d&tm writes:

I think you have a very distorted understanding of how much time and money
it takes. I like many "weekend warriors" have a PPL and fly about 50 hours
per year. Hardly a huge time committment.

Five thousand dollars for fifty hours? A hundred dollars per hour? It seems
to me a lot more economical to fly a sim for essentially zero dollars for as
many hours as I have free time. Sure, a real aircraft is _real_, but you have
to draw a line somewhere. Would you rather have 50 real hours than 500
simulated? How about 1 real hour versus 1000 simulated? At some points, the
sim becomes more cost-effective. I suppose the threshold varies depending on
exactly what you get out of flying. If most of what you enjoy is provided in
simulation as well as real life, there's not much reason to fly for real. If
you really must have things that come only with real flight (or only with very
expensive simulators), then I suppose you have to settle for the occasional
hour or two of flight in a real aircraft.

I am also married with 2 kids and
have a responsible job as an industrial chemist, hardly the most highly paid
occupation. And no my kids dont suffer as a result of me spending 50 hours
away flying.

If you have enough income to blow $5000 a year just on 50 hours of flight,
you're doing very well.

In fact I think I set them a good example to go out and chase
their dreams instead of being like most people who waste their lives making
excuses for all the things they wanted to do.

Chasing one's dreams is a good idea, but you still have to think about the
return on investment.

There are many ways to make money, if you have the right attitude. I am no
expert on France but you supposedly came from the USA, the land of
opportunity where anyone can get rich. Not that you have to be especially
rich to fly a single engine plane. To fly 50 hours per year , it cost me
about $5000 US. Why did you move to France if you have to live such a
miserable existance there?

Paris is actually a very nice city in which to live. The _only_ disadvantage
is the cost of living, and it's not the most expensive major city in the
world. But when you have nothing, the COL obstacle is significant. If you
have money, I'd say there are few better cities in which to live in the world.

I dont expect anything of other people. I just think you are making pretty
lame excuses for not getting off your butt and having a go. you are trying
to justify that lame attitude by telling us how difficult it is.

The price is too high. People here are saying that if I'm not willing to cut
off an arm to pay for flying, I'm not serious about it. That's completely
untrue. I just can't afford to dedicate such resources to it, and even if I
could, I do have a life outside of aviation, and spending every spare minute
and dime on flying would be a bit lopsided.

Defeatist attitude. Why not just spill your guts and tell us what the
issues are and see if we cant actually help you.

You can't help me, but thanks.

The fact that you can read
and write , you can obviously walk and talk ( I know about your Paris tour
guiding) says to me you could get in an airplane with an instructor and have
a go.

Right now I make ends meet only thanks to handouts from friends and relatives.
I can't really expect them to pay for flying lessons in addition to groceries,
can I?

Of course it is easier, but then nothing much that is worth doing in this
world is easy. When you are lying on your death bed will you look back with
any sense of achievement that you "flew" a simulator?

It's not a sense of achievement, it's just something enjoyable to do, just
like flying a real airplane. I don't get anything out of either of these as
_goals_, I only profit from them as _activities_.

It's a bit like chess. I have one of the lowest ratings in the Internet Chess
Club, only a few places above the bottom (out of thousands of players). But
that has never bothered me because chess is just an enjoyable activity for me;
I don't care what my rating is, and I don't even care if I win or lose a game,
as long as it's fun. People who are highly competitive and goal-oriented
might think I'm wasting my time, but it works well for me.

In fact, if anything, I consider these "goals" to be discouraging obstacles.
Why should I fly a real plane when I have to jump through so many hoops and
spend so much money just to get a piece of paper that allows it, when I can do
practically the same thing with a simulator?

I don't understand why so many pilots are down on simulators. I guess the
only viewpoints they can understand are their own.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.