Thinking of getting a Pilot License

[Putty]

Clowns are evil......

[Tom Freeman]

Clowns are evil......

Eat you while you sleep....

[SRT Driver]

Shooting is cheap entertainment compared to flying.

I started when I was 13 and working at a small airport. I was paid in exchange for flying time in a 180hp super cub.

Thought I could make a living as a CFI. Nope. Joined the Air Force instead.

Since 1990 I have logged maybe 5.0 hours as PIC. And I havent priced time now days. I bet a 182 goes for over $100 per hour wet....

Back in the "old" days (the late 70's early 80's), you could buy a decent J-3, T-Craft, or ? for under $10 k. Now, a decent J-3 is $40 to $60 k. A hangar used to be $50/mo. Now it's $300 - $500.

IMHO, don't try to get you PPL fast..get with a GOOD CFI and don't take any short cuts. There is a difference between being able to fly and knowing how to fly.

[Hank Ellis]

Then if you want to step it up a notch and really throw money around, go for a rotorcraft rating.

Approximate costs:

Private - $12,000

Commercial - Additional $14,000

Instrument - Additional $7,500

Aircraft Rental:

Robinson R22 - $230 / hour

Bell 206BIII Jetranger - $750 / hour

I've got a couple pilots who are working every minute of overtime available to pay off the loans for their training. This is after the period of indentured servitude as a flight instructor to build time to the minimum 500 hours before anyone will consider hiring you. As the saying goes, "If you want to learn to fly helicopters you either have to be rich or enlisted."

[TreblePlink]

There is nothing else like departing at night in rain and fog, seeing nothing but the panel in front of you, then climbing though to the top of the clouds where it's bright moonlight with all the stars above. Then at your destination, decend back through, carefully hand-flying the approach procedure, and breaking out of the low scud a few hundred feet above ground with the runway strobe lights greeting you.

After 15 years of owning airplanes, flying lots of weather in a single, and enjoying the heck out of flying, I sold it. Its very rewarding, but darn expensive, and an impractical way to travel unless money is not an issue. To enjoy it, get some solo time during instruction, take your checkride for your PPL. For travel utility, get your instrument rating. For real travel utility and overwater operations, get a good twin (think quadruple costs) with deice and radar, or at least a (lightning) strikefinder.