If you couldn’t fly...

RyanB

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What would you do with yourself?

This might be a stretch, but we can all probably agree that our bank accounts would have a few more zeros attached to them, if ‘pilot’ wasn’t an accolade of ours. I don’t think any of us became a pilot to save money, however.

For me, having the ability to go out and fly helps keeps me sane.

But, if you weren’t a pilot, what other things would you do with your free time?
 
Tech of some sort. My Dad brought me up as a computer nerd, and programming paid for college and my ratings through instructing.

To this day he asks me when I’ll stop chasing this stupid dream and go do something worth a crap like write code for Google.
 
Probably would have ended up playing golf on one of the minor tours trying to qualify for my PGA card. Was a 1 handicap before I started flying.
 
I might actually have time to build that RV-8 I've wanted to do. :)
 
I used to be a couch potato before.... so in all likelihood I would be dead or close to it by now. Aviation literally changed my life, for the good. (- bank balance )
 
Play in a band maybe. I hate what I do but I am 20 years into a career that I am stuck in.
I have to have an outlet. Maybe RC planes. I always loved those things. I enjoy making videos it turns out and I am toying with starting a satire science channel.
I'd probably go full bore into a project like that. I have to have something that is mine and creative or I'd get depressed pretty fast.
 
As you might imagine, I’ve been pondering this one quite a bit lately.

The problem is, almost all of my backup hobbies used tiny fine finger motor skills in my right hand extensively. Moreso as tiny tiny surface mount electronics became the norm.

So... I honestly don’t know yet. Been hunting for things to fill the time while I wait on this silliness for a couple of years. May never get better.

Technically flying would be easier than some of the backup hobbies. Yokes and knobs in the cockpit are big. Grabbing big stuff isn’t nearly as annoying as tiny stuff with fingertips.

Soldering for example with alternatively shaky or numb fingertips on my right hand, not so good.

Shooting, will have to do a lot more off-hand shooting and work on “backward” reload drills and such. Ick. Doable but not as fun.

Right hand grip strength is also crap for the time being. Maybe PT for that. Dunno yet.

Driving? Ahhh it’s okay most days. Feet numbness makes pedal finesse difficult. Doable but again, not really fun. See right hand grip strength. Stick shifts non-fun.

Shop work / auto / mechanical - meh. Not great with my left hand at things. I do it if needed but meh.

In general — lots of things need either grip strength in both hands or fine index finger stuff with a numb fingertip on the right hand. And no shakes.

So I’m kinda annoyed by all of my hobbies at the moment. Nevertheless I did set up some electronics junk just last weekend and no soldering but small stuff to assemble and get working. Tiny SD cards and little plastic cases and crap too. It’s not awful, it’s just time consuming compared to the easy days.

If I HAD to solder something up, as long as it wasn’t tiny tiny SMD I could muddle through it. Same with mechanical stuff. Anybody can grit their teeth and be annoyed by an oversensitive finger or three for necessary stuff. This is how I deal with normal keyboard typing for work right now. Not fun but whatever. Time to work.

I busted a little battery tab off of a very small device that uses AAA batteries the other day. There’s a simple temporary fix for this on those devices (known flaw with them, it’s a window/door open/close Hall effect sensor and transmitter), just put the battery in and then jam the little busted off clip back in there.

Spring tension will hold everything and also make electrical contact until you can replace it.

Right hand was tremoring lightly that day. Whether it’s the condition or the drugs I don’t know but it comes and goes. So imagine trying to line up a little clip smaller than a AAA battery with a shaky hand. And it was installed in a location where reaching with the left hand was equally awkward.

Yeah, I got mad. Ha. But I also know how to adapt and went and got a tiny screwdriver and got the clip on the end of it, then steadied the tremor long enough to jam it in there properly, something I would have just stuck on the end of my right index finger and pushed in the past.

Time consuming. Annoying.

So anyway. I have no idea. Whatever hobbies require only grip strength in one hand (that’s open for jokes) and gross motor skills only in one hand hahaha.

Driving the ZTR is fun. LOL. That doesn’t bother me. :) Maybe jet skis and a boat. Or avoid both and not spend the money. Ha.

You ever fall asleep on your arm and wake up and your hand is asleep? That’s how my right fingertips feel all the time to different degrees. Mornings better than evenings. Now imaging picking up little parts and placing them like that. Or trigger finger work. Etc.

That’s a good day. More of those than bad, but some days it just hurts to touch anything with those fingertips.

Add in neck pains and shoulder pains out of nowhere when bending or moving to awkward positions, and most mechanical work is just yuck. Contortionist under a car is definitely no bueno.

It’s like that little electronics project last weekend. I have to really want it done to mess with it these days. Much less “oh I’ll just go piddle around at the workbench” stuff.

Sooooo yeah. Trying to figure out how much I want to adapt and how much I just want to do something else.
 
Meh, not a defeatist, just spend the time figuring out a way to fly.

But outside of aviation, building stuff and inventing things is fun
 
Sail. Hike. Backpack. Snowshoe. XC ski. Rock climb. Scuba. Snorkel. Camp. All the stuff I do now..,just more of it if I can't fly.

Edit: didn't list play music, 'cause that's my job. I love to do that, and practicing takes up a few hours pretty much every day, plus gigs. Getting to the point where I only take gigs with good people, good players, and good music rather than just a good paycheck. That's nice,
 
Probably spend more time playing music. I could have a really nice cello with what I have put into airplanes.
 
Motocross.

Might also try road racing (motorcycles). I’ve done dirt for the better part of 27 years, always wanted to try the pavement side.
 
I didn't fly until I was 38. Did plenty of other things. Still do. I love flying but, especially as I age, know there will become a point, maybe sooner, maybe later, when I will stop. I'll be sad, but life goes on and other leisure activities will continue. Maybe even find some new ones!
 
RC and scuba
 
I already mountain bike and ski. Some of the hobbies I'm money and time limited on due to aviation are:

Working on cars/building off roaders
Shooting
Machining/build a machine shop
 
I have been full-tilt on being a pilot since I was 15 so I absolutely have no idea what I'd do. As I get older I think about what-ifs for losing medical, I think I'll probably pick up loss of license insurance when I go back to the airlines. At this point in my life I'd have to find a new career and the only other thing I'm good at is drinking beer so... dunno.

I'd probably get back into skydiving and I'd continue with motorcycle travel but both those take money...

If I went back in time and took flying off the table way back when I wonder what I'd have done with my life. Wishful thinking says I'd have done something with my love for travel and writing but the pessimist in me says safe career in my hometown (nothing wrong with that - just not what I personally want to do).
 
Remodel the house, woodwork, buy a small boat (camp on local islands, hunt, fish, put out crab and shrimp pots)
 
Nate, I hear there's god outdoor activities not far from where you live. Skiing, hiking, stuff like that. Mountains make fun playtime.

Had I not an airplane I'd be dead by now, since I would probably be doing big world spanning motorcycle trips and would have been pulverized by a careless driver in some third world country.
 
To this day he asks me when I’ll stop chasing this stupid dream and go do something worth a crap like write code for Google.

Don't do it! Dilbert IS real life!


Amen. I'm still trying to convince the finance committee to put a mid to upper 30ft sailboat on the gulf coast somewhere. Maybe Pensacola. With the Mooney I can be there in 2hrs block to block. *sigh*

. I hate what I do but I am 20 years into a career that I am stuck in.

Sing it, brother!

I enjoy making videos it turns out and I am toying with starting a satire science channel.

I don't know where you get the time and energy to do those videos, but we sure enjoy them!
 
19 ft cat
mid to upper 30ft sailboat
Sailing is honestly such a fantastic back up. No medical requirements, and so liberating. There's a Capri 22 I rent from time to time and it's such pure visceral joy when you catch the wind right

My dad is retired now and spends a lot of time cruising on an early '80s C&C36. Great life
 
Sailing is honestly such a fantastic back up. No medical requirements, and so liberating. There's a Capri 22 I rent from time to time and it's such pure visceral joy when you catch the wind right

My dad is retired now and spends a lot of time cruising on an early '80s C&C36. Great life

Don't presently own a sailboat, but will again in a few years when I retire. Since it will be on a local lake, I'll likely get a Flying Scot. They're a nice day boat, and the local sailing club has an active racing class.

AftRoundingZm.jpg


If I could ever get the coastal thing to fly, I'm not being greedy. A nice used Beneteau 331 or 343 with reverse cycle AC is all I would need. What I'd really desire is someone who wants to partner on a boat on the coast. Cut the fixed costs in half, alternate weeks.

4529295_20131207115450661_1_XLARGE.jpg
 
Kind of been there done that.

In 2003 after flying for 10 years, I came home one day and put my flight bag in the closest and never looked back. It was a conscious move after a decade of 'burning holes' in the sky. So there I was living under the downwind at OXR for 13 years, looking up every time a plane flew overhead. More change was in the air (no pun intended) as I made a career move. I accepted a management position (took initial pay cut doing so) and soon after I bought a 100 Year Anniversary Road King Classic. Stick a fork in it..... Flying was done. Not only was available free time at a premium, but flying had become cost prohibitive.

The new work role, coupled with my sons increased basketball activity, left little time for flying. But it was always there in me.....it's part of who I am. Makes sense considering I was essentially hatched in the back seat of my Dad's Comanche in the 60's flying to Sanibel Island or Bahamas with frequent trips to my grandparents houses in Shreveport and the Nashville area.

I stayed away from the airport like I was some kind of recovering addict. I knew if I went out to the field I might not be able to resist the urge to start it all over again. One of my employees had a C-150, he begged me to go fly with him.... I resisted...

That all changed in the summer of 2017 when I became current again to take my Dad up 'one more time'

I guess what I'm getting at is the day will come for all of us..... the day we can't fly anymore for whatever reason. But there is one thing that will never change until you take your last breath

You'll always be a pilot
 
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This. I had no real desire to continue flying as a hobby after I quit doing it for a job. Since I moved to an area where there are many sailing opportunities, I learned. Sailing is cool, and much less regulated than aviation. That was one of my pet peeves about it.
 
This kind of aligns with the retirement thread.

All of life is really driven by two curves. Money Available and Time Available. Working the intersections is what we do.

In retirement I see me;

1) Flying (I don't care if the thread title is "if I couldn't fly")
2) Getting back into real R/C models, not the ARF park flyer electrics I fly today for amusement
3) Building and sailing planing hull sailboats
4) Kayaking / Rowing
5) Fishing / Hunting
6) Sporting Clays and Small Bore rifle (that I shoot today but not really enough to be competitive)
7) Hiking (mostly to fly fish mountain streams and lakes)
8) Back into Brewing
9) Restoring the 51 Ford pickup from the barn in KY
10) Expanding my cooking skills to more foreign cuisines.

A big benefit to us retiring north is hard season edges. In the winter you do winter things, in the summer you do summer things and you don't feel guilty not crossing the seasons. Learning and doing keeps us young.
 
I'd keep making aviation videos. I really love doing that and it's something I can do until I drop dead onto the asphalt.
 
Easy answers for me.

1) Get back into cars more (kinda like I'm doing with the Cobra)
2) Get into sailing like @Bill Jennings
3) Get an RV
4) Get another semi, probably with a 12V71
5) Get into soaring (no medical required for that)
6) Get back into motorcycling (although right now my biggest reason for doing less of that is kids, not flying)

There are so many things that I want to do and only one lifetime to do them in. Honestly, in many ways flying gets in the way of me pursuing other things I would enjoy. Not bemoaning my situation - I have the privilege of flying a fantastic aircraft and doing something immensely fulfilling with it. But there's a lot of things to do in this life and you only get one turn to do them.
 
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