2017 in Review

MIFlyer said:
those of us who still believe we have to justify airplane ownership (Particularly twin) to ourselves would benefit. I've really enjoyed the handful of other posts on this topic
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I did write up something in a new thread. "Justify" is a tough word in GA flying. I don't think it's ever going to be Harvard MBA quantifiable. But neither is a cup of coffee from Starbucks. Some things you just have to do because you want to and you can. And then be grateful, very very grateful. As I am.
 
Did sun n fun,Osh,light sport expo,Air Force museum,a couple of flights up and dow the east coast. Rebuilt my prop again replaced the alternator. But overall a great flying year,
 
Lance F said:
I did write up something in a new thread. "Justify" is a tough word in GA flying. I don't think it's ever going to be Harvard MBA quantifiable. But neither is a cup of coffee from Starbucks. Some things you just have to do because you want to and you can. And then be grateful, very very grateful. As I am.
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Thank you Lance. I truly appreciate you taking the time to do the write up. Unlike some, I do know how much the camper costs me per year, and our cars, and so, I have a pretty good idea what it will cost me to run the Aztec when i buy one and how that hurts my long term financial plan, but I know that it will cost more than what I spend on rent, plus what I spend on airline tickets by several thousand per year, but if it unlocks some cool experiences, it's worth it.
 
- Missed all fly-ins. Missed OSH. Missed pretty damn near everything.

- Maybe there was a PoA dinner in there somewhere. And a nice flight with @Clark1961 the other day. And a flight with @murphey earlier this year. Those were good. Thanks y’all.

- Aviation mostly came to a halt due to all sorts of really annoying personal life crap.

- Multiple family and friends died. That wasn’t helpful in the slightest. Funerals suck donkey balls.

- Only logged 40 hours in the entire year. I just looked that up and it made me angry. There’s a few flights not in the electronic logbook but not many.

Efffffff 2017.

On to 2018.

One of my favorite bands pretty well covers my message to 2017...

 
Got private certificate in May. Flew to OBX for vacation and did some beach flying there. Lots of local shorter hops. Grass strips. Flights with friends, father-in-law, brother-in-law, my mother, and my daughter. Two-year-old son says "I wan go fly aypain dada." Crosswinds. www.flyscbc.com. Night flying. Flew to Fernandina Beach for a conference. Did Remote Pilot online course. Started Zenith CH750 STOL rudder kit. Started listening to Aviation News Talk every week.
 
  • Booked less than 50 hrs....nice weather, I was busy. Free time? Lousy weather.
  • OSH this year interferred with finals (taught summer school at the university) OSH wasn't the priority (1 semester teaching pays the hangar for the entire year and insurance.)
  • Started the instrument again, fired the CFII - how many hours do I need to spend doing Plan A and Plan B?
  • Flew Young Eagles every month. Flew a few of the parents, too.
  • Avoided CAP meetings for another year, but mentoring a high school and a cadet squadron for the Cyberpatriot program as CAP AE officer.
  • Installed ADS-B out and LED wingtip lights.
  • Got the UAS cert. swell. peachy keen.

For 2018
1. cataract surgery ( day after Young Eagle Rallye, should be ready to go for the next rallye the following month)
2. knee replacement ( day after I submit grades for spring semester mid-May so I shoul be ok for OSH )
3. Try for the instrument again.
4. Tailwheel endorsement
5. New flooring in kitchen and dining area up to the patio door.
6. Continue trying to teach computer science to people who really should be in Art History or English Lit and believe Stackoverflow has all the answers to the homework assignments.
 
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Got back in the air after not flying since April '06, 11 years. Got a new medical; did a flight review in July; did a long X-cntry for the commercial; gonna hit the ground running in '18 and get my single and multi engine commercial hopefully within the first couple of months of the year. I hope to fly at least 100 hours this next year which I have never done in a year.
 
Got my most expensive annual ever, BFR and IPC, and Basic Med signoff, all in May. Back to flying after 1.5 year hiatus due to a medical event. Still only logged just under 40 hours this year, mostly thanks to work making it impossible to find much time to fly during the fall.
 
MIFlyer said:
those of us who still believe we have to justify airplane ownership (Particularly twin) to ourselves would benefit. I've really enjoyed the handful of other posts on this topic
Click to expand...

+1
 
2017
- Got back to flying since Jan 2007 (kids are now 10 & 5)
- Got BasicMed
- Bought a Super Decathlon and got it ferried in Dec
- Got insurance minimums taken care of (5 hours)
- Finishing up flight review
- Figure out ForeFlight and got blown away by the capabilities made available in the last decade. Last time I flew the iPhone had just been announced.
- Transferred my logbook into ForeFlight.
- Finding out that finding flying time is difficult with family, kids, etc

2018 goals
- Live to fly in 2019
- Fly the hell out of the SuperD
- Take my kids flying. Explore destinations with them, one at a time.
- Upgrade the panel - Got most of it figured out, I think. Got quote, sent deposit to the shop, now on their calendar.
- Get back to light acro.
- Mountain checkout and fly to KTRK.
- Figure out what family traveler to buy. Cirrus SR-22? Bonanza? Twin? Maybe buy it toward years end.
- Start IR
 
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2017: Called Dr Bruce in May after the BM rules came down to get the one time SI's rolling. Spent the summer being poked, prodded, x-rayed, pricked, scanned, stressed, and fondled. Still in process as I need to badger the Dr next week and get the latest test results to Bruce and then on to AMCD.

2018: Hopefully medical, followed by FR, followed by IPC, followed by going to some flyins and such.
 
pilotmax said:
2017
- Got back to flying since Jan 2007 (kids are now 10 & 5)
- Got BasicMed
- Bought a Super Decathlon and got it ferried in Dec
- Got insurance minimums taken care of (5 hours)
- Finishing up flight review
- Finding out that finding flying time is difficult with family, kids, etc

2018 goals
- Live to fly in 2019
- Fly the hell out of the SuperD
- Take my kids flying. Explore destinations with them, one at a time.
- Upgrade the panel - Got most of it figured out, I think. Got quote, sent deposit to the shop, now on their calendar.
- Get back to light acro.
- Mountain checkout and fly to KTRK.
- Figure out what family traveler to buy. Cirrus SR-22? Bonanza? Twin? Maybe buy it toward years end.
- Start IR
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Welcome back to flying after over 10 years!

I forgot about the insurance minimums... yeah, I had a 5 hour minimum to satisfy too, because of my 1.5 year hiatus. Knocked that off with a rust-shaking flight, a flight review, and an IPC. I'm a little surprised yours only wanted 5 hours after 10 years away, and a new plane. When I was new to the Cardinal RG, mine wanted 25 hours dual before PIC.
 
azure said:
Welcome back to flying after over 10 years!

I'm a little surprised yours only wanted 5 hours after 10 years away, and a new plane. When I was new to the Cardinal RG, mine wanted 25 hours dual before PIC.
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Thx azure.

About the insurance requirements, here what I think. My primary training was in 7ECA Citabrias and I flew them a lot afterwards. So I have 140 hours in them. Then I owned a tailwheel RV-4 for a few years, so of my 220 total hours, about 180 is in tw. And a Super Decathlon is just a more capable Citabria, adding 180 pony motor (compared to 115), CS prop, and a semi-symmetric airfoil.

But 5 hours is what Avemco wanted.
 
Healed from being run over by a semi truck (broken ankle + a bit)
Got my IR.
Been having fun keeping it current.
Did two blood platelet flights.
Did two flights to Catalina Island.
Been having fun!
 
2017:
I'm thrilled with 46 hours this year.
500+ NM cross country to see my friend and the solar eclipse.
Changed clubs.
Took 22 new passengers on their first general aviation flight.
One from India. One from Sierra Leone. One from Germany.

2018:
Become a better pilot.
Get enough hours so the club will let me check out on the mooney in 2019.
Fly a club plane to the family vacation.
Start instrument rating.
Take my dad on a flight.
Take my mom on a flight.
Get hp endorsement. Get checked out on the 182.
Fly to a POA event.
 
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2017:
- Bought a company.
- Spent more than 8 mos on the ground trying to get my feet under me. Then fought with a leaky compass.

2018:
- Make lots of money with this new company
- Fly to Gaston's
- Meet up with more of the local pilots at the different get together.
- Make Oshkosh ... probably not flying myself this time, though.
- Find ways to get to fly some different makes of planes. I've only flown a 152/172, 182, Cherokee, and Tobago.
 
Addendum to my earlier post:

Ended 2017 on a high note. My boss got invited to Connecticut (where I'm from) for Christmas. Flew him up there in the Pilatus and got to take my family with me. Great trip.

Yesterday I made my first "almost" coast to coast trip in the jet. Atlanta to Burbank to drop some folks off for the Rose Bowl. 9.3 hours in the air to spend 30 minutes in California.
 
2017 was the lowest amount of hours I've flown in the 5 years I've been flying. I totaled just over 40 hours.... I'm very disappointed about that. I did find out that a buddy of mine is really into flying so I'll hopefully have him along for more flights. I also checked off New Hampshire to the list of states I've flown to. That leaves only Vermont and Maine and I'll have all the northeast covered.

My goal for 2018 is to fly over 50 hours as a minimum and possibly start on my commercial or IFR.

Happy 2018!
 
As with most, my year was a mixed bag of good and bad.

The good:
Hit the 15 year mark with my lovely young bride.
Traveled to China and Iceland with previously mentioned bride.
Joined a good flying club
Attended two Southeast POA fly-ins and met some super cool folks.
Attended Triple Tree.
Saw my first total solar eclipse.
Bought a house.
Decided that moving to NC was probably the best move of my life (actually moved here in 2016).

The bad:
Buried my mom.
Watched my siblings get all freaked out over a very small estate.
A couple of old friends passed.
Had a discectomy and cervical spine fusion surgery which currently has me grounded.

For 2018, I'm hoping for more good, less bad. Definitely plan to fly more and knock off a few more states.
 
Here are 2017 goals and (progress) and 2018 plans:

2017
100+ hours (got about 85)
CMEL (check)
Oshkosh (check)
Regain instrument currency (check)
4+ angel flights (did one)
Potentially take first step in home building... (moving slowly)
Bonus: flew PC12

2018
Tailwheel endorsement
120 hours
4 Angel Flights
Almost forgot: finally get @denverpilot ’s Jeremiah Weed to @Sac Arrow
 
2017 was a bad year for me in more ways than one. Really want to forget it as soon as possible.

There is no way 2018 could be worse.
 
2017 wasn't the worst year I've had, but there were plenty of things that I'd like to leave behind. But my beautiful bride of 12 years and my 11 year old son are healthy, so there's a lot to be said for that. Work has been oppressive and between that and catching up on deferred maintenance on my aircraft (that the previous owner did not handle) and newly released service bulletins has left me grounded for all of this year.

Here's hoping that 2018 brings calmer work conditions, blue skies, a ready, willing and able airplane to fly, and health and prosperity for all.
 
Earned my HP and Complex endorsements, flew much further distances (at greater cost) with longer trips to Chicago, Philadelphia, the UP, Norwalk and Bowling Green and more. Lower hours than last year but these trips felt like much greater learning experiences than last year's ~100-hours closer to home. These longer flights have inspired me to go after my instrument rating in 2018.

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Also digitized my logbook, which sucked, but really came in handy for this particular post.
 
I posted this on Facebook and it tells the whole story for me last year. Add to this buying into a partnership and taking my son in his first flight (if you don’t count in utero), and flying wise it was a great year.

My dad died which made the year suck balls. I’ll be very happy to see a better 2018.

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