https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Swq9M4Hwk

I have watched several king air flights , Iand none of them feature pilots squeaking with elation,

most are so busy checking, rechecking, communicating and adjusting , they rarely peak out the windows

I've always enjoyed the "not crashing" part.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I've always enjoyed the "not crashing" part.

Winner!

And the not getting shot down part is pretty good too!

RMD

And then there's the getting from point a to point b much faster, and without the road ragers

I have entertained fantasies of being a pilot, as I suspect many people have.

You Tube has pretty well ended that. It seems to me that actual flying, as opposed to the movies, involves intense concentration, multi-tasking, painstaking attention to detail, spit-second decision making and an enormous amount of responsibility.

None of these are attributes one might call notable in my makeup. Add to that seriously compromised depth perception and sketchy coordination and I think we're all better off if I stick to motorcycles for my thrills.

On back roads.

In light traffic.

I've been nuts about planes since a kid. Passed up a cheap opportunity for lessons in college, regretted it ever since.
Now I have time and money, but also more sense of responsibility. PHPaul is speaking to me, and perhaps my wife paid him to do that.

I like planes and went through that phase years ago. It was a serious and not inexpensive hobby for me.
I learned a lot about a variety of subjects when studying for my license and mostly enjoyed the experience. There were a few scary moments and there is definitely a danger factor that has to be respected. That said, I'm always amazed how many seemingly incompetent people manage to live through the experience and don't even to seem to be aware of how much they don't know. There was plenty that I didn't know myself but I was always cautious and mostly knew my limits.
I still like looking at planes and going to an occasional air show but gotten over the desire to fly myself.

Guido is a pro and I enjoy his channel.

I fly for work and pleasure. I enjoy the structure and concentration it takes to be proficient. I strive for each flight to be at commercial rating standards although I'm only a private pilot. There is a good amount of risk involved but if you

1. Have fuel
2. Don't fly into bad weather
3. Don't show your ass

It really is pretty safe if you keep those three things in mind.

I enjoy taking people for their first plane rides. I love flying my kids around to just bore holes in the sky.

It can be expensive but I give up other things for the opportunity to fly 43 year old and 56 year old airplanes. It's can be no more expensive than buying a decked out bimmer if you do it right.

Oh, and I have fun on every flight. Tonight it was in a Supercub low and slow over the city at dusk with my buddy. Fun times!

Depends on the person, some people like living up to exacting airline standards, but for me I found it boring and I would slit my wrists with my whiz wheel if that was the only type of flying I could do.

For me it was once you reach the point that you are less thinking about the actual flying the plane, and more enjoying the experience of being up in the air. You didn't even need a destination, the journey was the fun part.

I wish I could afford to do it anymore. It is truly a enjoyable experience.

I have a close friend who has been a pilot most of his 66 yrs on earth. He loves flying his own plane. He actually lives in an air community in Fla. They have their own airstrip.
He let me practice for about 5 hours on his simulator one night. It was nerve wracking to me.
We were staying at his house for a week, so the next day he took us flying in him Comanche.
After about an hour, he let go and told me to take the controls on my side. I tried to refuse but he said we would crash unless I did it. I flew for about 20 mins. Me and my friend in the backseat about had heart attacks until he took the controls back over. I hated it. I do not really like being up in a plane anyway. Now, motorcycles are different.

I have a friend that has a T6 Texan WWII trainer and a private jet that he self pilots. He loves it. I've flown in the T6 several times and he does formation flying at air shows and does various stunts when we got flying and pulls up to 3G's with me in it.....he lets me take the controls for a while. But it's a PITA because I have to look on either side of his helmet, I can't see straight in front of me. It's interesting and fun, but I don't get the OHHHHHH WOW factor like he does. I can fly it pretty well without having to stare at the altimeter or air speed indicator.....basically he taught me to fly at a level altitude and then look at the view out and the horizon and then you can tell if you're climbing or dropping by the angle in your view......I like it, but not enough to get into it.

NOW the jet is another story, seems like you're constantly changing which tower you're speaking to, changing the channel, changing your altitude and heading......it's too much like work......

I've actually been thinking about getting into paramotoring.

At what point does piloting an aircraft become fun ? For me, it was my first forward-slip landing. Pointing the nose down, stomping a rudder pedal, hanging by the straps. WHEE!!

quote:

Originally posted by cne32507:
At what point does piloting an aircraft become fun ? For me, it was my first forward-slip landing. Pointing the nose down, stomping a rudder pedal, hanging by the straps. WHEE!!

The first time i experienced a "slip" with my dad flying, it scared the crap out of me. It was a full sensation of falling rather than the usual coordinated movement of a turn, climb or decent.

RMD

4.7g upside down in a Cessna 152 Aerobat was the most fun I've had in a plane.
Logged about 30 hours before it got prohibitively expensive for a broke college student.

At what point does it become fun?

As soon as I touched the yoke. I don't have my pilots license, but a buddy of mine let me "take the stick" of a Cessna 172 years back. What a thrill.

Bendable,

Fun has a lot of definitions. When you are flying professionally as a pilot, there are plenty of light moments, but always in the backs of our minds is the knowledge that when you are getting paid to do it, it is a very serious business. All those procedures we do are written because someone else at best violated the law and or put people in danger, at worst got killed.

I grinned like an idiot the first time I took off an airplane. Should there come a time again that I fly for pleasure, I look forward to doing it again. The last time I flew for the sheer fun of it was with our very own resident Cockatoo, and it was a blast.

So, I've had plenty of fun and occasionally hysterically funny moments on the job, but at the end of the day, it is a job where safety and professionalism rule.

quote:

Originally posted by hudr:
At what point does it become fun?

As soon as I touched the yoke. I don't have my pilots license, but a buddy of mine let me "take the stick" of a Cessna 172 years back. What a thrill.

This too. First flight for me, was in my then-girlfriend's mom's Cessna 150. Hooked from wheels-up.

I would have to say that getting to the point where I could solo in an airplane is one of the most personally satisfying things I've ever done.

As for fun, there is doing lazy aerobatics, flying along the cost of Lake Michigan at sunset, or just doing touch 'n' goes on a soft summer evening at an old grass airfield out in the country. I'm talking about flying in small, simple airplanes that you fly by the seat of your pants......that is what I find fun. I think the ultralight and light sport category pilots probably have the most fun of anyone.

Personally, I would find being a commercial pilot a bit boring.