Private Pilots License?

[eddielasvegas]

No disrespect meant with my comment but I've watched "blancolirio" and "Pilot Debrief" on YT for years now and I will never fly GA again unless Juan or Hoover is my pilot.

As others have said, flying cannot be a hobby. The short version is most of their videos exist due to people with more money than brains that do not take fly regularly or take it seriously.

And as Juan has said many times, buying a plane is fairly cheap, it's the maintenance that's stupid expensive.

Good luck,

Eddie

 

[Geewhiz]

What @Geewhiz sees from the window of his plane when the family of four is passing him in their Honda Civic.
View attachment 1082134

I pictured @Ucsdryder differently

 

[kylegreulich]

I'm currently a Cirrus instructor (fire away everyone) and have been so for a couple years instructing exclusively hobby pilots, not career students. In general, flying isn't as practical as everyone thinks it is unless you have a specific use case. For us, it's regional business trips, trips to vacation spots that are difficult to get to by car (Cape cod, nantucket, vineyard, etc) that most people present for their use case, and an airplane is phenomenal for that. So to me, unless it's just something you want to check off as a personal goal, or have a specific use case, it's not very practical. That being said the backcountry goal is awesome and if you have the means, would be a great adventure.

If you have any training questions or want some more info feel free to ask.

 

[gbflyer]

Kicking around the idea of getting a private pilot’s license at a local, small airstrip. Cost is approx $10k. For those that have their license, I’m curious what you can do with it?

Not looking to monetize it, just looking to see if others’ do fly in hunts or if it’s a more recreational hobby similar to SXS/UTV riding?


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Fly-in hunts are not all that practical in the lower 48. Too many land regulations, overzealous LEO's who lack understanding of the law, and assume EVERYONE is video recording everything. I'd say yes, it's more of a recreational hobby. There are sport pilot programs now, takes less time and less money. If you are thinking ownership eventually, the experimental/amateur built category is a bit more practical way to go with the cost of parts and lack of A&P/IA mechanics for certified aircraft. Either way, make sure you don't mind lighting cigars with $100 bills, and don't forget about AIDS...Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome. That struggle is real.


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[ShredLikeRed]

I think you need to double check your estimated budget. It would be extremely cheap to get your ppl for $10k. I just did mine in February. I was paying $160/hr for a Cherokee 140 and $65/hr for instruction. I did mine in 50 hours and all in it was about $15k including checkride (another $1000).

 

[Mt Al]

Honestly, flying is too involved to do as a “hobby” a couple times per month. It’s fun, but it’s serious and unforgiving.

Having been there/done that I agree with the above and what most others are recommending.

It was a great experience. But going from a recreational, good weather pilot to back country is a massive leap in total dedication. Not the same thing at all, like going from driving for work/play to becoming an F1 driver.

IMHO, if you have the passion AND money AND time it's well worth it.

Not on youtube are the bad weather days, the terrifying positions people put themselves in and barely survive, the things that are missed out on because all the money goes into the plane itself and the operation.

I remember parking the rental plane after I took my girlfriend up to fly. I said, "Hope that was fun, this is it, I'm done." and she was horrified. I asked if she wants a house, vacations, a boat, camper, etc., or one single airplane that we'd fly around in. That was when flying, even considering inflation, was about half the cost per hour compared to today.

 

[Flyinfarmer]

Seems to be a lot of people trying to discourage you from pursuing this. Just go do it. I've never met a pilot who regretted it. You can absolutely get your license for $10 at least where I live in the midwest, especially if you don't drag it out and have to relearn the previous lesson because you waited two weeks. A plane capable of doing true backcountry work is expensive but you want to get some experience before doing that kind of flying anyway so buy a cheap little Champ or Citabria or something and go have some fun. Boats, hunting, etc are all expensive hobbies too.

 

[arrow179]

Having been there/done that I agree with the above and what most others are recommending.

It was a great experience. But going from a recreational, good weather pilot to back country is a massive leap in total dedication. Not the same thing at all, like going from driving for work/play to becoming an F1 driver.

IMHO, if you have the passion AND money AND time it's well worth it.

Not on youtube are the bad weather days, the terrifying positions people put themselves in and barely survive, the things that are missed out on because all the money goes into the plane itself and the operation.

I remember parking the rental plane after I took my girlfriend up to fly. I said, "Hope that was fun, this is it, I'm done." and she was horrified. I asked if she wants a house, vacations, a boat, camper, etc., or one single airplane that we'd fly around in. That was when flying, even considering inflation, was about half the cost per hour compared to today.

That’s the dilemma for most people. When you’re young you have more time but less money. When you’re middle aged (if you’ve been doing your financial planning correctly) you have more money but less free time (more demanding job, kids, etc). When you’re old you have more money and more time but then your health can decline quickly and you can’t pass a medical then you’re back to not being able to fly..

 

[Flyinfarmer]

No disrespect meant with my comment but I've watched "blancolirio" and "Pilot Debrief" on YT for years now and I will never fly GA again unless Juan or Hoover is my pilot.

As others have said, flying cannot be a hobby. The short version is most of their videos exist due to people with more money than brains that do not take fly regularly or take it seriously.

And as Juan has said many times, buying a plane is fairly cheap, it's the maintenance that's stupid expensive.

Good luck,

Eddie

So having a youtube channel talking about other peoples mistakes qualifies you to be a super pilot? I don't know them, I'm sure they're fine pilots, but on the list of people who I'd let fly my wife and kid, they would be way down from the top.

 

[TimberHunter]

I think you need to double check your estimated budget. It would be extremely cheap to get your ppl for $10k. I just did mine in February. I was paying $160/hr for a Cherokee 140 and $65/hr for instruction. I did mine in 50 hours and all in it was about $15k including checkride (another $1000).

Price comes directly from the local airport schools website that says it includes everything to get your PPL


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[arrow179]

Price comes directly from the local airport schools website that says it includes everything to get your PPL


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Is that using the minimum required 40hrs or do they have a fudge factor of let’s say 50 hours in there? Unless you are actually flying 3+ times per week most people don’t complete it in 40 hours.

 

[TimberHunter]

Is that using the minimum required 40hrs or do they have a fudge factor of let’s say 50 hours in there? Unless you are actually flying 3+ times per week most people don’t complete it in 40 hours.

Good call. 40 hours flight time and breaks down to 20 with instructor, 10 solo, 3 cross country, 3 night, 3 instrument


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[AKBC]

I started down this path at 57 years old and like others have said, becoming and staying proficient is time consuming and you will need to give up other things you enjoy to do it right.

I also realized it takes a lot of years to build up the flight time to do the bush Alaska flying that appealed to me. For example, a buddy killed a great brown bear with a cub on skis. His estimate was that someone should have 100 hours ON SKIS to land where he did for that hunt. It would take me years to accumulate 100 hours on skis considering most folks only fly on skis in March and April.

I let it go. If life gave us do overs, I would learn to fly at a young age.

 

[TimberHunter]

I started down this path at 57 years old and like others have said, becoming and staying proficient is time consuming and you will need to give up other things you enjoy to do it right.

I also realized it takes a lot of years to build up the flight time to do the bush Alaska flying that appealed to me. For example, a buddy killed a great brown bear with a cub on skis. His estimate was that someone should have 100 hours ON SKIS to land where he did for that hunt. It would take me years to accumulate 100 hours on skis considering most folks only fly on skis in March and April.

I let it go. If life gave us do overs, I would learn to fly at a young age.

I figured in my early 30’s it’s not a bad thing to learn


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[Mt Al]

I talked to a guy who just bought a Cub w/150hp and the auto gas STC, so his fuel is way cheaper. His life is set up fully around work, flying and hunting. Everything down to how close the hanger and parking spot is to the airport gate, wifi-started engine warmer and wifi hanger door opener so that when he gets to the hanger, fires it up, by the time he's turning on the runway the oil is in the green.

Same as many responses on this thread, he knows if this is part of his life, it needs to be all-in. He mentioned the average private pilot only flies 35 hours per year(!).

Timberhunter: go for it, great experience to learn and then decide what direction you want to take after getting your ppl

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I’ve taken lessons, ground school and all that. I havn’t flown for a long time other than taking the yoke in my friends planes when we’re out.

I say if you are going to do it, don’t be to aggressive and be realistic with the time it takes to get good. We are coming toward the 1 year anniversary of a friend who was killed in a plane crash. The details are lost at the moment but the guy while talented had a very aggressive plan for progressing towards tougher flying conditions.

I don’t know that he had his license for even a few months before buying a J3 then crashing it fatally a month or so later. Very sad and unfortunately probably avoidable.

 

[Tahoe1305]

I talked to a guy who just bought a Cub w/150hp and the auto gas STC, so his fuel is way cheaper. His life is set up fully around work, flying and hunting. Everything down to how close the hanger and parking spot is to the airport gate, wifi-started engine warmer and wifi hanger door opener so that when he gets to the hanger, fires it up, by the time he's turning on the runway the oil is in the green.

Same as many responses on this thread, he knows if this is part of his life, it needs to be all-in. He mentioned the average private pilot only flies 35 hours per year(!).

Timberhunter: go for it, great experience to learn and then decide what direction you want to take after getting your ppl

I’d buy that 35 hours a year. Thats a lot. Probably $5-10k worth of flying depending on the plane.

When I try really hard I may hit 75hrs a year part 91 flying(GA). That’s going on very long x-country trips (coast to coast a few times) for travel purposes.

Just flying for fun without a long range mission would be much tougher too.

 

[kylegreulich]

We have a 30 day rental currency requirement with our fleet, and believe it or not we get complaints about it all the time, which I find to be insane. Blows my mind what some people consider proficient or how they over inflate their skills and recency. I get to observe a lot of hobby pilots and think 2 weeks is a good rule of thumb recency wise in the airspace I operate in. After that I see the multi tasking ability start to dwindle for most pilots

 

[eddielasvegas]

So having a youtube channel talking about other peoples mistakes qualifies you to be a super pilot? I don't know them, I'm sure they're fine pilots, but on the list of people who I'd let fly my wife and kid, they would be way down from the top.

Hardly, but I also know their credentials which is why I made my post.

I'm just a retired IT guy that boils everything down to a zero or one. You know, binary.

In this case, a zero is a person who has the flying characteristics I mentioned and a one is a military trained, and current commercial, pilot that fly for the big airlines.

Best of luck in pursuing your PPL.


Eddie

 

[The_BuckingSpot]

I'll be ready for my checkride here in about 8-10 more hours. Flying for the sake of flying is worth it to me even if I have to rent for the rest of my life BUT the dream is to own a taildragger and land on strips inaccessible by road or boat to hunt black bear, moose, black tailed deer etc. here in AK. I say go for it. My aviation journey has been probably the most challenging yet most rewarding voluntary endeavor of my life.

Good luck! I used to tell my students before a checkride, “it is very simple, just don’t **** it up.” So there’s that.