To think of a small aircraft as a substitute for a scheduled carrier is foolish. As mentioned above you can be stuck for days waiting for the weather to improve. Even if you have an IFR rating, your aircraft may not be equipped to handle heavy or even any kind of icing. Single pilot ifr can be challenging. If you buy a small aircraft for the fun of it, you have to pick good weather. Pushing weather is the worst thing you can do. If in doubt rent. There are so many privately owned aircraft sitting and not being used. If you dont have many flying hours, take along a pilot friend who can give u a few tips. Hope this helps.

My neighbor flys a lot!
 

My neighbor flys his own plane (Cessna) and a Robinson R22 helicopter. He owns them and he owns his own business, so he's always flying around. He has a family home on the water (Grosse Ile, MI) and he lands his plane with pontoons on the water and taxis it to the house, pretty nice! He has a nice hangar on Grosse Ile,too. Here he is and my old 911 is in the picture...

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My crummy little VFR rating is worth every penny. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Every moment in the air reminds me that it was a great investment.

From my time in Pipers, Cessna's, singles or twins, even a great 1 hr flight in a T-6

I Wish I had more $ to spend "up there"


Karl
88 Targa

Ive just started taking lessons also. You can rent a 172 here for around $100 an hour, a 152 would be cheaper. I started last month and I'm scheduled for 3 times a week, weather permitting. I also hope to buy a plane this summer as I'm not fond of the idea of renting. Also, at this time, I plan to continuing to get IFR rated, but we will see. One thing at a time. I'm not doing this to save money, I just enjoy it.

This is just a hobby, I'd hate to see what Ive spent on boat's, golf, and hunting in the past, but I enjoyed them also. None of them made sense financially. But I do hope to make more trips to visit some of my relatives that I don't do as often now, as I hate the long drives. If the weather turns bad, I'll just stay a little longer. I have no place I have to be.

Just to clarify...

This was my friend's somewhat funny rant on why it's financially silly these days to get your license... And he's trying to get me to join him in historics racing instead ;-) I'm not "worried" about the validity of his arguments. I know he's mostly right, but I don't care... I just posted that to see you guy pick at it, and enjoyed that too... Be nice to him now ;-)

I learned to fly at the same time I learned to drive, in Europe (used to take an hour driving lesson to get to the airport, then an hour flight instruction along with my driving instructor, then another driving lesson to get home). By the time I got home on those days, I was a brain dead wet sponge... Being 17, I miscalculated on costs / income, and never finished navigations required to get my ticket.... I did solo at 7hrs and got engine trouble on my first solo, on a military controlled airfield, if you can believe that (the paperwork!!)... good fun !

So yeah, I'm gonna do this...regardless. I have unfinished business with aviation. I used to love hangoing out at FBOs, I like plane people (often got rides etc..), my wife is excited about the $100 burgers, my older kid (4) is fascinated by airplanes (more than normal), I'm kinda bored with where I live -BDDT- so this could expland my horizons a little... what's not to like ? As a bonus, on my bucket list is to fly either a Spitfire/FW190/Mustang... The spit is doable in the UK but $$$, the mustang is cheaper and near my house (the FW is never gonna happen). It'll be more fun if I have a license than if I go do it as a pedestrian ;-)

PS: I kinda like the new aircraft parachute systems, as I age, I am more aweare of my own mortality ;-) I know they're on the Cirrus, but a Cessana rep I was talking to at the flight school told me you can add them on Cessna's... just that he's only ever sold 2 in all of FL. Said cirrus needs them because they can't recover from some unusual attitudes... Is that true ? just curious... I know 90% + of accidents are weather related, I just like the idea my wife could pull a rip cord (figuratively) if I get a heart attack in the air ;-)

Not true. However, Cirrus has a surprisingly poor (comparatively) fatality record. Not much worse than the Cessna 350/400 series, but it is measurably worse. Some hypothesize that the presence of the parachute in the Cirrus encourages some pilots to fly beyond their ability, knowing they can "just" activate the parachute to save the day if necessary (which would destroy the airframe, by the way). I don't know if the data support this. There is a good article on this subject on Avweb. Not to knock Cirrus, as I think they are remarkable aircraft, but there's more to it than the chute. A better solution for the wife might be to get her to take a "pinch-hitter" course, which would give her the required knowledge and skill to land the plane should you become incapacitated. Not to mention Cirrus' are very, very expensive.

You should try flying in UK then you'll know about high cost of gas, rental(or purchase and then hangarage and insurance and maintenance). Most pilots here have part ownership of a plane, from one twelth to a quarter share is common due to the huge expenses including purchase price of even a well-used plane. I only fly in the US now as its cheaper to rent there than to have a one sixth share in a Cherokee 140 here.And you get to fly planes there that you hardly ver even see here. We do have the equivalent of your EAA aircraft here with lower costs in fuelo burn and maintenance but somehow a big lazy Lycoming or Continental gives me more assurance against dead-stick landings than a geared down high-revving small capacity motor.

This "parachute will save my azz" crap is just that. My copilot is the guy who is in charge of the SAR (search and rescue) for the state of Arizona. When an aircraft goes down, he is the one who gets the first call. We have had several accidents recently there the airplane had one of these recovery chutes installed.

Not ONE of the accidents had the chute deployed and every one that he was working with was a fatal accident. These are not installed on 99.99% of the airplanes as they are not needed. Do not get in over your head, do not over-stress the airplane and so on and you will usually land safely.

As DS about mentions, get the wife in a "pinch hitter" course and that will help her feel better and be able to help in the event its needed.

The OP reflects my experience. I saw some incredible views from the cockpit, but once I got my certificate I found myself flying a lot less. It was fun while it lasted, but not that fun. I couldn't find any practical reason to fly and I never renewed, and that was back when you could rent a PA-28 for $25 an hour.

You have nailed it perfectly. If you buy an entry level aircraft ie. Cessna 150, Piper Cherokee 140 it can get pretty mundane, tedious. You may find if you get one of these a/c they are good for time building say if you want to be a prof. pilot but simple av. recreation, you may be lusting for something sleeker, faster after a while. Once you get a few thousand feet in the air, the earth seems to be going rather slowly. If I have a spare 100k $ then I would look at another Porsche, not an aircraft.:)Mind u ownership is important to some people and I can understand if you live on an airpark it can make some sense.

Not everyone has to go fast to have fun!!!

Buy an old taildragger, an Aeronca, Piper Cub, Stinson or the like and go "low and slow" and you will have just as much if not more fun that trying to go 400 mph.

Okay Joe, so I flipflop here. I agree that the old taildraggers are fun. You sit directly behind the propeller and you have a stick to control the a/c. The most fun t dragger I have flown is a 150 hp SuperCub, followed by a J3 cub. Almost makes u think of Tom Cruise in Top Gun the movie. The problem with these a/c is they usually dont have a transponder or too much in the way of radios so you are limited to uncontrolled airspace. So if u live out in the country where u dont encounter other a/c traffic, then u have more freedom to fly lower and make like a barnstormer. Depends on how deep your pockets are I suppose and how desperate u r to own an a/c. If u rent , you usually can only rent Cessna, Piper etc. etc.

Most small airplanes have transponders by now.

Another alternative is to join a club. At my local airport a 1/12 share of a nice Bonanza is for sale for only $2500. I've seen the airplane, and it is very well equipped, and looks to be very well maintained.

It is hard to walk into a local FBO and rent a serious cross-country machine like a Bonanza or Mooney, but there are ways to fly less expensively than buying a Cirrus.

Low and slow in my Minimax is a blast.... especially in winter on skis where the world becomes a runway.

Cheap too.... I originally built it from plans for under 3 grand and later put a better new engine on it..... I probably have 5-6 grand in it total since building it in '93-'94. While not a traveling machine, I have flown it from NW Ohio to Oshkosh Wisconsin in 6 hours which was funner than driving 8 hours through the craphole AKA Chicago. :)


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A 'friends' site:
Http://www.jetpylot.com/flying.html