What's happened to me?

[Scottishflyer182]

Hi all,

I used to love flying always watching the weather and trying to organise my work to allow me to fly as much as possible. Over the last few months I’ve virtually lost my appetite for flying. It’s almost become a chore! Has this happened to any of you before and will my love for flying return? Nothing has changed in my life to cause this change of heart so I’m looking for some comments on what would be best.
Be kind.

Cheers

SF.

[IO540]

What do you think has caused this?

[stiknruda]

Avgas at around £2 a litre has really taken the shine off it for me! It's the principle more than the cost - and it will only ever get worse!

Stik

[vanHorck]

The economic downturn affects people in more ways than just the bank account. It also has a psychological effect.
Perhaps the cost of fuel has gone up but the effect of that may be more than the fact that you re paying more.

More than the downturn it could well be that the uncertainty over the future (of ones life but also of your social environment) affects you.

Finally over the years perhaps you've come to realize you will never own that jet to take you to Marrakesh, and that your flying has come to a standstill in terms of development?
That at the hours you do per year you no longer feel that your skills are improving?
That the use of a GA plane is about flying and less a handy affordable way to get from A to B?
That flying itself entails risks? And as you get older you're thinking of your children more?
That flying is not fun (or good or rewarding) when you yourself feel a bit down?
That the preparation is more intense than you'd like and that just "get up and fly" is less and less possible?

[AN2 Driver]

Scottish,

It’s almost become a chore! Has this happened to any of you before and will my love for flying return?

Yes. And Yes.

In 2001 I hung up my flying hat and decided, it was just too much bother. Coming back home every night to hundreds of things which needed urgent attention, having the same at work, being just ready to collapse and take a dose of sleep every minute I could muster the strenght to even REST.

Took until 2009 when I realized that there was something seriously amiss. Where the hell was I in this whole quagmire of duties? Where was MY time and what was in for me in all this hassle?

Sat back quietly and thought what was missing and what was too much. Got rid of a lot of what was too much and found back time to fly. Regained my ratings (IFR not yet and that will be the hardest thanks to :mad: the Koeln :mad:) and bought a plane again.

Don't let it get to the point where you need to start with Adam and Eve all over again, but keep current at least and don't let any ratings you might need later go to waste.

And think about it. It's bad enough as it is, but with the current bunch of :mad::mad: ruling aviation, it's likely to get worse or stop altogether. There is only one thing those :mad: can't take away from you:

Every single flight you have done and every single trip you have achieved.

[dont overfil]

Soloy turbine conversion to the 182?
D.o.

[echobeach]

There is a lot of bureaucracy.
Nothing is made easy
There is some risk ( i am sure much of this you can mitigate with training careful planning etc)
I cant really believe this is as dangerous as a motorcycle. I have done both and with a bike it was usually the others not myself that made the risk. With flying it's the other way round.

I agree totally with van horck.
Most of us won't own our jet. It won't be the answer to avoiding commercial travel etc etc ......
It's sometimes a huge hassle.

But ...... The moment those wheels leave the tarmac or grass all that goes away. I had a moment of doubt *like this last week. I am currently doing my JAA ME IR. I thought who am I kidding. Why am I doing this. I *am an average ppl. Will never fly commercially etc.*

But friday am I left a north London field flew in perfect vmc and flew across Kent down along the white cliffs, looked at France and landed. Earth has been here billions of years and maybe for 60 years a few privileged ppls can do that.*

Well that's really worth it in my book. England looks amazing on a sunny day from the air and there is the immediate reward that you have done something worthwhile.*

This can be in the most basic spam can or a pressurised twin. But it's still amazing. I only have 500 hours but I just can't believe how much fun this can be ! I am afraid I am addicted.*

[maxred]

I think you may be experiencing what all of us at times has felt.

The recent weather has a lot to do with it, it has been piss poor, however, when it is bad like this I go and sit on the red line, watch aeroplanes, wash mine, give it some TLC, and just chill in the knowledge that I will fly the thing shortly. Plan a long trip, plan a visit to a fly in, or plan my next rating or experience.

The knowledge that you can, if fortunate, turn up and go flying, is the freedom that all previous effort has given you. My view is that you could never turn your back on that. Circumstances change, however, and the method, or nature of your flying may alter, but you should never forget that you did it, and can do it again.:ok::ok:

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Hi SF182,

What motivated you to learn to fly in the first place? Have you achieved this goal and would something different or perhaps more challenging help to raise the interest level?

One aspect of flying that I find motivating is some of the ’charity’ flights: Starlight Day, Burned Children’s Club and at the other end of the age range, Project Propeller. Some of these may be centred further South, but I guess there are similar events in Scotland.

I suspect that if I’d been hiring a club aeroplane I might have got as far as the IMCr before loosing interest. Farm strip flying and a relatively cheap to run permit aircraft helps to keep it fresh for me. One recent development was doing the CRI course. Before that I flew sometimes straight and occasionally level. Now if I’m at a loose end I’ll go and do some general handling exercises like steep turns, stalls and PFLs.

I do find I need a reason to go flying, but I can usually find one…

Safe Flying,
Richard W.

[SkyCamMK]

At £2.50 plus per minute training and over £2 per minute hiring there are a lot of interesting pastimes that would be kinder to your bank, your body, your mind and your emotions.

It is an emotional event to fly and we have, wait for the pun... highs and lows naturally as part of the human condition. Ration yourself until you can no longer bear to be a spectator and then immerse yourself again - that's what a lot of people have done successfully unless you cannot afford it.

Have fun in whatever gets you that extra zest for life while you still have useful life left. We are only here once and some of us are not here for all that long (not me I hope but as I write this I am surrounded by friends and relations with lung cancer, leukaemia and brain tumours). I play drums and ride a motor bike too and this keeps me "up there".

[Smudger2487]

Some excellent replies already on this subject.... heres my experience, not sure how it will read though...
I am relatively new to flying ( 4 years & 200 hours PIC) but I can still appreciate where your coming from....... very soon after obtaining my licence (& while trying to fly once / week) I realised that the restrictive nature of club flying wasn't working for me..... (too expensive & I also realised that I wasn't going to move onto the flying career I desired-part of my original motivation).
I also found myself struggling with my appetite to fly.......
However a chance "land-away" in a glider at a local farmstrip introduced me to a different side of GA flying - I ended up selling the glider & buying a Permit aircraft which was available for sale at the strip (£8000 very well spent).
The freedom from having my own aircraft (to use as often as i liked / whenever I liked & staying out as long as I liked) has certainly removed a lot of the concerns which were de-motivating me....
I have also found a method which works for me of reducing the lenghty pre-flight planning. I found some programs which I find easy to use... "SPINE" for checking notams, Met office for Forms 215 / 415 / TAFs / METARs. (They can both be checked & printed in about ten minutes).
But what I find really helps is planning my PLOG (i.e navigation) on non flying days..... the site I have found the easiest to use is "Go Flying", It allows you to save any flight Nav logs and then recall them at a later date to enter the wind details ready to use..... it keeps my mind on flying on those days (or weeks) of non flyable weather.... All the above helps keep the pre-flight prep to a more realistic time span.....

[oscarisapc]

You don't say what you are up to at the moment. I got very bored with hiring in a club environment and joined a syndicate sharing ownership of a CoA plane. That was OK but I still found the fact I that didn't have much access to the plane when I wanted to (and the weather was nice) irksome. I then moved house and had to sell my syndicate share. I bought into an LAA plane on a permit and my flying, pardon the pun, really took off - six of us had a Cessna 120 to start with and then a Jodel 1050. It was great fun. When it was wet we met to drink awful coffee in the clubhouse and do some work together on the plane and when it was fine the coffee was no better but at least we went flying. With six members, access was almost unlimited - and I learned a lot about aeroplanes too.

[suraci]

If you're from Dunblane - its the weather! (I'm equally p!ssed off)

[AdamFrisch]

I had a 16 year hiatus myself. Initially set on by financial reasons as I was young and skint, but I also had an emergency in a helicopter and I suppose in hindsight it contributed. I came off it and the interest died or subsided.

During these years I used to look up into the sky every time a small aircraft flew by and feel like it was something from the past. I relished the memories but didn't feel the need to fly myself. Then about 3-4 years ago I woke up and felt the need one day. Don't know why. The rigmarole of getting all the licenses back were briskly dealt with and here I am an aircraft owner.

I think for me it was closely related to my earning. Now I can afford it, which I couldn't then. The years were also needed to calm my fear of dying after that emergency.

I hope I don't come off it again.

[LD1Racing]

Personally, I am very much on the upward slope of my flying 'career'. However, my father's experience may be of some use. He flew microlights for many years, before moving on to group A flying. He too became a little disillusioned with the costs, admin and restrictions that this type of flying can bring and felt that his flying had lost the fun-factor. After a year or two off, the solution? Simple, go back to microlights. The jabiru had better performance than the Pa-28 he left, was much cheaper to run, and brought back the fun of simply pulling it out of the hanger and away you go! Maybe this could be an option for you? Or at least a new type of flying to try. Some of his best flying stories come from the days of G-MTGU, a £3000 tail-dragger thruster TST.

Hope this helps. :ok:

[Pilot DAR]

I go a bit bored a few years back. I trained for and earned my helicopter license, then went for advanced mountain and confined area training.

The result was that flying my C 150 of 24 years ownership, got fun again. It fit like an old shoe, and was wayyyyyy economical by comparison! I can fly the 150 whenever I want, I can't afford to do that in the helicopter!

Try flying different fixed wing types - taildragger, aerobatics, floats. It might spark you!

[Scottishflyer182]

Hi All,
Thanks for all your replies.
I hope I do continue flying and get over this phase.

I may look at doing a couple of ratings to keep me flying, sea rating and possibly FAA CPL.

Thanks once again and fly safe.

SF

[mary meagher]

Fly safe? o dear. Maybe THAT'S the problem.

Why not try flying without an engine? that will concentrate your mind.....if you get it wrong, you visit a farmer. Adventures at every turn. OK, OK, I sound like a broken record, but don't take my word for it, check out the nearest gliding club to Dunblane on British Gliding Association website,or just head straight for the Bishop, (Scottish Gliding Centre), or Deeside Gliding Club....

I had my first ride in a glider in 1983, and I have NEVER suffered burnout, there is always, quite literally, sometimes, another mountain to climb! wingtip close to the hill as you dare. Feshiebridge has a wonderful mountain to scrape around on. Yes, went on to fly power as well, mostly used for pulling up gliders, which is also curiously satisfying. All takeoffs are in close formation, and you get lots of pratice doing elegant landings, in many sorts of weather.

And then there is competition! OK, I never won, but I usually managed to do better than at least one other pilot....

Friend of mine seems to specialise in interesting landouts; eg the top of the black mountains in Wales, in a swamp near Didcot (it looked OK when he chose the field....) etc etc. You chaps just want to swan around the scenery in perfect safety, no wonder you get bored!

[Contacttower]

Sorry to hear that SF. As it happens I was having similar thoughts towards the end of the summer of 2009...until I spotted an add in Flyer for some non-equity C182 shares...;)

[tggzzz]

If it has become a chore then either stop for a while or try something significantly different...

You might like to consider something like
YouTube - ‪Down at the Sea-side!‬‏
or
YouTube - ‪The final thermal‬‏

Anything by balleka is worth a glance, although personally I'm not as interested when he's flying a 747

[Justiciar]

Avgas at around £2 a litre has really taken the shine off it for me! It's the principle more than the cost - and it will only ever get worse!

I never thought I would hear that from you! That new formation would not be quite the same in a couple of Jabirus :{

I think that like most activities some social side or at least a bit of human interacion makes it so much more interesting. I often turn up at my field, drag the chippy out, go flying, re-fuel and put it away again and see no one. If I know other people wil be there to chat to, help out if needed etc then I don't have to force myself to go.

Cost and bureaucracy can be quite psychologically corrosive (as can reading this forum sometimes) but the harsh reality is that almost every professsion and sphere of human activity is suffering the same these days. You either live with it and where possible find a way around some of it or give up. Cut cost and regulation by going the permit route, or find something different.

A fellow member of my chippy group was telling me how he has got himself checked out on a motor glider and flies for far less than a Chipmunk or anything else main stream. Now that appeals: the benfits of gliding without standing around all day:ok: every so often you need something like that to rekindle interest.

[mary meagher]

tggzzz, WOW! those are two amazing videos! How many gliders could you count sharing that thermal? eyes on stalks, pucker time!

I'm sorry justiciar spent his time at the gliding club standing around all day!there is plenty to do, why not offer to help out? its all worthwhile for that feeling of being useful and being with friends, and scenes like the two videos can be an unforgettable reward......

Depends on your personality, I guess.

[Justiciar]

I'm sorry justiciar spent his time at the gliding club standing around all day


I don't belong to a gliding club and never have
I kept an aircraft of my own at the local gliding club and saw first hand how it works (I also went on a week's course many years ago so experienced first hand how it works
If I did belong to a club then I would be giving 100% as I fully recognise that gliding does not happen without imput from many people
I have a family, a career and many other things that keep me busy, so I do not have a day at a time to devote to gliding or indeed any other hobby
Even if I did the price would be divorce (hmm may be I am missing something here)

[Mechta]

I glide most weekends with an audio vario. Even so, tggzzz's second video sounded more like a particularly confrontational episode of 'The Sooty Show'...:}

[PompeyPaul]

I blamed giving up flying on having to pay for a wedding and stopped flying. In reality I felt the same as you as was simply bored. Looking at my log book I quit on the back of an intensive period of flying hours logged (did around 10 hours every 3 days for a couple of weeks).

It just felt boring and like a real chore.

The question is, when push comes to shove, and your license comes up for renewal will you REALLY let it slide ? I couldn't do that and so am flying lots trying to meet the 12 hours required to keep it going.

On top of that increased automation has really helped. I love SkyDemon which means I can plot my route. I then read the NOTAMs in the cafeteria, over a bacon & blue cheese panini. I then go to the club house, jump on the wireless and print out my plog (used to have to do all of that by hand). Final check of weather then it's out for the A check which takes about 15 mins.

So flying HAD become a chore, but with increased automation you can get arrival, to taxying out, to around 30 mins.

Net result is more flying for your invested time.

Will I continue flying as aggresively when my license is validated ? Don't know, possibly not.

To me, the biggest problem is that there's no progression in flying. It's PPL and then that's it (yes I know there's IMCr or possible commerical). I wonder how many people would still be doing Karate if you got your blue belt (or whatever the starter is) and then that's it ?

I think it'd keep more people flying longer if they had more targets to get to. More of a structured program to it.

The also downer, I can't deny is weather. Having approx 50% of sessions cancelled due to weather means the "hobby" is taking twice as much time as it really needs. Which, with the pace of modern life, is probably the most expensive cost :sad:

[Justiciar]

I think it'd keep more people flying longer if they had more targets to get to. More of a structured program to it.


IMC Rating
Night Qualification
Aerobatics
Farm/short strip skills
CPL
IR
mountain flying
Bush flying
touring
fly ins
get involved in running a club or group
Charity rides (when you have enough hours)
Instruction (FI or CRI, the latter costing < £2k)
Building your own
Obtaining an engineering qualification - say LAA
Flying with friends and family (not necessarily at the same time)
Gliding
tug pilot
drop pilot
Microlights


Have I missed anything?

[MichaelJP59]

If it has become a chore then either stop for a while or try something significantly different...

You might like to consider something like
YouTube - &#x202a;Down at the Sea-side!&#x202c;&rlm; (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs666zqMw0s)


That cliff-top gliding is some of the most exciting gliding footage I've ever seen! Is it strictly legal though, I thought you had to remain 500ft away from any people on cliff tops etc? Or is that just powered aircraft? I suppose it must be OK, it's been on YouTube for a while.

[IO540]

I can't speak for aeros and such as this is way outside my expertise, but I learnt to fly to go places (http://www.peter2000.co.uk/aviation/index.html), and this needs some specific motivations to keep at it:

- keep current (even if this means doing lots of local flights, sightseeing, in between longer trips)
- fly with friends/family
- if money is an issue, share the costs
- fly to places you can't easily drive to (N France is a good start)
- try to get your hands on a capable plane (this may mean setting up a syndicate)
- always keep your flying very affordable (I see a lot of this rule being broken from Day 1; this is not a dirt cheap hobby and some things are simply not possible).

I do know a number of people who worked their way up to the top of the GA scene (turboprops or jets) and then one day suddenly chucked it all in, so this problem is not unusual regardless of the finances.

One also needs to fly in moderation. I know many people's flying is naturally moderated by finite funding, but where this is not the case, try to not fly too often. I know I would get sick of it if I flew 3 times per week or more. So I try to go up once a week just for currency, if not going somewhere. More is not necessarily better in this game, once you get past 1 flight per week, unless you are working up a steep learning curve on a new and very complex aircraft.

[PompeyPaul]

I got the night qualification and would do the IMCr if it was clearer as to what is going to happen to it.

Outside of that there seems very little to "aim for" with your flying, that gives you extra privileges.

Anything that helps with "touring", even if it were another few years of training which you could take piece meal. Would be great.

[IO540]

would do the IMCr if it was clearer as to what is going to happen to it.

You should do it precisely because of the uncertainty.

[dont overfil]

I'll bet my idea at 6 is closer to the mark!
D.O.

[Pianorak]

I was silly enough to sell my Archer, which never gave me any trouble, partly because after four years I got a bit bored and partly because I “had to have” a proper aircraft, ie a complex. Well, I got my complex (pun intended) bundled up with a lot of problems, in other words the aircraft was more on the ground than in the air. This meant I had lost faith in the aircraft and my currency and confidence suffered. The irony now is, having spent a fair bit to have all the faults dealt with, my faith in the aircraft having been restored, and having a new Annual/ARC to boot, my love of flying seems nevertheless to have evaporated.
IO540's advice “try not to fly too often” does perhaps point towards a way out of my dilemma. Until now I have often taken to the air just “to keep the engine happy”. But if once a week or so should be sufficient, then maybe my attitude may change again – and it may not. We'll see.

[Flyingmac]

This Saturday just gone I flew to Charity Farm at Baxterley with my wife.
We pitched the tent under the 172s wing and walked into the village for a very nice meal at the Rose Inn. Sunday was spent watching an excellent airshow in equally excellent weather followed by a nice flight home in superb vis. The weekend before it was AeroExpo at Sywell, again with tent. Before that it was a beach Fly-in at Morecombe Bay and before that it was the Isle of Man to watch some TT racing. Again with tent. That trip done in a Dynamic WT-9 microlight, dropping into Cark on the way home, and a trip down to Hinton in a Eurostar to pick up a ferry pilot.

I have a list of farm strips that I'm working my way through and a list of Fly-ins to visit. All VFR stuff. Though myself and the Cessna are perfectly capable of IFR, we fly for fun. There's lots to be had.

I'd say that most people who get bored with flying do so because their flying is boring. Driving around the sky.

I'm now in my 30th year of flying, and nowhere near bored.

[PompeyPaul]

I would love to suggest going flying, to spend the night in a field under the wing of a C172 to my wife to see her face! I think the lack of a "spa menu" would put her off, before we even started talking about chemical toilets etc :O

[maxred]

PP - are we related????? Perhaps your wife is my wife's long lost sister:eek:

Five star, spa, instant hairdryers, and Michelin rated burgers, that is for starters.

I once took her in a mobile home around Scotland, it took about four months for her to relate to me again.

She is convinced I have attempted to kill her, and my kids, on several flights, (if only she knew), and if I was to suggest - Darling, lets pack a tent and go flying, well, I would pay to have the look in print:ok:

[IO540]

Very sorry to hear of your aircraft issues, Pianorak.

But this is a very valid point. I think many more pilots than would care to admit have lost confidence in flying (other than trivial short flights) precisely because they have had a long stream of issues with their aircraft.

I am very aware of this and work hard to keep mine 100% working. I would never do any of my long trips if I had problems with the plane, and in fact I didn't do any long trips for the initial 1.5 years of my ownership, largely due to a string of avionics problems. Such issues are very corrosive on one's confidence.

[maxred]

Yes, but is this not in part the knub of the problem. Why the complex type? A complex type, in general, is a going places aeroplane. Going places involves, ratings , experience, and stretching your flying ability, that bit further. Surely that is what 'the flying' bug is about. Whether it in microlights, gliding, aeros, touring.

You once said, IO, that flying was expensive, the complex type bit, and if you could not afford it, you should not be in that arena. I agree. However, there are options a plenty, for all sizes of wallet, you just need to engender the enthusiasm to keep it going. Whatever your mode of enjoyment

[thing]

I'm doing my PPL to go places. Can't see the point otherwise, for pure flying pleasure I go gliding. I'm amazed at the number of people at my club who never go anywhere. It's the whole point of it for me, even if it's just to a grass strip somewhere for lunch in the local pub.

I would also agree with IO's point about not flying too much, I squashed about 14 hours into the first two weeks of June and then had two weeks off. I flew yesterday and was totally confident and relaxed instead of trying to pile the hours on and getting frazzled.

[tggzzz]

How many gliders could you count sharing that thermal? eyes on stalks, pucker time!The blurb with the video is The last thermal, just east of Hallstahammar, before the final glide back to Eskilstuna during the World Gliding Championships 2006. At most we were 43 gliders in the same thermal (I think, I didnt have time to count twice).
I would have to freeze frame the video to count to 43, and even then I think I wouldn't get the same number twice. I presume that they either counted from the logs, or assumed that all planes were in the same thermal.

[tggzzz]

That cliff-top gliding is some of the most exciting gliding footage I've ever seen! Is it strictly legal though, I thought you had to remain 500ft away from any people on cliff tops etc? Or is that just powered aircraft? I suppose it must be OK, it's been on YouTube for a while. If it isn't then an awful lot of people regularly fly illegally :) Some places are well-known for ridge flying, e.g. Portmoak and "The Bishop" in Scotland, and Talgarth in the Welsh Black Mountains. It is quite entertaining to be one of half-a-dozen gliders beating back and forth along a ridge within a couple of hundred feet vertically and not very far horizontally - certainly I appreciate having another pair of eyes in the cockpit as well as FLARM.

If you have a look at some of the other videos by that pilot ("balleka", search for it on youtube) you will see that


his other videos are good too
flying along the Cotswold Ridge is "pure adrenaline"
he ought to have a sticker on his glider saying "my other plane is a 747"

[MichaelJP59]

If you have a look at some of the other videos by that pilot ("balleka", search for it on youtube) you will see that

his other videos are good too
flying along the Cotswold Ridge is "pure adrenaline"
he ought to have a sticker on his glider saying "my other plane is a 747"


After some of the ridge flying, wouldn't be surprised if they land with foliage stuck in the wingtips:)

I guess also you're less likely to get complaints from people in a glider than a noisy powered aeroplane.

[FleetFlyer]

I learned to fly at North Hill as a teenager and have fond memories of flying up and down the ridge at the end of the field at low level.

My most recent (yesterday) way of giving my flying some purpose involved flying down to Devon, picking up my father (ex-PPL) and letting him fly most of the way to Rock in Corwall. He got to fly low level (500ft or so) over Bodmin Moor and got to fly between beautiful puffy clouds in bright sunshine. I then got to put down on a tricky strip in a crosswind, giving me a stimulating challenge. I was a wonderful day, sharing the experience.

We then enjoyed lovely crab sandwiches at the Rock Inn and after departing Rock at 5pm I was back at my home airfield near civilisation by 7:30.

You'll get more from your flying if you challenge yourself and think of ways to make your skill and equipment useful beyond just the act of practising its operation.