Originally Posted by
bchandler02
Not sure where it'd fit, but I would be interested in a separate thread just to document your journey. I've always been curious about this.
I'm normally a rather private person, but I do feel strongly that anyone with even the slightest hint of wanting to fly should at least try a discovery flight. If you can think of the right place to post it, I'll do it.
There isn't a better time than now to learn how to fly. The USA has the lowest costs to learn how to fly compared to other countries, so much that Florida alone accounts for 20%+ of the *world's* flight training. That doesn't include AZ/NV/TX/CA, which also have numerous flight schools. These schools have many (mostly?) foreign students. Due to COVID, these schools/CFIs are desperate for business. Similarly, AVGAS prices are at an all-time low. There's a ton of availability for rental aircraft. Honestly, there hasn't been a better time to do this.
Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
I went to flying camp when I was a kid, and flew with a friend from Chicago to Champaign several years ago after he got his license. It's a lot of fun but flying those little planes is also a lot of work! You've got to constantly scan around for traffic, adjust course as the wind continually blows you off course, check a rotating range of instruments...it's really tiring! But fun.
A LOT has changed since then. Practically-speaking, ADS-B-out is required to fly in most of the USA now. This means every plane, not just the airlines, is pinging away it's altitude, heading, and speed every few seconds. Anyone with a tablet & Raspberry Pi can receive these, along with weather radar in the cockpit and see them on a moving map display. You still need to be looking around, but it's a nice second set of eyes. GPS makes a huge difference too. And, I'm much more confident in the other pilots than I am the drivers around Florida. I'm not entirely sure why, but the skills of Florida drivers have been absolutely terrible this year.