Commuting Like George Jetson

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Jetsons flying car

I knew from watching the cartoon, The Jetsons that when I grew up, commuting would be fun. Surely, by that time all the technology showcased on that cartoon would have arrived. But sadly, much of the Jetsons technology is still missing, especially the flying cars. But lately, I’ve been using George Jetson’s approach to commuting that has made a 108 mile round-trip commute that I do several times a week not just tolerable, but enjoyable.

Here are a few rules I follow to make my commute more enjoyable:

  • Ignore roads, travel in a straight line.
  • Don’t take a route that has traffic lights, stop signs, or other commuters.
  • Travel at twice the maximum speed limit, say, 150 mph or so.
  • Stay 2000′ above other commuters.

APRS Google Earth of k0lee

APRS track of my commute from Greeley to Rocky Mountain Metro Airport


APRS of K0LEE-7 beacon

Note speed - 158 MPH

I guess you can tell by the images that I’m talking about commuting using my airplane. This works for me because one of my consulting clients is based at an airport so I don’t need ground transportation after I arrive. One of my colleagues actually lives on an airport, so he has the benefit of commuting door-to-door using his airplane alone. I have to drive 10 miles to the local airport first before I can hop in the plane…. but if I could only figure out how to take off from my back yard….:-)

7 thoughts on “Commuting Like George Jetson

  1. Back.
    I did see an EZ. He was having a terrible time this wet year finding a strip with short enough grass- it was up to the side windows on the Skylane last weekend (I let other people’s Hartzell’s inadvertently mow it for me before I left- sounded like Lycoming-powered weed whackers on takeoff). The EZ went to the Flying B with a composite prop and it went ok. I’d expect Chamberlain would be a good bet later in the early fall after the grass has browned out and the props have clipped it. It will also be good for your smaller tires. I’d ask at he backcountry pilot forum…

  2. I saw an article on Cubs in Popular Mech. where a guy teathered his cub to a pole in his back yard then started off circling the pole until he got off the ground then he let go of the rope….don’t know about that but I did have cropdusted friends who would pancake their planes out back of their machine shop when it was time to overhaul the motors on their planes,just found your site and I’m really impressed Thanks for the info

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