Ian, one of your problems is pilots live in a different world and march to a different drummer.
Two suggestions. Get hold of a Ryanair pilots roster and book your self on all their flights for a tour. Take the days off and do it again. This will give you an idea of what 900 hours per year means. It is not the same as 18 hrs per week.
Second, take a few flying lessons. Do it at a busy regional field with commercial passenger traffic, not your local farm strip etc. (This is work, not an expense account doddle)
After that the information you are collecting will look very different.
20driver