What do you use your plane for?

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optionizerSS

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OptionizerSS
So I posted before about me considering getting my PPL and searching for a plane. In one sense I'm afraid I'd try it a few times and get over the rush and hardly ever fly again. On the other me and my wife are 52 and kids are grown and out of the house. It would be nice to take off for the weekend to go to someplace different for the weekend. I doubt I would do much just flying around locally. More of a way to get to destinations we normally wouldn't get to. Typically we might take 1 vacation a year but thinking with our own plane we could go somewhere once a month or something. Then I wonder about transportation once we get there? Obviously we wouldn't have a vehicle there so would probably be looking at renting one. Would a typical rental place deliver a car to a smaller airport? I know there are Ubers and stuff today but some places those are pretty rare.

I did back of the napkin math and realize it would probably be cheaper to fly commercial but without the hassle of dealing with airports/security, crowds, waiting on luggage, etc. And add in the cool factor of having a birds eye view of the areas. I love looking at aerial photos (always have for some reason).

So mainly just a conversation starter but what does everyone use theirs for and are my thoughts reasonable?
 
so you haven't even started training yet? I think for you a key factor is whether the ol' lady will like flying or not. if she ends up not liking it, you'll be on your own (which mostly rules out vacations) and mostly leaves tooling around locally which you said you probably wouldn't do. have u even taken a discovery flight yet?
 
optionizerSS said:
So mainly just a conversation starter but what does everyone use theirs for and are my thoughts reasonable?
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Was a Tiger initially, but now an RV that can go 200 mph. My child is in school nine hour drive away, but only 2.5 to 2.75 by RV7A. Unfortunately lately (due to El Paso being so high on the Covid count), I haven't visited as they was nervous that my line of work (medical) and our city (Covid hot spot) could infect prior to finals. All local solo flights since March:(:mad:
 
Oh....let me lie about something here.....lol ;)


Nothing but fun.....it's my crab taxi to the eastern shore ....that gets the wifie what she wants....so I can have what I want. lolIMG_3384.JPG
 
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eman1200 said:
so you haven't even started training yet? I think for you a key factor is whether the ol' lady will like flying or not. if she ends up not liking it, you'll be on your own (which mostly rules out vacations) and mostly leaves tooling around locally which you said you probably wouldn't do. have u even taken a discovery flight yet?
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Good point, but I think that an even MORE important point, is whether or not HE likes flying. Lots of people find that flying is not right for them. Worrying about whether or not his wife likes it seems to be putting the buggy in front of the horse.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Good point, but I think that an even MORE important point, is whether or not HE likes flying. Lots of people find that flying is not right for them. Worrying about whether or not his wife likes it seems to be putting the buggy in front of the horse.
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I mean, his whole post is kinda doing that, but yeah, I hear ya. that's why I questioned whether he even got a disco flight yet.
 
My plane was purchased purely for fun local flying, an open cockpit biplane certainly isn't practical, but I do use it sometimes to get to our cabin in another state (1 hour flying vs. 2 1/2 hours driving) when the weather is good and forecast to stay that way for a few days.
 
I have a Sport Pilot Certificate and a sport plane that I use for recreation. I like that it's slow enough to patrol the local waterways and look for enemy boats. :D

I also like visiting a number of local fly-ins and some of the better ones are on grass strips (some are private). I like the airplane that I have for it's versatility but like anything else it has it's limitations.

It's quick enough (120 knots) to go for short hops to nearby states. If I want to go further it just requires more planning and fuel stops. A two hour leg is about all I want to fly at one sitting and that works out to be about the time I need to land and get fuel as I like to be on the ground with an hour of fuel. That don't always happen but I don't like cutting it close on fuel.

The beauty of your own plane is going where you want, when you want. Ownership can be costly but I've watched people spend gobs of cash on other hobbies that they like. Can't take it with you and I ain't leaving it for the kids so ... ;)
 
texasclouds said:
I’ve never been able to get my Winnebago over 100 mph. Did you get the V-12?
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Just flip the air filter cover upside down for more air intake and don't be shy giving it gas ... sure, it's a little top heavy in the turns, but your family members are moveable ballast;):p:p:p
 
You are talking about not flying around locally much and then taking a vacation with your future plane maybe once a year? To me you might as well skip the money for plane and training and fly commercial.

I don’t own my own plane but I’m in a club that has four to choose from. 99% of my flights are fairly local. Under 100 miles. But each one of those is just as much fun as flying maybe 500 miles for a vacation.
But I love flying. I knew I loved flying before I started down the training path.
 
If you find you enjoy flying, by all means get your PPL. You will learn a lot about the potential capability of light singles during your training, and whether or not you really like it. While you can do a lot of regional travel and beyond as a VFR pilot--as long as you can be very flexible in scheduling--it is a bit easier to make travel plans with an instrument rating, which would be the next stop after the PPL and some time-building.

My wife enjoys flying with me, and became interested enough to go beyond pinch hitter training and get her PPL as well. Even though she is not current at the moment, she is still very helpful in the cockpit. A light single makes trips of 200-300 nm easy destinations for 1-3 days. Based in Central NY, that means pretty much anywhere in the Northeast down to DC and Virginia is within an easy one-leg reach. Visit friends in the Buffaloarea ? We can be there in a little over an hour, and land at a little airport not far from their house. Want to catch a new museum exhibit or show in DC? Not a problem. We can be there in less than 3 hours. How about a weekend in Portland (Maine) for lobster, shopping and a minor league ballgame? An easy 3-hour trip. Weekend hiking in and around Bar Harbor? Yep, that's a little over 3 hours in my AA-5. Longer trips of 500-600 nm are easy one-day trips in two legs. North Carolina is within an easy 2-leg hop. Getting a rental car at many GA airports is not a problem. In big cities, public transport (Metro etc.) is always an option, especially if you know your way around. It's never going to be cheaper than commercial, but for 500 nm trips, it's usually faster door-to-door even in a slower GA plane. No getting to the airport 2 hours ahead, no TSA lines, no interminable layovers, and the destination airport is often closer to your ultimate destination than a major hub. OH I and don't usually lose my own luggage. :p
 
optionizerSS said:
but what does everyone use theirs for and are my thoughts reasonable?
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I have a rag and tube LSA taildragger - wife won't fly, so mostly just putzing around for an hour or so. Not even close to being economically practical. But, who cares?
Don't see anything unreasonable about your ideas.
 
Wow. lots of responses. Let's see. No I have 0 experience with small planes but would plan to go up in one before I get too involved in this. And I meant we currently might take 1 'commercial' vacation a year but if we had our own plane would go much more, maybe once or twice a month. We currently have a 25' cabin cruiser boat so I know there are other cost involved in ownership besides payment. We use about 8-10 GPH of fuel in it and spend about $6000-7000/year in maintenance, upkeep, upgrades, etc. We would probably keep the boat and spend a couple weekends on it and maybe one a month in the plane every month (weather permitting).

But yeah, I wouldn't say the cart is before the horse here. The only steps I have taken is signing up here to ask questions, watching some youtube videos, and buying Flight Simulator 2020 and a Honeycomb yoke. Been learning a little on that but understand the real thing might be night and day difference but I'm at least understanding what the glidescope is and what it does, the pattern, base, final, flaps, etc. Had no idea what any of that was a month ago.
My step-sons friend has a Piper (no idea what model) but he is supposed to be setting up a 'visit' with him so I can talk to him and see one up close. I have flown commercial and don't mind it. Always thought there was no way you'd ever get me up in a small plane but after researching and watching videos I'm feeling much better about it. Still no idea if I will go through with this but that was kind of the point of this post, to see what others do with theirs and if a once a month 'vacation' is a pipe dream that never happens, understanding everyones circumstances are different. But that is why I'm researching first. I don't want to put all the time and money into it to find it wasn't what I thought it might be. If I was 32 that might be different but figuring on roughly a 3 year timeline to get my PPL and my own aircraft. I 'hope' to 'retire' at about 55 or 56 (in about 4 years) so that would leave more free time. By retire I mean no more 9-5. I day trade stocks and hope to be doing that full time by then so I would still 'work' and have income but wouldn't be tied to a schedule.

Oh, and I asked my wife about flying with me and she said she would go up with a real pilot....lol. I told her I would be one at that point. She said after she got comfortable she would. Hey, she was scared of the boat at first too but got over that and loves it now.

And speaking of commercial issues, my son just came from northwest Minnesota yesterday. Was supposed to fly out of Fargo to Minneapolis then to Pittsburgh. Started making the 2 hour drive to Fargo and his flight was cancelled. No more flights that day so turned for a 5 hour drive to Minneapolis thought a blizzard and his wife scheduled another flight. It was cancelled too. Then the third one was cancelled. He stayed in a hotel for a flight at 9:00 yesterday from Minneapolis to Cleveland. Plane comes in and has mechanical issues. They cancel that one. They find another plane but have to clean it first so have to wait for that. Finally get everyone boarded and they have no crew to load the luggage. My son can see it outside the plane but nobody around. After about 30 minutes a crew shows up to load it. I drive to Cleveland to pick him up. Granted me having my own plane wouldn't have helped the weather situation but yeah, sometimes commercial can be a pain. He is flying back out Sunday morning and supposed to be more storms then.
 
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Thanks for the follow-up. Makes more sense now. Yeah a once-per-month vacay or whatever is completely doable ... depending on weather and maintenance of course. Be prepared for unexpected layovers due to the same. You and your spouse have to be rather patient at times. Was flying from Salt Lake to Vegas once and halfway there had to land because a rainstorm decided to occupy the valley we were flying through. Slummed it out in the local FBO for about five hours waiting for it to pass by. Of course an instrument rating helps avoid some of that but not all of it.

You definitely need to make sure you and your s/o enjoy flying in small planes. It’s an entirely different kind of travel altogether.
 
I use my plane for going places and charitable causes. Unfortunately my wife doesn’t fly so vacations are commercial. I just enjoy being in the air looking down at the beauty of the earth. I also enjoy the challenge of flying and doing it well.
 
Many many private pilots, especially new ones, do not own their own plane. They RENT one, for the excursion to wherever for lunch or for the day or overnight. So "becoming a pilot" and "owning an airplane" are two separate things, and you don't have to invest in both at once, or make big decisions about both at once. A lot of people get their pilot's license first, rent a lot, rent different planes, learn a lot, explore destinations, and then maybe buy a plane later when they know a lot more about flying. Or maybe find that renting fits their needs just fine.

Yes, absolutely go check out your friend's Piper! Get a ride in it if possible! Then call your local flight school (or freelance flight instructor) and ask for a "Discovery Flight" which is a short lesson for relatively cheap, where you will get to handle the controls for almost all of the flight and do some maneuvers. Just to get a taste of what it's like. Ask tons of questions.

Most of the time, my husband and I use our 172 to go for lunch, go sightseeing in the mountains, or camping. But last year, I took it on a one-year sabbatical/adventure and flew all around the Lower 48 like a traveling vagabond. So there are all kinds of different possibilities...
 
kath said:
Most of the time, my husband and I use our 172 to go for lunch, go sightseeing in the mountains, or camping. But last year, I took it on a one-year sabbatical/adventure and flew all around the Lower 48 like a traveling vagabond. So there are all kinds of different possibilities...
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I hope to do that Kath. In rough numbers, what did that cost and how many hours did you fly. What was your longest stop before moving on?
 
GA flying does not generally make alot of sense as a practical way to travel in a recreation sense. It can be more efficient, but seldom more economical than flying commercial.

Then again, hunting is not a very economical way to get your protein or fishing as a means to getting your fish. I do both of those activities also - and on a per pound basis there is absolutely no economic justification for obtaining my food that way.

I fly, hunt, fish, and camp because I love to.

I have been flying since I was 17 (58 now). My wife did not fly with me for 35 years. Our first flight together did not occur until our kids moved out of the house across the country and she realized that we could go see them more often if we took the plane. To this day, she will not go unless we are going to see a kid or her parents.

I have flown over the years for business because it made time for me to work more. Definitely not economical, but it makes time and I love doing it.

Take the flight. You will either get bit with the bug or you will be ready to move onto something else. I predict you will know within 5 minutes of takeoff.
 
I fly for work, it’s a company owned plane I fly about 90% exclusively. If I personally owned one I probably wouldn’t fly a whole lot since that itch gets scratched Mon to Fri. But we’re making a move next year, so a rig to fly my family to see extended family/other trips may be in the cards.
 
I am a third generation pilot and the second in my family with a PPL. I had to wait until my 50’s to afford lessons and then subsequently a plane purchase although I started flying in my teens and in my 30’s. Usually story, no money and no time. My wife and I use the plane for travel and sightseeing. Boring holes around the home drome has little appeal to me. And that has been the issue with COVID. While the places to fly to remain, the problem is not a lot to do when you get there. I think this will all correct itself c9me spring or early summer.
 
I use mine for travel, additional training, local’ish sight-seeing, taking friends up for rides, staying proficient, and Pilots-n-Paws. It’s all hobby/recreation.
 
You are essentially where I was two years ago, except I had enough experience in small planes to know that I loved it, and a bunch of young kids.

My wife & I try to get away once a month or so, and even a slow airplane is 3x as fast as driving, and way more fun. It really opens up a lot of options for overnights, and even daytrips. I recently got my instrument rating and bought an airplane that can carry the family and is faster than my club's planes.

We usually do one big trip a year, and compared to buying plane tickets for the whole family, or even driving with multiple hotel stays, our plane is actually cheaper. Of course, that ignores training, capital cost, and all the local flying i do for proficiency. Frankly I could almost charter a bizjet for that trip if I added those costs in, but i enjoy it, and the freedom of going when & where we want is awesome. Even better not having to deal with tsa bs theater, and standing in line to be crammed into flying cattle cars.

I also recommend you go for a discovery flight, most people either fall in love or are terrified. I highly recommend finding a flying club if you can. It's usually a lot cheaper to get your certificates in a club plane, and then you are intimately familiar with the plane you will be flying later. Ideally you can find a club that has faster planes that you can step up to when you're ready. Clubs also offer a built in support network. They usually can hook you up with an instructor, and i bet most would be happy to take you for a discovery flight.
 
I fly to/from to our vacation home in Florida, vacations, visit friends and family (more precovid, etc. My wife does not love flying but downs wine the whole time and LOVES the utility of getting places so much faster. I was stupid; I bought without a medical or any time in decades. It all worked out and I was licensed in about ten months. Had a Tiger destroyed by hail in June and recently bought a J model Bonanza. Training in it and getting some upgrades and annual. Get a plane; it’ll force your hand LOL!
 
We use ours for travel, at least until COVID closed everything down. Looking forward to more travels and fun destinations.
 
Just my views on the subject, but it's specific to me and me only...

Got my PPL at 21, right before I got married, fulfilling a childhood dream. Took my fiancee up and found out she was prone to airsickness, so I gave it up because I didn't want to be a solo pilot.

Fast forward 35 years, kids are out of the house, have higher incomes, and amazingly my now wife has outgrown her airsickness. SHE encouraged me to get back into flying and now I can't go anywhere without her.

Decided to buy an Archer so we could go places at the last minute without having to schedule a rental weeks in advance. Good in theory, but in actuality my trips are still limited to weekends (since we have to be back for work on Monday), and more often than I'd like I have to cancel due to weather (I'm IFR rated but can't afford to be delayed if the weather turns worse).

That being said (for me, at least), having a plane before being retired is really not that useful for taking trips. We've done some long trips in it to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Sedona, etc., but those ate up a lot of our limited vacation time which sometimes had to be used for other things.

All this will hopefully change in May when we finally retire and can set our own schedules...hooray!!

So, my advice to you is to analyze the kinds of trips you would like to take and figure out if you can handle weather delays. At least where I live in the midwest I'm always dealing with something...t-storms, wind, rain, whatever. If you don't have the flexibility to tack on another day or two to your weekend you could find out it won't work. But, if your travel plans are relatively close, it may not be that big of a deal for you. I highly recommend flying over driving, though!!
 
I just recently got my PPL (08/19) and bought a PA24 (09/19). It was on my bucket list to get done so at 40 it seemed like a good time. I plan to use it extensively to travel when I retire, and I figure this gives me enough runway (no pun intended) to get good with it. My mission now it to travel regionally with my wife and kids. I'd like to fly them to Disney for a day trip, go to the Grand Canyon, make a few local work trips, etc. Eventually I expect to be able to pick them up or drop them off at college.

The first thing that I think you have to establish is whether you love flying or the idea of flying. For the longest time I loved the idea of flying, but not actually flying. I viewed it as a means to an end. It didn't bother me, but I didn't enjoy it. After about 20 hours of actually flying while getting my PPL, I came to really enjoy it. I'm still not a fan of pattern work, but I have a blast taking a friend up in the air. I'm working on my IFR rating, and hope to have it about the same time I have an autopilot put in my plane. My goal is to travel the country exploring.
 
optionizerSS said:
So mainly just a conversation starter but what does everyone use theirs for and are my thoughts reasonable?
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Travel and Angel Flight missions. It's my favorite way to travel. It's my favorite way to volunteer.

If the winter weather is cancelling your commercial flight then it's cancelling your small plane flight too. The exception to that can be your flight got canceled because the plane got stuck somewhere else and the weather is nice where you are. The commercial jets can handle more weather than the small planes. Their climb rates can get them up above the vast majority of the weather. Their high speeds allow them to go around the weather better.

GMascelli said:
We use ours for travel, at least until COVID closed everything down. Looking forward to more travels and fun destinations.
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^This was definitely a bummer this year. My wife and I still managed to travel some this year. We're hoping to do more in 2021, but the vaccine roll-out will play a big part in how much happens in 2021.

Flying GA (General Aviation) is nice in many regards. Lots of flexibility, especially on "when" you go. That really sunk in for my wife on one of our spring break trips with the kids many years ago. We had started in Amelia Island for a few days, then off to Saratoga to see her parents for a few days. When she asked when we were leaving in the morning (we're big planners, so she was working on when we would need to get up) I said, "When would you like to leave?" She started throwing out some times, and I said, "More importantly, when would you like to get there?" She wanted to be there for lunch with her parents. So, we worked back from there on the timeline. That's when she really got it. We weren't catching the 9:15 am flight, we were arriving in time to have lunch with her parents.

The flexibility is great. We did a weekend trip to New Orleans a couple of years ago. We were going to leave work a little early on a Friday. We both wrapped up early and texted each other saying we were done and just killing time, so we left early. Made it nice that we were not rushing to our dinner reservation. :D

We also can easily carry things that we can't on a commercial flight, or are more challenging and costly to do so. We've carried 5 dozen farm fresh eggs from a friend that we stopped to visit. We've carried bottles of bourbon back from visiting distilleries in Kentucky where our middle daughter lives. We've carried paintings and other items for daughters when we've visited them. I moved our middle daughter out of her freshman year dorm room with a Beech Baron 58; a lot quicker trip than the 6+ hour drive each way to her university.

It's allowed us to do things that would have been hard to nearly impossible any other way. We've gone to a college bowl game, flying from Atlanta to Tampa, and back in the day having breakfast and dinner at home and lunch at the stadium. We done multiple trips where we had multiple destinations/stops; such as the spring break trip above. Another trip we did Disney World for a few days, then the beach at Fort Lauderdale for a few days, then swung across the state to have lunch with my wife's mother on the way home to Atlanta. Many trips like this.

When the kids were younger and living at home we could make trips that we about the same cost as a commercial flight, sometimes cheaper. Just the two of us and it's more expensive to fly GA, at least more than Economy seats.

I'm just a little older than you. I started flying 15 years ago. For most of that time I've rented, including "non-equity partnership" arrangements. You don't have to own. I bought into a share of the plane I now fly just over a year ago.

It is a great way to travel, but it's generally not the cheapest way to get there.
 
We like to vacation on the Northern California coast, Little River, which is 9 hrs from Los Angeles by car or 2 hrs by plane. Makes going for a weekend realistic. Even though it takes longer than commercial to fly to NY, it's much more enjoyable to fly oneself. But as mentioned earlier, take a discovery flight before you get too far ahead of yourself, there's a lot of time and expense to become a pilot and buy your first plane.
 
Thanks for the responses. I tend to go overboard on everything. My son raced karts so I went out and bought 2 of everything, a new enclosed trailer, all the spare parts, etc. Bought a boat then had to go buy everything new for it and make everything look like new. I know if I go ahead with this I will end up with an IFR rating and likely spend way more than I need to on a glass cockpit...lol. I work in IT and love shiny gadgets even if I don't need them...lol.

We live near Pittsburgh so for us likely trips might be Poconos, Chesapeake Bay, maybe somewhere further northeast. And occasionally a trip further south to Georgia, Florida, maybe Texas (yeah multiple stops). My wife is a teacher so is off all summer and I have enough PTO time that I can take an extra day or two if weather pops up as long as it is in the summer. Would be harder during the school year.

A club would definitely be an option at first. Not sure if there are any around here but if there are that would definitely help me. I'm not in a hurry right now because I know it will be a few years before I would be buying a plane, renting would be a good option for now. I'd definitely feel better owning my own because then I know everything about it. Just like renting a car you never know what the last guy might have done to it. But if it's what I need to do to get started then that might work out. I'll start looking into that in my area.
 
Here is why I got the plane in New Mexico (bought it just before my first lesson in 2010):
- could visit any place in the SW USA for a 3-day weekend. Did that about 30-40 times to places in the triangle between LA, Denver, and El Paso. Almost everywhere, we get up when we want, drive to the hangar, fly direct and enjoy the scenery, the rental car was brought to the plane, and we went to grab lunch and explore further. No stress and pure enjoyment. Cannot pay any money to get that via airlines.
- we flew to Alaska and back. Explored the mountains along the way, flew around Denali, down inside the Ruth Gorge, and many other places that were super remote and incredibly beautiful
- we flew to Puerto Rico and visited the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the DR on the way. There is no way that you can see the things we saw with the airlines.

We just moved to Seattle and plan to visit the Canadian Rockies and Alaska a lot. We hope to fly to Patagonia in the next few years.

The memories our plane has created cannot possibly have been obtained via any other means, and that is priceless.
Cheers
 
optionizerSS said:
Thanks for the responses. I tend to go overboard on everything. My son raced karts so I went out and bought 2 of everything, a new enclosed trailer, all the spare parts, etc. Bought a boat then had to go buy everything new for it and make everything look like new. I know if I go ahead with this I will end up with an IFR rating and likely spend way more than I need to on a glass cockpit...lol. I work in IT and love shiny gadgets even if I don't need them...lol.

We live near Pittsburgh so for us likely trips might be Poconos, Chesapeake Bay, maybe somewhere further northeast. And occasionally a trip further south to Georgia, Florida, maybe Texas (yeah multiple stops). My wife is a teacher so is off all summer and I have enough PTO time that I can take an extra day or two if weather pops up as long as it is in the summer. Would be harder during the school year.

A club would definitely be an option at first. Not sure if there are any around here but if there are that would definitely help me. I'm not in a hurry right now because I know it will be a few years before I would be buying a plane, renting would be a good option for now. I'd definitely feel better owning my own because then I know everything about it. Just like renting a car you never know what the last guy might have done to it. But if it's what I need to do to get started then that might work out. I'll start looking into that in my area.
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I understand and empathize with the enthusiasm. After 2 months of owning a plane however, I'm very glad that I didn't try to tackle it while I was getting my ratings.

With the club plane if something broke, you reported it and it was someone else's problem. It also teaches you to do a thorough preflight. There is SO much you don't know before you get your ratings, a lot of which will inform the things you value when looking at airplanes. Buying and taking care of an airplane requires an education on par with either of the two ratings i hold, and is a hell of a lot more expensive.

One of the other benefits I derived from the club is by attending the meetings and reading the financials. I learned what kind of things pop up, just how expensive they are, and a bit about dealing with the local shops.
 
Flying was never a passion for me growing up.

When I came back to the states, my best friend teaching me English joined the Civil Air Patrol - and so did I. I was at Nellis AFB’s red flag control center before I came out of puberty. Sadly, I didn’t log much flight time with CAP- too much paramilitary pretense and not enough time in the air.

I joined the marine corps, and after boot camp and later on OCS, I became a fallen angel when my mother died. I wouldn’t fly again for well over a decade. If I wasn’t going to slam something into military power, I wasn’t going to fly at all.

Many years later, a coworker wanted to learn to fly and knew of my Marine Corps time. I was volunteered to fly her to the airport. She decided that purchasing was the way to go for her. Since this was shortly after 9/11, prices on airplanes had plummeted. For half of $250 a month, I could be in a 172 not including tiedown and insurance half the time-not bad, so I relented. Screw reserves - who needed those?

The first year, she flew 30 hours; I flew about 400. I guess I was flying again.

I flew to avoid traffic for work. I flew to clear my head. I found excuses to meet with people and visit the local restaurants. I flew when the commercial schedules didn’t get me there on time. I ran errands with the plane. I flew Angelflight, Flying Samaritans, Liga, Young Eagles, and more. I flew on vacation. I ran errands to pick things up with the plane. I guess I was flying a lot.

A decent paying job, excess money and keeping up with the joneses made me realize flying at 105 knots wasn’t either fast, convenient nor sexy. “Get a mooney,” said a flight instructor friend. Ha. 150/155 knots for a little more gas, four cylinders, why not? Unfortunately, no J models/201’s anywhere to be found. Bonanzas were above my price range, Piper was...well, Piper. No experimentals for me - too much risk and unknown at the time. Off I went to look for a 201. Nothing.

I found a 252, for nearly $100k more than my budget. Six cylinders and a turbo? Why not? I had no clue about the cost of engine overhauls or flying one. Last time I flew fast, Uncle Sam was footing the bill. At 165, you have a lot less time when you land - in my opinion anyway. Clean wings, short runways...difficult combination. I’ve done Oshkosh a few times.

I kept flying. An engine out slowed me a tad- the loudest silence you ever heard. A gear up slowed me down even further. Took a while to get that airplane back up. I landed in different countries; islands, near forests, next to oceans. I’ve landed at airports only to be prodded by the secret service because the president was nearby, about to leave.

I never got bitten by the aerobatic bug. I’ve flown lots of instrument time- the Midwest demands it, and California June gloom in the coast does as well. I’ve landed on snowed over runways; I’ve landed at places where “braking action: poor.” I’ve landed because everyone else was grounded and I needed to as well- thunderstorms were too much. I’ve felt the panic when things get freezy and icy first hand. I’ve seen the rain and more whizzing past at night when I couldn’t see anything near the ground. I was curious about whirlybirds- I completed all my training but never took my check ride. I guess I should. Helicopters were far more fun than I thought.

I guess I’ve been in denial a bit too long and I enjoy flying more than I admit- probably the reason I’ll end up getting my commercial and CFI tickets this year.
 
optionizerSS said:
So I posted before about me considering getting my PPL and searching for a plane. In one sense I'm afraid I'd try it a few times and get over the rush and hardly ever fly again. On the other me and my wife are 52 and kids are grown and out of the house. It would be nice to take off for the weekend to go to someplace different for the weekend. I doubt I would do much just flying around locally. More of a way to get to destinations we normally wouldn't get to. Typically we might take 1 vacation a year but thinking with our own plane we could go somewhere once a month or something. Then I wonder about transportation once we get there? Obviously we wouldn't have a vehicle there so would probably be looking at renting one. Would a typical rental place deliver a car to a smaller airport? I know there are Ubers and stuff today but some places those are pretty rare.

I did back of the napkin math and realize it would probably be cheaper to fly commercial but without the hassle of dealing with airports/security, crowds, waiting on luggage, etc. And add in the cool factor of having a birds eye view of the areas. I love looking at aerial photos (always have for some reason).

So mainly just a conversation starter but what does everyone use theirs for and are my thoughts reasonable?
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To begin with where do you live and what are your tastes and interests? After 8000 hours I mostly fly to travel to interesting places per my rather non-mainstream American tastes. I really do not like renting a car and strongly prefer walking towns with good, cheap public transportation.
 
I'm just north of Pittsburgh PA. Probably look at destinations near water like Charleston, SC, Chesapeake Bay, Put in Bay, Mackinac Island. Places like that. Neither of us drink other than an occasional glass of wine and we aren't partiers so bar/party environments wouldn't be likely. Although wife wants to go to New Orleans sometime...lol.

I searched for a few clubs near me and the one closest to me seems their website is down but it did list a contact name and email. There was one near Cleveland that listed rates. Too far from here but at least I got a ballpark number and the club thing might not be a bad idea. If that all pans out with the airport closest to me then I may start taking the next step and actually get up in one for a discovery ride.

One issue we need to consider is me and my wife are about 500lbs combined so a 152/2 seater might be an issue. Looks like we would be cutting it close in a 152. 172 looks like roughly 100lbs more payload? Fine for renting/club use but at some point we will want to take one of our kids and their spouses so looking at closer to 900lbs minimum. Even so, I wouldn't want to be right at max with just us 2. Hopefully we can knock about 100lbs off of that by then but I have been saying that for awhile...lol. Step-son bought me an XL shirt for X-Mas. I wear 2X so my goal now is to fit in that shirt comfortably by next summer. Gonna hang that right in the front of my closet so I see it every day...lol
 
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optionizerSS said:
I'm just north of Pittsburgh PA. Probably look at destinations near water like Charleston, SC, Chesapeake Bay, Put in Bay, Mackinac Island. Places like that. Neither of us drink other than an occasional glass of wine and we aren't partiers so bar/party environments wouldn't be likely. Although wife wants to go to New Orleans sometime...lol.

I searched for a few clubs near me and the one closest to me seems their website is down but it did list a contact name and email. There was one near Cleveland that listed rates. Too far from here but at least I got a ballpark number and the club thing might not be a bad idea. If that all pans out with the airport closest to me then I may start taking the next step and actually get up in one for a discovery ride.

One issue we need to consider is me and my wife are about 500lbs combined so a 152/2 seater might be an issue. Looks like we would be cutting it close in a 152. 172 looks like roughly 100lbs more payload? Fine for renting/club use but at some point we will want to take one of our kids and their spouses so looking at closer to 900lbs minimum. Even so, I wouldn't want to be right at max with just us 2. Hopefully we can knock about 100lbs off of that by then but I have been saying that for awhile...lol. Step-son bought me an XL shirt for X-Mas. I wear 2X so my goal now is to fit in that shirt comfortably by next summer. Gonna hand that right in the front of my closet so I see it every day...lol
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Just as a note, the useful load of a plane is passengers + luggage + fuel (6 lbs x N gallons). Most 172s would give you approximately 900 lbs of useful load. They have 40-50 gallon tanks so thats 300 lbs@50 gallons right off the bat. So now you are left with 600 lbs available for passengers and luggage. I'm not a Cessna guy, but a 182 or 210 will buy you a bit more useful load. With what you mentioned above, you are probably looking for a plane with 1400-1600lbs of useful load.
 
smounic said:
Just as a note, the useful load of a plane is passengers + luggage + fuel (6 lbs x N gallons). Most 172s would give you approximately 900 lbs of useful load. They have 40-50 gallon tanks so thats 300 lbs@50 gallons right off the bat. So now you are left with 600 lbs available for passengers and luggage. I'm not a Cessna guy, but a 182 or 210 will buy you a bit more useful load. With what you mentioned above, you are probably looking for a plane with 1400-1600lbs of useful load.
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So sounds like a 152 is pretty much out of the question even for just us 2 unless I don't top off the tanks. That would be fine for renting or club as our trips would probably be shorter. I'm not stuck on Cessna, just the one I'm most familiar with as far as models/seating, etc. Might turn out that Piper or another brand might suit our needs better but I haven't made it that far into this journey but thanks for the info. That's the type of info I need.
 
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