CNF2002 wrote:I would love to learn to fly and I've even talked about it with the wife, but she puts her foot down as soon as I mention how much it would cost.
I did some net research and it was around $6k to get a basic pilots license for the little prop planes (most of that being rental fees for the plane). Too rich for my blood...but boy would it be wonderful to get out there in the open sky.
My advice for the day:
1) Shop more... around here (LA area) you can find private pilot bundles ranging from $4000 to $8000 depending mostly on the location of the school.
2) look up "sport pilot".. E.g.
http://www.sportpilot.org/
Sport Pilot License is a new category of pilot's certificate (been around about a year) that limits you to two-seat small (under 600kg) aircraft... what Canadians would call advanced ultralights... the advantage is lower air-time requirements and cheaper planes. Disadvantage is it is brand new and there aren't as many instructors and schools.
It's a perfect match for the "checking out the ground" type of flying... fast enough to be useful but mostly oriented towards slow fun planes like similar to the J3.
3) Intro Flight! Most schools have an introductory flight lesson (usually about a half hour in the air, plus some ground instruction) for $50-60 (it used to be $49, I think it has been adjusted to $59)... not just for you, but for the wife too. See if the school will let her tag along in the back, and then you tag along in the back, if you each get an intro flight...flying airplanes is
not a gender-specific activity...in fact many women seem to appreciate the sense of freedom more than men.
4) The money isn't up front... you usually pay three or four chunks... and you don't even need to do that, it just gives you a discount.
Even if you only take a few lessons and pause... the time is logged. When you have the free money (and time... time's often a worse problem) ... if you spent $6000 over the course of a year or two, how much is it really going to hurt?
CNF2002 wrote:
V, I think it would be MORE fun to fly a small prop than a jet. In the jet you just go high, fast, and don't see anything except the forward horizon. I'd rather be flying slow, dipping in and out and around and checking out Earth.
I agree.
Ride it like you think owning it matters.
