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I'm considering going back to school on a student loan. Maybe I'll be able to work towards a commercial or instructor licence.
I went for an introductory flight today in a small 4 seater single engine plane. WOW, what a very interesting experience! There were storm clouds coming in, boy what an effect they have on the flight!
I'll try it again tomorrow with my wife and son in tow, see if they like it. :)
"I'm learnin' to fly,
But I ain't got wings." Tom Petty
Go for it!
It was in a Cessna 172R. 4 seat, single engine airplane.
Obligatory pics:
Taking off was the COOLEST part as I pulled the nose up and saw the sky, seeing the earth fall away from me and feeling the sensation that it was all responding to what I was doing with my hands.
We flew at about 3000 feet doing about 100 knots for about half an hour. There were storm clouds and the pressure changes would drop or lift the plane by about 600 feet. It was very surprising to feel the effects of the air pressure so vividly!
Landing? That felt so freaky like I was being pulled out of the seat (of course there are seat belts). It felt kind of like the down slope of a roller coaster.
It's not like driving a car at all! This takes so much more mental activity to be aware of so many things!
Like "military" and "intelligence" or "diet" and "ice cream"....."stalling" an airplane isn't something I'm anywhere near ready for! (yes I think I understand what is meant in this case, "stalling" = the disruption of sufficient volumes of smooth airflow over the wings and the subsequent disruption of lift, due to any number of causes).
I went for a second flight today and I brought my young son and wife along too. My wife has never ever flown in her life, not even as a passenger.
She went on her own introductory flight and she got to take the controls for a while. You should have seen the grin on her face when she came inside! She was still yammering about the experience well towards bed time!
My instructor today was a different one and he was way too uptight. I didn't like flying with him, he was something of a control freak for an instructor.
My next step is to try to get as much information from other sources, to see what the job market for commercial rated (or better still, instruction rated) pilots would be like here in Canada.
The last thing I want to repeat.......going into heavy student debt while the aviation career path takes some unexpected nosedive along the same lines that electronics engineering has in this day of nearly disposable high technology. I can't afford any more mistakes like I did when I chose electronics as a career!
Even if I get decent paying, somewhat steady work as an instructor, that's still fine and plenty!
But for family reasons I have to stay mostly in the southern Ontario region. I can venture for a while to the north.
Right now I need reasonably accurate career path information on this, information that applies to my area. And the instructors when I ask about this are not seeming to be as clear as my understanding might like it to be. Perhaps it's my frame of reference that is lacking?
From what I've been hearing I think the career of a pilot might take me more along the lines of a contractor.....at least for a while. If that is true, then I might have some doubts.
But it is not sensible to judge anything without accurate information. So I'll keep seeking.
I had an old C172 (1958) for years. I miss it. It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
But in the 172, just give it full throttle and off it goes.
Cut the throttle and it lands - well, it comes down anyway. Landing where and when you want it to is probably half what your training will be about.
Stalls? Stalls are fun. But get stalls in cars out of your head. Totally different thing. Has nothing to do with the engine, just about lift and drag. But if you can't, remember that without the engine running, every plane just becomes a glider. And that is not as bad as you think.
