Arrived in Jacksonville; great demonstration of private airplane versus JetBlue

by philg

Good news: I made it to Jacksonville without suffering the indignity of three hours on JetBlue.

Bad news: the trip was officially scheduled to depart on Friday, thus making this a three-day journey.

The Cirrus SR20 was theoretically capable of handling the low clouds and heavy rain of Friday in New England, but not the forecast icing conditions once airborne.

Why not depart on Saturday? The FAA issued an Airmet for occasional moderate turbulence, but that didn’t seem to square with surface winds forecast to gust up to 30 knots in the Washington, D.C. area (usually calm). Boeing crews were reporting moderate turbulence and a Cirrus SR22 in northern Virginia reported “severe” turbulence:

Turbulence that causes large, abrupt changes in altitude and/or attitude. It usually causes large variations in indicated airspeed. Aircraft may be momentarily out of control. Report as Severe Turbulence.

Occupants are forced violently against seat belts or shoulder straps. Unsecured objects are tossed about. Food service and walking are impossible.

Later in the day, the FAA issued a SIGMET for occasional severe turbulence.

So the trip departed Sunday morning and the D.C. overnight was replaced with lunch followed by an overnight on the Virginia/North Carolina border.

So… at least in the winter, it is fair to say that a four-seat airplane is approximately 1/24th the speed of a basic economy airline ticket (and a little slower than a Honda Accord).

3 thoughts on “Arrived in Jacksonville; great demonstration of private airplane versus JetBlue”

  1. Friday had those winds too. You didn’t cover the cost difference either. Sometimes it’s just better to fly commercial, but not nearly as fun, how long did it take?

  2. Just a matter of owning an airplane more suited to the planet it’s flying on. A Phenom 300 ought to realize that dream.

  3. Paul: how long? About 7 hours flight time. How much? Figure $150/hour marginal cost for fuel and maintenance/overhaul reserve.

    (We are here in Florida for 12 days and the main reason for bringing the Cirrus down was to have it available for day trips. I did not expect to beat JetBlue on cost, comfort, time, or convenience.)

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