Anybody out there a pilot?

[freddyw]

Lots of posts as to what folks own as motorcycle organ donors and sportscar fanatics, is anyone a general aviation pilot? If so what do you own and where do you fly out of?

I own a Mooney 201 and fly out of Roanoke VA.

 

[Rich]

Used to fly choppers...

Flew Bell 206Bs and an old UH-1B while in the NYPD. Also owned a Piper Cherokee (PA28-140).

This is an accidental double exposure. First pic is me clearing the main rotor, next shot is me starting her up. Notice the large float on her. We used her for Search and Rescue until getting a couple of Bell 412s. I think those floats were inflated to 1/2 lb of air per square inch (or something ridiculous like that). Loads of fun in a cross-wind landing...

Just a note: I was somewhat younger then....

 

[samclem]

Nope, just a wannabe. I'm planning to start work on my private pilot's license in about a year. I've got about 100 hours of time in C-152s, T-37s and T-38s (plus sim time), but that was about 20 years ago, so I'll be effectively starting from scratch. I'll begin training when I can dedicate enough time to it--I've seen lots of folks try to get their ticket flying once a week and I don't think that makes any sense.

Another goal: Building an airplane. I'll be building a two-place plans-built fiberglass acft, the "Vision." American Affordable Aircraft, Vision, Experimental Aircraft, Sport Aircraft,homebuilt aircraft,vision The web site isn't glitzy, but the plane is well thought out and builder support is superb. Plus, a plans-built approach fits well with a LBYM lifestyle. Building an airplane is not, in general, a cheaper way to get into the air, you have to want to build one for the sake of the project.

So, do you fly for business, or just for the occasional $100 hamburger? The Mooney 201 is a very nice ride, good on ya!

 

[Rustic23]

Use to fly, don't now, I have thought about taking it up again, however, I find a long nap usually gets rid of the urge!

If you can get someone else to pay for it, flying is great! However, I would think it would not be conducive to FIRE. Planes are too expensive to own. Like a boat, they are a pit you throw money into. Renting? Well I have seen how people treat their rental cars, at least with a car it rolls to a stop.

As a hobby, great, however, you should fly at least 10 hours a month, more would be better. Less, and you are not safe, no matter how good you think you are! That's a good sum of cash for a hobby.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

No longer current, used to fly Skyhawks, a Cardinal in a flying club, trained on Beech Skippers and 152s.

I loved it, but never got my instrument rating.

 

[cantlogin]

Used to fly a PA-28 140. I decided to save for retirement instead.

 

[Walt34]

I started in a J-3 when I was 15 spending lawn-mowing money on it, but didn't solo until I was about 22. Picked it up again after an AA degree. Later had a Tri Pacer in the mid '70's, put about 300 hours on it.

I could afford a house or an airplane but not both. Tried occasional renting for a while but like Rustic23 I realized that I was forgetting too much not flying enough, making little mistakes, so I gave it up. Got halfway to the instrument rating and took about 6 hours of acrobatics, then real life intruded.

Assuming this promised job ever materializes and can't talk DW into a travel trailer, I'll buy something light to bore daytime holes in the sky. Without winning the lottery a Mooney will never be in my budget. Avgas is what, about $4.50/gallon, guessing 12/gal/hour, $54/hour for fuel alone. Ouch. I don't want to think about insuring it.

 

[hankster]

Aviation, the enemy of FIRE

I'm a private pilot (not current) I flew Cessna 152s, 172s, sailplanes and various light sport aircraft. I even have my own dirt airstrip and owned a plane for a few years. I concluded that I was going to have to w*rk several extra years if I continued to take to the skies. Now I just rent a Cessna and an instructor once in a while to scratch my itch. I miss having my own plane but can't see owning another unless I find myself with lots of extra money later on.

Hank

 

[REWahoo]

Use to fly, don't now...

If you can get someone else to pay for it, flying is great!

Like Rustic, I used to fly but don't any longer. Guess I was spoiled since not only was the equipment, fuel and insurance provided at no cost, I got a paycheck to do it. Only flew once when I was footing the bill and not getting paid. It wasn't nearly as much fun.

 

[Nords]

I only know of one ER private pilot-- Philip Greenspun. He just got back from a couple weeks down the east coast to Bermuda...
Philip Greenspun’s Weblog » Bahamas to Boston in a Cirrus SR20 (boring diary, part II)

Like Rustic, I used to fly but don't any longer. Guess I was spoiled since not only was the equipment, fuel and insurance provided at no cost, I got a paycheck to do it. Only flew once when I was footing the bill and not getting paid. It wasn't nearly as much fun.

Maybe it was just not being able to use ordnance anymore. Those feral hogs would avoid your property!

 

[Puzzley]

Seems like there's quite a few of us who have a private pilot's license, but aren't current, and I'm another. 152, 172, 182, Cherokee, and a few hours in an A36 Bonanza. Expense and a long drive to my home FBO have contributed to my inactivity, along with mild hypertension. I sure loved it when I was doing it, though. I guess today a $100 hamburger trip would be more like a $300 hamburger trip....

 

[Rustic23]

You think the neighbors would mind? If not I'll bet the FAA would have a thing or two to say. Besides it is really hard hitting something with an M16 out the window.

 

[clifp]

I got my private pilots license before my drivers license 17. My dad built a wooden home built airplane a Falco and we use to go to Oshkosh as well as West Coast flyin on a pretty regular basis. I haven't been up flying since my dad passed away a decade ago.

Volunteering for an aviation museum, I do a lot of hanger flying with real pilots (Air Force and commercial pilots with many thousands of hours ). But I don't think I can justify the expense or the danger now days. I agree 10 hours a month is what you need to fly and at $150-$200 hour that is a serious chunk of change.

 

[samclem]

I got my private pilots license before my drivers license 17. My dad built a wooden home built airplane a Falco and we use to go to Oshkosh as well as West Coast flyin on a pretty regular basis. I haven't been up flying since my dad passed away a decade ago.

The Falco is a gorgeous machine, and building one is a true long-term labor of love. Your dad must have had a lot of determination and patience to finish such a project.

 

[saluki9]

Like Rustic, I used to fly but don't any longer. Guess I was spoiled since not only was the equipment, fuel and insurance provided at no cost, I got a paycheck to do it. Only flew once when I was footing the bill and not getting paid. It wasn't nearly as much fun.

I was interested in seeing what your response was. I'm always suprised how former military pilots mostly fall neatly into two groups.

We have a family friend who flew a Sea Stallion for the Navy. I asked him if he flies anymore and he said he's barely even comfortable flying commercial. He said he knew that they day he left the Navy he would never get into a cockpit again.

Then I have a friend of a friend who flys an F/A 18 for the Marines. He says that for the rest of his life he will never work a job that doesn't involve flying until the day they take his license away.

 

[Nords]

You think the neighbors would mind? If not I'll bet the FAA would have a thing or two to say. Besides it is really hard hitting something with an M16 out the window.

His fellow Texans were more concerned about maximizing the ratio of pound of porker felled per ounce of ammunition... an airborne delivery system would be an unexpected bonus of the "Here, [-]Bubba[/-] copilot, hol' ma beer and watch this'n!" variety.

 

[REWahoo]

I was interested in seeing what your response was. I'm always suprised how former military pilots mostly fall neatly into two groups.

We have a family friend who flew a Sea Stallion for the Navy. I asked him if he flies anymore and he said he's barely even comfortable flying commercial. He said he knew that they day he left the Navy he would never get into a cockpit again.

Then I have a friend of a friend who flys an F/A 18 for the Marines. He says that for the rest of his life he will never work a job that doesn't involve flying until the day they take his license away.

Yep. There are those who live, eat, sleep and breathe flying, and then there are the rest of us.

That reminds me...

My commercial flight was delayed one evening and I killed a couple of hours in the airport lounge. While I nursed a beer, a guy wearing a stained white jumpsuit sat down beside me at the bar and ordered a drink. We struck up a conversation and I asked him what he did for a living. He told me he drove a "honey wagon", one of those small trucks that pulled up to a commercial flight after landing to 'service' the toilets. He seemed an intelligent, clean cut guy who could find a much better job, so I asked him why he didn't change careers. His reply: "What? And get out of aviation?"

 

[clifp]

Thanks Sam yes they are.

it took my dad seven years, the last 4 year basically full time, I figure it took him 15,000 hours. This is from a man, who could add a room to a house working weekends in a month or so, whipped out a walnut living room set for me a few months.

It flew better than it looked which is saying something. Unfortunately, it spoiled me from every wanting to fly a Cessna again.


There were a dozen homebuilder projects at my dad's small airport in Oregon, including another Falco and several RV4s. My mechanical ablities are close to nil so I never considered building an aircraft. But if I did the RVs would be on my list.

Best of luck with the Vision. I know Rahm been involved with homebuilt for many years. Its is nice looking basic aircraft perfect for a low time pilot. (The reason my mom and I sold my dad's Falco is it was way too high performance for me.)

I am sure you've done your homework, but my only advice is to make sure you've talked to and preferably visited with everybody in your area who is building one and join your local EAA chapter. I can't tell you how much having a buch of fellow homebuilders helped my father. Later when he was President of his EAA chapter he helped out plenty of guys also.

 

[unclemick]

Yep. There are those who live, eat, sleep and breathe flying, and then there are the rest of us.

That reminds me...

My commercial flight was delayed one evening and I killed a couple of hours in the airport lounge. While I nursed a beer, a guy wearing a stained white jumpsuit sat down beside me at the bar and ordered a drink. We struck up a conversation and I asked him what he did for a living. He told me he drove a "honey wagon", one of those small trucks that pulled up to a commercial flight after landing to 'service' the toilets. He seemed an intelligent, clean cut guy who could find a much better job, so I asked him why he didn't change careers. His reply: "What? And get out of aviation?"

Hmmm - I think I meet a few of those guys during my 30 yrs in aerospace.

No big boats, planes, or motorcycles - I managed to afford ER and still have all my body parts intact.

heh heh heh - I rode in other peoples planes and boats and did slip with sports cars(two) for a while.

 

[Coach]

I soloed in a glider, then gave up gliding. I earned a private pilot's license, then gave up flying. I enjoyed the learning more than the doing.

Coach

 

[Rustic23]

I have done just about everything you can do in an airplane. I have gone real fast and real slow. I have dropped bombs, shot rockets, air refueled, and crossed the Pacific in a twin engine turbo prop that took 14 days to hop from island to island. I have been an instructor of both acrobatics and instruments. If I won the lottery I would own an air plane, maybe two. Short of that, the cost of staying safely current, for me, is just too high.

 

[SecondCor521]

My dad had his license, as well as instrument and instructor ratings.

I have something like 50 hours logged, mostly in a Cessna 152, but some in 172's and even a 182RG. I've soloed, done solo-cross country, got most of my instrument hours in. I think I needed a few more cross country hours and never took the written or the check ride.

I also flew a Varga Kachina with my instructor. Loved that plane, because I was in the front seat and it felt to me like what a Spitfire must have felt like. The instructor was just a voice in my headphones, so it was like I was flying by myself. Unfortunately someone -- not me -- wrecked that plane by landing it a few hundred feet short of the runway years later.

I was mostly a good pilot; I could set it down on the numbers so softly you didn't know that you had transitioned to the ground (my Dad and I used to have competitions that way). I could maintain altitudes and headings very well, and I could navigate very well also (that comes from starting to fly in the right seat of the 182RG when the top of my head was well below the top of the instrument panel. But I wasn't good at emergency proceedures -- I could do stalls and stuff, but if the engine ever quit or I put it into a spin -- both unlikely, of course -- I would have been in deep trouble. Also, I never really got the hang of the radio -- couldn't really hear what they were saying, so I'd do stupid stuff like respond to the tower's instructions that were actually for someone else.

I stopped when I realized that it was an extremely expensive hobby and I didn't really see myself paying the $50-an-hour back then to fly after I got my license. I did love those $100 hamburgers with my Dad, though.

2Cor521
(formerly and occasionally Cessna N2198S)

 

[deserat]

Yup - but don't fly anymore - Cessna 150, 152, 172, Piper Bonanza, Cherokee, T -(something or other, joystick and gear), have gone up in a glider, have gone up in an ultralight - got the Private and instrument rating. Am a 99 - love those gals *however* it is not a cheap hobby unless you build your own or somehow get paid to do it - also after 9-11 insurance is much higher as well as fuel lately.

Love the fact that I could land a plane if needed though!

 

[ziggy29]

I was a student pilot for a while in 2003-04. Logged 27 hours in Cessna 150s and 172s and 6 hours solo. I just decided it was too expensive and impractical to continue, though I loved it.

 

[Surfdaddy]

Still a pilot

I'm still flying, a 3-way partnership in a Cherokee 140. I figure its about the cheapest way to fly and still be able to save for retirement.

We've been from California to Oshkosh, to Seattle area, to even the east coast and back over the years. It's really very special and worth it for me.

I used to think spending around 4K per year was expensive. But I talked to a lot of my coworkers with boats, horses, etc. I don't think this is any more expensive than a lot of other hobbies out there.