Flying to Ski and Surf in One Day

Fly along with AOPA's Alicia Herron in a Sling TSi on the California Twofer, skiing and surfing in one day.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is the largest community of pilots in the world, providing aviation advocacy, education & inspiration. AOPA has represented the freedom to fly for all pilots since 1939. To learn more about becoming a member visit www.aopa.org/j....

[@kudrifm]

Opportunity State! And aviation makes them even more accessible! We need to show the possibilities of aviation to more people

[@whatevermightwork]

Learning to fly at Camarillo, I thought about surfing in the morning then flying to Big Bear for some afternoon or night skiing. I never did it because it seemed too tiring.

[@johncuny1451]

Used to do this back in the 70’s. I also did a surf report for my high school buddies out of my Luscombe. Made me popular with the surfing crowd. Enjoyed the days of beach and mountains.

[@dennisrocx3771]

I read your article in AOPA Pilot magazine first and then watched your RUclips video. What a great Ski and Surf day you had!
What I found curious was the omission of the expense of your activities that day.
Let's review an estimate of what I costs to do what you did that day.
First, earning a Private Pilots license will cost $12,000-$20,000. Then ongoing Biennial Flight Reviews are $300-500. FBO rental policy may require an additional pilot competency check out at $200-300. Flying enough to maintaining the FAA required 90 day currency in each airplane you fly may add as much as a grand to remain legal...and that is every 90 days.
All of that is required before you can begin to plan a private plane flight like the one that is showed here.
On the day of the trip to Big Bear there was the expense of the airplane. Rental of a 20+ year old four seat airplane costs approximately $200 an hour when the engine is running. There may be additional charges while the rental plane is parked away from its home airport for more than a day. If you own the plane it will likely be vastly more expensive than renting. In this example I'll use $200/hr as the airplane cost to simplify the estimate.
Once you land there may be landing, ramp, parking, hangar, tie down, service, or other airport fees to pay. That varies at each airport.
Then you need to hire Uber, Lyft, an airport shuttle, or rent a car to get from the airport to the ski resort destination, and back to the airport. Maybe $50-100. Less when you can "hitch" a ride.
Ski lift tickets for the day are about $129 each. Ski rental $30-50. The snow board that you brought took up the fourth seat in the airplane. Skis, boots, and poles would not have fit in the airplane if you wanted to bring your own. Forget about getting a surf board in. OK, maybe a Boogie Board and your flippers.
After circling the beach to check out the surf on your return flight you probably logged a bit over 2 hours of flight time.
So, adding up the direct expenses of just that days flight and skiing is estimated at around $ 850-950...plus or minus.
As the advertisement might say: California Skiing and Surfing all in a day...Priceless.
Yes, but not exactly inexpensive.