans to accommodate. We can stay an extra day or go home early or just go somewhere entirely different where the weather isn't an issue. If our plane has a mechanical issue we're kind of screwed versus an airline (no replacement aircraft for us!) but that's why we pay a lot of attention to the scheduled maintenance. 

It allows us to be flexible. Do we want to stay later than we were planning to and hit that brunch spot someone told us about? We can do that. We don't have a set departure time. There has been a lot more spontaneity with our travel. We don't have to plan months and months ahead and get tickets and shop around for the best fares.

We just go.

Last summer, we decided to go to Orlando on a Monday and we left on Thursday. We saw Space Shuttle Atlantis take off and went to Disney World. It was AWESOME and it was something we absolutely could not have pulled off without our trusty, tiny plane.

I am so, so, so glad that Chris has this hobby and skill we can all enjoy. Flying, and being a part of the American general aviation community, has been such an interesting and enriching and totally unexpected part of being married to him.