How many passengers do you carry on average

[Seth]

After hearing another post, I became curious so it's poll time:

 

How often do you fly alone?  How often have you filled all four seats?

 

I have more questions but am curious as to this initial response.  Please share:

 

 

 

I personally have only filled all four seats in my Mooney on four separate occasions.  Once in the F model, and three separate days in the Missile.  The reason I said "Days" was because if you have multiple stops back and forth with the same group on a same day trip, that could be "I filled it up four times, so that's four flights" where really it was one trip.  I realize a trip can be multiple days, but just stick to days for the poll.

 

 

In the end however, I'd have to add it up but I can safely say that 70+ percent of my flying time is just me.

 

-Seth

 

[carusoam]

Mission: Fill the plane and visit the extended family.

Funky mission, it changes as people grow and age.

Best regards,

-a-

[M016576]

Mission: take the family out of town.

You didn't have an option for 4+ dog, so I guess 4 will have to do- but our dog is with us on roughly 75% of the flights, too.

I rarely fly around "for fun" solo. If I'm solo, most of the time it's because the plane just had maintenance performed and I'm doing a quick shakedown.

[rbridges]

unless a tornado whisks me away to Oz and I have to carry 3 munchkins in my plane to emerald city, 4 full seats will never happen.

[orionflt]

I normally do not carry more then three, bit when the kids all lived at home I would carry four on most of our trips.

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[Oscar Avalle]

 3 sometimes 4. However most of the times 1 to 2.

 

Oscar

[Seth]

Mission: take the family out of town.

You didn't have an option for 4+ dog, so I guess 4 will have to do- but our dog is with us on roughly 75% of the flights, too.

I rarely fly around "for fun" solo. If I'm solo, most of the time it's because the plane just had maintenance performed and I'm doing a quick shakedown.

Sorry about the "no dog" option

[Hank]

unless a tornado whisks me away to Oz and I have to carry 3 munchkins in my plane to emerald city, 4 full seats will never happen.

 

My C has had 4 adults in it several times, including one trip along the coast in excess of 2 hours each way, and once with a Piper pilot and his 2 young boys who wanted to test-fit a short body. I've flown with three adults more often, and Young Eagles trips with 2 kids, trading seats for the short hop back. Sometimes we take the dog with us, depending on where we're going and if it's a dog-friendly destination or not. Yes, even he has some actual IMC time.

[201er]

Look, just cause 70% of the flying really is solo, doesn't mean that those extra seats aren't essential and the reason for keepnig a 4 seater. Also the 4th seat is really mostly a way of making the 3rd seat more comfortable.

That said, I've probably flown with all seats filled with baggage more often than people, again a reason why a 2 seater would be out of the question.

[Marauder]

Look, just cause 70% of the flying really is solo, doesn't mean that those extra seats aren't essential and the reason for keepnig a 4 seater. Also the 4th seat is really mostly a way of making the 3rd seat more comfortable.

That said, I've probably flown with all seats filled with baggage more often than people, again a reason why a 2 seater would be out of the question.

How are parrots counted in this response?

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[Bob_Belville]

I'm always happy to save a friend a long drive by taking them in the plane somewhere within a few hundred miles. And I often invite someone else to go along up to the 4 seats. There are always young people ready to go flying.

 

With my E I do not have to worry much about W&B and on a short flight no one ever complains about the legroom.

[aviatoreb]

On average, I would estimate, 1.67, give or take 0.005 passengers.

[yvesg]

The Mooney is there to get away from all the kids I have said it before... and it moves fast!

Yves

[scottfromiowa]

I'm always happy to save a friend a long drive by taking them in the plane somewhere within a few hundred miles. And I often invite someone else to go along up to the 4 seats. There are always young people ready to go flying.

 

With my E I do not have to worry much about W&B and on a short flight no one ever complains about the legroom.

Holy crap, is that a time machine? Those kids sure aged on that flight. Pretty cool.

[Marauder]

I'm always happy to save a friend a long drive by taking them in the plane somewhere within a few hundred miles. And I often invite someone else to go along up to the 4 seats. There are always young people ready to go flying.

With my E I do not have to worry much about W&B and on a short flight no one ever complains about the legroom.

Heck Bob! In that first picture you all look like you're ready to take a snooze...

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[Marauder]

On average, I would estimate, 1.67, give or take 0.005 passengers.

Spoken like a true mathematician...

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[Wakeup]

May be a dumb question but I will ask so I don't kill myself. When you are calculating for additional people how do you manage your fuel in the tanks? I always try and take off with full tanks on every departure and I would not be able to do that if I had four people in my M20B. Plus.. Does anyone have a good way to check the level of gas in your tanks. My gauge is generic and is difficult to read. FYI. I'm not good in math. . Wish they had one for that I didn't have to convert. Confuses me! Thanks. Troy

[Danb]

What W. & B. Issue?

[Bob_Belville]

Holy crap, is that a time machine? Those kids sure aged on that flight. Pretty cool.

So, the sleeping beauties are grandsons, flying is old hat and they've had little sleep after a week at camp. In the 2nd pic the copilot is a 13 year old in love with anything flying. In the thirs, the 3 adults are on the way to Sun N Fun 2013. The Archer II owner in the back seat can't decide whether the airspeed or the fuel flow is more unbelievable.

[1964-M20E]

On a tank that all usable fuel has been consumed take a wooden stick, and add 5 gallons at a time and mark the stick each 5 gallons.  This will give you a reasonably accurate measurement of the amount of fuel remaining in a tank then make several copies and keep them in various locations.

 

Secondly if you know you will have all seats filled and need to lighten the fuel load go fly the previous day and burn some fuel off.

[Marauder]

May be a dumb question but I will ask so I don't kill myself. When you are calculating for additional people how do you manage your fuel in the tanks? I always try and take off with full tanks on every departure and I would not be able to do that if I had four people in my M20B. Plus.. Does anyone have a good way to check the level of gas in your tanks. My gauge is generic and is difficult to read. FYI. I'm not good in math. . Wish they had one for that I didn't have to convert. Confuses me! Thanks. Troy

Troy - I would pick an app like Aviation Weight & Balance. You can play with different configurations of weight and it will quickly show where you are weight wise both before and after the flight. I will post a few pictures of it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Marauder]

Here you go Troy.

This is my plane loaded with full fuel and two people up front. I am within limits for all parameters for both pre and after flight weights

Here is what the envelope looks like for that:

Now I added two rear seat passengers with full fuel an it shows I am over weight:

Here is what the envelope looks like:

Now I took 24 gallons out of the plane:

And the envelope:

You can play with loading to check what will work. Hope this helps...

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[Hector]

May be a dumb question but I will ask so I don't kill myself. When you are calculating for additional people how do you manage your fuel in the tanks? I always try and take off with full tanks on every departure and I would not be able to do that if I had four people in my M20B. Plus.. Does anyone have a good way to check the level of gas in your tanks. My gauge is generic and is difficult to read. FYI. I'm not good in math. . Wish they had one for that I didn't have to convert. Confuses me! Thanks. Troy

Empty your tank completely (go fly and run one tank down as much as you can and drain the rest). Get a few paint sticks from Home Depot and start adding fuel two gallons at a time while marking the fuel level on the paint stick. Make several copies of this paint stick. I keep one in the airplane, one in the hangar, and a spare. Use the paint stick religiously to figure out how much gas you have on board before you take off. I would then invest in some sort of fuel flow meter. I have a JPI engine monitor with fuel flow, but for about $500 you can get a simple JPI 450 that will keep much better track of your fuel remaining than your fuel gauges. It will slave with your GPS to let you know fuel remaining at you next waypoint or destination based on current ground speed. My JPI is accurate to within 1 gallon after 4 hours of flight. You will still want to monitor your fuel gauge less you develop a leak in flight, but only to cross check the JPI.

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[yvesg]

May be a dumb question but I will ask so I don't kill myself. When you are calculating for additional people how do you manage your fuel in the tanks? I always try and take off with full tanks on every departure and I would not be able to do that if I had four people in my M20B. Plus.. Does anyone have a good way to check the level of gas in your tanks. My gauge is generic and is difficult to read. FYI. I'm not good in math. . Wish they had one for that I didn't have to convert. Confuses me! Thanks. Troy

I never know how heavy, how many passengers, luggage I will take on the next flight. Because of this I never refuel after a flight. I don't care about condensation since I always sump the tanks before each flight. I do not recall any time when I had to either drain any fuel or refuse someone or carry-ons in order to have a compliant W & B.

Yves

[yvesg]

And I forgot to mention: I use a wood paint stick that was marked with litres. I always believed that my original gages were erratic, not showing the right remaining amounts but on my last winter trip accross the continent, I checked and was surprised that they were pretty close to reality.

Yves