Complete Newbie- questions regarding travel from CA to MT

[rgshredder]

Hi all, I've been thinking about learning to fly for some time now- finally have the funds to invest but I wanted to ask before I got too excited-

We have a house in Montana (Outside of Anaconda) and flying out of Sacramento CA is a pain as it's typically about 8-12 hours of travel via two planes and car travel from the closest major airport (missoula) in Montana.

The primary goal for attaining my license is to be able to fly 2 adults (including myself) and 2 toddlers (<4 years old).

I'd fly out of Davis, C[SIZE=+1]A and into Riddick Field Airport in Philipsburg MT.

I know this is a long shot but has anyone ever done this?

If someone who is more knowledgable than myself can comment on what the travel time and costs incurred (roughly) would be (not including road travel) or point me to a way for me to figure it out, I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, is this feasible for me to get my licence and shortly thereafter fly this terrain/distance?

My sole intention to learn to fly is to have fun and fly this route about 10 times a year (among other flights around CA). I most likely wouldn't get my license if I couldn't do this flight and just accept that travel to and from Montana will always be a pita.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

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[Jim Logajan]

I've never done that trip, but as far as cost when flying rentals in my part of the country for a rough estimate I use ~$1/nm. So around $600 each way, give or take a hundred or so. But you've got some high terrain to cross or avoid so the distance you'll actually fly, e.g. KEDU U05, will be longer than a straight line.

 

[Jim Logajan]

• Private Pilot's License, Instrument Rating, Multi Engine Rating
• High performance 6 place twin, like Baron, Seneca, 410, Aerostar, etc.
• FIKI capability.
• Oxygen system, or pressurized.
• Recurrent training for both instrument flying and twin flying.

IR, multi-engine, FIKI, O2, pressurization, or 6 seats are not needed to perform such flights safely. As soon as you said use a commercial airline as a back-up plan, the expensive bullet point requirements I extracted from your post can be discarded from consideration.

For an extra measure of family safety over hostile terrain, I'd suggest a plane with a parachute, such as a Flight Design or a Cirrus model.