Why I (may) quit flying

[abgd]

Why did you start the thread - did you hope to be convinced back to the fold, or are you simply not sure?

[PompeyPaul]

I started the thread simply because that's where I was with my flying. I was wondering if anybody else had been there and if so what did they do?

When I first started my training I bought my headset off Ebay. I actually met the chap who sold it and asked him why he was selling. "Well, I was going to go flying but wasn't current so I had to go with an instructor for an hour, then I did my hour flying, so overall that flying cost me £400. I gave up just because it's to much for a quick jaunt somewhere".

Given money wasn't a problem for me I wondered why I may give up flying. It's got a terrifically high attrition rate and I couldn't understand why.

The replies were great and I think I'll definitely take a break until my son is old enough to go flying with me. That takes weight off of my wife and will also give her space in the future.

Also the Cirrus SR22 is going to become more accessible as time goes on. Whilst I may have exhausted what you can reasonably do in a PA28, in a day, the 211 knot cruise of the SR22 will suddenly bring far more destinations in sight which will re-ignite my interest.

The really striking thing was the number of people who were active, when I was very active on PPrune, who chimed in to say they'd stopped flying too. It's like we all hit that brick wall at the same time.

Looking forward to getting back in the saddle. but am happy not to for a while.

[HowlingMad Murdock]

Hi PP - interesting topic - enjoyed reading all the contributions with reasons for/against etc. made me think......sorry to hear you won't be flying for a while - though sounds like you have come to the right decision for you and your family at this moment in time.

Whirlybird - surprised that you are not flying at the moment...again everything has its time and hopefully you will take to the skies again soon. Know this - you are an inspiration...

all the very best to you both.

[PA28181]

With about 2500 hrs flying experience & over 1000hrs as P1 I can see the day not far off hanging up the headset. The long awaited GA changes that are now becoming reality are outweighed by increasing costs, EASA bureaucracy, ACP's etc

The only viable alternative for me is to get more involved in my other activity, sailing. this will challenge as much, if not a lot more as I know well, and is very unforgiving if taken lightly.

The comparitive freedom from rule making obsessed civil servants & NO LICENCE required, will be more than enough to take on the challenge of sailing.

[thing]

I don't think it should be an issue really. There seems to be a feeling that once you're a pilot then that's it, you should carry on regardless. I used to like brandy, can't stand the smell of the stuff now so I don't drink it. I don't loose sleep over it. If you don't want to do something then don't do it.

I mentioned in the gliding thread that I've just rejoined my old gliding club. I know after around a year I'll have got the gliding bug out of my system and will pack it in for another five years or so. I may even never do it again, I don't know nor do I care really. If I want to do it I will, if I don't I won't. There's no soul searching to be done.

[Private jet]

Well I did my final flight just over 2 weeks ago. After 15 years of flying professionally, 20 years since I started with the PPL and in total 25 years in the industry I have just had enough. The changes that have come along with EASA are part of it, also I've reached the limit of what I can do career wise I think. I have no regrets at all but as previously stated, people change and I have. Life is short and there are many other things to go do apart from flying. I still have an interest in aviation, but I just don't feel the need to do it anymore. I must admit i'm not a fan of the PPL "scene" in the UK either. There are some good people but it is, at the end of the day, an industry that makes most of its bread and butter training people for licenses. They don't really care what you do after that. If you like bumbling around in a light aircraft then great, but if not (and I didn't) then it gets very boring very quickly. It was a means to an end for me that's all.
So, if you don't enjoy it quit. You can go back in later years if you feel you want to. Good luck.

[Pace]

Private jet

My recurrent on a N reg jet as a free lance pilot has just cost me $7200 plus airline ticked, hotels, car hire , food no change out of $10,000
An awful lot to get back before you even see a profit!
With the delay to 2015 for the EASA rubbish of dual licences unless a dead easy cost free route is worked out to keep me flying I too will step down!
I have some fabulous memories flying biz jets especially the ferry work but frankly it's all. Becoming too much of a hassle and an expensive one at that!
So maybe then just take some Cirrus hours as a private pilot Nd do more with my Scuba diving and photography

Even with the owners it's more like dragging blood out of a stone and more and more demands for what can be 18 hour days by the time you finish with all the taxis cars and trains
You would be better off as a plumber than a professional pilot
Pace

[mr_rodge]

Interesting...

Interesting thread. I'm in a similar situation:

• Money tight due to setting up first home
• First child on the way, due September
• Only ever rented
• Love flying, had a crack at aeros and loved it, but it's mainly a slow and expensive (yet incredibly pleasurable) mode of transport for me.
• Gutted about having to hang up the headset, daren't look at the licence. Had a bit of heartache when I called Transair to cancel the chart subsription and when the AME sent me the reminder saying my class 2 was due.
• Got disillusioned by renting, now I keep reading the mags, watching the forums and occasionally visit airfields by car.
• I haven't flown for over a year, when I last flew it was a check in the circuit followed by an hour's jaunt over North Yorkshire, before that about 6 months between flights.

Now I have an 'ideal' which funnily enough I was going to post my own thread on. I'm unsure I'll ever earn enough to own a CofA outright but for me flying isn't an option unless I own at least an LAA mogas (or diesel?) 4 seat tourer with IFR kit outright. The 'ideal' consists of me, the other half (who is the best passenger I've ever flown with) and a 5 year old taking the tent into Europe instead of going on package holidays.

I'm now saving every spare penny towards this ideal, rather than doing what I view as 'frittering' the money on renting. Timescale? None, time I have. Timescale not necessary, just eventually. Realistic? Maybe not, but it's my ideal. We all have them.

The main threat to this (as I see it) is IFR & Night being permitted on Permit aircraft causing aircraft values to rocket, but that's another issue. Perhaps a more realistic threat is a second baby, which I won't rule out and which will always take priority.

In short I hate that I'm not flying now, but there's some comfort in knowing that I will be flying again in the future. In the meantime, maybe I'll dust off the old r/c planes I've had since I was 13 and see if they still fly. On second thoughts, I probably won't. House to fix ready for babies.

EDIT: Completely agree there are some arse holes on airfields. There are also people who, as grumpy as they are, make great friends.

[Aware]

thing hit the nail on the head I feel - why make it more emotive than it needs to be no big deal to quit anything if you don't have the energy or desire to continue.

[mary meagher]

Why giving up IS a big deal! Quitting would be a big deal.

Because if you are a pilot, you have made the grade. (funny how often I manage to mention this fact to people I meet....yes, I am a pilot. I am exceedingly proud to be a pilot. I will always be a pilot, even though I can no longer fly solo or instruct)

So don't quit, take a break. Family comes first. Dont insist on taking the sprogs flying, they get sick and bored.

You can always come back to flying, even after twenty or thirty years the skill is still there, rusty but renewable. When the kids are leaving home, (if they ever do!) more time, more money, more opportunity. If they don't leave home they should at least pay rent, so they'll appreciate the roof over their heads!

[GBEBZ]

I started studying my ATPL Exams at 36, just for fun (!), and will sit them in a few months... amazing how much you DONT know as a PPL !!!

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

I started studying my ATPL Exams at 36, just for fun (!), and will sit them in a few months... amazing how much you DONT know as a PPL !!!

But how much of that is relevant to a VFR SEP PPL?

[colmana]

Listen mate ..

I am 53 started flying at 24 have had several breaks sometimes 3 or 4 years , have lost friends in accidents, had kids and brought them up, in my early days I could really not afford to rent from schools so just doing minimum hours to keep the PPL. During my lay offs ( with young children mainly ) I just accepted that maybe that was that ...but the urge always returned. I put aside my guilt about spending large sums on my self as I realized it was sanity for me life changes drastically when children arrive, I took out a hefty insurance policy and joined a group with a 172 had a bit more money and flew the arse off it.

Red tape and rising costs and falling income due to starting my own business and the recession left me wondering if it was sensible to fly an hour a month ...which was what I was down to..Meanwhile my now 18 year old son spent his accumulated wealth and some accumulated from me ! on an NPPl. Knowing he was going to hate renting and not going be able to afford to do so I decided to by an LAA machine a RANS S6 with a 912 Group A for 11K..

Why in gods name did I never do this before ? I fly when I want I spend hours doing safety stuff EFATO ,PFLs at little cost £22-25 ph, a 4hr + range at 100mph, it takes two hefty blokes full fuel and 50lb of baggage, I do my own repairs and so on ....This means I can really go anywhere 2 hours there and 2 back in a 172 even group owned costs way too much ...I spend many enjoyable hours passing my tips to my son and keeping him under my wing , and now he is giving me tips! . and telling me off. Were flying to the western Isles of Scotland this year for a week and I know we will have a ball .

I have felt all the things the OP has mentioned, the key is to get away from schools and rentals ..there is far more to flying. I made a simple easy cross country last week to land for free at Boston on well kept grass a mere bimble for me ..do you know what it was one of the best ever flights, at home in the air in my own flying machine doing it right for once and even proud of my landings..because they were rather good and ever so grateful to have the health just enough wealth and the knowledge that its a privilege. In my 25 years or so of flying I can truthful say that the last 18 months have been the best, the responsibility of owning and maintaining an aeroplane was one thing, ensuring I did not pass bad habits to my son made me hit the books and brush up my flying ...how crap I was .

Yep over the years I have been skint -bored- scared to death -over confident -under confident-disinterested and let my licence lapse ....but me and flying were old friends now we can pick up where we left off...any time.

So can you OP... enjoy your family enjoy your flying it will be there if you want it if you don't no sweat .. But join a group or something.

[gasman123]

Hi Paul, I was in a very similar position to yours a few years ago and I have stopped power flying - there are some aspects of my decision I am happy with, some that I am not.

6 years ago I got my PPL. I struggled to maintain the amount of flying that I need ed to do to keep "safe" due to a combination of cost(its a bit hard to spend an evening on the internet trying to save £100-£200 on the family holiday then blow the same amount the next day in an hour), plus, after the real challenge of getting the PPL the £200 coffee became less interesting. I would have liked to have taken things further, but aeros/ IMC etc all cost a lot of money to do.

Safety - whilst, when I passed my PPL, I was very current and could fly in my sleep, I found that, flying fewer hours, the basics of flying a plane took more of my attention, leaving less for the feared engine fire/failure. Similar thoughts and concerns for my family as you are having added to the situation.

Just before my 2 years renewal I was one hour short then had a transient medical problem that stopped me flying briefly - end result no renewal.

Anyway, about 2 years after I booked on a gliding course on a bit of a whim, and loved the new challenge. The concept of having an hours flying with an instructor for less than £30 was incredible, and the club atmosphere (so lacking in power flying) was very stimulating. I also believe that gliding is much safer than power flying, and, having been through both routes, that glider pilots are much more skilled at handling an aeroplane. Plus any fear of landing without an engine is far offset by losing the engine failure/ fire concern. I am now progressing through the ranks and, paradoxically, the more flying I do the cheaper it gets - flying for a couple of hours for £8 can't be beaten.

My PPL has now lapsed - 6 years - and I actually very much regret this. I know that I will never invest the time and money to do it again. What I wish I had done was to have gained a TMG (touring motor glider) rating on my PPL, then kept up my licence flying a TMG - this would have kept my PPL at a much reduced cost. I could then have kept the option to fly TMGs or tugs (or my dormant dream of a spitfire...) later on. But now I can't and I am kicking myself.

I know many people here have extolled the virtues of gliding, and I agree with them- however with a young family it is very time inefficient, but in a more pleasantly inefficient way than your power issues - much more helping out and chewing the cud in-between flights than in your power clubhouse when you have to wait. Still politics around, but generally in a pleasant atmosphere with interesting people, who are all interested ion the same thing as you.

So what I am saying is- back off till you have more time but possibly try to eek your license along in as cheap a format as possible by gaining a rating that allows you to maintain your PPL in a cheaper type. Spoil yourself if you get the chance by booking a week's course in a gliding club (there are several glider pilots with young families but I accept that I wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment at your stage) - but don't lose your PPL, you may well live to regret it.

Don't forget that you have 5 years after your last renewal before it is "game over" - another way is to get your renewal, not fly for 4 years then invest in a few hours to get up to speed and do your skills test again. This buys you another 5 years. You don't need to do the writtens again. You need to check the new EASA regs though.

[A le Ron]

Some people are addicted to aviation. If you're not, then you can make choices. But at 180 hours you have done a huge amount, in rented aircraft. Economically and practically, some form of ownership would almost certainly suit you better and result in a completely different flying experience and perspective. I think.