Is Flying Really Affordable?

Growing up and still today I have been very fortunate to have a family that goes on vacations about every other year to different places, typically to a beach though. Out of these several vacations I have been on a commercial airline only twice in my life, one to Disney World in Florida and the other to Denver Colorado where we departed from Chicago so we still had to drive. All the other places we've been to we've all piled in a car, sucked it up and started our adventure to wherever we were going. I must say that because of these car rides our family has become a lot closer, has many inside jokes, and stories. Not to mention all the experience we had from driving in different locations and in different situations. Typically my family travels in packs so my moms brother his wife and their three kids come along as well which just adds to the fun. This past summer the five of them the four of us (My dad, mom, sister and  myself) and my cousins fiance all traveled to Dauphin Island, AL which isn't your typical vacation spot and I understand that so this isn't my only example. We took a total of 3 cars to carry all of us and our luggage, plus another key factor to this is that all of us have drivers license even though the youngest just earned his a few months prior. This helps a lot because if we had to we could drive all through out the night but we didn't because we had travel points that we used to sleep in a hotel. Now to get into the nitty gritty of costs.

The closest airport to our destination that has airlines is Mobile, AL (MOB), there are four different airlines that fly into MOB. Not to mention that we would then have an hour car ride from the airport to our house on the beach and no car... Without the cost of the car a ticket for one person cheapest was about $455 per person from United and U.S. Airways round trip. I chose tickets from a Saturday to the following Saturday which is when we were traveling and made sure it wasn't on a holiday to get the best price option. The cost of gas for us to get down in my mothers 2008 Cadillac STS which gets about 22 mpg on the highway wast about a total of $650 to travel there and back. With 4 people in the car that totals to about $163 per person to travel down and back. Need I say more?

But like I said tickets to get into Mobile are probably higher because it's not the hot spot to be at. So earlier in the year once again my mother, sister, myself and my mom's brother, his wife, and their three kids went on a cruise. We chose to drive down to Miami, FL because once again driving made more financial sense then to fly. Even though the time of travel more than triples the savings meant that we could spend more on ourselves during the cruise. The cruise started on a Thursday and we returned on Sunday so I chose tickets on Travelocity this time because there were way too many options to search them all. I chose morning flights on Thursday so that we would make it in time for departure of the cruise and afternoon on Sunday which would give us time to load up and arrive at the airport in time for our flight home. The cheapest ticket was $321 per person from DTW to MIA. For this trip down we took my sisters 2011 Hyundai Elantra (which is a lot more comfortable than the Cadillac in the back seat) which gets about 38 mpg highway. We spent a total of about $700 in gas to make it to Miami and back, plus an $80 parking fee (which we would have had to pay at the airport anyways). But to make this seem more fair I'll leave the parking fee in. Three people (My sister, my mom, and myself) in my sisters car this came to be about $260 per person. The margin is closer for sure however it still would cost more to fly than to drive. And when you're saving $60 per person it comes to saving a total of $180.

I understand that a lot of pilots in training fly because they have a family member who is a pilot or is in the aviation industry with some flight perks. If that's the case more power to you why not travel by plane in arrive at your destination faster than if you were to drive. However my family doesn't have that luxury so we utilize our resources in order to find the cheaper option and to go where we want to go. All my life my mom says that she works so she can go on vacations, yes why not wait another year and save up the money for a plane ticket but if that were the case why not go somewhere nicer and still drive?

Is flying a luxury? That depends on who you're talking to. To my family it's an option for travel that we have taken a few times not necessarily a luxury. But why spend the extra money on flying when you can spend the extra time with your family and drive. If you were able to snag a great deal on airline tickets to go somewhere, more power to you. Or if you notice that flying is actually cheaper than driving once again don't be silly take the cheaper option. But some people are willing to spend the extra money to save time, and once again like I said it depends on who you're talking to.

So you ask, if we raise the time requirement if that will ultimately effect the price of an airline ticket? If a pilot wants to be an airline pilot I think they'll take the same measly pay and work their way up to a better salary even with the extra hour requirement in the beginning. That's just from talking to people in the area who fly, they are determined to make it in the airlines and that is what they've wanted ever since they were a little kid. "To be successful, you must decide exactly what you want to accomplish, then resolve to pay the price to get it." - Bunker Hunt. If a person wants it bad enough they'll do whatever it takes to get it. If you think there isn't enough people to go the extra mile I must say that I laugh at you. Look at the sports industry, all those athletes went the extra mile to climb to the top and they did whatever it took to get there. That is just the sports industry there are so many other fields where there are people who paid the price to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish, the airlines is a great example of that too.

Airline Safety and FAA Act

After the Colgan crash in 2009 the families of those who lost a loved one lobbied the lawmakers in order to increase the safety standards of the airlines. Because of the crash of flight 3407 (colgan crash of 2009) it showed many gaps in the airline system that could have prevented the crash and in return save lives. Since there was a problem Obama signed the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010. This act changed many safety standards, some of the highlights being a change in pilot duty periods in order to reduce fatigue, all airline pilots must hold an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot certificate) which increases the hours needed to be a pilot for an airline, and requiring that pilots are trained to recover from stalls and other unusual attitudes. These are just a few changes from the act that are now in place.

Although my dream job is not to be an airline pilot, that doesn't mean that the door is completely closed. However many of my friends are longing for the day that they work for their airline of choice, and this rule postpones that date for them because of the new ATP requirements going from only 250 flight hours to 1,500 flight hours minimum. This also effects not only Eastern Michigan's Eagle Flight Centers training but any flight school as well. Students will work their way up to Certified Flight Instructor and start applying to schools to be a CFI, but there's no room for them because the CFI's that are currently working there are stuck until they reach the minimum hours to eventually find that airline job they have been dreaming about. After discussing this topic before with my fellow aviation friends it seems silly to hire someone that has about 1,500 hours of flying to the practice area and back. Yes, they may have gone on a few cross countries with students, and back when they were working on their commercial rating experienced a few cross countries on their own but the majority is to the same area and back over and over again. Although the intention is good, does this specific rule actually increase the safety of the airlines?

One could say that in the extra hours required the pilot has a chance to experience problems while flying when there are fewer people at risk. An example of this could be if a pilot experiences an engine failure, through the experience they realized that staying calm and utilizing their checklist saved not only their life but the airplanes as well. However this is taught to a pilot in flight training on multiple occasions, but to live the experience and make believe the experience is two different things. However when you're flying as an airline pilot just starting out you don't have 1,500 hours in that aircraft and will be flying in areas that you may have never experienced. If you have an engine failure then it's going to be different then an engine failure in a training aircraft at the practice area that you know better than the back of your hand.

Do I agree with changing the flight hours in order to obtain the ATP? Yes I do, but I think 1,500 hours is too much. Maybe in increase from 250 hours to 500-700 hours makes a bit more sense. Being a pilot with just over 300 hours I can tell you that I am not ready to take on the responsibility of flying for airlines, but in about another hundred hours or two I might be. I think a lot of the changes that were created in this act were because of the Colgan crash in 2009. The crash is absolutely horrible and my heart goes out to those who have lost a loved one. However, I think some of these rules are just strangling pilots more with the rules and restrictions that are being put in place. The intentions are good, but I think it's a bit much.

Safety Standards

Safety standards are different in every country, even in the aviation world each country has a different approach. Today there is a bare minimum standard that many countries use, however some argue as to if these standards are too low. The United States (of course) has led the world in aviation safety, therefore we take the standards and became extreme over achievers. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have set these standards, now there's talk about raising them causing these other countries to meet them. Today ICAO has rules on what language is used, mandated rest requirements, accident investigations, and ways to help with runway safety which are just a few of the many rules they have put into place. ICAO has published an 80 page document that goes into wonderful detail of all they do.
The question is if the safety standard bar should be higher for those who meet the bare minimum. In the document it shows the accident rate compared to by regions. It shows the traffic amount in the region compared to the accident rate. Africa had the highest accident rate compared to their traffic rate, which begs the question as to if these standards are high enough. With africa having the worst score they had just over 1 million planes for traffic with 17 accidents. I think everybody would like to see this number being zero but if there were only 17 accidents (3 being fatal) with over a million flights the numbers aren't that bad. In order to make these numbers closer to zero there could be more rules on rest periods and maybe more standards on maintenance requirements. But honestly I think they should be left alone, if the country wants their numbers to be better, like the United States, then they would increase safety on their own.
It would be nice if other countries tried to better the safety of the aviation world especially in their own home, it could create more jobs by having more mechanics or hiring people to create a new procedures and implement them. But once again I think that it's the duty of the country to do that on their own.

Why Flying?

When I was younger, and still today, I was interested in space and flying but always figured you had to be the next Einstein in order to become a pilot. I went through several job ideas from want to be a nurse, to an architect, to even a truck driver. Then I started to search more into aviation and the different career paths and thought because of my gift in math that aerospace engineer would be a good choice. It wasn't until my junior year of high school that I was given the opportunity to take a class where we had to interview someone in the field that we wanted to go in. There weren't many options near by for aerospace engineer so my dad suggested that we go talk to a pilot and interview him for the class. Eventually the teacher gave me permission to do so and lucky for me it was one of the best experiences of my life.

We all selected a date to meet up and so I met him at some airport where he did some side flight instructing at. After asking all the question I needed he offered to take me up in the cessna they had in the hanger. My dad the guy I interviewed and myself all climbed in and departed for a discovery flight. After we got to an altitude he asked if I wanted to take over and fly a bit. Once he said "okay your controls" I looked out the window with full control of the aircraft and everything became brighter. It is actually quite silly, the sky had a mystic yellow glow to it and everything around me disappeared. Just me and the aircraft! We then went and flew over my house and the church that we all go to as well as did a touch and go at Toledo Express, then he asked if I like roller coasters and we experienced a couple G's. It was an experience I'll never forget, it was the day that I realized that I  needed to fly and have aviation in my life in order for me to feel complete.

When I started at Eastern Michigan I already had my Private Pilots License which is really giving me the boost to finish my education in three years. I am fortunate enough to have my CFI and am now starting the path towards CFII. I will never say that it was easy getting to where I am, I am super lucky to have found my passion and to be skilled at it. I really want to help this world with my gift and it wasn't until recently that I had my "2x4 to the head" moment. I am feeling called to help those who need to travel for reasons beyond them such as medical purposes. For the longest time I wanted to  fly corporate, but now I am willing to take what ever I can find. I have a few years ahead of me to figure this all out and see where life is taking me, but I am excited and open to what is in store for me!

Hello