Aviation BS and Photo Thread

Nice! My experience is the cheapest route to PPL was lessons as close together as you can make it...your next lesson usually starts with a quick review of what you learned in the previous lesson, and if you spread them far apart the longer the review...and less time in the hour to learn new stuff. Also, the most expensive part will be your long cross country.

What year 4Runner ?

 

Realistically, what's the longest lesson you can recommend at a shot? I realize that there needs to be time to let things sink in and absorb but I also think that I learn better when I'm not a slave to the clock.

 

I'm not saying stack your lessons back to back to back in one day...i agree digestion is necessary. My cadence was one lesson on a Saturday then another on a Sunday then repeat the cadence the next weekend. It all depends on the lesson as well. Stèep turns, precautionary landings and such are much more tolerable than 60 mins straight of spin recovery...with a cold lol

 

Hope I'm not coming over as preachy in my ramblings! Just wanted to add to my previous blather...

I've seen a whole lot of peeps, a lot, who get 85% through it...then just stop. The reasons are endless and valid. But when you boil it down it comes down to time and money...incompetance doesn't come into play usually cuz they get weeded out very quickly before the big investment is made...usually by themselves. You have to commit to the time it is going to take (let's call it 70 hrs) and the dollars to make it thru those 70 odd hours wet and prolly 35 of which will be plus the wise fellow in the right seat. Surprisingly I've seen the time issue much more prevalent a reason to drop out than the dollar issue. People who want to get into flying know it will be spendy and plan for such. It's much more difficult to budget time ongoing than it is to budget dollars. And that's what I see the most when peeps go $7500 deep on a $10,000 project then shut it down.

I got short on time to commit to the hobby, but that was way after I finished my PPL...its been awhile since I flew left seat. But I still got my PPL.

Don't forget the time commitment when planning your training. And enjoy it! Keep us up to speed Trent

 

That sounds like excellent advice. Also, I think being regular would help the instructor too, since it'll be easier for him to remember what we did and where I am in the stream of things.
My 4Runner is an '04 SR5.

I'll comment here to respond to your other two posts as well. (I'm not too good at the multi-quote thing).

The time commitment thing is a VERY valid point. I can see where you have to be dedicated to it over the long haul. It's easy to say now, but I can see at a point when things get tough, personal commitments get in the way, especially when combined with reaching a plateau on a certain skill, procedure, or maneuver.

I am having to be honest with myself with why I'm doing this though. Forgive me if this comes out as a stream of consciousness. I'm actually still figuring this all out. When I told my wife I had always wanted to fly, it felt more like a pipe dream than anything that would ever be a reality, and now that I've figured out a way to actually DO it, it's both exciting but also a little scary. I say that because, while this has always been a DREAM, I wonder how much I'm actually going to use my license after I get it. I have no career aspirations. I am quite content in my cushy IT job. While I might be able to afford training with some careful shuffling of finances, I'm certainly not in the "owns a plane" tax bracket, so even once I get my license, how often will I use it? Will I be able to afford staying proficient in the long run?

It does seem rather silly to spend all this time and money for, I dunno, bragging rights? Freedom? Personal growth? The ability to do something that only a small percentage of the population can do?

I have plenty of time to ponder these things before I spend another dime, and re-reading what I just typed, yeesh, maybe I should look into doing that.

That said, I'd sure love to save up and get a Cub or Kitfox and live the low and slow life.

 

The goal is your goal brother...mine was...land sea and air. Drivers license, scuba license, pilot license. Conquered all 3, don't think I'm gonna be able to go to space, but nefer know!

PPL does not expire...if you do this, do it all the way. To become proficient again is much cheaper than starting over...

I'm also IT...used to take my customers up for fun flights, and expense the cost of course

 

Being regular, if you can, is the best advise. The further you go in between lessons, the more rust you have to knock off. The more rust you have to knock off, you will just be spinning your wheels catching back up.
I was pretty fortunate back in 1987 when I started down this track (damn makes me feel old). My dad was a very senior captain at DAL and saw this as me perusing my masters and doctorate. I didn’t have the eyesight to get in the military so, he picked up the tab. Now I’m a pretty senior captain at NJA and going to do the same, at least PPL, for my youngest (he wants to be like dad and granddaddy). He, my son, just finished freshman year in college and ranked in the top 5 of his class in AFROTC. That’s his dream and having his PPL and some hours will get him more points toward getting a slot. Here he is on a flight with one of granddaddy’s good friends....

 

Where I learned, time is the main issue. Only so many planes, instructors, and hours in a day. I usually tried to get 4 lessons a week. Rarely did the weather or plane cooperate. I’d say I lost at least 30% of my booked time to weather and another 10% to unscheduled maintenance. Sometimes I had to go 2-3 weeks between lessons.

As far as money, I feel if you can’t commit $10K, wait until you can. Not that you have to have that cash in hand, but you do need to spend that over 6 months or so.

I fly for fun. My goal is 125hrs a year. It is expensive, but I budget for it and don’t spend on much else.

 

Pulled the chute too late?

 

This, along with every other recent post are spot on. I’d recommend training 2-3 days a week. The longer the gaps between your lessons, the more money you will spend in the long run. Also, make sure you budget well enough to allow yourself to finish the training without running out of money. I see people start training with a good chunk of money to pay for the majority of their training and say “I’ll continue saving but I’m going to start now.” Those people usually don’t continue saving as much and run out of money before finishing their training.

We’ve got a lot of knowledgeable people in this thread who have lots of varying backgrounds and we’re all saying the same thing when it comes to training. Save up and knock it out!

 

I don't know, maybe the chute didn't deploy correctly. kinda looked like it was wrapped on the tail. That thing went in like a lawn dart. RIP to the pilot.

 

My neighbor’s BIL pulled the chute on his a few years ago and landed on the road with little damage.
Glad it turned out OK but he passed up a 5,000ft runway in his decent right under him and continued another 8 miles before pulling the chute.
https://www.flyingmag.com/technique/accidents/cirrus-sr22-parachute-deployment-caught-video/

 

yeah, I didn’t ask questions as I didn’t want to appear to be second guessing. He was trying to reach a 6,000ft runway which probably looked like the better option.

 

I remember this! That was during my first semester in Fayetteville.

 

Any landing you can walk away from as they say. I wonder what it cost to recover the aircraft.

 

Sunset over Lake Ontario after a day of trying to punch through shitty weather.

 

Local flyover for beer virus workers. I was only able to hang out for the launch.

https://youtu.be/kF3QCTZIp1Y?t=23

 

Those are some awesome photos.

MERICA