[Our03z4]

So here's the deal. I did enough flights trying to get my private license that I don't feel like I should continue progress (this was a year ago). I was doing fine but wouldn't be surprised if it took me 80 hours. My wife is willing to give it a go instead but I have to give up my new car budget. This is so we could buy a plane when to that point and to do training as fast as they allow. I'm 100% sure she could pass, smartest person I know and has a photographic memory. Also is excellent at using mechanical things and directions. She did the introductory flight and flew with me when I was learning.

The question is. Do you fly enough to justify the time and financial commitment? We primarily just want it for faster travel, it's not uncommon for us to drive 3 hours each way for dinner. A Cessna 172 would be our plane of choice and is what I learned on. Only worry I would have is that we get everything and hardly use it or find it doesn't make sense. Yes, 1st world problems.

Also how well does it work flying into a city and being able to get to where you're going? I guess ride share since many fbo's don't have cars for longer use.

This has always a dream of mine so this is another way I can still keep it. Just don't have the learning ability I use to have due to some things that medically happened. The feeling of being in the sky offers a freedom that is a unexplainable!

Thanks for any advice, I truly appreciate it!

[vreihen16]

Go to your nearest airport and ask what an annual inspection costs on a Cessna 172. If you think that dealership oil changes are expensive, this will give you a different perspective.

There are group/club planes that you can buy a membership in, that will let you fly a shared plane when it is available. Will they let someone join with essentially zero flight hours?

I am not a pilot, but had a few planes in our family over the years that I wisely never flew in. Beat them several times on long trips sanely driving my car, thanks to IFR.....

[E92William]

I'm an airplane mechanic myself and soon will try to get my certification to sign off airplanes and inspect them myself so I can own my own. They're prohibitively expensive given how much of a huge outdated turd most of them are. I'd have to be nuts to get in one of those 172s on a daily basis. But if you got the money and time I guess it's a good way to mess around. That new car budget is gonna go down real quick as you have to pay a mechanic to work on it

[Caduceus]

If you think it's going to save you travel time, you need to work on a much larger scale. If your destination is 3 hours door to door, it will be faster to drive. Unless you live at the airport.

By the time you leave home, park at the local field, do your pre-flight inspection, lodge a flight plan (if required), taxi, fly wherever, land, shutdown then try and get an Uber or whatever to your final destination, you are way behind. Same on the way back plus add refuelling into the equation as well.

On the other hand, if your destination is 3-400 miles away, now you can start to get ahead of the time spent not-actually flying.

There's plenty of good reasons to enjoy private flying but saving travel time over short-medium distances isn't one of them.

[skydiver]

I don't say this trying to be an ass, but, if you're having to give up a new car budget to get the ball rolling for the wife's pilot license, plane ownership is probably not in the cards for you.

[eluded]

Originally Posted by skydiver

I don't say this trying to be an ass, but if you're having to give up a new car budget ....for the wife's pilot license

Happy wife equals happy life.

Can't put a price on happiness. Well maybe you can but that is for another thread.

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by skydiver

I don't say this trying to be an ass, but, if you're having to give up a new car budget to get the ball rolling for the wife's pilot license, plane ownership is probably not in the cards for you.

Well I should add that I just bought another sports car about 6 months ago and this car was going to be an exotic. She has her own hobbies but is willing to do this for me. We have about 40k of spending money this coming year. So maybe it's doable maybe not, love advice on that too. Not looking for anything fancy, just something to get to point a and b.

[Dang3r]

Making a PPL is never the problem, but hold 'em.
If you can't afford it after making, don't do it just to have one. I won't.

[Salty Dog]

my former brother in law had a 172, he flew every weekend to other airfields for pancakes or burgers depending on the distance. He loved owning a plane and flying for fun. He'd usually do one or two longer trips a year as a holiday.

It was expensive. He made a good living and had like zero other overhead and the thing ate up a ton of his cash. He had a single hanger that was like $600 a month, he was meticulous with the maintenance which I completely agree with, I was shocked at how expensive the upkeep is. If you really feel it's something you want to do then go for it, but be prepared to pay. The other thing I'd echo as has already been mentioned for short trips it won't save you any time and will likely cost you time.

[vreihen16]

Longer trips (1,000+ miles) are a 50/50 tossup versus a car driving straight through, since weather usually comes into play for the airplane. The plane passengers' luggage beat them to their destination (1,073 miles away) in my car's trunk more than once.....

[bucketfoot]

My brother-in-law has his own aircraft engine repair business.

He owned his own plane for awhile (Hawk XP 172), yet despite already having the hanger for the business, being able to do all the repairs himself and being able to use it for business purposes he decided it just cost too much. Now he also has easy access to planes when he needs them, but that should still tell you something.

On the plus side, unlike cars, planes hold their value extremely well.

[ASAP]

Fly because you are passionate about it... I have a light sport PPL, also have tons of hours on a 172... however i have not flown for years now... not only do I not have time but it costs a ton of money and time. You really have to be committed to it and truly enjoy it, I see myself getting back to it when i am older, have more free time and far more money.

[dreamingat30fps]

I took lessons for a while. Honestly I never cared for getting my license, I just did it for fun. Plus learned enough that if the shit hit's the fan I can probably fly a Cessna 152 out of the zombie apocalypse.

However I can't imagine it would be much of a time saver for traveling. I mean unless there is a specific destination you go to and there's an airport nearby and you live somewhere with a bunch of traffic. Or maybe if you fly to areas you can't really drive to, like around here some people fly to the Bahamas. Seems to be something you do for fun more than anything.

To me it seems like a lot of trouble and expense to MAYBE save a little bit of time.

Plus the whole wife situtation makes no sense to me. You took classes, you have a bunch of hours in, but yet you say wife should do it instead. If you want the license why wouldn't you just finish it? After all you make it sound like she would do it for you, but doesn't really have much interest in flying.

[Our03z4]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I took lessons for a while. Honestly I never cared for getting my license, I just did it for fun. Plus learned enough that if the shit hit's the fan I can probably fly a Cessna 152 out of the zombie apocalypse.

However I can't imagine it would be much of a time saver for traveling. I mean unless there is a specific destination you go to and there's an airport nearby and you live somewhere with a bunch of traffic. Or maybe if you fly to areas you can't really drive to, like around here some people fly to the Bahamas. Seems to be something you do for fun more than anything.

To me it seems like a lot of trouble and expense to MAYBE save a little bit of time.

Plus the whole wife situtation makes no sense to me. You took classes, you have a bunch of hours in, but yet you say wife should do it instead. If you want the license why wouldn't you just finish it? After all you make it sound like she would do it for you, but doesn't really have much interest in flying.

I have some mental things that I've been dealing with that has slowed learning. I have no doubt it was going to take me 80+ hours to get the license. She would be able to get it in a minimal amount of time. And just so every one is clear, she wasn't making me give up getting another car, it was just budgeted to go towards that and I was thinking about the plane stuff possibly instead. The main reason we wanted it was to save travel time so it sounds like it won't make sense.

Thank you all for the advice! Saved me a ton of time and money, we'll try again when more financially ready.

[MPOWER5266]

I work in the industry and my dad and I have restored a couple of planes over the years. It is a very expensive undertaking. My dad and I used to fly a couple hours away for lunch on weekends, what is commonly referred to as the "$100 hamburger." Now days its about a $300 hamburger. Fuel, parts and maintenance, and staying current are all pretty expensive. I have grown up around airplanes, and I have enough hours right seat to fly for Delta, but I dont have the passion for it actually get my license.

[Rmtt]

I have thought about it...but one of my best friends has his own plane and all I have to do is ask if I want to go somewhere as he's down to go anytime.

I have bought numerous cars that way...him fly me in, me drive it back.

[FuriouslyFast]

Originally Posted by Our03z4

So here's the deal. I did enough flights trying to get my private license that I don't feel like I should continue progress (this was a year ago). I was doing fine but wouldn't be surprised if it took me 80 hours. My wife is willing to give it a go instead but I have to give up my new car budget. This is so we could buy a plane when to that point and to do training as fast as they allow. I'm 100% sure she could pass, smartest person I know and has a photographic memory. Also is excellent at using mechanical things and directions. She did the introductory flight and flew with me when I was learning.

The question is. Do you fly enough to justify the time and financial commitment? We primarily just want it for faster travel, it's not uncommon for us to drive 3 hours each way for dinner. A Cessna 172 would be our plane of choice and is what I learned on. Only worry I would have is that we get everything and hardly use it or find it doesn't make sense. Yes, 1st world problems.

Also how well does it work flying into a city and being able to get to where you're going? I guess ride share since many fbo's don't have cars for longer use.

This has always a dream of mine so this is another way I can still keep it. Just don't have the learning ability I use to have due to some things that medically happened. The feeling of being in the sky offers a freedom that is a unexplainable!

Thanks for any advice, I truly appreciate it!

Rich people problems

[gatorfast]

If you are traveling relatively short distances perhaps a helicopter would be better.

[N54Yankee]

Couple years ago I was pretty interested. Did some research and crunched the numbers and saw I could buy a used Piper for very reasonable number and was all in. So I took lessons and not to long after the novelty wore off and shit canned the idea. Didn’t love it as much as I thought I would and expenses do pile up and had better things to do with the funds. I get it, a lot of people love it but it became boring for me.

[PoorLurker]

What's that saying?

Best days of a plane owners life is the day he buys the plane and the day he sells it

[someguywithanm3]

If it flies, floats or f...s, borrow a friend's.

[dinonz]

Originally Posted by Caduceus

If you think it's going to save you travel time, you need to work on a much larger scale. If your destination is 3 hours door to door, it will be faster to drive. Unless you live at the airport.

By the time you leave home, park at the local field, do your pre-flight inspection, lodge a flight plan (if required), taxi, fly wherever, land, shutdown then try and get an Uber or whatever to your final destination, you are way behind. Same on the way back plus add refuelling into the equation as well.

On the other hand, if your destination is 3-400 miles away, now you can start to get ahead of the time spent not-actually flying.

There's plenty of good reasons to enjoy private flying but saving travel time over short-medium distances isn't one of them.

Indeed - and especially VFR. IFR you have more chance to get where you're going on time despite some bad weather, but there's an old saying I learned when flying in NZ - "If you have time to spare go by air".

If you have deadlines or *have* to be back for work in the morning, drive.