Flying for fun (after work)?!

[Dude~]

I am working towards becoming a flight instructor and although I am sure this is the path I want to follow, I would be interested to hear from established instructors about how much leisure flying they get to do, after work as it were. Do many of you still go for local bimbles, perhaps trips to Le 2K, or even weekend trips further afield with friends/family? Dare I ask it, do any of you get preferential hire rates from your employers? Or is it all instruct, instruct, instruct..!

Cheers

D

[FormationFlyer]

Yep I still lots of flying myself. Fly to france a few weeks ago, recently we did some formation flying and this was in addition to my normal weekly formation flying activities....

:)

You gotta have some fun beyond work - although full time instructing is *great* fun.

[juswonnafly]

Hi Dude,

A very good question indeed. Personally I never fly for fun on the simple basis that I just can not afford it on instructors pay! Why pay when you can get a stude to pay for you? However I get on very well with my studes and we do have the odd 'jolly' now and then where the emphasis is less formal and more fun :D

To put it in perspective the average instructor will need to do between 6 and 10 hours flight instruction for just one hour private flying............this makes it dificult to justify.

Do I miss private flying?..............hell YES! It is something I really miss actually.

Cheers

JWF

[MLS-12D]

I never fly for fun on the simple basis that I just cannot afford it on instructor's pay I believe that this is pretty typical. :ugh:

[FlyingForFun]

I believe that this is pretty typicalCertainly wasn't for my old instructor. He used to love flying his single-seat Jodel around Berkshire after work. I think he paid £12/hr to fly it.

FFF
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[Dude~]

Yes well, that must be the exception. I get the impression it is typical for instuctors not to fly for fun very often, unless they spend all their other free time working at Mc Donalds...

[poteroo]

"Flying for Fun' - but the Duty of Care Remains

It is indeed a pleasure to fly by yourself on even the most simple sortie. After 40 years flying, I still enjoy a half hour just before sunset on one of our perfect Aussie days. In the c170 it gives me an opportunity to develop some polish on my handling from the right hand seat, which is invaluable when it comes to demonstrating to a student. I've said before that instructors really need this time to themselves, to hone up their handling skills, to produce the best demo possible.

Unfortunately, those needing this most, (young instructors), don't have the opportunity to practice, because they don't own the aircraft, the boss won't approve 'practice', or the instructor simply can't afford it.

But when I fly 'solo', a duty of care still remains with me by the very fact of being an instructor. I stick to my training area, use the radio, keep a proper lookout etc. When asked by locals about the late afternoon flying, I am able to explain it as 'practice - because instructors need to', and this is well accepted.

If I happen to be in my home base of Albany, on the south coast of Western Australia, and be going out for a late afternoon formation flight with fellow RV6 owners, then the flying is really fun. Most enjoyable, sitting off the southern ocean cliffs, clicking 150 KIAS with other RV's. But....and this is the really important thing for me...I have a duty of care to others in the flight - mostly because of being an instructor. So, we brief before the flight so that every pilot knows what the plan is, who'll lead etc. I think that it's incumbent on me to take the lead in this.

If flying with a fellow pilot in the RHS, but as a pax, it is my duty to establish that he/she is in control at all times and that I won't be interfering. This defining of the PIC is important stuff in 'fun flying' because there is always the doubt in the mind of less senior pilots as to who is really PIC. I do the same for my own BFR.

This doesn't mean that the whole fun flight should be rigid and inflexible - but it does give us all a target of performance, learning and safety.

cheers,

[FormationFlyer]

That last point ius very important - although an instructor - and a formation instructor at that I often 'pleasure fl' as pax with PPL holders in formation - I prefer to reassure them that it is their flight 100% abnd thar I am nowhere near the controls ....captains breif's are wonderful thiongs :)

[DB6]

In my last job we got to hire the aircraft at VERY good rates (Firefly 260 at £58/hr dry) so used to do a lot of stuff outside work (aeros contests, trips around the highlands etc.) however that was, I think, the exception. Hiring a C152 to bimble S&L somewhere will swiftly lose its appeal when you're shelling out on a typical instrutor's wage, besides which there are usually some PPLs who will welcome the presence of an instructor on longer trips. Depending on your domestic circumstances you may also run into the immovable object at home :sad: as well but only you can deal with that :eek: