2024 Goals

W
Beat last year's flying time (0) in January, so already ahead there. About to finally finish up MQ-1C qual. When I get back from that deployment, CFII and hopefully ASES/AMES in NOLA by the end of the year.
Well, MQ-1C didn't work out :lol: As the very last new-hire pilot they ever intended to hire for that aircraft, I was first on the chopping block when they needed to let anyone go. Picked up a better paying more fun job flying Red Team drones in OIR. Goals remain the same, just getting pushed to next year as I'll be here till 4Q25.
 
Wake up 366 days in 2024

Finish Aventura HP amphib and land in at least four different bodies of water with the gear up and four different airdromes with the gear down.

RR and Oshkosh


2024
So far so good

Impossible because the effing Company has yet to deliver all the effing parts.

Done and Done

2025 Goals remain the same
365 Days Awake
Same for the Amphib Build/Fly
Reservations made for both
 
2024 goals and status:

1) Get the plane painted. SUCCESS!
2) Avoid wadding the plane into a molten ball of aluminum. SUCCESS!
3) Take a few trips with SWMBO. FAIL. Painting took the plane out of commission for a while, and then this fall I began chasing engine problems. Plane is grounded now for an OH.
4) Remain unemployed. SUCCESS!

Now don't be sad,
'cause 3 out 4 ain't bad.

(sorry, Meat)
 
2024 goals:

1) Complete training and acquire PPL. DONE.

2) Complete IR. Incomplete...about 50%.

3) Complex rating. DONE.

4) Acquire a plane - was not a 2024 goal, but DONE.
 
I did not leave IT and take the aviation profession by storm so in that respect a complete and utter failure.

otherwise, I flew around and stuff. if I had to guess, on the lighter side hours-wise.

didn't get the multi hours I wanted due to the local twin I can rent being down for most of the year and still no end in sight.
 
I would like to get back into flight status. I have been volunteering for a women owned (99’s) flight school. It has been rewarding and I wouldn’t mind doing it again.
 
And i didn't state it as a goal but i always want to hit 100 hours. I'm sitting at 96 with a few weeks to go. We'll see how weather and schedules work out the rest of the year.
 
-Quit IT
-Get paid to fly

Welp, I lost my job in March so I knocked goal 1 out early.
I did get paid to fly but not in any sustainable sense. I'm told to expect a class date end of Q1.
At any rate, it looks like I got the trajectory change I wanted.

My 2025 goals are going to have to be:
Stay out of I.T.
Get paid to fly in a sustainable sense.
 
Didn't get as much GA flying in as I wanted (25 hours - ugh), but there was a lot of change over the summer. New house, new job for my wife, and a new pre-school for my daughter. And somewhere in there I managed to knock my wife up, so another daughter is due in April! :)

It's been a good year, but the move out to Long Island meant that I had to leave my flying club, so I'm currently looking for a new ride. Since winter has arrived, it'll probably be spring before I'm back up in a little airplane.

Here's to a good 2025!
 
My 2024 aviation goals are:

1. Embrace the suck that is renting
2. RR24
3. Oshkosh?
If you think owning is any less suck, think again. Plenty of costs and cash outflow just to buy one these days.
 
Haven’t had enough time to think about my 2024 plans yet. But…

1) Get a First class medical
2) Get a paid flying gig
3) Fly to Miami again and the keys
4) Do an international flight involving customs
5) Flying trip to San Fran and Grand Canyon
6) Think about buying a multi, but then I need a bigger hangar and/or to sell the Arrow :oops:

I’ll think about what else makes me excited. Maybe flying a jet and the high altitude endorsement that I had planned for last year, but not as excited to do that at the moment.

Got my first class medical (sorry not bragging), did Miami and the keys, did the written for CFI/CFII, going to take the ATP-CTP class at Delta this month so that’s a surprise one for me, for 2025 I’d like to get my CFI.
 
Didn’t post a goal because of our engine situation.

Accomplishments:
* Landed at 35 airports
* Did more flights with my wife than last year
* My wife got to experience her first divert and see what self-serve fuel was all about
* She also experienced her longest leg as a pax, her first IMC as pax, and decided she wanted to “see the other airplanes on my iPad like you see them” which resulted in her first visual before ATC passed the traffic.
 
Didn’t post a goal because of our engine situation.

Accomplishments:
* Landed at 35 airports
* Did more flights with my wife than last year
* My wife got to experience her first divert and see what self-serve fuel was all about
* She also experienced her longest leg as a pax, her first IMC as pax, and decided she wanted to “see the other airplanes on my iPad like you see them” which resulted in her first visual before ATC passed the traffic.
Speaking of wives, I guess I could have reported that I got mine to go on a flight for the first time in 8 years. She has extreme motion sickness and we got a wrist band that actually works. She didn't puke. It was really calm air but baby steps.
 
Speaking of wives, I guess I could have reported that I got mine to go on a flight for the first time in 8 years. She has extreme motion sickness and we got a wrist band that actually works. She didn't puke. It was really calm air but baby steps.
Congratulations! Which wristband did the trick?
 
Talk to ATC more.
Get to work on my IR
I posted to this thread. Forgot about that.

Modest goal I had but am doing both. Including some talking to ATC while getting tossed around in clouds. That and somewhere north of 100 hours without breaking any fiberglass or metal.

Win.
 
I met both my 2024 goals:

1. Instrument rating (finished in July)
2. Fly my biplane 100 hours (went 120,) to include a long commercial solo cross country (took an overnight trip to Iowa at 70 knots)

2025 goals:

1. Commercial SEL certificate
2. Reach 500 hours TT (~380 now)
3. Maybe CFI? I'm doing commercial from the right seat and have started to dig into CFI prep. Both CAX and FIA exams are already in the bag.

No career goals other than becoming a crusty old tailwheel instructor someday.
 
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I met both my 2024 goals:

1. Instrument rating (finished in July)
2. Fly my biplane 100 hours (went 120,) to include a long commercial solo cross country (took an overnight trip to Iowa at 70 knots)

2025 goals:

1. Commercial SEL certificate
2. Reach 500 hours TT (~380 now)
3. Maybe CFI? I'm doing commercial from the right seat and have started to dig into CFI prep. Both CAX and FIA exams are already in the bag.

No career goals other than becoming a crusty old tailwheel instructor someday.
What's the biplane?

A Reliefband Premier
Told ya ;)
 
I just finished up my Instrument and I’m scheduled to begin Commercial in January and then jump into Commercial Multi right after. Hope to have both completed by summertime.Ill probably work on CFI in the fall.
Goal accomplished. Got CSEL, CMEL and CFI knocked out this year. About to cross the 1400TT mark. It’s been a great year!

CFII starts after the new year and then I’m going to take a breather. Here’s to seeing what ‘25 brings!
 
For 2025:
Tailwheel
Stay passenger current for MEL
 
Going to fall well short of hours goal (225). Life gets in the way sometimes...
But still managed to put up a respectable 158 hours YTD, compared to this time last year I was at 200.4 hours YTD.

Trips: attended all the ones I planned to! (Rough River, 6Y9 and Gastons). Plus did my long XC to Arizona.

(Edit: After thinking about how I'm lagging behind my goals, I think a lot of it's because I shifted my annual to end of April so I could make Rough River. That took the plane out of service during peak flying time -- May -- and the obnoxious post-annual squawks weren't resolved until middle July which limited my flying... Still, no excuses :p)
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You all have convinced me to finally set some goals for the year. Otherwise, I'll never fail to achieve them.

1. Log 100 hours. I'm at 93.7 now so that's doable, but December is going to get very busy on me. I'll report back in 3 weeks or so.

2. Schedule a flight review or substitute for it so I'm not left scrambling when it's due in February. See my prior threads on trying to get a balloon rating in the dead of the winter. Also, how did two years go by on me? I could swear I just did a flight review to buy a couple more years of trying to get time to add a weird rating. I wonder if I'm still on the cancellation list for Jack Brown's Seaplane Base. Something tells me that I should call them to resubscribe. Or maybe I can find one in a place I get to somewhat more often. Do they have float planes in the desert southwest?

3. At least take the darn written tests for CFI so I have a ticking clock to learn how to fly a plane again and take the check ride without having to re-take the written tests.

4. Finish the landing gear fairings on the RV-14. My wife, friend, and I wrapped that up back in the late spring, so I will definitely fail to fail this goal.

5. Finish designing the paint scheme for the RV-14. I am slated to go to the paint shop in September of 2028 so I really need to get this done.

6. Set goals for 2025 in advance of the year so I can start slacking on them earlier when I'm not rushed by all the other things I need to put off to next year by the end of this one.
 
Commercial
Fly to outer banks
Air Force Museum
Oshkosh
Lock Haven Piper Museum (especially since the town is trying to close the airport)
I got the commercial
Flew to Lock Haven Museum. (It's pretty cool)
Went to Oshkosh

For 2025:
Fly to outer banks
Air Force MuseumF
Fly to upper new England
Fly to Florida
 
2024.

Got the airplane.
Just leased a hangar.
Now I need to get this (extensive) Annual finished before Christmas

2005.

Fly the crap out of this bird...
Fly wife to Outer Banks (I've been to FFA in a friend's plane - need to do it in our Ercoupe.)
Fly (with wife) to Eastport, Maine.
Fly the Hudson River VFR corridor through NYC.
 
I got mine done: Commercial AMEL add-on. :cool:
Now, 2025: CFI and maybe CFI/I... one can hope.
 
2024 Goals
✅ 200+ hours ... 352 YTD, with a holiday trip planned
⭕ 15 hours actual IMC ... only 12.9, but also +4.6 foggles
✅ Maintain all my currencies without lapse: pax, night, IFR
✅ 4+ long XC trips (4+ hrs or 500+ nm one way)
❌ 6+ fly-in gatherings/meals ... only made 4
✅ Commercial ... also knocked out Multi & Complex, and built some ME hours.
✅ Bonus: Bahamas trip
✅ Double bonus: Alaska trip

2025 Goals
- 300 hours
- 25 hours actual IMC (will require chasing some weather, since actual in my region is often full of ice or convection)
- Maintain all currencies without lapse (multi probably an exception)
- 6+ long XC trips (4+ hrs or 500+ nm one way)
- 6+ fly-in gatherings/meals
- Land in the remaining 13 of 49 states
- ATP-CTP course
- ATP written passed
- First Class medical
 
Going to fall well short of hours goal (225). Life gets in the way sometimes...
But still managed to put up a respectable 158 hours YTD, compared to this time last year I was at 200.4 hours YTD.

Trips: attended all the ones I planned to! (Rough River, 6Y9 and Gastons). Plus did my long XC to Arizona.

(Edit: After thinking about how I'm lagging behind my goals, I think a lot of it's because I shifted my annual to end of April so I could make Rough River. That took the plane out of service during peak flying time -- May -- and the obnoxious post-annual squawks weren't resolved until middle July which limited my flying... Still, no excuses :p)
View attachment 136081
View attachment 136082
You'd fly twice as much in a twin ;)
 
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