How to stay involved?

bflynn

bflynn

Final Approach
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
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KTTA
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Display name:
Brian Flynn
Sad news - it hurt to do it, but I had to resign from my flying club this month, I'm just not flying enough. Between chasing medical issues and having a son in private school with a tuition just above "youch", I can't justify spending the kind of money I think I need to spend. Maybe after he's out of college...in 8 years...

So how do I keep active and stay involved? I'm a basic VFR pilot with 150 hours.

I'm a member of CAP, but my work doesn't really allow me to participate as much as I'd like. I probably could be more aggressive in pursing this as a flight option, but it's still not cheap and they really want a commitment to fly 10 hours/month at about $100/hour.

I'd love to take a couple of years and build a plane...and that would result in inexpensive flying that I could probably afford, but I'm quite sure I would die. Not from the airplane, my wife would kill me. Yes, I know.

Thoughts?
 
Any other clubs ? We have 50 members most who never fly and just pay the $50 monthly dues.
 
Get a simulator. If nothing else, get Condor the soaring simulator.
Stay active in local pilots groups. Offer to fly as safety pilot if your medical is up to speed.
Volunteer at local Young Eagles and other aviation events and shamelessly let them know you'd like a little stick time in return.
It's tough.
 
Go cold turkey. Come back someday if you can.
 
I would recommend just reading magazines like AOPA Pilot, EAA, etc every few months just to keep your mind in it. The aviation forums are also useful for jogging your mind about this and that. You can still go rent a plane every few months and do a burger run or just pattern work if you want to exercise the skills. A handful of hours of flight time is all I've been able to gather the past several years while getting established in a career, buying a house, getting married, etc. and it's worked for me.
 
I am a member of the club Brian speaks of. The monthly dues at our flying club are $65 and you can rent a warrior II for $100/hr or a 152 for $75/hr wet. This includes good insurance coverage.

You can't get much lower operating costs than that, unless you want to invest in a partnership or something. Get two partners, buy a $18,000 airplane that is happy on mogas and leave it tied down outside.

If you resign fully you might have to pay another $200 initiation fee to get back in. I think they have an inactive option for $15/month where you can use the club facilities etc.. If you want to start flying again just go back to the $65/month option and get a 1 hr checkout from an instructor.

I know currency plays a big role in safety. But if you are conservative and just flying VFR on good weather days, 2-3 hrs/month will keep you reasonably current. If you happen to go 2 months without flying, just hire a CFI for that first hour back.

You mention you want to stay active and involved. To do that, takes time and money! Figure out how much time and money you want (and are able to) spend on flying and then find out what you want to spend it on.

If you can't fly regularly or cant maintain a medical, you can always fly occasionally with a CFI. Additionally you should consider gliders as an inexpensive and fun way to go flying. There is a glider club in our area, I don't know how to get in touch with them but you can ask around.
 
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Good for you for having your priorities straight. Flying will wait.
 
evapilotaz said:
Are you kidding. Flying and Aviation is a drug. My cold turkey approach lasted for 10 years. I still had some form of aviation with RC airplanes. So it wasn't really cold turkey.
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Make fly happen or be a quitter.
 
Find a partner on a sport flyer?

No medical and cheaper.

Or grow a vagina and tell your wife to lay off the Starbuck's and Neiman Marcus sale so you can afford to build one. You gotta choke 'em down once in a while. Claim your rights as an apex predator.... <just kidding>. :lol:
 
txflyer said:
Find a partner on a sport flyer?

No medical and cheaper.

Or grow a vagina and tell your wife to lay off the Starbuck's and Neiman Marcus sale so you can afford to build one. You gotta choke 'em down once in a while. Claim your rights as an apex predator.... <just kidding>. :lol:
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I'll have to try "establishing dominance" as an excuse next time the wife asks why I did something that negatively affects her. :D
 
SoonerAviator said:
I'll have to try "establishing dominance" as an excuse next time the wife asks why I did something that negatively affects her. :D
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Wives have an exclusive right not to be negatively affected? Does giving up a hobby not have a negative affect on husbands?
 
Join an Eaa chapter,hook up with some other pilots,usually someone has a seat open.
 
On that building thing, I can't think you can build and operate an E-AB airplane for what you're paying as a club member. If you do decide to go that route, build because you want to build, not because you want to fly. If you want to fly, you can buy someone else's build for less money than you'd spend building it yourself.
 
bflynn said:
Sad news - it hurt to do it, but I had to resign from my flying club this month, I'm just not flying enough. Between chasing medical issues and having a son in private school with a tuition just above "youch", I can't justify spending the kind of money I think I need to spend. Maybe after he's out of college...in 8 years...

So how do I keep active and stay involved? I'm a basic VFR pilot with 150 hours.

I'm a member of CAP, but my work doesn't really allow me to participate as much as I'd like. I probably could be more aggressive in pursing this as a flight option, but it's still not cheap and they really want a commitment to fly 10 hours/month at about $100/hour.

I'd love to take a couple of years and build a plane...and that would result in inexpensive flying that I could probably afford, but I'm quite sure I would die. Not from the airplane, my wife would kill me. Yes, I know.

Thoughts?
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Glider club in the area? You can pick up a glider for a song, and store it in a trailer. A lot of cubs have tow incentive for participation as well as tow plane flying opportunities.

There is also getting your CFI.
 
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bflynn said:
...I'd love to take a couple of years and build a plane...and that would result in inexpensive flying ...
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I'll be brutally honest with you here. If you're going to build a plane in a "couple of years" then that's basically all you're going to be doing so quit your job and don't plan on spending any time with your family. Also the notion that home building will result in "inexpensive flying" is a grand myth.

To further answer your question, flying is really just a hobby so family and life in general will often take precedence. If you really love flying don't sweat it because it will always be there. No matter how long of a break you take you will never have to go through the rigors of getting the ticket again, you'll always have that.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Wives have an exclusive right not to be negatively affected? Does giving up a hobby not have a negative affect on husbands?
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I didn't say anything about exclusive rights. I simply stated that using "establish dominance" as an excuse probably wouldn't go over so well.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I didn't say anything about exclusive rights. I simply stated that using "establish dominance" as an excuse probably wouldn't go over so well.
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As it shouldn't. However there will always be opportunities that through cooperation both get their needs with minimum sacrifice. There's always a way to achieve what you want without having to take something away from someone else.
 
When I'm not flying I like to run around the house with my arms stretched out making plane noises. It really helps. The dogs look at me funny though.
 
Or self sacrifice. If he is giving up flying for the family wonder what is she giving up. Any guesses?
 
Your kid has the rest of their life to pay off college you don't.

Not saying you don't help your kids out a little but they will appreciate it more if they have some skin in the game.

Having said that I work at a college so my kids don't pay much to begin with but my salary isn't what it would be elsewhere either.
 
Look for a small glider or skydiving club.
 
Also more skill compared to flying a 172.
 
Thanks for the thoughts.

Yes, I'm aware that building isn't just a quick little cheap jaunt, I was thinking of the flying after the build as being cheaper. But being able to do the build would be awesome too. I'm fairly mechanical and love building things, I've been thinking about a smaller side project to start, something tube and fabric, maybe wood and fabric. But that's at least 15k, hopefully spread out over several years. I really like the idea of some of the airdrome replica WW-I airplanes, but I don't know enough, don't have a place to build and it's too early to pull the trigger on that.

EAA-1114 is nearby and it's high on my list of things to do. Gliding not so much, although I hadn't considered it. CAP has gliders and there's an outfit about 30 minutes away that does them. Sorry, but I'll pass on the wingsuits :)

Medical things keep adding up, but what can you do? Once I get the current batch of things cleared up (hopefully in March), I could pick up an inexpensive sport plane and chug around low and slow for a while. But I can't see flying that way for the next 8 years.

I'll figure it out.
 
bflynn said:
Thanks for the thoughts.

Yes, I'm aware that building isn't just a quick little cheap jaunt, I was thinking of the flying after the build as being cheaper. But being able to do the build would be awesome too. I'm fairly mechanical and love building things, I've been thinking about a smaller side project to start, something tube and fabric, maybe wood and fabric. But that's at least 15k, hopefully spread out over several years. I really like the idea of some of the airdrome replica WW-I airplanes, but I don't know enough, don't have a place to build and it's too early to pull the trigger on that.

EAA-1114 is nearby and it's high on my list of things to do. Gliding not so much, although I hadn't considered it. CAP has gliders and there's an outfit about 30 minutes away that does them. Sorry, but I'll pass on the wingsuits :)

Medical things keep adding up, but what can you do? Once I get the current batch of things cleared up (hopefully in March), I could pick up an inexpensive sport plane and chug around low and slow for a while. But I can't see flying that way for the next 8 years.

I'll figure it out.
Click to expand...

Don't forget to check out the gliders, lot of fun to be had for not a lot of money. There are Pt-103 Ultralights as well. Neither requires a medical.
 
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