Something new

[crbnunit]

Got started flying yesterday. Flew my first hours towards a private pilot license. Can't wait!!

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

your alaskan..of coarse you can fly a plane

haha, congrats though man. pilots license is a lot of work. what plane do they have you training on? you gonna buy a plane?

 

[crbnunit]

In a Cessna 172 at the moment. I plan on graduating to a tail dragger though and they have a Citabria 7ECA for that. Plan on buying a plane. Don't know what yet. Something to get me into the back country. Big tires or floats. Don't know yet.

Had my eye on something that would have satisfied the middle-age-crisis sports car and the new flying obsession but someone bought it before I could!

Went for 35K OBO on evilbay. Listed less than 10 hours.

 

[PARKINGLOT]

congrats man!

 

[milje]

Cool deal. My dad wants to fly, his cousin does already.

One of his friends has health problems, but has a lot of money and a couple of planes. He said he has a Pitts my dad can fly if he wants to

 

[Dave R]

Owning a plane is generally a rich man's hobby. I thought about it for a while as I have enough land to put in my own runway but, the cost to maintain a plane is ridiculous.

That V-tail jet is damn cool though. Are those Batman stickers on the nose?

 

[JoshT]

Flying only seems like a rich man's hobby. The truth is it really depends on who you know and what you want to get out of it. If you are flying just to be up in the air, and trust your mechanical abilities, an ultralight really isn't all that expensive to get or maintain and doesn't require much land to take off and land. As for pilot lessons, it all depends on who you know. My dad was a flight or two away from having his pilots license when he was in a crash, afterwards he wasn't able to return to it. (About as much from the good friend that died, as it was from injuries.) Had he been able to return to the air he would have gotten his license for only a little more than it cost to fill the planes' tanks. On top of that from the friends he had in the aviation community he probably could have flown almost any time he wanted for the cost of gas.

 

[Will]

Someone near me flies a little machine that has a motorized propeller and a parachute. It's a 2-seat thing--one behind the other. It's pretty slow. One time they were over us when we pulled off of the interstate. They flew a straight line home and we had a piece off 55 mph highway and a lot more 45mph county roads--12 miles total. We watched them land in their yard. That looks safer to me than some 40 y/o plane.

I did the Aviation Maintenance Technology program at Columbus State a long time ago but never worked in the field. I can tell you after spending 2 years inside everything from canvas over sitka spruce to a Coast Guard Cessna Citation that I don't trust no damn airplanes. I haven't been in a plane since I touched down from my last overseas assignment in 1994.

Complacency is what ends up killing most people. And over-confidence is what leads to complacency. It's fine in your Ranger-a wheel comes off or your duct tape flaps loose, no problem. In a plane it's the silent ride (except for the screaming) into a smoking hole in the landscape.

And no way I'm getting in a jet turbine that sold for $3,500 in Ebay. Seriously, you couldn't afford that plane. You wouldn't get an airworthiness certificate for it because the inspection would lead into bankruptcy. The motor is probably due a major and that costs about as much as a new motor.

 

[milje]

Those powered parachutes are pretty cool. Not all that expensive (NICE ones are around $10,000), supposed to be easy to fly, don't need a license.

I really wouldn't be surprised if my dad got one sometime in the next few years.

 

[AK-Kayaker]

As JOSHT pointed out if you trust your mechanical abilities, there are alternatives, but not just limited to ultralights.
There are numerous kitplanes well suited for bush work, high wing, slow stall speed, and some even have folding wings, which would reduce storage costs by towing it home. Many people will poopoo them, but many have been around for quite a few years with very good safety records.
And with the low gross weight of a two or even four seat models, most can be equipped with some type of BRS (ballistic recovery system), basically a parachute for the entire plane.
So for about the price of a 30 to 50 year old plane you could build a brand new one.
Some companys to look at would be Rans aircraft, Zenair, Murphy, just to name a few.
But what ever you do good luck and be safe.

 

[Will]

We had a guy killed in Indy this year with a ballistic recovery system. His plane came down safely into a retaining pond and he drowned.

A "very good" safety record in a plane isn't like JD Powers saying you bought a reliable car. The new planes generally use the Lycoming, Continental 4-cylinder aircooled engines. Turbochargers and even fuel injection is available but when the thing is apart on the table it looks like a 500cid VW beetle motor. They are reliable because it's damn hard to get something approved as airworthy--and there hasn't been much approved since these came out. There are lots of things in the works--not many get approved. And you can fly about anything 'experimental'. Good, but I would have serious reservations flying in something I built. I don't want to be that serious about what I put together. I know there a Chevy engines being flown by experimentals. Fine, but I'm a little too used to things I drive quitting every so often. If I had an airplane, I would have to totally reprogram myself--if my truck broke down then, I would freak out. I'm just not the right guy to own an airplane. Most mechanics are the wrong guy.

The right guy to own an airplane is the mechanical idiot that doesn't do anything for himself except religious pre-flight checks. He believes that a $10 sparkplug is better than a $1 sparkplug even if it looks the same and he does everything by the book without any imagination. If you can't be that guy, you will be killed in an airplane. If you can be that guy, you might not be killed in an airplane. If you stay out of airplanes, you might be killed by an airplane falling on your head.

 

[crbnunit]

And no way I'm getting in a jet turbine that sold for $3,500 in Ebay. Seriously, you couldn't afford that plane. You wouldn't get an airworthiness certificate for it because the inspection would lead into bankruptcy. The motor is probably due a major and that costs about as much as a new motor.

Duh. I wasn't serious. That plane would be useless up here. I'm flying to get into the back country, not zoom around and eat up fuel. It was pretty and red though. Someone is going to have an awesome time in it. It was 35,000 BTW. Still about a third of what it is worth with mid-time engines. It was out of annual and on a short grass strip though. It would have to be trucked to an airport with a longer runway and a mechanic. WAY over my head. Hell, it would take me several years and lots of money to even be qualified to fly it. I'm sure I'll end up with a Cub, Cessna, Maul.... Something simple that will land on gravel, snow or water and take off/land in the shortest possible space.

Most 40 year old planes are not 40 year old planes. They have been rebuilt to the point there are few if any original parts. They are generally lovingly maintained and cared for.