Lee A Carney

As some of you know, I left my job last month to take the summer off and spend some time figuring out what I want to do when I grow up. I'm 37, and the happy convergence of financial circumstances and spousal encouragement that are allowing me to do this don't come along very often, I figured, so why not do it when I can?

I've been thinking about what I enjoy most about working. I've always looked for jobs that give me the opportunity to travel, but lately I've realized that I really hate travelling on business, but that I love to fly.

Since I have the summer available, I decided to cut out the middleman, fulfill a lifelong dream, and learn to fly. I investigated local flight schools, chose one, and have been taking flying lessons for about 3 weeks now. I've found a great instructor with whom I'm flying 3 days a week, and I hope to be able to earn my PPL by the end of the summer. Ambitious, I know, but it's good to have high aspirations! I just wish the Cessna 172 was as easy to fly as the A320 sim at the YVR DO...

So, I'm curious: how many other FT'ers in Canada are also licenced private pilots? Were you a frequent flyer on a commercial airline before you learned to fly, and if so, did it change your enjoyment of and/or perception of flying commercial?

BTW, a FlyerTalk Fly-In seems like a great thing to plan in conjunction with a future AC DO...

acysb87

Very good stuff!!! ^
I always wanted to earn a private pilots license.My job has not allowed me the time to do this.I did encourage my son to learn when he expressed an interest.He has his commercial license and is now seeking to interview with Nav Canada as an air traffic controller(jobs are tough to find as a young pilot with few hours......and a girlfriend )

Congratulations on working towards your goal ,Lee.

airbus320

Lee: Go for your dream....and congratulations.

Trent

I obtained my gliding licence at 16 and PPL at 18. Taught gliding with the Air Cadets for four summers during university. I have about 500 hours now.

Always been a passion of mine, not looking to make a living at it as the pay is quite poor at the lower end.

taupo

Lee,

Your thread timing is perfect for me. I have been thinking about the same topic a lot lately.

I worked part time in aerial spraying and top dressing in NZ during my youth, as the loader not the pilot, but caught the flying bug. Ihave a brother who is a chopper pilot and have flown with him lots. When I moved to BC in 1988, I enrolled in flying school, but quickly got bored of flying circuits around controlled airspace which had an airport with ashphalt and rules and I was young single and better things to do then concentrate on flying, so I quit. If you have ever flown agriculturally in NZ, their are no rules, except survival.

Not completing my PPL is the only "unfinished business" I feel I have in my otherwise complete life. I have spent some in the last few months reading about private flying, looking at different a/c and flying schools. I looked at one at Boundary Bay as well. I am likely 9 months away from enrolling.

I will be very interested to hear how you are progressing, and would be keen to meet up with you some time.

Kibison

Solo'd on my 16th birthday. Had to wait until I was 17 before the FAA would give me a license. Never really enjoyed it much. Got about 200 hours then stopped flying.

Then I found hang gliding. Got over 150 soaring hours then had to quit when I moved away from Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

parnel

A FT fly in DO would be great............the fly out might take a few days to get the alcohol out of some systems.

Maybe you can follow MTacchi and become a contract pilot seeing the world from 35,000 feet up.

SCMM

Back in my youth I got about half-way (25 hours) through the PPL. I was a student at the time in London and I ran out of money before I could finish. I had to start proper work soon after, and never did get back to it.

superdawg

I got mine back in 1994 but eye surgery and a change in plan with schooling has meant I haven't flown a Cessna since then.

Old Flyer

Trained as an RCAF pilot in my University summers and picked up my PPL in Winterpeg in '55. Flew (old) Harvards, T-birds, Clunks (CF-100's) and C45's. Received my wings in Gimli in '57, instrument ticket in Saskatoon in '58.

airbus320

Wow...you flew classic aircraft. ^

The C-45...the old bug smasher!!!!

canuck_in_pa

Got my PPL at 18. My CPL/CFI/multi/IFR at 19. First time I flew as a passenger on an airliner I was 21 :-)

I haven't worked as a CPL for 7 years now. The guy who replaced me when I went to college got killed in a crash. I went to his funeral, renewed my instructor rating 2 days later, and that's been about it. I had 760 hours.

(I did have to make 1 flight as PIC 2 years ago to keep my Canadian license valid. I didn't even go out of the pattern)

Old Flyer

We flew Expeditors out of Winterpeg with Nav. students in the rear. There was a lot of honking back there as the summer thermals produced turbulance. They were tricky aircraft to land; almost always had at least one bounce.

tracon

Lee, just curious which school are you training with?

I've got over 3100 hours and an ATR. I no longer fly for a living but still work in the aviation industry. I bought an airplane a couple years ago. It is leased to a local flying school and I use it on occasion for pleasure...such as this past weekends trip to Salmon Arm.
A FT fly in sounds like a great idea to me.
I started flying when I was to young to be a frequent flyer. I did achieve some sort of status when I was 16 with Canadian. I had no idea what most of it meant so I never took advantage of it.

Lee A Carney

Thanks, everyone, for the congratulations and for your histories. All very interesting. Hopefully one day I'll have similar stories to tell. Who knows, one day perhaps I'll be the guy in the cockpit of the 767-200 you're fuming about.

I'm training with ProIFR at Boundry Bay.

Actually, I did talk to MTacchi about turning flying into a career. He's been a big help, even sending me some of his old equipment to keep my costs down. ^

Well, I now have a grand total of 4.1 hours in the air under my belt.. Earlier today we completed slow flight (which feels *really* strange) and my next lesson is entering and recovering from stalls. I'm a little apprehensive about that, but I guess you aren't really supposed to ever enjoy stalls, are you? Better to have a few under my belt, and learn how to recover from them, when there's an instructor beside me to bail me out if I get into trouble.

I've been trying to do my ground school at home (Boundry Bay is about 30 minutes away, 60 at rush hour, and ProIFR's hours for ground school make it very very difficult for me to get there). I've been , and have been struggling with this, as I'm a very visual learner. I need someone to show me and tell me to fully understand something, not just read about it. I've ordered the PPL Ground School DVD course from Sportys in the US, hoping that using that material will help. If not, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and find a way to make the classes at YZBB.

Right now, it feels like I'm drinking from a fire hose. There is just so much to learn, and so much to do, and it seems like everythign happens so fast in the cockpit. I'm sure that as I gain skill and confidence, things will "slow down" a bit, but it sure seems overwhelming right now. Learning how to physically control the aircraft seems like it's almost the easy part. It's all the other stuff you have to do at the same time (checking for traffic, completing checklists, navigating, keeping an eye on the weather, ATC communications, etc) that causes the sense of not being in control of the situation. I know fully understand why flight schools offer courses in Crew/Cockpit Resource Management.

It is, however, still amazing fun. I made a perfect landing yesterday in a 10 knot crosswind and it felt great. I was mostly lucky, but what the hell!

BTW, is it true that there is a certain "ritual" performed on the student pilot after his/her first solo?