For most travelling that I do, flying commercially is the most economical and practical option. I live in Austin, and KAUS has a lot of direct flights across the country and to major international hubs. But every so often, I have travel plans that would actually take longer if I flew with the airlines, and GA would actually save me more time. It's not cheaper by any stretch of the imagination, but since I can skip the TSA lines and fly direct to my destination without any lengthy layovers, sometimes renting a plane and flying myself gets me there sooner. Plus it's more fun!

My hometown of Baton Rouge, LA is a good example of such a destination. I could drive myself there, but that takes about 7 hours each way. Southwest has a direct flight to New Orleans (KMSY) that only takes about an hour, but by the time I get to the car rental center and drive myself to Baton Rouge, I've spent nearly the same amount of time as I would driving. But flying myself in the club's Cherokee or Skylane takes about half the time!

The Lockhart Flying Club curently has 3 airplanes available for qualified members to fly, or student pilots with a vetted CFI. 2 of these aircraft are IFR certified and are perfect for my missions for quick family visits.

Last December, I flew the club's Cessna 182 Q from 50R to KBTR to visit family for the holidays. Even though it was severe clear on the days I was flying, I filed IFR because I wanted to easily get through Houston's Bravo. I made the trip in about 3 hours in one leg, and decided to land at KBTR and park at the Williams Jet Center. It's a new FBO with a very nice lounge, and the self-serve fuel prices were actually quite good for a Charlie: about $5.50 at the time. That said, the rental car agencies would not drop off a car for me at that FBO, and I had to walk a quarter mile to retrieve my vehicle.

Last weekend, I decided to fly a little further east in the club's Cherokee and land at KREG. It's an uncontrolled field just South East of Baton Rouge in the town of Gonzales, close to my brother and his family. The fuel was less than Lockhart's prices, and the service was impeccable. They also have 3 instrument approaches: 2 precision RNAVs as well as a VOR-A.

According to the performance profile I used in ForeFlight for N8394W, I couldn't legally complete the trip in one leg. Assuming I burn 15 gph during climb and 11 gph during cruise at 2500 RPM and 5000 feet, it would have left me with 4 gallons remaining on the way there. Because of the favorable winds on my return trip back to Lockhart, the profile calculated 10 gallons remaining. That said, I chose KLCH as my pit stop on both days of flying. It's a class Delta airport along the route of my flight, and it's self-service prices were $4.65 a gallon! It also allowed me to stretch my legs, hit the bathroom, and get refreshed before continuing on.

In reality, my fuel burn was a little more than 11 gph in cruise. I kept it between 2400-2450 RPM between 6000-7000 feet. I was able to lean it out and achieve 11.5 - 12.4 gph during cruise. I was able to lean it further and get it down to about 10 gph with those power settings, but cylinder 2 consistently rose above 400 degrees when I did that, so I kept the mixture a bit richer to keep the engine cooler, which in turn increased the fuel consumption.

LFC Safety Officer Austin Thurmond reminded me that ATC was my friend, and they really are! For this flight to Baton Rouge in the Cherokee, I filed an IFR flight plan using primarily Victor airways. To get past Houston, I decided to do the following: 50R to the Navasota VOR and then V306 airway to the DAS VOR. Predictably, Houston Approach wanted to vector me around arriving traffic and asked me if I wanted to go to the north or the south. I wasn't sure, so I just asked for help! "Which route has the better weather?" The controller checked for me and recommended that I go north. He put me on a NE heading of 060 for about 20 minutes before allowing me to continue direct to DAS.

In another example of ATC helping out, when I departed Lake Charles to go to Gonzales, their Approach Control wanted me to maintain 4,000 feet to give way to an aircraft that declared an emergency (left engine out). That altitude put me right at the base of a scattered layer, and I was in the soup for about 10 minutes. They gave me traffic advisories even though I filed IFR, but I let the controller know that I was in the clouds was unable to report any traffic in sight. "Thanks for letting me know, and no problem. We'll keep you out the way." It's ATC's job to help us -- if you're unable to comply with their directions or if you need help, then don't be afraid to speak and ask. They're terrible mind readers, but they've got excellent resources to keep us out of harm's way.

So far, I've had two great trips to Louisiana in the club's airplanes, and because I only paid based on the Hobb's meter, I saved a lot of money! If I had rented a plane from a flight school, I would have also been charged exorbitant minimum fees for each additional day I was away, even if I put no time on the Hobb's.