Mid Life Crisis gift to myself, Pilot Training

"HarDeeHarHar" wrote in message
.. .
I'm 48, and time to have me som fun...
Been flying as a passenger since I was 8 months, have had 102 flights on
commercial flights that I can recall ...
Have flown Schweizer 232 sailplanes, and Cessna 172's (not take off or
landings.)
Have played with MS Flight Sim since 1995, and probably have logged over
400 hours of flight on that game....the new ATC versions make it more fun.

I understand flight theory and dynamics, and have felt at home and at ease
while behind the yoke or stick while in the 172 and 232's.

So I looked at flight training, and here west of Toronto at the Guelph
airport, it's about $4500 allowing me to carry one passenger, $7500 to
carry multiple passengers, or $8500 (plus 200 hrs @ $125/hr) for
commercial pilot...(all in Canadian $$$)

So I have time, might as well go for the commercial licence, and have me
some fun...not that it will get me a job by the time I'm done (I'll be
51 - 52 by my training timeline).

Never too late, and since having sex with Jeannie (Barbara Eden) is out of
the question (Hey, she's still hot for 72), I might as well fulfill
anpother dream, eh?

Lots of good thoughts from previous posters.

Flight training is great fun and will challenge your mind, you will meet
interesting and intelligent people. It is not a good investment financially
but a bargain compared with other mid life recreation like gambling or young
women or new red sports cars. The cost of flight training is rising quickly
due to the cost of fuel and insurance.

IMHO you should focus on learning to fly and not on acquiring licenses or
ratings.

I am a big believer in learning good stick and rudder skills by training on
a taildragger. IMHO the Citabria 7eca is the very best trainer and a lot of
fun to fly. It will not be easy to find one for training but when you do
the odds are you will have also found a good instructor. A school in your
area (that I know nothing about) which does have a Citabria and some float
planes is http://www.futureair.ca/
I am sure there must be others.

On your way to completing the CPL requirements of 200TT including 100PIC you
can also do RPL, PPL, night, OTT, float, aerobatic, multi and IFR. You
could even get some of this training as part of your R/PPL. You also need
several solo xc including one of 300 nmi radius. When you travel to a new
location you can take a flight (with an instructor) for sight seeing or to
try a different aircraft. If you get a glider license you can use ~50 hrs
towards your CPL. Few people reach the PPL level with only the minimum
required hours but it really doesn't matter since when you do complete your
PPL you will just be that much closer to your CPL. You can fill the ground
school requirement by self study, get advice and log your study time. By
the time you do all or some of these you will have developed a great deal of
aviation knowledge and hopefully some stick and rudder skills.

You should do a lot of planning to ensure that you acquire the right mix of
required types and amounts of dual training without over training (paying $)
in one area. As an example it is best to do your instrument training hood
work (you need 5 hrs for your PPL and 20 hrs additional for your CPL, and
35? total for IFR) at night so that you can count the time taxiing and
taking off and circuit and landing as dual night and you can combine dual
night xc with hood work to give more variety to each lesson and to build
your dual hours in the most efficient way. It is better to do your night
flying in the winter as it is dark much earlier.

I paid C$25,000 for my CPL, it took me several years and I had a lot of
fun and met some great people. Costs have increased somewhat since then and
will probably increase some more before you are done. Take intro flights
with all the schools in your area and log the dual time. These lessons are
usually a bargain.

CAUTION - NEVER PAY IN ADVANCE. Make your school and your instructor earn
your next lesson by giving you great training and not overcharging on this
lesson. IMHO (and you will receive may contrary opinions here), you should
not be afraid to try different schools and instructors and after about
twenty hours you should definitely have two instructors and two schools to
avoid the problems you may face if your one instructor or school quits or
goes broke or refuses to recommend you for your flight test.

Keep good records (and receipts) of your training costs as training towards
the CPL is income tax deductible if you are intending (hoping) to use it to
get a job and earn income. Get good advice from several experienced tax
accountants.

Happy landings,

HarDeeHarHar wrote:
I'm 48, and time to have me som fun...

Hmm.....seems I got off cheap when I went through mid-life crisis.
Just switched from real women to porn movies. Best decision I ever
made (other than simming) : )))

SnakeEyes
(aka SoreEyes)

(Hey, [Jeannie (Barbara Eden) is] still hot for 72)

Ouch.

Jose
--
The price of freedom is... well... freedom.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Sammy" wrote in message
oups.com...
A few observations:

1) You're not talking about $8500 vs $7500. With the added hours you're
talking about $33500 vs $7500. As you said you're not likely to become
a commerical pilot, so why waste $25k (or be constrained by rules on
how to spend it if you're allocating it to going up)?

Presumably, the additional hours would be hours he'd fly anyway as a pilot.
It's not entirely clear how the FBO where he got his quote handles things,
so maybe there's some window of time during which he's required to fly all
of those hours. But a person getting a pilot certificate is presumably
intending to spend money flying, even after they get the certificate. So
general-purpose hours required for an advanced rating aren't really part of
the cost of the rating; they are just a consequence of flying.

1) $7500 is quite a bit of money, but less than what it would cost to
do the same in AUS. I have a friend here at work that had his
commerical license. It cost him around AUD35000 about eight years ago
to get his PPL and CPL and then he couldn't get a job. He considers it
wasted (but I disagree with that and told him as much). However the
kicker I think is the minimum to get your PPL is in AUS is something
like AUD12-15k. I think your dollar is worth a little more though.

Hey, that's two #1's!

Just for reference (as of today):

$1 AUD is $0.84 CDN
$1 US is $1.15 CDN

and just for grins,

$1 US is $1.37 AUD

(in case anyone is trying to compare the costs directly)

2) If it's what you want to do, and you have the cash to spare (ie no
family commitments etc. you'd have to neglect) go for it. Do expect it
to be hard work (but that doesn't mean it won't be fun).

Agree 100%.

3) I'd disagree with the other poster about putting the money towards a
plane. Even $33500 won't go far unless you're talking ultralight.

$33500 would go far enough. You can get a pretty nice used 2-seater (Cessna
150, Ercoupe, etc) for that (well, maybe not abroad, but certainly in the US
you could). You could buy a couple of decked-out ultralights for that kind
of money. Maybe three.

But
what about putting $7500 towards a nice computer, projector, yoke and
pedals, extra monitors and build a home cockpit? Have you looked at the
traffic, scenery and weather addons you can buy or download for free?
That's another option certainly within reach of $7500. It's never going
to be as good as the real thing, but if you're just doing it for fun
you won't have to worry about weather, time of day or night, medicals,
motion sickness, currency of your license. Plus if you crash you don't
die or end up in hospital. Just another option.

Certainly nothing wrong with that option. But IMHO the fun of flying on a
PC and the fun of flying for real are two completely different things. As
much as people like to use the sims as a surrogate for the real thing, they
really are two completely different endeavors.

4) Do you have to decide right away whether you're going for the
multi-passenger or commercial ticket? I'd put that decision off until
the absolute last minute and do as much as possible of the training and
exam that's common to both. Circumstances both medical and financial
change, and you don't want to be out a lot of money or obligated to do
200hrs unless you have to be.

Yes, hopefully he wouldn't be committed to the $8500 until it's time to
continue to the Commercial. I cannot imagine that he would be committed to
the 200 general-purpose hours. Any FBO that would make such a requirement
deserves avoiding at all costs.

Bottom line is real world flying's what you want to do go for it. Do it
safely and smartly, have fun, and lots of luck to you!

Good answer.

Pete

some of them real women you find can be real hags LMAO
"SnakeEyes" wrote in message
oups.com...

HarDeeHarHar wrote:
I'm 48, and time to have me som fun...

Hmm.....seems I got off cheap when I went through mid-life crisis.
Just switched from real women to porn movies. Best decision I ever
made (other than simming) : )))

SnakeEyes
(aka SoreEyes)

"H" == "HarDeeHarHar" writes:

I agree with you in a lot of what you are saying.

The first arguement put against you was valid, but here is another
thing for you to think about:

Get flying with passangers (though why I don't know - there is a
story there but doesn't matter).

This will cost you less.

Use the difference to subsidize flying with "GA" aircraft for longer.

So you pay $4500 and have $4000 left.

That is a lot of hours flying.



Now going to what I was saying about "PAX".

Here's what I see:

YOU want to fly.

That said, you fly where you want, and pretty much when you want.

Having people (one is bad enough) complaining about where they want
to go, but many people all wanting to go somewhere? You can only fly
ONE plane at any one time.


Unless they are all pilots or plane buffs, taking people around can
get annoying.

They NAG at you and say some of the most stupid things at the most
un-appropriate times.

When you are listening to ATC and they are talking over then you
nearly want to throw them out - because you told them before you took
off to shut up when ATC is talking.





H I want to do it because it's something that I can be proud of,
H something I accomplished. And all for the price of a new
H SUV....which will turn to rust in 10 years...
--
========
Thanks.....

Jarod

"S" == "Sammy" writes:

Yes, I agree.

The thing which would probably be better is to rent.

This way you save on the initial cost, insurance, rego, maintenance
costs amd all the hassels.

As the proverb goes:
"If it floats, flys, of giggles in bed: It is cheaper to rent than
buy."


S 3) I'd disagree with the other poster about putting the money
S towards a plane. Even $33500 won't go far unless you're talking
S ultralight. But what about putting $7500 towards a nice computer,
S projector, yoke and pedals, extra monitors and build a home
S cockpit? Have you looked at the



--
========
Thanks.....

Jarod

Its your money and your life so do what you want to do. Remember, you can't
take it with you. :^)

"HarDeeHarHar" wrote in message
.. .
I'm 48, and time to have me som fun...
Been flying as a passenger since I was 8 months, have had 102 flights on
commercial flights that I can recall ...
Have flown Schweizer 232 sailplanes, and Cessna 172's (not take off or
landings.)
Have played with MS Flight Sim since 1995, and probably have logged over
400 hours of flight on that game....

BOOM! Headshot!
Crash Lander

"Jarod (the puppy)" wrote in message
...
"S" == "Sammy" writes:

Yes, I agree.

The thing which would probably be better is to rent.

This way you save on the initial cost, insurance, rego, maintenance
costs amd all the hassels.

As the proverb goes:
"If it floats, flys, of giggles in bed: It is cheaper to rent than
buy."


S 3) I'd disagree with the other poster about putting the money
S towards a plane. Even $33500 won't go far unless you're talking
S ultralight. But what about putting $7500 towards a nice computer,
S projector, yoke and pedals, extra monitors and build a home
S cockpit? Have you looked at the



You can buy a half, third, quarter or even less share in some a/c.
Basically, you and say 3 other people own the plane, and you just work out
between you who can use it when. You all split the insurance and hangar
costs evenly.
Crash Lander