Hello, I have been interested in flying for many years. I am finally at a point in my life where I have the money, and the time, to pursue a PPL. From what I have gathered, in my area (Tennessee) it will take roughly 60 hours of flight time, and around $8,000 to acquire my PPL. I plan to work on it over the span of around 8-12 months. My Brother-In-Laws father owns his own plane and crop dusts for about 6 farmers in MS. He has been flying for 45 years. So I hope to leverage that.
My main questions are surrounding what will come AFTER I acquire the license. Can someone please tell me about my options as far as traveling the US after the licensing is complete? What kind of costs would I expect to incur? If they are rather high to take short trips, are there alternatives to owning a plane? While I am in a financial position to get my PPL, I am NOT in a position to buy a plane. How much would I expect to pay to fly from say, TN, to Colorado for 4 days for example? Do you end up any better off than flying commercially?
I realize the reason to do this is for the love of flying, and that is my purpose, but my wife is asking me the benefits, and I can't fault her for being curious. I would ask her the same thing if she had a 10,000 dollar hobby.
