Buying/owning a plane?

[Lakenut]

Local flight schools usually offer introductory first flights for around $100. Go get your feet wet and ask the experts.

Generally single engine g/a aircraft (c-172, cherokees, ect) will burn 7-10 gal per hour. 100LL is going for $6.50 a gal. Avgas pricing is no different than the 7-11 down the street-the price follows the cost of oil. Flying isn’t a hobby where you can fly then not touch the controls for months and expect to keep sharp skills. You will need to fly X number of hours each month to stay proficient and safe.

The $65/hr fuel bill is only where the fun starts. Insurance, storage, maintenance, annual inspections all have to be figured into the cost per hour. So do engine overhaul costs.

Not to discourage you…. General aviation is a blast! However, we don’t know your income and life situation. Go do an introductory flight. Seriously. The instructor will love to talk to you and answer your question and you get your feet wet.

Keep us posted!

 

[Hodrod]

My father was in the army air corp in WW11.....he's favorite hobby was flying....he purchased his first plane when I was around 5 or 6 years old....I was the only member of our family that didn't get air sick so I got a lot of time flying with him....its some of my best memories of our time together.....over the years he owned 4 cessna aircraft (a 150,172,175,177) , a piper cub and a stitts acrobatic.....(a stitts not a pitts) ....when I was 16 years old I started taking flying lessons and did my first solo flight later that year...I've never owned a plane but remember dad saying it was an expensive hobby. You had insurance, the yearly annual, hanger rental, repairs from time to time and every once and a while he had to get a major overhaul on an engine which was the biggest cost next to the purchase of the plane. Flying is one of the best hobbies that I can think of....

 

[Snattlerake]

Letmetellyou it is not just about learning to fly a particular device that happens to fly in the air when all the thrust vs weight vs lift vs drag parameters are met.

It is about the FAA and laws and charts and regulations and inspections every year that almost take your plane apart and put it back together again.

It is about insurance, hanger rental, Landing fees, fuel fees, contracts, and agreements. It's about radios and nav aids and weather radar and NOTAMS and and A&P mechanics doing their jobs correctly.

It is about learning to navigate the airports correctly where and when to go and not to go. Knowing the limitations of your aircraft and the capabilities of your aircraft.

Can you read this?

 

[HillsideDesolate]

There are a whole series of backcountry air strips out west, its the only way to access areas in the cascades, Rockies and sierras other than a multi day hike in. Not to mention Alaska. Plane camping is a thing. I don't know too much about flying, but my ex got her piolet licence and she's a dumbass, so it can't be that hard.

https://disciplesofflight.com/backcountry-flying-airstrip-etiquette-safety-info/

 

[dennishoddy]

Kinda what my thought was. I don't know how to ride a motorcycle, and I don't know how to fly a plane. I can operate just about anything else though. Have a few buddies that are pilots. Figure I should try out both. I also like to set lofty goals for me to achieve. Helps me stay focused. I figure I can get a motorcycle and use it as a fair weather commuter for school, and eventually when we sell this house and buy the land/shop/house we want, I could start working towards the plane idea. I just want to make sure its gonna be everything I think it might be, before I spend a few years planning and dreaming about it.

You don't need a pilot's license to fly a home built ultralight unless the regs have changed in the last few years. A co-worker back about 10 years ago built his own plane and flew it to Oshkosh Mi. from Ponca City for the big fly in. He used a handheld gps and mapped his route for 300 mile stops for refueling.

 

[Snattlerake]

I was actually taken up in the last Cesna 172 ever built and I got to fly it. The pilot was the owner and also owned the first Cessna 172 ever built. After we took off he said, "Put your feet on those pedals and your hands on the yoke and don't do anything, just follow what I am doing."

OK!

Then he took a hand off of the yoke and started to point out things... "This is the artificial horizon, this is your airspeed, this is your engine RPM, this is your throttle..."

Yeah, yeah, ok!

Then the other hand came off and he continued, This is the radio and the frequency we were using to talk to the tower and the flaps and the trim wheel and the ... "

Holy *** I'm flying the plane!

He actually let me control the plane for a while showing me a 3 degree turn where we didn't lose altitude. About an hour later, I got to be pretty good on the turns but he wouldn't let me land it.

 

[hipshot]

I was actually taken up in the last Cesna 172 ever built and I got to fly it. The pilot was the owner and also owned the first Cessna 172 ever built. After we took off he said, "Put your feet on those pedals and your hands on the yoke and don't do anything, just follow what I am doing."

OK!

Then he took a hand off of the yoke and started to point out things... "This is the artificial horizon, this is your airspeed, this is your engine RPM, this is your throttle..."

Yeah, yeah, ok!

Then the other hand came off and he continued, This is the radio and the frequency we were using to talk to the tower and the flaps and the trim wheel and the ... "

Holy *** I'm flying the plane!

He actually let me control the plane for a while showing me a 3 degree turn where we didn't lose altitude. About an hour later, I got to be pretty good on the turns but he wouldn't let me land it.

I took my grandson up in a discovery flight, 149.00 cash and priceless memories !
I was flying the plane by myself after I took the first pic

 

[KOPBET]

Can you read this?

View attachment 362923

Looks a lot like my avatar! lol

 

[Lee Beaittie]

Letmetellyou it is not just about learning to fly a particular device that happens to fly in the air when all the thrust vs weight vs lift vs drag parameters are met.

It is about the FAA and laws and charts and regulations and inspections every year that almost take your plane apart and put it back together again.

It is about insurance, hanger rental, Landing fees, fuel fees, contracts, and agreements. It's about radios and nav aids and weather radar and NOTAMS and and A&P mechanics doing their jobs correctly.

It is about learning to navigate the airports correctly where and when to go and not to go. Knowing the limitations of your aircraft and the capabilities of your aircraft.

Can you read this?

View attachment 362923

Ours are on toughpads(its like an industrial iPad), no more paper charts

 

[Shadowrider]

I have a friend that's a commercial pilot. He bought a old V tail Bonanza and was using it to commute to work. He was working out of Denver flying for United, but lives in Tuttle. I can't imagine just doing it on your own these days. He flew pipeline patrol and got a ton of hours, that paved the way to all of his commercial certs.

My daughter is a flight nurse and is now being trained to help the pilot with flying the aircraft. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. I just wish my dad was alive to see her now. He got a bit of stick time in UH-1 gunships and he'd be proud as hell.