Mid Life Crisis gift to myself, Pilot Training

"HarDeeHarHar" wrote in message
.. .
I'm 48, and time to have me som fun...
Been flying as a passenger since I was 8 months, have had 102 flights on
commercial flights that I can recall ...
Have flown Schweizer 232 sailplanes, and Cessna 172's (not take off or
landings.)
Have played with MS Flight Sim since 1995, and probably have logged over
400 hours of flight on that game....the new ATC versions make it more fun.

I understand flight theory and dynamics, and have felt at home and at ease
while behind the yoke or stick while in the 172 and 232's.

So I looked at flight training, and here west of Toronto at the Guelph
airport, it's about $4500 allowing me to carry one passenger, $7500 to
carry multiple passengers, or $8500 (plus 200 hrs @ $125/hr) for
commercial pilot...(all in Canadian $$$)

So I have time, might as well go for the commercial licence, and have me
some fun...not that it will get me a job by the time I'm done (I'll be
51 - 52 by my training timeline).

Never too late, and since having sex with Jeannie (Barbara Eden) is out of
the question (Hey, she's still hot for 72), I might as well fulfill
anpother dream, eh?

Lots of good thoughts from previous posters.

Flight training is great fun and will challenge your mind, you will meet
interesting and intelligent people. It is not a good investment financially
but a bargain compared with other mid life recreation like gambling or young
women or new red sports cars. The cost of flight training is rising quickly
due to the cost of fuel and insurance.

IMHO you should focus on learning to fly and not on acquiring licenses or
ratings.

I am a big believer in learning good stick and rudder skills by training on
a taildragger. IMHO the Citabria 7eca is the very best trainer and a lot of
fun to fly. It will not be easy to find one for training but when you do
the odds are you will have also found a good instructor. A school in your
area (that I know nothing about) which does have a Citabria and some float
planes is http://www.futureair.ca/
I am sure there must be others.

On your way to completing the CPL requirements of 200TT including 100PIC you
can also do RPL, PPL, night, OTT, float, aerobatic, multi and IFR. You
could even get some of this training as part of your R/PPL. You also need
several solo xc including one of 300 nmi radius. When you travel to a new
location you can take a flight (with an instructor) for sight seeing or to
try a different aircraft. If you get a glider license you can use ~50 hrs
towards your CPL. Few people reach the PPL level with only the minimum
required hours but it really doesn't matter since when you do complete your
PPL you will just be that much closer to your CPL. You can fill the ground
school requirement by self study, get advice and log your study time. By
the time you do all or some of these you will have developed a great deal of
aviation knowledge and hopefully some stick and rudder skills.

You should do a lot of planning to ensure that you acquire the right mix of
required types and amounts of dual training without over training (paying $)
in one area. As an example it is best to do your instrument training hood
work (you need 5 hrs for your PPL and 20 hrs additional for your CPL, and
35? total for IFR) at night so that you can count the time taxiing and
taking off and circuit and landing as dual night and you can combine dual
night xc with hood work to give more variety to each lesson and to build
your dual hours in the most efficient way. It is better to do your night
flying in the winter as it is dark much earlier.

I paid C$25,000 for my CPL, it took me several years and I had a lot of
fun and met some great people. Costs have increased somewhat since then and
will probably increase some more before you are done. Take intro flights
with all the schools in your area and log the dual time. These lessons are
usually a bargain.

CAUTION - NEVER PAY IN ADVANCE. Make your school and your instructor earn
your next lesson by giving you great training and not overcharging on this
lesson. IMHO (and you will receive may contrary opinions here), you should
not be afraid to try different schools and instructors and after about
twenty hours you should definitely have two instructors and two schools to
avoid the problems you may face if your one instructor or school quits or
goes broke or refuses to recommend you for your flight test.

Keep good records (and receipts) of your training costs as training towards
the CPL is income tax deductible if you are intending (hoping) to use it to
get a job and earn income. Get good advice from several experienced tax
accountants.

Happy landings,