There’s no question 2016 was a bad year for flying for me, but 2017 was so much better. The only thing 2017 lacked was a long haul trip. I surprised myself when I looked back to find that I haven’t left North America since May 2015. That’s going to change in 2018. Here’s the 2017 wrap. Let’s start with the visual, thanks to the Great Circle Mapper.
Miles: 37,306 (13,391 last year)
Segments: 43 (23 last year)
New Aircraft: 737-400 Combi, Cessna Grand Caravan (Amphib and Land), Piper Chieftain
New Airlines: Alaska Seaplanes, Makani Kai, Mokulele, PSA (smile-less regional version)
New Airports: Cancun, Cordova, Yakutat, Juneau, Angoon, Tenakee Springs, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan, Santa Rosa, Kalaupapa, Waimea
Most Common Aircraft: 737-700 and 737-400 (7 flights each)
Most Common Airline: Alaska (10 segments)
Most Common Airport: Los Angeles (10 departures/7 arrivals)
Most Common Non-Directional Route: Long Beach – Las Vegas (4 segments)
That was the highest number of flights in a year since the last time I actually worked for an airline, 2005, but so many of these were short. The shortest, of course, was Kalaupapa to Ho’olehua on topside Moloka’i at 9 miles, but I had an incredible 18 flights under 250 miles. (You can definitely thank my Milk Run on Alaska for a number of those.)
I flew to a bunch of new airports on some new (to me) small airlines flying new (again, to me) small airplanes. It was quite a year. But as I said, I haven’t left the continent in far too long. There’s already one trip planned with another under consideration. Let’s see what 2018 brings.
Now it’s your turn to put me to shame. How was your 2017?