If you couldn’t fly...

I have more hobbies than I have time for. Before flying I used to do a lot of woodworking. Flying is only part of what took time from that. I also got back into triathlons; more to get in shape than anything else.

When discussing retirement I have co-workers that say they don't know what they'd do with their time when retired. My reaction is: o_O

:D

I usually say, "If they doubled the number of hours in a day I might be able to get a 1/3 of what I want to do done." :eek:
 
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I chose flying as the thing to do when I can't do my other hobbies, rugby (pretty much done with that except for the sunday morning touch run and the infrequent old boys tournament every year or so), downhill mountain biking (starting to question my abilities to huck myself off a 10 foot ledge) and snowboarding (this is the by far the easiest of my hobbies so I hope I can keep it up for a while.
 
Tantalum said:
Sail
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Agree - probably dump my money into a hole in the water.

Either that or work on restoring cars, which can also be an expensive hobby.

Or maybe look up EMan and waste it on hookers and blow?
 
same list's as a lot here...

scuba/snorkel, hunt, fish, camp, explore... maybe treasure hunt off some coasts, kayak/canoe, hiking....

and play a lot more poker tournaments..
 
When I am not working as a male super model. I hunt and fish whenever I can. I would do that and more likely than not pay some snot nosed CFI to ride right seat while I did my level best to test his skills as an instructor. I tell people all the time I am not afraid of retirement I can be busy every day without having to go to work.
 
Have had to be on the "outside" for a number of years.

Simple finance; multiple layoffs, home and family expenses, impending college bills. Just can't pull that much out the family budget for just my enjoyment.

Plenty of things to fill the time though, oldest is an eagle scout so I did the Scoutmaster thing, multiple high adventure trips. Canoeing in Canada, backpacking in New Mexico, Scuba in the keys, good stuff. Youngest is a baseball player, so coaching and trainings along the way.

My youngest has asked a couple of times recently about when we can go fly again, so maybe...
 
Not many hobbies offer that zesty mix of cash bonfire, myriad means to kill one's self and loved ones, and ability to tinker on something mechanically and intellectually interesting.

Even sailing I don't think would do the trick, although I'm boat-curious.

I'd travel more. Possibly in some sort of overlander camping rig that I can work on myself, possibly under the hot glare of armed militia or policemen with a 60 IQ and annual income equal to what I paid for my last restaurant meal.

Spice of Life and all that, wot wot.
 
schmookeeg said:
Not many hobbies offer that zesty mix of cash bonfire, myriad means to kill one's self .....
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Let me suggest automobile racing. Plenty of mechanical wrenching, too.

If you do everything just right, you go broke winning your last race and the car disintegrates as you cross the finish line, killing you at the same time.
 
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I would probably ride my motorcycle a lot more. More time hunting and fishing, get back into ham radio, play guitar more and get into another band, take a college class or two,....

Lots of things to keep me busy.
 
Since flying is a hobby now, I would build and race cars as a hobby. I am beginning building an RV-9a, I might do that even if I couldn’t fly.
 
Hookers and booze. I thought that was the answer to everything.
 
After I hung up the glider a few years ago, I was looking at getting back into flying last year, and my aircraft of choice was going to be a light sport trike. I went and took a flight, it was a lot of fun.

The problem with being a trike pilot is that first you have to be a trike owner. I live in the Atlanta metro area and hangar space is scarce and at a premium, and a trike can't stay outside. I'd probably be looking at keeping it an airport that was close to 90 minutes from my house at low traffic times. I couldn't justify buying a trike by myself, it wouldn't get used enough so I'd be looking for a partner. I'd also have to figure out how to get out to the airport often enough to get a sport pilot endorsement for a trike, and that would be a challenge of its own. With my work schedule and the distance to the airport where the instructor is based, it would have been a weekend only thing. Once I bought a trike, I'd have to find a trike friendly mechanic to work on it. It all adds up to too much, so I nixed the idea.

Instead, I bought a waverunner. It's a lot cheaper to buy, house, and maintain, and my wife and daughters like it as well. It's not as cool as a light sport trike, but it's easier to own, and don't have to worry about losing proficiency. I've found that it's good at playing in chop, kind of like a skier in a mogul field. If the water is smooth, it goes crazy fast and is super maneuverable. It's also a reasonable substitute for a motorcycle.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Play in a band maybe. I hate what I do but I am 20 years into a career that I am stuck in.
I have to have an outlet. Maybe RC planes. I always loved those things. I enjoy making videos it turns out and I am toying with starting a satire science channel.
I'd probably go full bore into a project like that. I have to have something that is mine and creative or I'd get depressed pretty fast.
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You and me both...I’m 16 in, and now starting the prep to pull the plug at 20 and go do something completely different. I’ll take a major pay hit initially but hopefully rebound after a period of time. Can’t see doing this 30-plus like I originally intended.
 
Ryanb said:
What would you do with yourself?

This might be a stretch, but we can all probably agree that our bank accounts would have a few more zeros attached to them, if ‘pilot’ wasn’t an accolade of ours. I don’t think any of us became a pilot to save money, however.

For me, having the ability to go out and fly helps keeps me sane.

But, if you weren’t a pilot, what other things would you do with your free time?
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Man that's just crazy talk. . .maybe if blind, or paralyzed; but if you can sail or fish or fornicate, you can fly something. . .
 
Mmmm... Well, if I couldn't fly, it would obviously be for some reason that would also put the kibosh on a lot of my other hobbies. I'd probably immerse myself in cars. The Mercedes has me lusting for another/newer/even faster one. I have even toyed with the idea of buying and selling... but the. I'd be a used car salesman, and I really don't want that many people thinking that little of me.

Sailing looks like a lot of fun, but I'm really not in the right place for it. Maybe if we lived on a coast or some suitably large body of water.
 
rpadula said:
Nate, given your apparent gift letting the words flow, how about starting a podcast? Audio equipment still has a fairly high nerd quotient! :D
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Had one long ago. LOL. Back in the day before everyone had to do video along with the audio! Hahaha.

No money in it unless you go all controversial and then Silicon Valley takes your content down and pretends it’s not a “platform” with legal protections from everything they allow.

:) :) :)

Besides the money, really need to figure out what to say. Our old one was literally four people babbling about aviation stuff and that “market” is full. Plus it took a wrong turn into the ditch somewhere with “adventure” flying and CFIs who forget their bad example of talking in the pattern to a camera breaks all sorts of rules they told their students never to do. LOL. (Me stares intently at Jason Shappert...)

Still have the nice mics and stuff here but the fancy FireWire 400 low noise preamp and interface may have to be upgraded. Ha. That crap gets speedy fast.

Never invested in the cameras. Internet finally got upgraded to a whopping 5 Mb/s so there’s hope for a horrid live video stream someday from the prairie. Hahaha.

Plus I don’t have the pipes that Mike Degadio has on his Booth Junkie video cast, but damn I want his Shure shotgun mic. That thing would match my voice perfectly.

Not the mic in this video but it’s a good one. I
Watch him and a bunch of others who do the voiceover thing and rate mics. You can spend stupid money on the kit for voiceover.

 
My only real obsession is skiing so if I couldn’t fly, I’d probably spend the summer in the Southern Hemisphere and ski twice as much a year. In the shoulder seasons, I’d travel or do things related to making stuff out of wood.

Cheers
 
DaleB said:
Mmmm... Well, if I couldn't fly, it would obviously be for some reason that would also put the kibosh on a lot of my other hobbies.
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Not necessarily. There are lots of medical conditions that could make you ineligible for a medical that wouldn't prevent you from doing other things. Although if you're counting all flying (including that which doesn't require a medical) then that's fair. I guess for many of us if we're flying a plane that requires a 3rd class or better I'd consider downgrading to something not requiring a medical to effectively being "couldn't fly anymore."

Example: Glider is not an MU-2.
 
EdFred said:
Well, unless you do something that causes emergency revocation of all certificates. Then it's "I was..."
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Oddly enough, even that doesn't have to end your aviation career. I know a couple people (past students) who's certs were pulled by the FAA and they had to start all over, unable to use any of their previous flight time.

Granted, one was back in the 90's and the other in the 2000's , but I guess when you get a new cert, it's literally a NEW cert. So any action on your past cert does not prevent you from obtaining a new one. Might be different today, don't know.
 
I used to race as a hobby but it became work.

I wanted to fly for fun but it became work.

I am afraid to do anything else for fun....
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Not necessarily. There are lots of medical conditions that could make you ineligible for a medical that wouldn't prevent you from doing other things. Although if you're counting all flying (including that which doesn't require a medical) then that's fair. I guess for many of us if we're flying a plane that requires a 3rd class or better I'd consider downgrading to something not requiring a medical to effectively being "couldn't fly anymore."

Example: Glider is not an MU-2.
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Dude... I'm already there. I can't get a third class, nor can I get an SI, so I can't use Basic Med either. So I'm flying with Sport Pilot privileges now. If I physically couldn't fly Light Sport, it would probably mean there would be a lot of other things I couldn't do. If I couldn't hoist myself into the cockpit and manipulate the controls, or couldn't see well enough, or whatever -- I probably would be hard pressed to drive or do a lot of other things, too.

So no, when I say I couldn't do a lot of other things if I couldn't fly, that's exactly what I mean.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, some of this boils down to "don't get your medical revoked or denied". If you're still fit to fly, don't ever -- ever -- apply for a medical or SI unless and until you know for absolute certain you'll be issued. Otherwise it's ultralights, gliders or hot air balloons for you, pal. Light Sport may be a step down from an MU-2, but it's not necessarily much of a step down in speed or range from what many of us mere mortals fly. Might even be a step up. I know what I fly now is faster, cheaper, better equipped, and more comfortable than the 172 I was flying before. After my MI, I contacted Dr. Chien about an SI. When I found out that probably wasn't going to happen, I let my medical expire. I fly a lot more now than I did before, because my cost per hour is about 1/3 what it was. Guy I knew in the club didn't do that, got his medical denied, and he's now riding a Harley instead of flying anything -- ever.
 
Zeldman said:
I used to race as a hobby but it became work.

I wanted to fly for fun but it became work.

I am afraid to do anything else for fun....
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Nothing ruins a good hobby faster than making a business out of it.

(inactive ham operator and former ham radio kit business owner... )
 
DaleB said:
Dude... I'm already there. I can't get a third class, nor can I get an SI, so I can't use Basic Med either. So I'm flying with Sport Pilot privileges now. If I physically couldn't fly Light Sport, it would probably mean there would be a lot of other things I couldn't do. If I couldn't hoist myself into the cockpit and manipulate the controls, or couldn't see well enough, or whatever -- I probably would be hard pressed to drive or do a lot of other things, too.

So no, when I say I couldn't do a lot of other things if I couldn't fly, that's exactly what I mean.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, some of this boils down to "don't get your medical revoked or denied". If you're still fit to fly, don't ever -- ever -- apply for a medical or SI unless and until you know for absolute certain you'll be issued. Otherwise it's ultralights, gliders or hot air balloons for you, pal. Light Sport may be a step down from an MU-2, but it's not necessarily much of a step down in speed or range from what many of us mere mortals fly. Might even be a step up. I know what I fly now is faster, cheaper, better equipped, and more comfortable than the 172 I was flying before. After my MI, I contacted Dr. Chien about an SI. When I found out that probably wasn't going to happen, I let my medical expire. I fly a lot more now than I did before, because my cost per hour is about 1/3 what it was. Guy I knew in the club didn't do that, got his medical denied, and he's now riding a Harley instead of flying anything -- ever.
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Gotcha - I didn't realize you were already operating without a medical, sorry. In that case, I agree with your point 100%.
 
Zeldman said:
I used to race as a hobby but it became work.

I wanted to fly for fun but it became work.

I am afraid to do anything else for fun....
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Try it the other way. Maybe if you got a job it would become fun.... :D
 
Put more money into the boat, do the great loop.
 
Man, I don't know. I spent my first 28 years on this planet mostly not flying... I was a computer geek I suppose, but that's hardly even a thing any more. Geekdom has gone mainstream.

If it happened now? Well, I'd probably do more in the realm of Arduino/RasPi electricla projects, and building stuff at home and at the Makerspace I'm a member of (and haven't been to in over two years).

But, what I'm hoping is that someday I can retire and hit the road in a nice RV, towing a trailer with a folding-wing amphibious LSA in it... Probably an MVP or a Lisa Akoya, if either of those ever make it to market:

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k802v2jufeg21.jpg

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But the thought of not being able to fly at all is horrible. I LOVE flying. It's travel, relaxation, mental exercise, absolute beauty, and a whole lot of other things all rolled up into one. There is nothing that can replace it adequately. When I can't fly any more... I'll probably just want to roll over and die.
 
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