What are you doing now, instead of Flying?
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: NTH&STH,EAST&WEST
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Cooda
I read your post when i was away on leave and not signed in. Please PM me I would love to catch up with you and keep up with your trials.
Guts like you make me proud to be pilot.
You are a man I admire.
I read your post when i was away on leave and not signed in. Please PM me I would love to catch up with you and keep up with your trials.
Guts like you make me proud to be pilot.
You are a man I admire.
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: NZ
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I agree with what someone else said about everyone who flies. We are all pilots, 172, Rans, B737 or F14. Who cares, everyone has that passion to fly.
We're nearly their with our Pitts by the way, it is a highly modified S1 now, I think the only original parts are the steal tube fuse and wing spars!
I have always been the type who can't stand flying the same aeroplane doing the same thing 40 hours a week...which is why I worked fulltime for such a short time. Yes, I am an aviation geek, probably the geekiest here. The most fun I can have, is to go do some akro in the Pitts (whether I am taking a mate up in the 2 seater or practicing some sequences or individual figures), then take the Tiger up for some leisure aeros over our airfield which is a long private grass strip miles away from any control zone, then retreat to the bar (which is also on the field) after cleaning the old girl down.
Being self employed, I can come and go as I please, go fly where ever I feel like. I have continued to do a limited amount of contract work, mainly instructing in the Pitts or other ga types and pt 135 in tiger/pitts.
Flying is just too big a passion to turn it into a fulltime job for me personally.
We're nearly their with our Pitts by the way, it is a highly modified S1 now, I think the only original parts are the steal tube fuse and wing spars!
I have always been the type who can't stand flying the same aeroplane doing the same thing 40 hours a week...which is why I worked fulltime for such a short time. Yes, I am an aviation geek, probably the geekiest here. The most fun I can have, is to go do some akro in the Pitts (whether I am taking a mate up in the 2 seater or practicing some sequences or individual figures), then take the Tiger up for some leisure aeros over our airfield which is a long private grass strip miles away from any control zone, then retreat to the bar (which is also on the field) after cleaning the old girl down.
Being self employed, I can come and go as I please, go fly where ever I feel like. I have continued to do a limited amount of contract work, mainly instructing in the Pitts or other ga types and pt 135 in tiger/pitts.
Flying is just too big a passion to turn it into a fulltime job for me personally.
I don't know if anyone else has found the same thing, but after flying for a living I found it all a bit boring. I once had the passion, but lost it.
I enjoy flying, and have done quite a bit of varied flying in GA, the military (both ADF and foreign) and emergency services (fixed wing). I need a bit more action, purpose and variety than just flying an aircraft can offer. Nothing does my head in more than mundane, repetitive tasks and that includes flying a - b in a straight line everyday. On top of it all, the industry is so poorly paid and pilots are exploited for years and years. I don't regret learning to fly and I still fly on a casual basis to keep my skills current, but I doubt I will ever return to the industry full time. I also have tertiary qualifications but the boredom of business is a fate worse than death.
I left to become a Paramedic and haven't looked back.
I enjoy flying, and have done quite a bit of varied flying in GA, the military (both ADF and foreign) and emergency services (fixed wing). I need a bit more action, purpose and variety than just flying an aircraft can offer. Nothing does my head in more than mundane, repetitive tasks and that includes flying a - b in a straight line everyday. On top of it all, the industry is so poorly paid and pilots are exploited for years and years. I don't regret learning to fly and I still fly on a casual basis to keep my skills current, but I doubt I will ever return to the industry full time. I also have tertiary qualifications but the boredom of business is a fate worse than death.
I left to become a Paramedic and haven't looked back.
I agree with the last 2 posters, the flying I'm doing now is about as interesting as I think I'll find and it's killing me.
What comes next is hard to figure out, I just know I don't want to reach retirement still flying full time.
What comes next is hard to figure out, I just know I don't want to reach retirement still flying full time.
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: NZ
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Fred, get an aerobatic rating and find someone that will teach you to fly a Pitts. If you haven't flown one already, you will enjoy it so much that you will find the cash from somewhere to continue doing so.
Yes, it costs money, but anything that is as much fun as this costs! It will make flying a-b a thing of the past for ya! The aerobatic bug hit me so hard back in '04 when I first got authorised by my instructor to practice loops and rolls in the 2160 myself that I worked 50hrs a week earning $10/hr (massive money at the time
) to pay for an hours worth each week for nearly a year.
Yes, it costs money, but anything that is as much fun as this costs! It will make flying a-b a thing of the past for ya! The aerobatic bug hit me so hard back in '04 when I first got authorised by my instructor to practice loops and rolls in the 2160 myself that I worked 50hrs a week earning $10/hr (massive money at the time
) to pay for an hours worth each week for nearly a year.
I agree wrt the Pitts. It's an awesome little machine and bags of fun to fly, as long as you can afford it. I did some flying in one a few years ago, but honestly prefer helicopters these days.
