But what do you... do?

joycem137

joycem137

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Apr 2, 2013
Messages
199
Location
Novi, MI
Display Name
Display name:
Robin
I started this journey because i've always been enamored with flying. Dreamt of growing wings as a kid or becoming a bird. Got into R/C planes later in life a little. Now that I've come to the end of the solo cross country phase of my flight training, I feel amazing, like it's a dream come true.

My instructor is in the process of scheduling my checkride as we speak, and I'm excited by the possibilities of what I can do once I'm finished. My head is already full of little missions and adventures to try out, and I keep reading these forums and talking to pilots to learn even more ideas of where to go, what to do, etc.

I'm curious what sorts of missions people tend to fly out there and if folks have any recommendations for things to do once I've got my license.
 
Everyone has their own thing, but I like to travel. I can usually get the family to come along if its under 1000nm.
 
Go places. Sounds simple, but get up in the morning and decide to go to breakfast somewhere. I found that a lot of my friends felt like they had to flight plan each trip to the check ride extreme so they didn't go places... But you don't need to do that. You know you can go an hour if you have fuel to the tabs. You know how to fly vors and use a sectional. Just go places. I love flying somewhere for lunch. Taking friends on the 30 minute flight to wash the plane.. Just everything.
 
The 'Now What?' question comes up a lot after a PPL checkride. Happened to me too.
 
Explore, selected business flights, get lots of ratings, teach some of the chosen, build and fly what can't be bought.... Working well so far.
 
joycem137 said:
I'm curious what sorts of missions people tend to fly out there and if folks have any recommendations for things to do once I've got my license.
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Ours are a good mix of vacations, visits to family in other states, short hops for fuel, meals, or even shopping, and flights to job sites across Mid America.
 
joycem137 said:
I started this journey because i've always been enamored with flying. Dreamt of growing wings as a kid or becoming a bird. Got into R/C planes later in life a little. Now that I've come to the end of the solo cross country phase of my flight training, I feel amazing, like it's a dream come true.

My instructor is in the process of scheduling my checkride as we speak, and I'm excited by the possibilities of what I can do once I'm finished. My head is already full of little missions and adventures to try out, and I keep reading these forums and talking to pilots to learn even more ideas of where to go, what to do, etc.

I'm curious what sorts of missions people tend to fly out there and if folks have any recommendations for things to do once I've got my license.
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That IS the big question. I like to say I learned to fly on RC models, then added some full scale training. After learning to fly (i.e. land) RC models, I transitioned to RC gliders... little did I know that would repeat itself later.

After getting my SEL, I added a Glider rating and ended up flying gliders exclusively for 10 or 15 years (CC, racing, lifestyle). Not suggesting it for anyone else, just saying is that's what got me going at the time.

Later I moved away from my glider buddies without realizing that having an active gaggle of glider fanatics nearby made the whole thing work. I got an airplane, moved onto an airport, and started using the airplane to commute to friends who had a nice, fun place on a lake. We turned that into finding other fun places and people to fly to.

It's all about mission. Whether it's the $100 hamburger tour, family that is 100 to 200 miles away or a 2nd home in some warmer/cooler place, purposeful travel is a great mission for an airplane. Acro or gliding or photography are other alternatives. A flying career is another. But finding and pursuing a compelling mission is the key to enjoying your new license. Good Luck!
 
Magic carpet.

Example, and this is how I sold my wife on flying. From where I learned to fly (Long Island, NY), getting to someplace like Block Island (picturesque New England beach island abut 20 miles off the Rhode Island shore) takes 2 hours drive to the ferry port on the far eastern tip of the north fork of the island, then 2 hours on the boat. We flew into Block Island by Cessna with 45 min. air time. We had lunch of lobster rolls overlooking the harbor, and were able to pick up the kids from my in-laws before dinner.

Since then its been family vacations; day trips to places that you couldn't get to in a day by car. Beach and boards; apple and pumpkin picking in the fall.
 
No kidding. I could not live on LI again unless I owned an airplane.
DJTorrente said:
Magic carpet.

Example, and this is how I sold my wife on flying. From where I learned to fly (Long Island, NY), getting to someplace like Block Island (picturesque New England beach island abut 20 miles off the Rhode Island shore) takes 2 hours drive to the ferry port on the far eastern tip of the north fork of the island, then 2 hours on the boat. We flew into Block Island by Cessna with 45 min. air time. We had lunch of lobster rolls overlooking the harbor, and were able to pick up the kids from my in-laws before dinner.

Since then its been family vacations; day trips to places that you couldn't get to in a day by car. Beach and boards; apple and pumpkin picking in the fall.
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DJTorrente said:
Magic carpet.

Example, and this is how I sold my wife on flying. From where I learned to fly (Long Island, NY), getting to someplace like Block Island (picturesque New England beach island abut 20 miles off the Rhode Island shore) takes 2 hours drive to the ferry port on the far eastern tip of the north fork of the island, then 2 hours on the boat. We flew into Block Island by Cessna with 45 min. air time. We had lunch of lobster rolls overlooking the harbor, and were able to pick up the kids from my in-laws before dinner.

Since then its been family vacations; day trips to places that you couldn't get to in a day by car. Beach and boards; apple and pumpkin picking in the fall.
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We do a lot of that, Angie likes the Erie islands, too far to drive for a day trip but easy in a plane.
 
Well, check my signature for what used to be about 90% of my flying (now somewhere under 50%). Charitable flying is a great thing to do.

But otherwise it's personal trips. The in-laws are a 10 hour drive or 3 hour flight. Easy weekend trip. Went to the Wings Fly-B-Q and a wedding a few weekends ago, and went to Newfoundland in February.

It makkes getting there half the fun. However to keep it fun for other passengers many pilots find themselves upgrading.
 
Jaybird180 said:
What's cost of living there? I'd imagine that it's a little less expensive because of inconvenience?
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Nope. Metro NY suburb pricing. Same or more as NJ, CT, and fancy MA burbs. LI is a funny place they have everything(even had a ski hill in the 1970s), but a lot of it is a substandard version. Last time I was there I heard radio ads telling the people that lived there what a great place it is to live. Towns using townspeople's money to tell you how great it is, hmmm.
 
Joy this is what I have done, and still continue to do. I started on my initial cross country as a student pilot by getting my picture taken with someone at the FBO, and writing little facts/interesting things that happened on the flight and at the FBO. After the flight has completed, and my logbook is filled out. I take those notes, and write a brief summary of my trip. I grabbed a sectional and started mapping out every airport on the sectional, then plugged in the distance to my home airport on an excel spread sheet and sorted all of the airports in the sectional from closest to farthest. I began/still working on going down that list and stopping off at each airport to take a photo and write a summary of my trip. After 10 years of this I am going to these short stories and images made into a coffee table book. I already have 6 of them spoken for between family/co-workers.

So this not only keeps me flying for fun, but forces me to meet people, and see some of the little airports I would have flown over without even putting a thought into them.

This has opened up so many doors for me meeting new people, and I've even hadybplane topped off at no charge in exchange for a finished copy of my book 10yrs down the road.


Sent from my iPhone using An APP that doesn't pay me to advertise for them.
 
a few longish XC trips a year to see the parents etc, otherwise most of my airplane flying is in the towplane and most of my flying in general is engine-less, about half of it instructing and the other half trying to go as fast as I can
 
Wow! This is great! I love hearing what everyone is doing as pilots.

After I get my license, my first plan is to take all of my friends on at least one trip somewhere. I've filled Foreflight with about 20-30 hours of flying just on little 2-4 hour trips here and there to do neat little things with my friends.

After that, I fully expect to be flying on trips as often as I can. I love travelling and doing long road trips, and fully expect flying to have a similar appeal. The quiet relaxation, the natural beauty that you see along the way, and the sense of adventure from see different places. It's quite pleasant, and I imagine doing it from the sky as opposed to the road will be even better.
 
joycem137 said:
Wow! This is great! I love hearing what everyone is doing as pilots.

After I get my license, my first plan is to take all of my friends on at least one trip somewhere. I've filled Foreflight with about 20-30 hours of flying just on little 2-4 hour trips here and there to do neat little things with my friends.

After that, I fully expect to be flying on trips as often as I can. I love travelling and doing long road trips, and fully expect flying to have a similar appeal. The quiet relaxation, the natural beauty that you see along the way, and the sense of adventure from see different places. It's quite pleasant, and I imagine doing it from the sky as opposed to the road will be even better.
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As a local, the FIRST thing you should do with your friends is a Bay Tour. Maybe take them to KHAF if there are snowballs in Hell and it's VFR. KWVI isn't nearly as pretty but the weather is a lot better.

Do your requisite steep turn around Alcatraz, and overfly the Golden Gate Bridge.

The sightseeing around the Bay Area is phenomenal, and it's very different from the air than it is on the ground. I've crossed Class B at 1500, 3500, 4500 and 11500, and they are all different. Only do 1500 if you and especially your passengers are tolerant to turbulence, or else it's dead calm.

The next thing you should do is some mountain training. There is nothing quite like a jaunt over Lake Tahoe or Tioga or Mammoth Pass. But that flying is quite different from sea level.

Where are you training out of?
 
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MAKG1 said:
As a local, the FIRST thing you should do with your friends is a Bay Tour. Maybe take them to KHAF if there are snowballs in Hell and it's VFR. KWVI isn't nearly as pretty but the weather is a lot better.

Do your requisite steep turn around Alcatraz, and overfly the Golden Gate Bridge.

The sightseeing around the Bay Area is phenomenal, and it's very different from the air than it is on the ground. I've crossed Class B at 1500, 3500, 4500 and 11500, and they are all different. Only do 1500 if you and especially your passengers are tolerant to turbulence, or else it's dead calm.

The next thing you should do is some mountain training. There is nothing quite like a jaunt over Lake Tahoe or Tioga or Mammoth Pass. But that flying is quite different from sea level.

Where are you training out of?
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Great ideas for the bay tours. I'm sure my friends would love it. KHAF seems like a great place to go for breakfast or lunch if, as you say, the weather is actually VFR there.

I'm planning to get a Cessna 182 checkout with the club and mountain flying checkouts shortly thereafter. I can hear the mountains calling already. :)

Training out of KPAO with Sundance Flying Club. If I ever buy a plane, I'll probably fly out of KRHV, though
 
KeyWestPhotog said:
Joy this is what I have done, and still continue to do. I started on my initial cross country as a student pilot by getting my picture taken with someone at the FBO, and writing little facts/interesting things that happened on the flight and at the FBO. After the flight has completed, and my logbook is filled out. I take those notes, and write a brief summary of my trip. I grabbed a sectional and started mapping out every airport on the sectional, then plugged in the distance to my home airport on an excel spread sheet and sorted all of the airports in the sectional from closest to farthest. I began/still working on going down that list and stopping off at each airport to take a photo and write a summary of my trip. After 10 years of this I am going to these short stories and images made into a coffee table book. I already have 6 of them spoken for between family/co-workers.

So this not only keeps me flying for fun, but forces me to meet people, and see some of the little airports I would have flown over without even putting a thought into them.

This has opened up so many doors for me meeting new people, and I've even hadybplane topped off at no charge in exchange for a finished copy of my book 10yrs down the road.


Sent from my iPhone using An APP that doesn't pay me to advertise for them.
Click to expand...

Do you have any of that on websites? I imagine it could be kinda cool. I know I'd love to read something like that.
 
genetk44 said:
:hairraise:....even we Canadians don't do that at that time of the year!!!!:no::no:
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I think we were the only AvGas they sold that week at Shell. Really friendly folks at CYYT.

It actually worked out very well. The weather was clear and a million when we arrived, and a 4-5k ft thick ice layer to climb through to clear skies on top. We also were ready to happily adjust our schedule if needed. We even got a tailwind heading home (west).
 
joycem137 said:
Great ideas for the bay tours. I'm sure my friends would love it. KHAF seems like a great place to go for breakfast or lunch if, as you say, the weather is actually VFR there.

I'm planning to get a Cessna 182 checkout with the club and mountain flying checkouts shortly thereafter. I can hear the mountains calling already. :)

Training out of KPAO with Sundance Flying Club. If I ever buy a plane, I'll probably fly out of KRHV, though
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No kidding? I'm a member of that club. Coming to movie night tonight?

A 182 is nice for mountain flying, but not essential. They are expensive at that club, and are a LOT more aircraft than a VFR pilot needs. The TR182 has a hot prop, stormscope, and radar altimeter!

I've flown 53G to Lake Tahoe. It's a lot more capable than you might think, though I prefer to use one of the complex trainers just because they are quite a lot faster. And that 177RG is a lot more comfy for the passengers than a 172, though it's W&B is a bit quirky (two adults = ballast in back -- I needed 90 lb of sandbags for my checkout, with Rich P.).
 
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MAKG1 said:
No kidding? I'm a member of that club. Coming to movie night tonight?

A 182 is nice for mountain flying, but not essential. They are expensive at that club, and are a LOT more aircraft than a VFR pilot needs. The TR182 has a hot prop, stormscope, and radar altimeter!

I've flown 53G to Lake Tahoe. It's a lot more capable than you might think, though I prefer to use one of the complex trainers just because they are quite a lot faster. And that 177RG is a lot more comfy for the passengers than a 172, though it's W&B is a bit quirky (two adults = ballast in back -- I needed 90 lb of sandbags for my checkout, with Rich P.).
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Oh cool! I'm not coming to the movie tonight. Studying for my knowledge test/checkride and all that. :)

I love 6253G. The weight that thing will hold is just amazing for a C-172. Just watch out for when 6523G is out and the tower starts getting them confused. Had an exciting time once when we were behind them, obviously overtaking the little C-152, and the tower mistakenly directed a left 360 call to them instead of us, making the problem even worse.

Honestly, I want to get checked out in the C-182 because 1) I want to see what flying one of those is like, and 2) I'd have more options when 6253G isn't available.

How long have you been with Sundance? You like flying there?
 
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I trained there starting in January 2012. I really like not having daily minimums. But they are relatively expensive. And it has a very homey feel; I'm sure by now you've had the shop-talk chats with Evan. A traditional FBO is very different.

If you look at the schedule, many of the HP aircraft are in use all the time. The exception appears to be the Trinidad, but oh boy that thing is pricey. The complex trainers aren't so much in use. The twin had a prop strike and has been down for some time (but who can afford over $300/hour?).

I've certainly had to ask Tower to use full callsigns with 52G out while I'm flying 53G. They are supposed to do that on their own, but don't always.

Good luck with your studying.
 
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I fly for fun. $100 hamburger runs (although getting away for $100 was a long time ago). 2 hours across the state beats the heck out of a 5 1/2 to 6 hour drive. Heck, I even enjoy just getting up and doing pattern work if I haven't flown in a while. Rent planes in other places and sightsee from the air. As expensive as renting is in Hawaii, it's still cheaper than paying for a helicopter ride, especially if there are two of you going.
 
man, I can't wait to get my ticket.



of course, soloing might have to come first.
 
I fly because I can't imagine doing anything else. From an early age it was my dream, and the focus of most of my reading as an adolescent. I was able to get my training paid for, and began a career that spanned 28 years and the entire country. I am retired now and fly because it is, IMHO, the perfect mode of personal travel for those who have no schedule constraints. My next plane will offer capabilities for my wife and I to engage in longer trips in all weather, including hopping the pond, which has been a long held dream. If you have to ask the question, perhaps it does not hold the passion required to persevere through the drawback of self-financed experience gathering.
 
joycem137 said:
Do you have any of that on websites? I imagine it could be kinda cool. I know I'd love to read something like that.
Click to expand...

I honestly thought about blogging it, but leaving it up to the book leaves more anticipation for people who actually look forward to seeing my images and reading my stories.


Sent from my iPhone using An APP that doesn't pay me to advertise for them.
 
NJ to DC on summer sunday afternoon on I95 --> 5hrs
TEB to 2W5 on sunday afternoon on V16 --> 1:15hrs
 
weilke said:
NJ to DC on summer sunday afternoon on I95 --> 5hrs
TEB to 2W5 on sunday afternoon on V16 --> 1:15hrs
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Well, speed isn't really the point, but I can get from Palo Alto to Lee Vining in 90 minutes in winter. In a car, that's a full day in good weather. It's nice to be able to fly over obstacles like 10,000 foot passes blocked by snow. The drawback is that that isn't a really good time to be thinking about engine problems. The high Sierra are very inaccessible in winter. But it's a much shorter distance than you might think. Yosemite Valley to Lee Vining is barely 25 miles.
 
The way it worked out for me was that about a month after I got my PPL, my Mom broke her hip and was in the hospital, for over a month and then in rehab twice that long.

I live about 100 miles from the DFW metroplex where she lives. I started making lots of trips over there to take care of her and her affairs. It didn't save much time to fly in my little plane, but it gave me a good reason to fly and eliminated the total frustration that I experience in the DFW freeway traffic.

It was far enough to be logged as Cross Country time, so I logged a good bit in a hurry. It forced me to get up to speed on communicating with the towers, flight following and the like, since I learned to fly at non towered airports.

If you have no one to go see, or no business to do elsewhere, just find a good flying weather day, plan a flight and get in the plane. While doing this flying work on your ability to hold heading and altitude. With the flights I was taking it didn't take me long to get so that I could nail the heading and altitude. Practice makes perfect.

Enjoy.
 
Get out and fly:

http://www.operationfly.com

Also - what I did shortly after getting my PPL was to have a mini personal goal of landing at every public use airport in NM. I failed, but it was a hell of a lot of fun to try.
 
Flying, motorcycles and radio controlled model planes.
My addictions, in order of severity.
 
I didn't have to wonder what to do after I got my ticket... I'd been waiting years to do it. Sometimes I just putt around the area burning gas and smashing bugs, but I prefer going somewhere on the flimsiest of excuses.

We've got family and friends who we don't see near often enough because it's a looooong drive. I hope to fix that. Next month we'll drop in on my cousin, and possibly my wife's sister and her family. My cousin isn't far away, but he has (or had) a pilot certificate and hasn't flown in a long time. The in-laws are nearly six hours away by car, less than half that by air. And that's BEFORE the RV is finished. :)

Go fly!
 
joycem137 said:
I started this journey because i've always been enamored with flying. Dreamt of growing wings as a kid or becoming a bird. Got into R/C planes later in life a little. Now that I've come to the end of the solo cross country phase of my flight training, I feel amazing, like it's a dream come true.

My instructor is in the process of scheduling my checkride as we speak, and I'm excited by the possibilities of what I can do once I'm finished. My head is already full of little missions and adventures to try out, and I keep reading these forums and talking to pilots to learn even more ideas of where to go, what to do, etc.

I'm curious what sorts of missions people tend to fly out there and if folks have any recommendations for things to do once I've got my license.
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Joyce- having your PPL will give you the ability to just go someolace and fly. Today for example, first day of summer for me( I'm a school teacher) scheduled the plane for the entire afternoon and just went from Islip on Long Island to 44n ( Sky Acres) for lunch. Parked the plane got out and had lunch and flew back. That's just awesome. Also got to see a rotary engine tailwheel plane that had to be from the 40's refuel and takeoff all while eating lunch. That's not possible for most people! Go forth and make use of the license afterwards. You've earned that right.

Greg- as someone who's lived on Long Island for my entire life I can tell you that this is not a second rate place. It does have everything near by and is an incredibly pretty place to live. We don't need the towns telling us it's nice to live here, we already know it and appreciate Long Island for the great place it is! All right end of defense of Long Island.
 
Don't get too hung up on the question of where you'll go. That will work itself out. It does for everyone, and each in their own way. Personally, for the first couple of years it was just boring holes in the sky, taking friends for rides, and a couple of VFR trips. Then I bought a Mooney and did a whole bunch of serious traveling. More kids, and traded for a Lance right when I moved. I didn't travel a whole lot after the move, and the plane was underused. I got into sport flying ... taildraggers, aerobatics, Pitts. Got a seaplane rating. That was a lot of fun, but after a few years failed the cost/benefit analysis and I went back to a traveling machine.

So, your journey will write itself, provided you are able to write the checks to support it. I had to put a hold on it after 23 years to fund the kids' colleges, but I'll be back soon enough.
 
joycem137 said:
I started this journey because i've always been enamored with flying. Dreamt of growing wings as a kid or becoming a bird. Got into R/C planes later in life a little. Now that I've come to the end of the solo cross country phase of my flight training, I feel amazing, like it's a dream come true.

My instructor is in the process of scheduling my checkride as we speak, and I'm excited by the possibilities of what I can do once I'm finished. My head is already full of little missions and adventures to try out, and I keep reading these forums and talking to pilots to learn even more ideas of where to go, what to do, etc.

I'm curious what sorts of missions people tend to fly out there and if folks have any recommendations for things to do once I've got my license.
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Welcome to PoA. Congratulations on learning to fly.


Find things to do:
http://www.flyincalendar.com/index.cfm?m=6&y=2013&v=4
http://www.eaa.org/calendar/eventli...AO&EventType=&EventTitle=&StartDate=&EndDate=
http://www.flyincalendar.com/
http://www.animalrescueflights.org/
http://pilotsnpaws.org/
http://aviation.meetup.com/
http://www.airventure.org/
Google pilot volunteer

Find places to fly:
http://airnav.com/airports/search.html
http://maps.avnwx.com/
http://www.100ll.com/
http://www.adventurepilot.com
http://www.aerovents.com
http://www.aopa.org
http://www.avweb.com
https://www.faasafety.gov/spans/events/EventList.aspx
http://www.fly2lunch.com
http://www.flyincalendar.com
http://www.flyins.com
http://www.fun-places-to-fly.com
http://www.generalaviationnews.com
http://www.iowadot.gov/aviation/calendarevents.html
http://www.laflyins.com
http://www.meetup.com/NEPilotsGroup/
http://www.michigan.gov/aero
http://www.onetankflights.com
http://www.operationfly.com/
 
In the short and medium term, you can practice what you didn't learn by your checkride -- the examiner is quite likely to call your temporary airman certificate a "license to learn," which it is.

In particular, navigation requirements for the checkride are fairly rudimentary.

The destination doesn't matter too much; the direction will largely be determined by the weather. If it's hot out, north or south along the coast. If there is marine layer, something easterly. If there is a gradient in the vis clouds, go the other way. And so on.

Something I like to do periodically is to turn off the GPS (or take an aircraft that doesn't have one), find an airport semi-randomly off the sectional that I haven't been to, and fly to it, either by VORs or by ded reckoning. I've discovered some nice spots like that -- e.g., Angwin (which I'd never heard of before flying there testing VOR skills).
 
jspilot said:
Joyce- scheduled the plane for the entire afternoon and just went from Islip on Long Island to 44n ( Sky Acres) for lunch. Parked the plane got out and had lunch and flew back..
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You need to "pre-announce" when you are coming up. I was at 44N for breakfast on Thursday. :yes:
I try to get there every Thursday.
 
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Shepherd said:
You need to "pre-announce" when you are coming up. I was at 44N for breakfast on Thursday. :yes:
I try to get there every Thursday.
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Hey sure thing. Now that it's summer I might be able to actually do that! The only complication is I never know if I'll be able to have the plane for a long enough time as it is based on the schedule of the place I rent from. I don't think Thursday morning is probably a very busy time.

Man that runway gave me fits. I'm use to the wide runways at Islip and that thing just seems so narrow to me. I got to get back there for revenge on that runway next time. I think I like landing 35 rather than 17 there. Something about those trees and the sharp rise up from the valley got me. Plus nothing like giving it 1500 rpm on taxi just to climb the hill to the parking! It's a fun little airport for sure.
 
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