Re:Small Aircraft not Practical (Score 1)

Philten, While you are certainly a pilot and well meaning, you might be missing the point with specific aircraft that are ready for air taxi today that have been around for years. The Cessna Caravan and Pilatus PC-12 are examples of aircraft that are perfect for the 500 mile segment market and have DOC's that are low enough (that with 8 pax) you can actually make flying very affordable. In fact, in many parts of the world, the aircraft offer cheap air taxi solutions for the layperson where there is no alternative. To make it clear, let me do some quick math. An operator of a highly utilized Caravan needs $600 /hr to make money. That is $100 / hr per pax (assming 6 pax load - it can take 8) one way, to cover 150 nautical miles.. or 66 cents per mile. That is a turbine all weather aircraft that is unpressurized. It can fly in icing conditions but not above the weather, as you point out. The PC12 or King Air, however, can.. and in the PC-12's case it is not a lot more money per hour that his needed to make the #'s work. The PC12 is also fast, about 250 kts per hour instead of 160 kts like the Caravan. So.. while you may be down on the practicalities of truly light GA aircraft, don't forget the plethora of larger turboprops that are waiting to go to work, with low DOC's, pressurization in some cases, and certainly the ability to operate in all weather.