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Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

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Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#151

Post by rodgerd »

moron4hire wrote: post #59
rodgerd wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting into a car which may or may not be well-maintained[1] with a driver whose competence I know nothing about is disturbing enough. Getting into a plane (where the failure mode on shoddy maintenance is falling out of the sky) with an unknown pilot seems like a very courageous move. In the Yes, Prime Minister sense. [1] I once had a boss that picked up $200 cars. He asked me to move it out of the company car park…

except they hand out driver's licenses like candy, but pilot's licenses take quite a bit of training. also, the vehicle inspections are much more stringent.

> also, the vehicle inspections are much more stringent.

Poor maintenance (including running out of fuel) is one of the biggest factors in GA crashes.

Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#153

Post by lutorm »

jokoon wrote: post #103

still wondering if today you can build a cheap airplane that just burns less fuel...

Building your own airplane is possible and actually quite common. There are kits for anything from one-seaters with open cockpit to pressurized turboprops.

http://eaa.org/homebuilders/

Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#154

Post by lutorm »

mcdougle wrote: post #111

I've been toying with the idea of getting my pilot's license (eventually) partially for the sake of avoiding the TSA when I actually have to travel. What I'm curious about is how difficult/expensive it is to rent a plane that can fly further than stated in the article? (say, TX to CA, for instance) I imagine it wouldn't make much sense to buy a huge cross-country jet for the occasional long trips, although I am kind…

I think renting such a plane would be difficult, but there are home-built airplanes with ranges over 1000 miles. You need a big bladder to go that far, though...

Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#155

Post by lutorm »

rsync wrote: post #96

Here's a question: Tell me about single engine (what you appear to have) vs. multi engine (twin, I guess) ? Should I be thinking about redundancy in plane engines the same way I think about redundancy in ... say ... kidneys ? It seems to me that I would really, really want a twin engined plane... edit: I found this [1] but I'm not sure I buy it. I am all about simplicity in systems, but redundancy in a critical compo…

Think about it this way: have you ever had your car engine die on the road? For the vast majority of people, this just doesn't happen, even though people spend much, much more time driving than they would flying. Modern engines are remarkably reliable. And if it does quit, you can glide the plane to a forced landing.

Long flights over water, mountains, or in poor visibility is a different matter.

Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#156

Post by lutorm »

maxcan wrote: post #113
rsync wrote: post #96

Here's a question: Tell me about single engine (what you appear to have) vs. multi engine (twin, I guess) ? Should I be thinking about redundancy in plane engines the same way I think about redundancy in ... say ... kidneys ? It seems to me that I would really, really want a twin engined plane... edit: I found this [1] but I'm not sure I buy it. I am all about simplicity in systems, but redundancy in a critical compo…

I think in the past, aircraft engines were relatively unreliable and would often quit midair for reasons other than fuel starvation so there'd be some chance of the other engine saving you. Now, however, almost all engine failures are the result of fuel starvation and two engines will die just as quick sans fuel as one so the added complexity isn't quite worth it, from a safety perspective for piston powered aircraft…

Why do you say the turbine situation is completely different? Turbine engines are if anything more reliable than piston ones.

Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#157

Post by lutorm »

jrs235 wrote: post #108

For those wondering how much it costs to get your private pilot's license... You'll need to study and pass a written examine so you'll have to either purchase self-study books or take a ground school class. (This is relatively cheap, a few hundred dollars.) You need to log 40 hours of flight training time. Depending on locale, anticipate paying $100-$150 per hour for a flight instructor and $100-$150 per hour for pla…

It's not quite that bad as quite a lot of those 40h will be flying solo.

Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#158

Post by miahi »

The_Fox wrote: post #134
lutusp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A reasonable number, but many of them were stunt pilots -- or thought they were stunt pilots. I didn't mean to create a false impression. Also remember I mentioned that was a 12-year period.

That reminds me of something I heard once- "there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots."

And then, there's Jurgis Kairys[1] doing things like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWaSgofuD6g at 60.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurgis_Kairys

Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#159

Post by jcoby »

smackfu wrote: post #146
jcoby wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The private pilot is a dying breed. Skyrocketing costs make it all but impossible for most people to get into. Even getting your private pilot's license often costs $8k-$10k. And then you are looking at $150/hr to fly a 20-30 year old C172. These skyrocketing costs make it so the fleet ages and becomes less reliable. So people get out. Or they die because they can't fly enough to get experience or the aircraft has a…

Most people I know who've done it are older and need a hobby and have spare money when their kids are gone and mortgage is paid off.

True. Or they bought the plane 20+ years ago and still own it.

When I go to EAA meetings I'm the youngest by 15-20 years and I'm in my 30s. I don't think I've ever seen a privately owned certified plane that was newer than 25 years old.

It's all around a bad situation for general aviation.

Re: Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane

#160

Post by lutorm »

jeiting wrote: post #16
DanielleMolloy wrote: post #14

There are a couple of websites for airplane pooling around: http://www.skypool.com/ Like ridesharing / carpooling, just with airplanes. They are clearly not as successful as the car variant, but when flight destinations / times match they might offer a little adventure on the route (and one could avoid some of the traffic jams around the Bay Area).

There are a lot of legal land mines with operations like this. The FAA separates flight operations along a couple of subtle lines that make the difference between a commercial and private operation. As soon as a private pilot says to the general public "I am flying from here to there on this day and it will cost this much to come." you are now "holding out" as the FAA puts it. This requires you to be a commercial pil…

Is that true even if the passengers don't pay more than their fair share of the operating costs?

One instance I can think of are the EAA "young eagle" flights where kids can come to the airport and get a flight with a pilot. Those are definitely advertised, but since they aren't done for profit, my impression was that they are clearly part 91. (I don't know if those flights are completely free, though.)

EDIT: nm, saw the post above about "common purpose" rule.

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