Do you have many aviation friends?

CC268

CC268

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CC268
I graduated college two years ago and I have found that my exposure to my high school and college friends has changed drastically. People move away, get married, find new interests, etc. I grew up around motorsports (specifically motocross) and most my "old" friends are into the side by sides now (Polaris RZRs specifically). I just don't have much of an interest in that right now. A lot of the same friends are the typical "keepin up with the Jones'" type. Spending money they really don't have and bragging about it. It gets old. Now a days I find for the most part I keep to myself or hang out with my soon to be wife.

At this point I don't really have any general aviation friends (I have two good friends who are airline pilots, but don't really fly GA). Although I have only been around GA for about a year. Maybe there just aren't a ton of kids my age flying GA airplanes.

Anyways...do you guys have many aviation friends? Do you normally fly with others or by yourself?
 
I don't have friends. :cryin:

Seriously, hang out at the airport and you'll make friends. If there's an EAA Chapter nearby check them out, maybe join them. It's all part of growing up as your old friends, and yourself, marry & have kids, careers, etc.
 
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I have a handful from the POA and the PB. And my airplane partner I suppose. Aside from that no.
 
Clark1961 said:
I'm an engineer so I don't have friends, just acquaintances...
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Heh. Yeah, define 'friend.' I consider a 'friend' to be someone that I would hang out with outside of the work/gym/ or other specific social scenario. For me that is few and nearly all female.
 
I don't have a thing in common with most of my friends from HS and College. Times change and our lives go in different directions. I would say it's 50/50 for me. Some of my friends are aviation buddies and the others are just regular people.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Heh. Yeah, define 'friend.' I consider a 'friend' to be someone that I would hang out with outside of the work/gym/ or other specific social scenario. For me that is few and nearly all female.
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...and they say things like " are you coming to the stage for my next dance Mr. Sac?"...
 
I have quite a few aviation friends and fly regularly with a couple of them.
 
Most of my best friends are Plane folk, and most of them, I met through PoA.

Good folks, many of whom will step up for you at any time you have need. Seriously!
 
As Ryanb pointed out, and I've come to experience from my ATC days, a pilot usually cannot start up a conversation about flying as the "regular people" (love that term Ryanb) just don't understand what the hell we're talking about. Therefore they're ready to move on, either with another topic, or away from you! :yesnod: :nonod:

No doubt true of other fields as well.
 
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I'm a decade into the industry, most of my friends are in the industry

We don't associate with the plebes, unless they are 10s ;)

I joke, I joke, unless they are solid 8s
 
I recently read a book that talked about how after college you get lonely because all your friends go off on their own lives. Then you end up getting married and it's all downhill from there. Seriously, I'm an engineer too and although female, I'm just as socially challenged as you male versions.
 
Lots of GA friends.

In 25 years of flying I've flown in the company of another airplane once.
 
I have aviation acquaintances but not friends.

I have two very close friends that we have been friends since early teenage years, but they do not fly.
 
Walboy said:
I have several. It also helps if you have a gathering place at your airport. A lot of acquaintances over the years have come from helping one another with maintenance issues.
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I can walk into many hangars at my home field and borrow a tool or other item I might need. FTG is wonderful that way.
 
Rushie said:
I recently read a book that talked about how after college you get lonely because all your friends go off on their own lives. Then you end up getting married and it's all downhill from there. Seriously, I'm an engineer too and although female, I'm just as socially challenged as you male versions.
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Wow. That's a sad book.
 
Rushie said:
I recently read a book that talked about how after college you get lonely because all your friends go off on their own lives.
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OkieFlyer said:
Wow. That's a sad book.
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Sad, but better than some of alternatives. You could be a loser that forfeited good opportunities to stay near your friends, because you were cool there. Some people seem to think that life is supposed to be something like a Friends episode. Or, you could choose to forego college and decide at age 50 that you want to pursue a degree because you regret missing out on it before.

That being said, I think it's hard to make friends once you've gotten married and settled down. The military makes it easier, in my experience.
 
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CC268 said:
I graduated college two years ago and I have found that my exposure to my high school and college friends has changed drastically. People move away, get married, find new interests, etc. I grew up around motorsports (specifically motocross) and most my "old" friends are into the side by sides now (Polaris RZRs specifically). I just don't have much of an interest in that right now. A lot of the same friends are the typical "keepin up with the Jones'" type. Spending money they really don't have and bragging about it. It gets old. Now a days I find for the most part I keep to myself or hang out with my soon to be wife.

At this point I don't really have any general aviation friends (I have two good friends who are airline pilots, but don't really fly GA). Although I have only been around GA for about a year. Maybe there just aren't a ton of kids my age flying GA airplanes.

Anyways...do you guys have many aviation friends? Do you normally fly with others or by yourself?
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I didn't think I knew any pilots other than my CFI. I recently found out a guy on my ice hockey team was a pilot, he has his CFI and flew regionals for a while I think, been trying to get him to go with me(so much for the 'how do you now a pilot is in the room' joke, played hockey with him every Sunday for years, haha). But so far none that I've flown with. I didn't know any pilots before training.

I try to fly with my non-pilot friends, family, but end up solo from time to time. I try to put out the feelers to get takers, the response has been underwhelming.

Anywho, solo sunset flight this evening:
upload_2017-7-29_22-51-9.png
 
Rushie said:
I recently read a book that talked about how after college you get lonely because all your friends go off on their own lives. Then you end up getting married and it's all downhill from there. Seriously, I'm an engineer too and although female, I'm just as socially challenged as you male versions.
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Well that is a little depressing. ha ha I am a soon to be married male engineer (well, if you ask me just a regular guy with an engineering degree and job) but certainly don't consider myself socially challenged (at least in my opinion). Learning to adopt an "IDGAF" attitude is helpful if you ask me....
 
Cooter said:
That being said, I think it's hard to make friends once you've gotten married and settled down. The military makes it easier, in my experience.
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Really? Why is that? Seems like just the opposite would be true. Get married, start a family and meet the parents of your kids' friends. Always been the way lasting friendships have started in my family's circle. Met many through church and school. My parents are still close with some of the families they met while sending my sis and I to private school and being at church growing up.
 
Low numbers but a solid few good friends from each stage of life and social group. Lots of acquaintances from them also.

The thing the OP mentioned about folks doing their own thing after school, is completely normal. And overspending on crap is a national pastime and definitely worth avoiding.

Have numerous friends who thought their debt-driven lifestyles were a good idea. Big house, fancy cars, lots of toys. No control over their stuff, it controls them. Most of them are divorced over money fights and now arguing over how to sell the crap heh haven't paid for yet decades later, or those with stronger marriages have had at least one bankruptcy. Some have three.

Will I go out to dinner or to life events if they ask and see them? Sure. Still love them as people. But they're often headed right back into consumer debt spending talking about whatever junk they're going to buy next to make themselves happy. It's awkward at that point since you know any sort of agreement is just enabling an addict.
 
Ryanb said:
Really? Why is that? Seems like just the opposite would be true. Get married, start a family and meet the parents of your kids' friends. Always been the way lasting friendships have started in my family's circle. Met many through church and school. My parents are still close with some of the families they met while sending my sis and I to private school and being at church growing up.
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I guess it depends on what level of friendship we're talking about. It seems that the friends formed earlier in life, like in college, have a better chance of being your close friends because you can be more invested in the relationships. Not that the relationships themselves were a goal necessarily, but because the time spent hanging was. It was easier to be fully engaged because there wasn't as much competition for your time, and there was less distraction. In college, your friends are kind of everything, socially speaking. In a lot of cases, you live together, eat together, etc. There are way fewer boundaries than there are later in life, so conversations are more free and revealing. Add alcohol and it frequently becomes way too revealing.

I'm not saying that friends can't be made later, but it's just more difficult because so much more of your life is tied up in family and work. I prioritize time with family over time with friends. So I rarely get together with other guys and just hang out. Most often kids are present and the time with friends centers around some activity that keeps the kids entertained and the parents distracted.

That's my 2¢ diagnosis.:)
 
Never had a lot of college friends since I was a "townie" and hung out with guys I went to grade and high school with. Still see them a couple of times a year on visits "back home". Several friends from work even after 20 years of retirement. Also a collection of female friends since my wife passed. (They are more interesting than the other guys:D)

Aviation, mostly acquaintances including a member of the local EAA Chapter that I'm hunting a plane with to buy. Working on building a plane at my hangar has meant a lot of opportunities to meet other folks who hang around the drome.

Another engineer, btw.

Cheers
 
All of my friends are in the industry in one way or another.
 
I have fishing buddies, flying buddies. My boat mechanic and his wife are friends and come over for meals. I have a best friend that we socialize and go do stuff togather as families. Having friends today takes an effort to keep up, to keep things fresh. everyone is so busy. I find that if all you talk about is the old times, the friendship will wither. I try and do new things to keep the friendship active. Friendships, like everything, requires maintenace. I am a chemist but work in the aerospace industry so I am around a lot of engineers.
 
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