Shortest flight you've been on

[y_p_w]

Just wondering. No caveats. I figure some have been on really short trips on small planes or helicopters. I've heard of scheduled puddle jumpers than might have gone 5 miles to an island without a bridge.

I've personally never been in the air on a small plane before. At my high school we had an aviation club where the sponsor did take members up in a Cessna or Mooney for just the cost of fuel and airport fees, but my parents wouldn't sign the permission slip because they were terrified that it was too dangerous. As an adult I've been in the cockpit of a small plane on the ground and was even looking at maybe going on a free flight that would just loop a few miles and come back, but the line was long. I think the shortest flight I've ever been on was Reno to San Jose on Reno Air back in the late 90s. I was coming back from a business trip from Vegas, and Reno Air was even cheaper than Southwest.

As a kid I remember seeing a bunch of schedules. I think Air California had a regularly scheduled flight from Oakland to San Jose, and it was pretty cheap in the 70s. I think it was $8. But the mother of all short jet flights was Oakland to San Francisco on United. Supposedly just a short hop to/from Denver on a 727, but could be booked separately.

 

[JeffKeryk]

San Jose to Oakland. 40 miles maybe?

 

[MRC01]

KDVO Novato to O69 Petaluma, 7 nm, 5 minutes. In my C-172.

 

[wemay]

Trinidad to Tobago. 25 min.

 

[wwillson]

I once ferried a small airplane from the New Lennox, IL airport to the Frankfort, IL airport, which was 4.1nm

 

[Irishman]

Harlingen, TX, to McAllen, TX, which was about a 15 minute (or less) flight on Continental Airlines in 1976.

 

[Graham Piccinini]

When I was studying for Avionics one of the lessons was to taxi an airplane. I may have gotten just a hair too quick, and on one of the bumps did get all wheels off the pavement for 3-5 seconds. Not the most maintained airport, so did have plenty of bumps.
Passed the taxi test though. Thankfully didn't follow through with the career, as my classmates who did lost their jobs when the world-wide known disease hit in end of 2019.

 

[B1974]

Munich to Nuremberg with Lufthansa 35min.

 

[atikovi]

Thought there were commercial flights between Washington and Baltimore back in the 70's, about 30 miles. Probably just to catch international flights out of BWI.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Calgary to Edmonton on a West Jet 737. 54 minutes.

 

[Passport1]

Once my unit was scheduled to fly from Iwakuni, Japan to the Philippines. C-141 took off and the aircraft developed a crack in the windshield. Circled the airfield and landed. Flight lasted maybe five minutes. Got on the next C-130.

 

[y_p_w]

San Jose to Oakland. 40 miles maybe?

Less than 30 as the crow flies. OAK-SFO is about 12 miles. I've heard of charters doing it - especially repositioning flights for professional sports teams, where they would land at SFO closer to the team hotel in San Francisco, then pick up after a game in Oakland where the stadium/arena is quite close to the airport.

 

[aquariuscsm]

What they called a "discovery flight" where you go up in a plane and fly with an instructor for maybe an hour? I remember it was in a four-seater Cessna.

 

[Timmastertech]

They used to run commuters from reading regional to philadelphia. Its an hr 15 minute drive, basically it was so you didnt have to pay to park at PHL. My shortest was harrisburg to cincinnati in a puddle jumper. It was a 25 minute flight

 

[Hermann]

On a jet from Amarillo Texas to DFW on a Jet. When the jet hit cruising altitude, they announced in the same announcement that we were descending into DFW
On a puddle jumper St Louis to Kirksville Mo. About a 110 air miles. Took a little over an hour.

 

[JimPghPA]

in 1977 from Omstead airport Middletown PA to MDT ( Harrisburg International ). Literally climb out, get landing clearance, cross the river while also crossing over the major toll turnpike bridge, begin decent and land. I was only a passenger in the college ground school's instructors 172. Total time of that short hop probably less than 8 minutes, though I did not time it.

I remember that the Fountain Blue roller skating arena was very near Harrisburg International. And Omstead airport was near the Penn State campus, and how much longer it took to go between those two by car on the weekends, compared to the straight line flight.

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After a while on the ground we met up with another group and the advanced student pilot who flew the other plane and his occupants and ours went on to Lock Haven to tour the Piper factory where the Piper Cub and the crop-duster were made.

I remember that after the 172 was parked and the engine shut off, the advanced student pilot brought his aircraft close to ours, and dented in his rudder about 1/2 way up in the back of it, as he ran it along our right wing tip. The 172 only lost paint, but his had a very badly damaged rudder. One of the top level personal of Piper who had some level of FAA clearance inspected both aircraft and cleared the 172 as no damage other than paint. But the other aircraft was cleared for the return flight with the restriction that it could not exceed a certain speed, and it had to be put in for repair after the return. It was a rented aircraft.

One of my first small aircraft flights and already swapping paint while on the ground.

I still remember the frames for the Cubs had little holes on the ends of each tube so they could be coated on the inside when they were dipped in the tank of something dark. I think it was some kind of resin. I saw the tank, but do not remember what they said it was filled with.

And I remember the crop dusters that had the leading edges of the wings and landing gear and front of cockpit equipped with a steel chisel like edge running there entire lengths. And the emergency climb lever that quickly opens the spring loaded bottom door to dump the entire crop dusting liquid load while some flaps are put in and the pilot gives it full throttle and pulls up.

The entire airplane is built for that one frightening moment when the pilot is dusting a field and sees telephone pole lines directly in-front of them. The pilot has the ability to suddenly climb without the weight of the liquid load, and if the aircraft does hit the lines it is designed to cut right through them.

 

[c502cid]

COS-DEN. If the runway directions align you are in the air 15 minutes.

I also did LAX-LGB once long ago on Air Cal, I don't remember how long it was but it was very short.

 

[wwillson]

What they called a "discovery flight" where you go up in a plane and fly with an instructor for maybe an hour? I remember it was in a four-seater Cessna.

Yes, back in the day when I was a full time flight instructor we had 15 minute fun rides and 30 minute introductory rides.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Yes, back in the day when I was a full time flight instructor we had 15 minute fun rides and 30 minute introductory rides.

Those were some good days! Probably back around 1983? I remember going on the discovery flight, and riding with the police in the Police Explorers (I was probably 14).

 

[earlyre]

when i was a kid and we would Fly to visit mom's side of the Family in ID, many times our first flight was from Dayton to Cincinnati*... (around 75 mi) usually in a turboprop "puddle jumper" type flight. one time, at the tail end of out return flight, the plane that we were supposed to be on had some "issues", but they had a 727 "just sitting there", so they loaded us up onto it, and we took a Jet for that 75 mi flight. made it in 15 min, and it never really had a chance to level off...just up and down.

* DAY->CVG->SLC->TWF
I forget the make/model of the turbo prop, but we had the same ones on both end legs of that trip, the ~75 mi (37min) leg from DAY-CVG, and the 175mi leg(45-60min) SLC-TWF