Enough lurking... thoughts on various aspects of training?

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LoneAspen

Line Up and Wait
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LoneAspen
I've been lurking for a while here, figured it was time to finally make a post and collect some thoughts. Apologies for the long post, but I'm in a stream-of-consciousness mood right now :)

First, a little about me and my background. I'm 46, living in the Silicon Valley area, and work a fairly stressful and time-consuming job at a startup which leaves me very little free time. I hope to be able to quit this job in early 2015 and if everything goes well, take a break from the IT world for a couple years, move back to Colorado, and enjoy some of the outdoor activities I've been wanting to do for many years but haven't been able to because of work (hiking, backpacking, skiing, etc).

I've a VERY independent person. Never married, don't have kids, was always able to pick up, move, and be mobile if needed as I changed jobs. Also, as I've gotten older, I've developed a sense of wanderlust and want to do more traveling down the road, especially to outdoorsy places like our national parks, ski resorts, etc.

I had never really had an interest in flying until a few months ago, when I started paying attention to all the GA aircraft passing over my house (I live very close to the Reid-Hillview airport in San Jose) and it dawned on me the incredible level of freedom having your own plane provides.

I HATE commercial air travel. HATE it. Thank goodness, I never had to travel much for business. Dealing with airlines, security, taking off shoes, delays, packed like cattle into economy class, crying babies...I can't deal with it, which is one reason I don't travel more for personal reasons than I do right now.

But the thought of getting up in the morning and saying, "I want to fly to Jackson Hole" today, and just flying your own plane there on your own schedule fits right in with my personality. I'm surprised I never took an interest in GA aviation before now. I guess it took the planes flying overhead for the light bulb to go on :)

So now, I'm borderline obsessed with the thought of starting training, but...

I kind of don't want to do it here in San Jose. I don't really have the time or money to really commit to it right now, but what's gnawing at me even more is, I kind of want to wait until I'm back in Colorado.

I'm not really that enthused with San Jose or the south bay, and it is not in my plans to stay here. I'm just here for my job. So in that respect, learning to fly in suburban San Jose doesn't have that much appeal to me. It just wouldn't seem as "magical" to me.

However, once I go back to Colorado, hopefully up in the mountains somewhere (think Summit, Eagle, or Pitkin counties), I would LOVE to learn to fly there, plus I'd have the free time and money to really commit to it - I could fly as often as needed to learn and develop skills. I would also plan on getting my IR afterwards, just to have those skills up in the mountains (not because I have a burning desire to fly a lot in IMC). But I have no plans to be one of those pilots who loses situational awareness in weather, so would want that training.

But I've read some folks' opinions that it's not good to learn up in the mountains. Especially at a place like Eagle County airport, which I guess landed on the History Channel's list of most extreme airports (yikes!).

Wanted to get peoples' views on that here. Has anybody here learned to fly in mountainous areas like Colorado high country, and what were your experiences?

Also, I'm not sure I'd want to stick with a piston single aircraft when it came time to get my own (assuming I'm financially able to get my own plane of course). I've read a TON of posts on the topic, but the engineer part of me keeps whispering in my ear that I'd rather have a piston twin or a turboprop for the safety factor.

I doubt I could afford to buy and pay the operating costs of a turboprop, however. Not to mention being able to work up enough experience to even be able to get insured for it. So I'd probably work my way into a piston twin. And yes, I've read a lot of articles about how the piston twin market is decreasing/dead, but it still has appeal to me as long as I could keep my skills high in the event of an engine out scenario. I've been doing a lot of reading about the Diamond DA42 NG, which I think would fit my mission profile very well: just me, light gear (skis, camping equipment, etc), trips under 1000nm, and it seems to have relatively good operating costs and GPH with Jet-A.

Anyway, I know this has been quite the ramble, but just wanted to start off with a healthy post #1 explaining what I'm looking forward to, and if anybody cares to throw some thoughts out there, I sure would appreciate reading them.

Thanks, and happy flying!
 
Welcome to PoA! That is quite a dissertation. RHV is a pretty busy place, but definitely GA friendly. Why wait? GA could give you the freedom to go explore now. I am out of the Sacramento area (Lincoln, CA) and there are a lot of great places to fly around here; for the day or for a weekend. As far as mountain flying goes, if you have the right plane and the right training, it shouldn't be too bad.
 
I'm not seeing the advantage of waiting a couple of years to start something you are obsessed with, unless you have a hunch the obsession will pass and you will be obsessed with something else, soon.

Go to the airport, plop down $49 $79 $99 $129 for a Discovery Flight and learn how fun the obsession might be.

Enjoy life for the next 3 years. Waiting a couple of years to start living ain't living.
 
Lots of people learn in Colorado. But, in Denver (especially) and Colorado Springs. Not Aspen. Mountain flying has unique skills you'll most easily develop after you already know how to fly.

Training in the Bay Area makes you really, really, really good on the radio. If you train out of Reid, you'll get very good at avoiding airspace, as San Jose's boundary is roughly over 101 and 680/280. Later on, you'll learn how to transition it (it's not hard, but it can be overwhelming if you're not good on the radio yet). It's a bit on the expensive side, but Colorado is comparable when you rent the larger aircraft you need to deal with the altitude.

If you want, I can give a Bay Tour out of Palo Alto, but I'm not an instructor and you'll probably get more out of a discovery flight (though I strongly advise to use one at least an hour long, plus pre-brief -- this will cost more than $129; the cheapest I've seen is $169). There are spectacular flights to be done locally, and even better ones a few hundred miles away (but the Sierra requires mountain skills).

Reid is a good place to train. Multiple well known pilots have come out of there, such as Rod Machado. Just don't get freaked out by that mall. It's in a S T U P I D place.

I advise not to wait, unless you really don't have a choice. You're not getting younger.
 
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I started training in COS and shortly thereafter moved back to the flatlands. Flying in the flats is much easier for a variety of reasons. Flying in the areas you mentioned will require some additional training anyway so I'd take advantage of the urge now and then be ready to transition to the additional complexities of mountain flying when you move.
 
MAKG1 said:
Lots of people learn in Colorado. But, in Denver (especially) and Colorado Springs. Not Aspen.
Click to expand...

You're correct, they don't learn at Aspen. They learn down valley at GWS. Yup it costs more but plenty of folks have learned to fly in the mountains over the years. One thing about it, they understand density altitude and aircraft performance...
 
Thanks everybody for the replies so far!

Regarding my hesitation to start anything while in San Jose, a large part of it is due to wanting to wait until I'm back in Colorado so I can commit fully to it in terms of time and money. Mostly time, but for a variety of financial reasons, money also.

On the "time" aspect, I'm on call pretty much 24x7 even on nights and weekends, and when the phone rings with a support incident, I pretty much have to drop everything I'm doing to handle the situation. As an example, a couple years ago I was going to a gym (trying to get back in shape) and had enlisted a personal trainer to whip my butt in shape. There were several times I was 10 minutes into a session, support call comes in, and I have to end the training session. I don't like it, but that's just the nature of the role I'm in right now, and that won't end for another 18 months or so when my vesting is complete. For those of you familiar with the term "golden handcuffs", that's what's binding me so bad :) But when that's over in early 2015, I'm out, hopefully with the time and money both to pursue Life 2.0

Cancelling flying lessons at the last minute (or worse, during the lesson) because job is #1 right now, isn't fair to the instructor, and not conducive to a training program. I would honestly rather wait until I can commit to it 100% with no distractions. Also, after I leave, I'll be in a much better position financially to afford it, whereas right now would be challenging.

Part of me also views this as one of the "rewards" of working so hard. When I'm done, I get to move back and start pursuing all these things I've had to put on the back burner.

Thanks for that web site about the mountain adventures - that strikes very close to things I'd like to do.

As far as NOT training in the mountains proper, it makes perfect sense why people wouldn't do it, and I'll definitely take that into consideration.

Also re: discovery flight...yes, I've given some thought to that, and I think what I might do is take a long weekend trip to Denver or Colorado Springs (when I actually take PTO time, I'm guaranteed not to be on call and get to pass it off to a backup), visit some friends, and take a discovery flight at one of the airports along the front range. That would confirm this is something I have an affinity for and want to pursue, plus give me added motivation to get the hell out of the IT field and back to Colorado :)

Thanks again for the replies!
 
jaysuz, you've got no one to back you for even an hour flight? Based on your description, I suppose your only option is to wait.

Good thing you're a bachelor.
 
Brad Z said:
Good thing you're a bachelor.
Click to expand...

Yep :) I don't think a relationship would survive some of the crazy hours I put in right now. 50/60+ hour weeks aren't uncommon.

It's kind of funny, because I've always been more of a "work to live, don't live to work" kind of person. If the upside of this position wasn't so potentially life-changing, I wouldn't stick around. I'm not a workaholic by nature. I'd much rather be hiking a trail in Yellowstone than sitting in a cube.

But...if this all goes to plan, I might be able to "live to work, so I never have to work in IT again" and then go off and do something I enjoy doing, without worrying about how much (if any) I make from it.

One of my bucket list items is being a ski bum for an entire season in Vail (I'm not even that good a skiier, intermediate at best, but I do love it). I don't think ski bums make that much money, so I better have a nest egg built up first before I try that :)
 
I didn't have the money or the time to fly. I started anyway. I'm now 3.5 years into my training, with my checkride in the next few weeks.

I flew as money and time permitted. Yes, I have 70 hours, and could probably have done it in much less time if I had saved for a year or two and knocked it all out in three months. But I didn't want to wait, so I didn't. I don't regret it, and I don't consider as time wasted any of the "extra" time it took.

Within reason, do what makes you happy. There's nothing wrong with taking some lessons now because you want to.
 
I say go for it! GA is life changing in soooo many ways. The sooner it starts changing your life the better!

The practical side of me does say that waiting to train until you can devote the time and attention to it does make sense. Keep doing research and maybe just sprinkle in 1-2 lessons a month and before you know it- if you are good, you'll get to a place where you can maybe be ready for a check ride. The other thing just to think about is if your plans include a multi-engine plane then that requires an additional rating and more time once you begin. Either way, welcome to the wonderful world of aviation!
 
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