Took my discovery flight after 5 years of wanting to start... at an impasse

Posted by Winter-Caterpillar21@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 38 comments

It was top 3 coolest experience of my life. the cost is not a huge deal to me. in total im looking at 11-13k for my PPL

Im just a little sad about what follows, which is the price to continue flying.

originally I want to get my PPL to fly my mom and family around America, but no matter how I look at it, it will always be more expensive than flying commercial.

Not really sure if it's still worth the investment. renting a 172 is $500/day (3hrs wet with fuel)

Anyone here can try and convince me that the PPL is worth what I am looking to do with it?

Thank you

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autonym@reddit

If a commercial route is available, flying commercially will be cheaper, safer, more reliable, and more comfortable. Flying in a small plane may be more fun, if you like that sort of thing.

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Hemmschwelle@reddit

The probability that your parents and family will want to fly more than 30 minutes a year in a small airplane with you is relatively small.

I love piloting small aircraft, but I absolutely hate being a passenger. The passenger experience is not great. Many people get more or less motion sick. It is boring. There's no toilet.

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Hobby crafts are almost always more expensive than their commercial counterpart. Quality also goes down and so does output. Which for you means more dangerous and more expensive, believe me if amazon could mass produce general aviation they would. You fly because you love it, not because it’s cheap. My suggestion is joining a club or looking for joint ownership of an aircraft. That’ll be your “cheapest” routes. Especially the club thing if you plan on flying a good amount.

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meekle@reddit

GA has never been about saving money or even time compared to flying commercially in most cases, just like how taking the public bus or train will almost always be cheaper compared to owning or renting a personal car.

Compared to GA, commercial aviation has vastly different economies of scale and reliability that will get you there cheaper, faster, and more consistently (especially weather-wise) in almost every case. And with GA you always have to be willing to cancel a trip if conditions become unsafe. That said, GA does opens up a whole new world with the freedom to visit places you would never otherwise see traveling only commercial. The main reason we fly ourselves is we love that sense of freedom it provides and also enjoy the technical process of flying itself.

Pursue the PPL only if you actually enjoy the act of being an aviator. Sounds like you've been bitten by the aviation bug with your discovery flights, and if you're like us then the experience alone makes it worth the cost. Have fun!

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nyc2pit@reddit

What sold my wife when the kids were young was how much more stuff she could take that we could never take commercially.

We now have three kids in the Saratoga, we have packing down to a science, and unless we're going across the country we're taking our plane.

It's awesome.

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uncollected_funds@reddit

Unless you’re training to fly professionally, it will never make sense financially. It just makes sense if you love to fly. Just staying proficient is expensive. But if you have the money, the desire and the time, there are some great experiences to be had flying into small general aviation fields across the country.

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MoreSpoiler@reddit

Depends

One spot I could for 5GPH of mo gas, 25min, vs 3hr car drive

Time is the most expensive thing ya got

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countextreme@reddit

Until you get to the airport, the METAR has turned sour and you sit there at the airport going "maybe if we wait another 30 minutes it will clear up" all day.

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nyc2pit@reddit

Yeah this happens. Get your Instrument and it opens up a lot more doors.

My wife understands this and is cool about it. Sometimes schedule changes. Sometimes we leave earlier. Sometimes we divert and sleep somewhere else.... Whatever. It's all part of the adventure.

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MoreSpoiler@reddit

Weather ain’t always on schedule

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I-r0ck@reddit

If you’re getting your license to save money or time, you’ll never come out ahead. If you’re getting it to have fun while traveling the it’s worth it. I take my family flying when I can to visit relatives and even though it would be cheaper and just as fast to drive; it’s a whole lot more fun

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nyc2pit@reddit

We fly NE to FL Keys yearly and I can promise you it is neither "just as fast" nor demonstrably less expensive to fly a family of 5 commercial.

Add in the fact that we take whatever we want (that fits in W&B) including things we could never take commercially, we leave when we want, we stop along the way to see interesting things....

Benefits outweigh costs IMO.

I bought a plane (with a partner) to avoid the "per day" fees....might or might not make absolute financial sense but I've been happy.

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nem636@reddit

Flying is an amazing experience. If you find it meaningful and enjoyable that is all of the excuse you need. Don't think about the long term expense or long term purpose. At the end of the day, you will spend your money on something. You may as well fly. No need to justify it as more than simple enjoyment. If along the way you get to come up with some reasonably justifiable excuses to get more seat time, good for you.

TLDR. Having an av-gas addiction is okay. 👍

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RogLatimer118@reddit

Jetski is also more than a cruise ship. Which one is more fun?

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cmnt777@reddit

Inner tube, is the ultimate experience for me!

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ShelbyDriver@reddit

Commercial is always cheaper, faster, and more reliable; but never as much fun.

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JustAnotherDude1990@reddit

$15k+ is a more realistic starting price for it

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Ok-Selection4206@reddit

Its like owning a horse, 99% of the time it's just eating and craping and costing you money. Or a boat or camper. It's always cheaper to rent. Owning an airplane lets you jump in on any nice day whenever you want and go wherever. Its also nice to skip the commercial flying hassle and big airports.

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nolaflygirl@reddit

After u get your PPL, join a Civil Air Patrol wing/unit. Their 172s are much cheaper. Plus, u can fly missions for them & get free time. Also look for a flying club which should be an economical way to fly.

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ltcterry@reddit

If long cross country travel is the goal, then Private isn’t going to cut it. “Time to spare? Go by air.”

Fly has always been expensive. Too often people focus on the cost to become a Private Pilot and ignore to future cost of being a Pilot who actually flies.

I flew 20-30 hours a year for the first 30 years of being a Pilot. Renting a nice 172 that’s $6000/yr “forever.”

In those years I got an instrument rating, multi engine rating, progressed to glider instructor, and one day had a chance to start a new career flying.

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80KnotsV1Rotate@reddit

Private flying is never going to be more affordable than commercial flights. Maybe local hops in and around your immediate vicinity, but if you’re talking literal cross countries it’ll never make sense.

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MoreSpoiler@reddit

Depends what’s your dignity worth?

Being in the back of a pressurized septic tube filled with folks who never learned to cover the mouth when they cough, feral children, getting molested by the Smurfs, if you have the means just say no

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80KnotsV1Rotate@reddit

lol ok bro. We get it public transit must be beneath you. Enjoy the overnight rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong route.

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MoreSpoiler@reddit

Dude I haven’t been there in a looooong time

And it ain’t beneath me, I just like to avoid it

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Amazing-Chemist-5490@reddit

Do sport pilot. Half the cost half the time

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MoreSpoiler@reddit

Real world it’s not

Especially if he’s smart, as a CFI make it clear to folks looking at going sport, they are also getting instrument and night training, because Murphy doesn’t care about your “limitations”

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Cherokee260@reddit

“I want to fly my mom and family around America”

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MoreSpoiler@reddit

Are you someone who can work on stuff and doesn’t mind some grease?

Consider buying PA24, LNC2, witman w8, Viking, or cruise master.

Make sure it can burn mogas, get a relationship with some local IAs.

I couldn’t imagine not owning my own aircraft

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bottomfeeder52@reddit

what were the other cool experiences that topped it?

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m4a785m@reddit

Keep in mind that those are usually estimates for bare minimum requirements and maybe 1/2 extra lessons. So expect to spend more (as most people do) for extra training and lessons.

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K2Nomad@reddit

$13k would be a really low price for a PPL.

It will likely take more hours than you think it will. More hours mean more expensive.

See if there are flying clubs in your area. That is often the cheapest way to fly once you have your ppl and some even allow you a more cost effective way to get your ppl.

It is up to you to decide if it is worth it for you. I’m so glad I followed my dream to get into GA flying. The experiences I’ve had are priceless to me, but I had a large financial buffer when I started training so I was never stressed about money.

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ATrainDerailReturns@reddit

The PPL is worth it for freedom and direct arrival

Instead of flying to the nearest major city and driving to an actual destination a PPL can usually fly closer to the actual ultimate destination and often get a free crew car

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fly4fun2014@reddit

You don't get PPL for the sake of saving money. The end goal is to get your own airplane and go drill holes in the sky for no better reason than doing it!

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Cherokee260@reddit

The end goal isn’t always ownership though, a lot of people are happy with flying clubs due to the much lower prices. If you get in with the right place you can get a lot of freedom for way less stress and dinero.

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mad_catters@reddit

This is an issue of scale. Pretend its a sports car for a second.

Totally impractical, you don't drive it to the grocery or your doctors appointment, but you go for weekend drives and its a lot of fun on nice weather days, cruising around with the windows down. You're still dreaming about driving across the country some day, but its a big trip that requires a lot of planning, so you're just driving around on weekends with the family. You're trying new things and getting your feet wet.

Now whats cooler than a sports car? Lets go take an airplane out for a spin! Maybe take the family out for dinner somewhere, go fly to a weekend get away, join a flying club. Just the same, you want to fly across the country someday but for now you're happy flying around on weekends and building confidence and expierence.

It's all impractical and expensive, there are more efficient and cost effective ways to do it. But people still buy sports cars over minivans.

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Im just a little sad about what follows, which is the price to continue flying.

originally I want to get my PPL to fly my mom and family around America, but no matter how I look at it, it will always be more expensive than flying commercial.

Not really sure if it's still worth the investment. renting a 172 is $500/day (3hrs wet with fuel)

Anyone here can try and convince me that the PPL is worth what I am looking to do with it?

Thank you

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