i hesitate to tell this story, but i want to get a pilot's license.
 

i gotta eat my words. eat them my dry flavorless words. my wife hit it out of the ball-park with her last Christmas gift. she gave me an "experience" that i wont soon forget. she got me a first timer flying lesson.

yesterday was a cloudless day. i showed up at a company trying to hook people into flying. hahah.

we messed around with a flight simulator. thanks to years of video games, i didnt suck. but it wasnt exciting. i had no idea what to expect, but i didnt expect them to lead us to a plane. my wife nervously forced me to go first. SURE!

i strapped into the pilot seat and we did some checking of things. clueless here. well, it ended with me starting the tiny plane. my wife was in the backseat. i taxied it down the runway. very car-like when we checked runway intersections...all clear, the tower gave us the all clear to line up. i got the foot pedals down immediately. braaaapppp! i lined up and applied the brakes. then the pilot said horrific words, "take it up cliff!" WTF?..i throttled up and when i got to speed, i pulled back on the stick..the plane took off...and i took off with it.. it was stunning. i headed down past I 880, and buzzed over Oakland. over the stadium. past the bay bridge. i've worked on the bridge but have never seen it from 1500 feet. he told me to head out over the golden gate..braaap!!! the tower asked us to drop down to 1000, and i did, and flew over the GGB!! hahahhaha..i was giddy. we flew about for a few hours and i took it back. i had the runway to my right and he said to bank right and line it up...i kid you not..i landed that thing. i was sweating bullets. he assisted me i'm sure, but i am not sure he did that much. i taxied it to our parking spot without cusinarting anybody's property with my prop.

you pilots are a steeley bunch..large stones. it was very very fun. my wife got kinda sick and postponed her flight until today. she did well too.

it was the crazyiest thing i have done in a long time.

Congrats!

Find slodave on FB (he's on hiatus from here). He finally got his license last year after a lifetime of thinking about it.

It's like crack

Getting a private pilots license is one of the most interesting things you could do.
It's Fun and challenging.

I`m in too! My first lesson is in 2 weeks!

Pilot's license and my own plane is on my bucket list. Not sure if I will ever make it, but maybe once the kids finish college?

Go for it man. You only live once!

G

That sounds like so much fun, and something I'd be into for sure!

The think I fear though, is a mechanical failure. A lot of the planes that I see for sale at anything reasonable are so old. I know they have required maintenance, log books, etc. but I never really fully trust complex mechanical devices.

It's a magical thing...

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Cliffy, you'll have to drop by the Air Traffic Control Center for the tour. It'll give you a picture of the folks on the radio you're relying on to keep you out of trouble. If I ever get the time and money separated from the racing, flying is definitely on the list.

I've never tried crack but there's no way it's as good as flying.

If you go for it I'd recommend at least getting your training in a steam gauge plane. It makes a lot of the stuff a bit easier to understand down the road. I know an engineer who did his PPL in a G1000 172S and you can tell he just doesn't fully get it. I did mine in a pretty much runout 172N with 1977 avionics.

Also, before starting get all the books and stuff and read them all. FAR AIM might be a little much but the Jeppesen book for sure. Money you don't spend on having your instructor answer dumb questions is money you can fly with (it took me a while to figure that out).

I like to hear these stories, they bring back memories of my early flying days,
now I guess I sorta take it for granted
though,
I still really love to fly.

I flew down to Durango at about 6pm with sun in my eyes the whole way,
we were traveling in a Kingair 200 at FL 240, some clouds and lots of snow capped mountains pretty breathtaking to say the least.

Thanks for sharing your story..

Definitely something I want to try as well... Been up a few times in pipers and cessnas, definitely would like to try my hand at flying them...

do it!

You will soon want to sell all of your belongings and just fly.

It's a pretty special thing. I spent my childhood flying with my grandpa in his Bonanza. I now work in aerospace and a pilot's license is definitely on my short to do list.

Oooh Jake!

Those sailboats are gonna get sooo lonely!

Love being in an airplane going low and slow, but I'm afraid I'd like it like crack if I took the stick.

Best
Les

Do it!

I think that time spent flying is not charged against your allotted time on earth. It's as close to magical as anything else you can ever do. I miss doing it for a living, so I just do it as often as I can on my own now.

I started last year. I got my PPL in May, along with my own plane. I love it, but it is expensive. Now my wife and I fly pretty much any trip we can. We go to Chicago to have lunch with my son, or we went to San Antonio for a quick vacation. I visit my dad and relatives much more now as most are only an hour flight away, instead of a 3 hour drive.

I enjoy the flying, the wife likes going places. It works well for us.

I found myself looking for excuses to go places. I flew to Marion, Illinois for two days every week for a while and really loved it, but I could not justify it. It took 3 hours air time to get there, had to pay 3 hrs a day while it sat, 3 hrs back. I hated the drive, but at $100 in gas and 6 hrs on the road each way vs $900 and 4 hrs house to house, it just didn't make any sense.

Stay being a hobby flyer. Doing it for a living these days ain't what it was years ago. Kids flying for regional carriers are making McDonalds money. Sorta like loving to drive automoblies then getting a taxi drivers job.

There is no way looking at a computer screen can compare to being fully immersed in the sky, with a 360 degree of the world below, the sky above.

Absolutely nothing is as challenging, yet so relaxing, as flying my little airplane.

One hour in the airplane is a better "attitude adjustment" than a week of sitting on a beach in Hawaii.

Nothing compares.

Nothing.

Run Away While You Still Can
 

Flying is one of the most addictive (and expensive) hobbies out there. It is amazingly fun and challenging and will give you experiences that you can have no other way. I now live on a private air strip. You will know you are completely addicted when you try to justify owning a plane or taking a business trip by plane on an objective rational manner!

BTW, the price of airplane parts makes Porsche parts look cheap.

Go get your PPL, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Flying Southeast Utah Canyonlands
 

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It is the one hobby that makes racing look cheap :D

my wants me to go for it!! i told her it would be cheaper to allow me to gut my car and turn it into a race car.

You could do a sport pilot or recreational pilot, but in the long run a PPL is the way to go. If you aren't doing cross country trips you can get a Cub, Champ or similar for not a lot of money and they are more reasonable on gas and they are great for sight seeing.

My wife has been bugging me to get a license for a while. *I don't think she realizesthe cost associated with the whole thing and then flying afterward. *I want to, but I don't think this is the right time financially

Before you get serious about a PPL, go have some fun first.

Take a glider flight, do the hot air balloon thing, find a an excellent pilot that will take you flying for gas, take an acrobatic flight, fly from a remote area, etc.

Ten hours experiencing the joys of flight without the pressure of getting a PPL is, IMHO, the most valuable time you can spent. Learn to love what the hard work will bring.

I am no longer current but I still fly once a month with a good friend of mine who is a really fine pilot and keeps all his quals more than up to date,. He owns a Cub and has a grass strip next to my farm.

There are few things more precious than air under the tires.

Oh, and also take a helo ride...if you survive that Easy Street, nothing to fear again, ever :)

You don't fly helos, you postpone the crash. :)

I still enjoy flying, but I have to rate it the second best thing I have ever done. O'all it trumps skiing, kayaking, cycling, shooting, snowmobiles, autocrossing etc, but for me, the ultimate thrill has always been racing motocross. Nothing else I have done to date can equal the feeling of sitting on a full gate with the throttle near pinned just as the starting gate drops. If it was not for the constant injuries that one gets when racing at the limit, I would still be doing it.

For me, learning to fly as a beginner and later test flying airplanes I built with my own hands provided great satisfaction, but I think the only way I could get as much satisfaction flying as I got from MX is if I competed in aerobatics and performed airshows.... unfortunately I think those endeavors would lead to me buying the farm as I like pushing limits. Someday I hope to finish my aerobatic plane and I can only hope I fly it responsibly as the penalty for going past the limit is death vs an injury like in MX.

Welcome to the club......Becoming a pilot or aviator(navy guys:p) forever identifies you ....kind of separates you from the mer mortals. But like all things after many hours.... flying can become just one of those things, another skill set to check off, but thats not a bad thing..... just human nature. I'm pretty sure most people can get by in this world without becoming a pilot, but the real question is..Why would you want too?

I don't fly. I have been up 2wice in a small plane. It's neat to be up there, but I didn't get a jones for it. Reading Tim's post reminds me of taking my 911 to the track a few times. It was also neat to drive what I built, but it didn't compare to kart racing on the same track.

I think if I was to fly, it would have to be in a gyro-copter to get the thrill. But, I guess I'll leave that in the bucket.

Yeah, those starts either standing or rolling is the ultimate.

Rex Kramer: [talking to the airport control tower] No, we can't do that, the risk of a flame-out is too great. Keep 'em at 24,000.
No, feet.

Controller: I know but this guy has no flying experience at all. He's a menace to himself and everything else in the air... yes, birds too.



Rumack: Captain, how soon can you land?

Captain Oveur: I can't tell.

Rumack: You can tell me. I'm a doctor.

Captain Oveur: No. I mean I'm just not sure.

Rumack: Well, can't you take a guess?

Captain Oveur: Well, not for another two hours.

Rumack: You can't take a guess for another two hours?



Stewardess Randy: Excuse me sir, there has been a little problem in the cockpit...

Ted Striker: The cockpit? What is it?

Randy: It's the little room in front of the plane where the pilot's in, but that's not important right now.


Flight Control: Flight 209 you're clear for takeoff.
Clarence Oveur: Roger.
Roger Murdock: Huh?
FC: LA departure frequency 123.9.
Clarence Oveur: Roger.
Roger Murdock: Huh?
Victor Basta: Request vector, over.
Clarence Oveur: What?
FC: Flight 209 clear for vector 324.
Roger Murdock: We have clearance, Clarence.
Clarence Oveur: Roger, Roger, what's our vector, victor?
FC: Now we're in radio clearance, over.
Clarence Oveur: That's Clarence Oveur, over.
Victor Basta: Roger.
Roger Murdock: Huh?
FC: Roger, over.
Clarence Oveur: What?
Roger Murdock: Huh?
Victor Basta: Who?


Old woman: Nervous?
Ted Striker: Yes.
Old woman: First time?
Ted Striker: No, I´ve been nervous before.

Paul suggested trying a glider flight, here's a sailplane flying in the Alps:

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Porsche powers some GA aircraft. They also made some innovative rotorcraft for the Navy in the late 50s. Best of both worlds.

Porsche certified an aircraft version of the 3.2 litre engine. It was not a sales success.

Mooney is the only manufacturer that sold airplanes with the Porsche powerplant, but due mostly to excessive cooling drag, the airplanes had no better performance than "normal" Mooneys, yet cost subsantally more.
Very few were sold.

I'v said this before on another similar thread in the past - Flying is one of the 2 most fun things one can do with their clothes on. Go for it vash
Cheers
JB

Back in the early 80's a guy i worked for had an old aerobatic plane that he kept out in the desert.
My younger brother and i were out there doing some desert racing and my brother managed to get a ride in the plane, his first. He totally freaked.

He quit his job, cashed in his 401k, and went to flight school for 6 months.
He worked crap jobs after that for years until he got his hours up and eventually started flying corporate jets.

Now he runs a company that charters eirther 4 or 5 jets. citations, challenger, lear, that type.
He realized the instant he went up in that plane that flying is what he needed to do for a living.

EDIT: this is one of em he flies:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1364496964.jpg

Cliff
You need this........cheaper than a Porsche too
AIRPLANE FOR SALE!