how many hrs per month?

[vectis lady]

was just wondering how many hrs everyone fly's per month on average? and how is it split up, do you tend to do one longer flight or 2 or 3 short hops,

i have figured out that i can fly around 3 hrs per month and im not sure if its more benifical to do little and often or to go once a month and fly further

i want to improve as a pilot and to broaden my knowledge and experiance

any thoughts welcome

[kookabat]

Last year, juggling uni commitments, I was lucky to be able to do 18 hours... an hour and a half a month. Barely able to stay current, and I think that'd have to be close to the bare minimum needed... This year I've got a little more disposable income so I can afford an hour every week and a half on average. Much more better.

It's an interesting question actually. Recency has been shown, many times, to be a key factor in accident risk or otherwise. As a private pilot, self-funding all my flying, it's hard to strike the right balance between not breaking the bank but flying enough to feel competent.

[tacpot]

It is definitely better to try to go longer & further away. You quickly exhaust the local opportunities to fly to interesting places, unless you have a reasonably short/grass-strip capable machine. In a typical 1.5 hour club booking slot, it is difficult to land, pay the landing fee and get back from anywhere that is more than 20 minutes flying time frrom your home base! (A question for the airfields - How about accepting pre-payment for landing fees, and allow booking out over the radio, to minimise the time spent sorting these out on the gound?)

Longer flights allow you to get into a routine of doing freda checks, refining your navigation, leaning the engine, flying at flight levels etc.

I keep local trips for practising stalls, steep turns, bad weather circuits & PFLs when I'm forced to stay local due to unpredicatable weather.

I've found I have to plan to fly much more than I need to. I now plan to fly four times a month, and find I'm only able to fly twice a month due to weather, and changes to my availability and the aircraft's. All plans are for long trips, but if there is an opportunity to fly a short trip, I will take this as it better to keep the continuity going, and avoid any club continutity issues.

tp

[tiggermoth]

It's a good question - and it's a question I've been asking myself too.

I've not flown for five weeks now.

I suppose the advantage in going on a longer journey would be more experience in cross country, flight planning. However, little and often is usually best for remembering things!

T.

[gcolyer]

I try to do an hour a week (at least) and usually do. I usually do the slow flight, stalls, PFL's and that sort of thing for 30 mins and then do 30 mins of circuits.

Once a month I do the club fly out so I get to do my decent lenght cross countrys then.

During the Isle of man TT races I clock up about 50 hours between the PA32 and AA5-B, all on or close to MTOW. So I really get to play about with fuel loads, weights and balance and flight planning.

This keeps me pretty much on the ball.

[Airbus38]

It's a "how long is a piece of string" type question.

What many overlook when starting out is the fact that the cost of flying does not stop on attainment of a licence. Far from it - if anything, it only seems to become more expensive. This bars many from aviation, and hinders most who are already involved.

One piece of advice that crops up time and again as the best way to stay "current" without spending any money at all is to know everything inside out. Without giving egg-sucking lessons, try the following - sit in a chair, close your eyes and make up a few questions for yourself. You will be surprised at how much you can recall, and indeed how much you can't.

- The engine coughs and splutters in flight - what are your immediate actions?
- The alternator warning light comes on - what does this mean?
- What are all your aircraft's 'V' speeds?
- What are the correct actions following a radio failure inside controlled airspace?
- You taxi out to the runway and get a steady white lght from the tower. What should you do?

You will probably 'feel' more 'current' after dragging all this from the depths of your memory than after a 1 hour, £100+ butty run.
A38

[i.dingbat]

A few minutes with the spreadsheet shows I've been averaging 2.7 hours per month. This isn't enough for me (I'm still learning) but it's too much for my wife.

Tricky...

[gcolyer]

A few minutes with the spreadsheet shows I've been averaging 2.7 hours per month. This isn't enough for me (I'm still learning) but it's too much for my wife.

Tricky...


It's not tricky.

Loose the wife. It worked for me.:)

[dublinpilot]

VL,

For what it's worth, my opinion would be to concentrate on longer flights.
If you can afford 3 hour per month, bear in mind that during the winter you probably won't fly as much.

If I was you, this would be my plan.
Winter months, plan two or thre local trips of one hour duration per month.

You'll porbably only get to fly one of them 1.

That's a fair saving, which you can allocate to the summer months ;)

During the summer then once per month, do one trip to a destination that is 1.5 hours flying away. That's 3 hours return. Do a second local trip each month of just 1 hour round trip.

That's two trips per month during the summer totaling 4 hours, but you've saved some of that time from the winter period. The longer trips opens up lots of interesting places to go. I don't know what your access to an aircraft is like, but if you have the opportunity to keep the aircraft to 24 - 36 hours, then make the longer trip an overnight trip. It's a great way of seeing new places (not just the airfield cafe). It makes the flying much more enjoyable, and it's easier to justify the cost ;)

If you're not allowed keep the aircraft for a weekend, then perhaps taking the last slot on a Saturday evening, and having it back by midday on Sunday may be acceptable?

[flyingsteve55]

Since gaining my license last September I have struggled with this question. To date I have been "lucky" to get 1 to 2 hours a month and I worry if this is enough. The main reasons tend to be:

not enough expendable cash at the time I want to use some for flying. It could of course be argued that if you can't be sure you can keep up you should have considered whether to take up flying in the first place!
pressure of work restricting me to weekends a lot of the time
availability of aircraft when I am available (not being overloaded with cash I am restricted to using club hires)
weather's never right when you need it to be (everbody will suffer from this of course)I have considered a number of options including sharing trips with others in similar position as myself - this at least provides the option to go twice as far for the same price at least. (This has only been successful once and it only turned out to be some serious crosswind revision whilst checking out on the PA28.) It seems that every time I ask around the club "does anyone fancy sharing" there is loads of enthusiasm, but when push comes to shove.............

In common with a previous post I spend many of my relaxation hours going through various scenarios in my mind, e.g. how do I get from A to B and what do I have to do to get there, clearances, restrictions etc. and the others mentioned previously. I'm sure it helps a lot but nothing beats the real thing.

Over and out for now from a frustrated Blackbushe flyer (sometimes)
Steve

[IO540]

I try very hard to go up at least once a week, and this tends to be possible (with an IMCR or IR) even in the worst weather, from a hard runway airport.

The last few months have been among the worst I remember though, and while I have managed to get up, I haven't done any long trips since before xmas.

It's harder for owner pilots because one cannot just leave the plane sitting there for weeks, due to engine corrossion issues.

Average 150hrs/year.

[Bob the Hamster]

I agrre with IO, as an owner it is best to aim for a flight every 1-2 weeks just to keep the aircraft in running condition. It is also an idea to share the flight with another PPL one to fly there, the other to fly back. You can share the cost and get twice the bang for your buck. Make sure you trust them though ;)

Bob