Any pilots here?
I've been following tildes the past couple of weeks, and am really enjoying the friendlier, more thought out discussion, when compared to reddit. The one thing I miss is r/flying, which was a pretty decent community of pilots without too much low-effort content.
I'm curious if any other pilots have migrated here (hobby pilots, or professionals)? Are we anywhere near critical mass to support discussions around it?
To keep this valuable to the community at large, just a bit about flying as a hobby. At-least in the US, we still have one of the most active General Aviation communities in the world. It's a lot more expensive than it used to be, but for around $10k you can earn your Private Pilot rating. With that you can fly to nearly any airport, over nearly any area, see beautiful views, experience all sorts of weather and locations. At that point you're looking at ~$100-200/hr depending where in the US you're located, and what sort of club or rental you use.
It's expensive to be sure, but compared to what people manage to spend on boating, cars, even golfing, it can be fairly reasonable. And it's really a unique experience, if you love it there's nothing like it.
Previous discussions can also be found here.
PPL student here. I also miss /r/flying a lot but I've been using my protest time away to study for my checkride. Currently in that meaty part of the imposter syndrome curve where some days I'll feel like I know everything and others I'll feel like I have no idea what I'm doing.
I had to change flight schools since my previous instructor sent me on my solo cross country flights without a student pilot cert, so they didn't count at all. I love to fly so I don't really mind the practice of doing them again but I'm not looking forward to the bill after going from one of the cheapest clubs in the area to literally the most expensive one.
Don't let the imposter syndrome get you, I feel like everyone experiences it. That sucks regarding the solo XC time. We had an instructor sending students without endorsements. He got in massive trouble, and a couple of students lost some of their logged time.
PPL with ~180 hours. Been rough getting in the air lately between usual being busy and inopportune poor weather. Such an addictive moneypit though.
Been a private pilot for about 25 years. I have my Single Engine Land Commercial license with an Instrument endorsement. My total time is a little over 700 hours. I can say that being a pilot has been consistently one of the most enjoyable (and expensive) things I have done in my life.
I have wanted to fly ever since I was a young boy. When I was 16, my father said he would pay for me to get my license. Being a 16-year-old, I said no. (I was pretty independent-minded.) It took a number of years for me to be in a position to get certified. I just walked into a flight school, said, "I want to become a pilot - where do I start", and the rest is history.
I have had some interesting experiences along the way. Before I started flight school, I worked for an organization called Sky Warriors, based in Atlanta. They flew three Beachcraft T-34 airplanes modified with 300HP engines, 3-blade props, and laser and smoke systems. Customers would come for a day, spend the first few hours getting a briefing, and then they would get in an actual airplane with a safety pilot (almost always current or ex. military), and get in simulated dog fights. I took care of the laser systems (used for detecting "kills"), smoke systems (planes smoked when hit), and video recorders. It was a blast, and I got my Private license and logged about 35 full acrobatic hours in the planes before they had a fatal accident which shut down the business and effectively grounded all T-34 aircraft in the U.S. for a long time - maybe a year.
I travel quite a bit for business, and I have rented and flow planes in many places in the U.S. I have flown in Canada, and in the U.K. (talk about crazy airspace!). I have great memories of flying over the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Niagara Falls and more.
Like any pilot who has a few hours, I have managed to stay alive only through dumb luck in a few cases (stupidity), and I have had a few emergencies (nothing I really considered life-threatening, but things that needed attention now please). I am fortunate enough to be one of the more experienced pilots in a flying club associated with a university, and I just had the great pleasure of taking some new members (not pilots but just joined members of the flying club) up for their first flight. Truly enjoyable.
I have known many military and commercial pilots and more than one of them have said that they wished they had remained private pilots rather than turning it into a career. But this is all I have known, and so I don't have any useful information about what it is like flying for a living except what I have been told. I thought at one time about being a commercial pilot, but life had other plans. Who knows - recently I have been toying with getting my Certified Flight Instructor - Instrument rating so I can teach. We will see.
Happy to answer any questions anyone might have.
I have about ~85 hours as a student. Last summer I was flying a lot. Solo'd, met all my prereqs to take my exam, finished my XC flights.
And then went through a bad break up and a move, that led me to pausing while I pieced my life back together. While training, I was having a difficult time getting a DPE scheduled to take my exam, and my CFI was not being great in helping me along. Honestly, my CFI experience was not great. I honestly felt like he trusted me too much and got complacent with my training. There were things that I was not confident doing, but he would just be like, "You are great, don't worry." Meanwhile another CFI was very critical of my flying. So who knows if I would have passed my exam had I gotten the chance to take it.
Now I am flowing all my money into trying to buy a house later this year so I don't think I will be able to get my PPL for awhile. Maybe next year I can, but it is pretty hard to justify the cost.
Hi! Yes! Just finished my (EASA) PPL here. I don't think we have big enough of a community yet (in the thread linked by mycketforvirrad most people claim to be enthusiasts or sim pilots) to talk about getting quality advice like we used to on Reddit, but I hope that with time we will get there.
Sadly, flying as a hobby is not as popular here as it is in the US with most people seeing general aviation as means to getting through training, then straight to airlines. I would love to visit the US one day just to have a feel of what it's like over there.
I've been an airplane nut since I was knee-high to an oleo strut. I got my SEL many years ago, then two other guys and I bought a Cessna 172. Lots of (mostly) good experiences with that a/c.
I'm still an airplane nut, probably always will be. My favorite a/c are WWII war birds, especially the P-51 Mustang. My bucket list includes a trip to Kissimmee, FL, to ride (and I hope fly) a trainer version of the Mustang.
I hold a PPL with an IR. I'm a few years out of currency though. Just don't have good access to a plane at the moment. I would love to get going again, but family has the priority right now.
UK PPL here - but haven't been doing as much aviation as I'd like recently.
I'm a US Sport Pilot. I haven't flown in over a year due to life stuff, but looking forward to shaking the rust off soon.