What did you do after you got your Private Pilot License?

eman1200 said:
yup, it was very rewarding for me to be able to take my parents up for the first time. mostly because they're my parents but also because I honestly never thought they'd go, but they did and they loved it and they can't wait to get back up!
Click to expand...

I was amazed to finally get my mom to go a couple years down the road and in a twin, my dad went up with me in the Arrow right when I got there after getting my PP.
 
I remember flying back to my home airport after I passed the check ride and it just happened that when I made my "10 mile out" call my instructor was up with her hubby, and came on the radio and said "Congrats Captain".. I landed and we went out for a beer!!
 
On the way back from the checkride, flew back to the towered field where I first soloed. In the next few days, rented a plane with no GPS just to go flying for the joy of pilotage. The following weekend: took a friend to Mackinac Island and back. (I was based in SE Michigan at the time.)

The next year I got my complex endorsement and entered into a non-equity partnership with a friend, and flew all over the state in that airplane. I regret to say that it took me over 10 more years to get my instrument rating. If I had it to do over again, I would make that my first priority.

But, it all depends on the kind of flying you want to do. I am into airplanes as traveling machines, so IFR was the most useful advanced rating I could have gotten. If you are into aerobatics or just love classic airplanes, tailwheel might make more sense.

Whatever you do, keep flying! :thumbsup:
 
Cross country transportation mostly, I'm at least 40 miles from town in any direction and more like 200 miles from a reasonably large town. Depending on which direction I go I've got from 12 to 25 miles of rough gravel road to drive so flying's not only faster but a whole lot smoother usually. My daddy used to say he flew for buisiness and he enjoyed doing buisiness, I guess I'd say the same :)
 
I came home, ecstatic, after passing my checkride, to my wife and mother-in-law hanging wallpaper. I got a "That's nice, dear" out of her, and not much more.

She later went on to get her own ticket, and realized what a "big deal" it truly was. She's apologized for her faux pas ever since! :)

But, anyway, after getting my license I had to sell plasma to fund a once-a-week, one hour flight with the kids in a Cherokee 140. It was tough, just staying current.

My first "big flight" was for our 10th wedding anniversary (we're celebrating 30, this year), when we flew that rental plane from Wisconsin to Branson, Missouri, down to Atchison, Kansas (to see Amelia Earhart's home), over to Springfield, Illinois (to visit friends), and home. Man, I felt like Lindbergh, after that flight. (We actually had to fly down and look at water towers to figure out where we were, in Illinois. No GPS, back then!)

Since then, we've done all sorts of amazing cross country flights, all VFR. We've built and owned two aviation themed hotels (currently down to "only" one hotel), and aviation has pretty much taken over our lives. We've made our living (somewhat peripherally) on aviation since 2002.

Not bad, for an old newspaper guy and a medical technologist. ;)
 
Well, at first I just did the hamburger thing. Then life intervened and after the divorce and moving from that home to NYC I became engaged in Operation Fly. This got me all over New England and other points into multiple airports I'd never been to. Link to a map of airports I have been to is below.

This was truly good for me. I am now completely comfortable flying into airports that I have never been to before.

Now, at 700 hours and contemplating my third retirement (I seem to suck at retirement skills!) it is time for the instrument rating and time to enjoy life.

-Skip


https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zU7y_L46IJjw.kPRxjztTDcsY
 
Jay Honeck said:
I came home, ecstatic, after passing my checkride, to my wife and mother-in-law hanging wallpaper. I got a "That's nice, dear" out of her, and not much more.

She later went on to get her own ticket, and realized what a "big deal" it truly was. She's apologized for her faux pas ever since! :)

But, anyway, after getting my license I had to sell plasma to fund a once-a-week, one hour flight with the kids in a Cherokee 140. It was tough, just staying current.

My first "big flight" was for our 10th wedding anniversary (we're celebrating 30, this year), when we flew that rental plane from Wisconsin to Branson, Missouri, down to Atchison, Kansas (to see Amelia Earhart's home), over to Springfield, Illinois (to visit friends), and home. Man, I felt like Lindbergh, after that flight. (We actually had to fly down and look at water towers to figure out where we were, in Illinois. No GPS, back then!)

Since then, we've done all sorts of amazing cross country flights, all VFR. We've built and owned two aviation themed hotels (currently down to "only" one hotel), and aviation has pretty much taken over our lives. We've made our living (somewhat peripherally) on aviation since 2002.

Not bad, for an old newspaper guy and a medical technologist. ;)
Click to expand...


:rofl: guilty, that's why GPS saves a lot of gas.
 
I bought a American Aviation Yankee that I flew for 200 hours in 18 months, got my Instrument in a 172 and commercial in a Beech Sierra just as soon as I had enough hours accumulated in the Yankee. After 18 months and the ratings I sold the Yankee and bought a 250 Comanche, which I still have.
 
Henning said:
:rofl: guilty, that's why GPS saves a lot of gas.
Click to expand...
When I think back to how we flew then, and how we fly now, it's like we have stepped aboard the starship Enterprise.

Which makes the shrinking pilot population even more frustrating. We have made reliable navigation SOOOO much easier! No more stopwatches. No more looking for high tension power lines as landmarks. No more trying to figure out the exact shape of a lake (with paralax), and trying to match it to the blue blob on the sectional. (And being wrong half the time -- Wisconsin is full of little lakes that all look alike!)

Mary and I now spend less time flight planning a 1400 mile trip to Oshkosh than I once did on a 50 mile x-country flight. You would think this simplification would open the door for more pilots.
 
Jay Honeck said:
When I think back to how we flew then, and how we fly now, it's like we have stepped aboard the starship Enterprise.

Which makes the shrinking pilot population even more frustrating. We have made reliable navigation SOOOO much easier! No more stopwatches. No more looking for high tension power lines as landmarks. No more trying to figure out the exact shape of a lake (with paralax), and trying to match it to the blue blob on the sectional. (And being wrong half the time -- Wisconsin is full of little lakes that all look alike!)

Mary and I now spend less time flight planning a 1400 mile trip to Oshkosh than I once did on a 50 mile x-country flight. You would think this simplification would open the door for more pilots.
Click to expand...

It's really amazing how much simpler it is to maintain 5 times or more the situational awareness. It also amazes me that people reject it. :dunno: Talk about safety this and that, and then refuse the biggest safety tool available.

My first XC after PP was 3600 nm round trip and I lost my nav radios about 250 miles into it over the Grand Canyon. Did pilotage and long range vectors for the rest of the trip.:rofl: GPS would have been so nice.
 
Last edited:
I had my checkride two days after my wife. The next day, we rented a 172 in St. Augustine, FL, with which we flew to New York, where we followed the Hudson River. On the way back to St. Augustine, we chose a route over the Appalachian Mountains. One of our most memorable flights!

I posted a short video on youtube: http://youtu.be/YHpWyuF448g
 
German guy said:
I had my checkride two days after my wife. The next day, we rented a 172 in St. Augustine, FL, with which we flew to New York, where we followed the Hudson River. On the way back to St. Augustine, we chose a route over the Appalachian Mountains. One of our most memorable flights!

I posted a short video on youtube: http://youtu.be/YHpWyuF448g
Click to expand...

Have you had her since?:lol:;) Sorry, couldn't resist.
 
Re: Deleted.

I very occasionally meet new pilots who have chosen our hotel and island as their first cross country flight. I am always humbled and impressed, and occasionally am amazed by the folks I meet this way.

Our last one was this past fall. He passed his checkride in September, and in November hopped in the rental 172 and flew his gal down from Oklahoma.

That's a pretty epic flight, at 110 knots. They had a great time, and it did my heart good to see a younger version of Mary and me. I only wish there were more of us...
 
Stopped flying for 42 years! In the past 2 years after restarting:
* Added 300 hours
* Added high performance endorsement
* Bought Cirrus SR22 GTS
 
Got my private and instrument on the same day. Got my complex/multi two weeks after. Got my commercial multi about a month after that. Got my MEI 11 days after that. Got my CFII about 5 days after that. Then got my Commercial single and my CFI single on the same day, about 4 days after that. I've been instructing for about 9 months now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top