Why do you fly for fun?

Why do you fly for fun? (pick your number 1 most used reason)

  • Day Trips (leave and come back in the same day)

    Votes: 17 22.1%

  • Overnight Trips (or multiple overnights)

    Votes: 13 16.9%

  • Training (instrument approaches, maneuvers, get your landings in, etc)

    Votes: 3 3.9%

  • Sightseeing/Just up there to be up there

    Votes: 32 41.6%

  • Other

    Votes: 12 15.6%
  • Total voters
    77
StevieTimes

StevieTimes

Line Up and Wait
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Display name:
StevieTimes
I am a college student, and I'm here to help GA.

No, for real, I liked the poll @azblackbird posted; I'd like to go one level further.

Why do you go up there?!?
 
Because I can.

It's always fun to watch the reaction on socialists faces when you say you're going flying, they ask where, you say where ever looks good once I'm up there no place in mind really. True definition of freedom.
 
I use the plane primarily for travel but when flying fast for fun it's all about just flying. I live near the coast so there is a lot to see. I am in a rural area so there is plenty of space to go play and to make the plane dance. The phone doesn't work so no phone or email.

Nothing else I do is as peaceful or relaxing. When I start feeling 'fried' 30 minutes in the air gets me ready to go again

Gary
 
I voted 'other' as all options are true for us. :)
 
I fly for fun because . . . . it's fun! Sometimes I travel and go places, or meet friends, or eat, or fly with a friend, visit family, relax, go flightseeing . . . .
 
All of the above for me too, probably in the order that you listed.
 
It's a ton of fun, and generally cheaper and healthier than hanging out at the bar all day.
 
Ravioli said:
I might be in a bromance with @Acrodustertoo

but as @Hank S said.... I fly for fun BECAUSE IT IS FUN. Well, also because I was terrible golfer so I needed an expensive hobby :)
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I used to be a darn good golfer, almost a "scratch" golfer but now I live in BFE Montana and we have one little overpriced nine hole course, so I have given up for the most part. Cannot afford it and use that money on my jeep and airplane.
 
I voted "other" because like a few others here, all of the above.

I read an article by Budd Davidson several years ago where he said something like "I feel sorry for the people who only have watching football games to recharge over the weekend." I agree.
 
I usually do a day trip somewhere but it's always just an excuse to go flying. I do occasionally just go sightseeing.
 
Flying is like skydiving: while engaged in both activities, you're not thinking about the every day life responsibilities or work/life stresses, so it's kind of like a release. Flying just lasts a whole lot longer than skydiving, so that's why I do it.

There are other activities that make you forget about life for a while... drinking was mentioned above. Sex is the other. But I'm married...with child. Thus I fly.
 
StevieTimes said:
I am a college student, and I'm here to help GA.
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Oh lord, not another one! LOL. ;-)

I didn't answer the poll, doesn't work well on Tapatalk, but the answer isn't on the list, or is "all of the above".

Flying is fun because it's flying. Heh. There's all sorts of sub-categories to that... working on difficult skills and mastering them, having a hobby (or job) that requires your full attention as PIC to ensure the safe outcome of the flight, putting around looking at cows down below, seeing sights from angles most of the world never sees, introducing others to those sights, alighting the winged machine with a soft chirp of the tires back to earth...

I got older and decided it was time to spend considerable resources and time learning how to pass along the stuff folks taught me, stuff that brought me great joy and also brought me great responsibility, and some of it that kept me alive doing it.

I suspect it would take multiple years to ever make back what the CFI cost in terms of money, but it'll only take a smile and a handshake of congratulations of a student passing and joining the ranks of folks who can do this stuff, to really make my heart happy. Even better to hear their stories of how much they enjoy it all over the years.

I'm just a middle aged fart who'll see to it that someone else knows how to do this stuff before I push up the daisies. Then maybe some of those will pass it along, too. Maybe they'll say a nice word about me when I do.

It was that or teach people how to administer Linux boxes. Meh. LOL. (Although I mentor in that regard, too... but it isn't the same. There's nothing magical about telling a box full of transistor switches to do stuff like send out billing statements. Haha. That's just existing. Flying is living.)
 
Because I can. Because it fills a need in my soul that nothing else does. Because it takes me to another place I used to only see in my dreams. Because I love the challenge of doing something that seems impossible.

The 'mission' of the flight is secondary to all that.
 
Where's the checkbox for "ran out of yard work and honey-do list"?
 
denverpilot said:
Who does that stuff BEFORE going flying? Especially yard work. Haha.
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Sarcastic - I actually hired a lawn mower as soon as I started flying again just in case it would interfere with an opportunity to go....
 
denverpilot said:
I suspect it would take multiple years to ever make back what the CFI cost in terms of money, but it'll only take a smile and a handshake of congratulations of a student passing and joining the ranks of folks who can do this stuff, to really make my heart happy. Even better to hear their stories of how much they enjoy it all over the years.

I'm just a middle aged fart who'll see to it that someone else knows how to do this stuff before I push up the daisies. Then maybe some of those will pass it along, too. Maybe they'll say a nice word about me when I do.
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Well, I can honestly say that I have learned a lot from your posts and I don't always agree with what you say but I always learn something along the way. It's best to say something positive about a person while they can still hear it!!
 
James331 said:
It's always fun to watch the reaction on socialists faces when you say you're going flying, they ask where, you say where ever looks good once I'm up there no place in mind really. True definition of freedom.
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Freedom has been my answer when people ask what I like most about flying. And to non pilots it's funny how bewildered they get when you say "just up and down the coast, maybe pop in for lunch somewhere if the weather and timing is good"
 
FloridaPilot said:
Well, I can honestly say that I have learned a lot from your posts and I don't always agree with what you say but I always learn something along the way. It's best to say something positive about a person while they can still hear it!!
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Hang on, I need to turn my hearing aids up. Too many years with David Clarks. Huh? What? LOL.

Kind words are better than I deserve.
 
Rock said:
I voted other... all of the above. I fly every chance I get, to family's, travel, fun, etc....
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This. And training is fun too. It's always an escape from the grind and puts me at ease. Did a day trip to SoCal yesterday. Overnight in AZ earlier in the week. Up for fun at beginning of the week, and training last week. Gd I love it so
 
I chose day trips. It is great being able to pick up my son and four year granddaughter and fly down to the beach (Jekyll Island/St Simons) and rent a red bug for the day. I have two older brothers that live too far away to drive back and forth in the same day. I can fly up in less than two hours, spend the day and fly back in the evening. I also love just going sight seeing but I feel like I get my moneys worth out of my plane because of the day trips.
 
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