'king' when I started using drugs (flying) in 1979 ( I think) it was expensive also ( well I thought it was at the time anyway) but I did work 3 jobs to pay for my 'habit' (house/mortgage, wife kids etc) as I was determined but these days one would have to work a LOT more to pay for just one hr!
I bought along with 6 other guys a C150 (had to borrow the money for that to!) & most of us learnt to fly with I think only a couple of us continued on to make a career out of it ( we where the dumb ones!
).
It just seams pretty much out of reach these days to Mr average off the street. Me takes me hat off to those that crawl their way up thru the ranks which I believe is a dying art.
Wmk2