How did you start flying ? It is expensive… isn’it ?
I heard this question a gazillion times and then stopped counting, but I’m still happy to answer. Each time someone asks me how and why I started flying is an opportunity to transmit the aviation virus, sorry… passion. Many people think that flying is too expensive and that they can’t afford it. This is why the second question often comes together: it is expensive, isn’t it ?
My answer is always the same: “No, it is not expensive…”, immediately followed by “Well…”. A good argument is to compare with other hobbies. Bowling is not the perfect example but I know people who spend lot of money in skiing, buying and maintaining cars, travels, clothing, shoes, not to mention yachting and so on.
If you’re a long time reader of this blog you know that I live in Germany with my wife and our daughter and that we recently bought a house. The move and the restoration did cost more than my MEP rating. I have no regrets and cope with my status of “pilot flying not so frequently”. Flying on low budget is possible in almost all phases of a pilot’s life and if you don’t think so, read these two posts from Jason on www.m0a.com:
Hobbies are per definition a luxury and I know that some can not afford any. But you don’t need a mountain of money to become a pilot. As Jason wrote, glass-cockpits and powerful engines are cool (they are, indeed) but not they are not a must. I decided to use all of my budget the get an MEP rating even if this means not flying afterward because I wanted to learn something new and I like high-performance, modern planes. Someone else could decide to use the same budget to fly more on a less expensive plane…
These arguments usually reassure those who think their budget is not sufficient. This brings me back to the first point: how did I start flying ? Professionally speaking, I’m a software engineer. By the end of 2000 I joined an ATC related company. Before that I had no idea about ATC, flying, IFR, VFR and light aircraft. Several colleagues were private or even commercial pilots. I heard lots of discussions and even got some internal training about aviation. One of them took place in the theory room of Geneva’s Aero-Club. Slowly but certainly, I got contamined, sorry, passionate about aviation. I know many pilots who dreamt of flying as kids… sorry if you’re disappointed but I’m not one of them.
What about you ?
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
spacefem
You’re not joking. The price question is one of the most common ones I get.
Like you, I worked in the aircraft industry and then decided to fly, partially because it looked like fun, partially to help with my career and industry perspective. What amuses me is how many of my fellow engineers are spending $10-20K or so on executive MBA programs and they’re asking *me* if flying lessons are expensive! Hey, it’s all education. You can spend it on an institution, or you can spend it on engine hours, I think I’m getting way better bang for the buck. I think flying is and will be good for me, not just a hobby but something that really makes me smarter.
May 26th, 2009
Danny V
Oh it’s expensive alright. I’ve already sunk about CAD $10,000 into my private licence and I expect another 5 – 6,000 until I am done.
But when I’m up there, you just can’t put a price on the experience!
May 26th, 2009
pat
I’m one of those who chose to fly more on less expensive aicrafts (USD 90 / hour on a 2 seater tail-dragger).
Of course if I could afford to fly on a Cirrus I’d do it with pleasure, but I have much fun on “my” 49 years old wood and fabric plane.
I discovered aviation only a few years ago, in 2001, when I found the http://www.pilotlist.org site and mailing list. Before that, I considered flying as an expensive thing I could never afford.
Then I started meeting pilots, flying with them, and saving money!
I found out that flying was not an activity for “privileged millionnaires”.
In 2003 I took my first flying lesson and about 3 years later (yes, it was long because of tight budget and frequent business trips), I passed my PPL.
Now I’m a “sunday pilot, and sometimes saturday too”, enjoying each and every flight.
Flying also helped me very much in terms of stress management and self confidence.
May 26th, 2009
Julien
I can only second Pat’s comments about stress management and self-confidence. You learn a lot about yourself going through PPL training. What I love about flying is that it leaves little place to bullshitting skills. You either know how to land the airplane or not. It’s that simple. And you’re on your own.
Whichever way you look at it, it is expensive. There’s no denying that. It’s just that it was too expensive for me in my 20s, and no longer now that I’m in my 30s and a bit better off financially. I agree with Vincent, if you can afford to have a hobby, it’s not that much more expensive than any other hobby once you have your licence. I know people who spend more money on high-end cameras and gaming PCs than I do on renting airplanes. The only expensive thing about aviation is actually renting the airplane
Everything else is pretty much free: flight planning, hangar talks and… blogging about it!
May 26th, 2009
eric robertson
Now that I am entering the final phase of my training and looking back, I have this momentary sinking feeling. It takes 175 hours to do any volunteer work as PIC. That is my goal. I only have about 15 hours PIC now. So, at $100 an hour, that is $16,000 USD to reach my goal, not including insurance and the costs to get to the airport and back. Even if I share the cost, I am still looking at $8000. I love flying, but what am I getting myself into?
May 26th, 2009
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