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

[vash]

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.

[Noah930]

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.

[MT930]

It's like crack

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

[notfarnow]

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

[aigel]

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

[McLovin]

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.

[LeeH]

It's a magical thing...

[ZOA NOM]

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.

[Jrboulder]

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).

[Mrmerlin]

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..

[porsche4life]

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...

[Embraer]

do it!

[Hard-Deck]

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

[onewhippedpuppy]

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.

[oldE]

Originally Posted by notfarnow

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

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

[Porsche-O-Phile]

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.

[dmcummins]

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.

[wdfifteen]

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.

[FLYGEEZER]

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.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by vash

we messed around with a flight simulator. thanks to years of video games, i didnt suck. but it wasnt exciting.

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.