I started taking flying lessons almost 2 years ago to the day. I’ll be celebrating my two-year anniversary of having my pilot’s license this September (hard to believe it’s been almost two years). Anyway, since the beginning of my journey, people always ask how much it costs to fly. I posted originally on this topic in January 2009 – post linked here. Since that was over a year ago, and my flying habits have changed a bit since then, I figure it’s time for an update.
As I’ve mentioned plenty of times, I’m a member of a non-profit flying club (the Westosha Flying Club to be exact). My club owns six planes, any of which members can use/rent. I still pay $55 per month in dues, just for the privilege of membership and to compensate for the fixed costs of running/maintaining the club. Above that, I pay an hourly “wet” rate to rent the planes, which now ranges from $59/hour for Cessna 152’s up to $86/hour for Cessna 172-SP’s (172P’s are $74/hour). The term “wet” means that gasoline is included in the hourly rate (I never have to pay extra for gas). The hourly rate also only applies to actual flying time (when the engine is turned on, as measured by the “Hobbs Meter”). In other words, if you fly somewhere for dinner and it only takes 30 minutes each way, you only pay for an hour of flight time total – even if you spent lets say 2 hours at lunch. The club’s flight rates have increased slightly over these past two years, to cover increasing gasoline and maintenance costs. Overall, though, I know the rates I pay are still some of the best in the country. They truly keep costs just enough to not lose money (and not profit either).
I continue to track my average cost per hour since I started, and when you add in the monthly fees I am currently averaging $84/hour to fly when all is said and done. That’s a marked increase from my last update ($66/hour)…mostly because I’m now flying the nice 4-seater planes almost exclusively (since I take passengers on flights now). Obviously cost is very dependent on the planes you fly. Most flying clubs do publish their rates, so it would be fairly easy to figure out what it would cost to fly in any particular area.
If people have updates on their cost of flying, I’d love to hear it!
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I was flipping through my MP3 collection the other day and realized there are a LOT of great songs out there about flying (big hits too, not obscure songs). I created my “Greatest Hits of Flying” …or basically just a playlist of aviation related songs. Okay, I’ll admit “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” is stretching it, put I think this playlist of 14 songs ain’t too bad for us aviation buffs. Hopefully I didn’t’ miss anything too major. Check it out and let me know what you think! I even linked every song to iTunes if you need any of them… ENJOY!
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Live ATC Air Radio
Released Feb 01, 2010
Seller: Dave Pascoe
(C) 2009 LiveATC.net
Price (as of 03/08/2010): $2.99
Rated 4+ as of 03/08/2010 on iTunes Store
Many of us general aviation pilots have probably checked out the website LiveATC.net, where you can listen to live air traffic control (ATC) radio frequencies from around the country. It’s a free service that is great background noise if you are bored at home or around the office. It’s also great to listen to radio communications for training purposes, especially for us pilots that don’t fly out of a towered airport (like me).
LiveATC.net recently released an iPhone version of their service. It’s a great little app that essentially performs the same function as the website. It’s $2.99, which certainly isn’t the cheapest app out there, but it does work like a charm and compared to most aviation apps out there, three bucks isn’t that much for a decent training aid. Furthermore, it’s nice to have this audio at the palm of my hand, or more fittingly, able to be docked in my new iPhone clock-radio in my bedroom. Again, it makes for nice background audio as I’m preparing for bed or getting up in the morning.
In terms of actually reviewing the app, it performs as advertised. You can select your favorite airports/towers for quick access. The buffering is just as quick as on the regular website, both through Wi-Fi and even 3G. I’ve even listened to it in my car on the road with great success, although streaming audio through 3G does chew up iPhone battery life fairly quickly. The newest version even supports background listening, so you could listen to it while working in other apps on the iPhone. I’d recommend this app as I do thoroughly enjoy it (and I was not compensated for this review).
Check out the Live ATC Air Radio app on the iTunes Store here!
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This past Friday, my wife and I had our first “Date Flight” of 2010. We went to our usual fly-in restaurant destination, Pilot Pete’s restaurant, at Schaumburg Regional Airport (06C). The place was hopping that day and we had to wait almost an hour for a table. As usual, though, the food was well worth the wait. Skies were gorgeous and very clear for our quick journey. The only interesting portion of the flight was a brush fire in Zion, Illinois (rough location), causing some slight smoke/haze, but that nice wood-burning smell was actually a pleasant scent as we flew. My landings were smooth because of my recent practice just a few weeks ago. I’m glad I had that practice, because I’m sure my wife wouldn’t have liked our first flight of this year to include bumpy/scary landings.
This flight I logged 1.1 hours of PIC flight time.
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Unfortunately it took a month-and-a-half before my schedule and the weather would cooperate enough for me to fly in 2010. Fortunately, this past weekend, I was able to have my first flight of 2010…and man, was it great to get back in the sky. Last weekend, my wife and I went up Kohler, WI for a pre-Valentine’s Day spa getaway, so on actual Valentine’s Day we were taking it easy and staying home. My wife was making us an awesome dinner so she urged me to take a few hours to practice and fly on such a beautiful day. I’m glad I found the time!
The weather was indeed clear and crisp and the plane performed great. The colder/thicker air certainly helps the propeller cut into it more! I did a couple laps around the pattern at Westosha, then down to Campbell Airport (C81) in Grayslake for a change of scenery. Along the way, I flew by our house and my wife came out and waved…it was pretty cool, the first time she saw me actually IN flight from the ground. I was happily surprised when my landings were nice and smooth, even with the moderate cross-wind that day.
After 4 greaser landings between the 2 airports, I jolted back home and spent the rest of V-Day with my awesome wife. This flight I logged 0.8 hours of flight time. Let’s hope 2010 brings a LOT more time in the air!
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Being an Eagle Scout, I try to consider myself “prepared” for most situations, especially when it comes to my flying. I have a backpack filled with the necessities for flying (my headset, my logbook and medical certificate, a flashlight, map, batteries), but I also keep a few other things in there… just in case. Things like: a second flashlight and another set of batteries, extra pens, Swiss Army knife (of course), zip-lock bags (for airsick passengers), bottle of water, a few energy bars, and even some duct tape. Yes, duct tape. We used to find all sorts of crazy uses for duct tape when camping with the Boy Scouts, so it’s just out of habit that I like to keep it in my emergency supplies. People may have questioned me in the past why I carry duct tape on flights, but I finally found a good reason why!
Apparently there was an Alaskan bush pilot flying up in Alaska on a fishing trip and mistakenly left some bait/food in his plane. Naturally, a bear smelled it and tore his plane up majorly. Upon returning to his severely damaged plane, this pilot radioed a friend who airdropped some supplies including duct tape. Using these supplies, the pilot was able to repair his plane and fly home. Some awesome usage of duct tape, I must admit! I was hoping to read the pilot had the duct tape on him, but alas he didn’t. So, I don’t know if my one roll in my bag will be enough to ever repair a bear-damaged plane, but it would certainly be useful in the wild nonetheless. You can read the whole story on CNET.
Moral of the story: never leave food out for bears, and always BE PREPARED!
The bear-damaged plane.
The duct tape-fixed plane.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to take three of my really good friends flying. This was the first time for all of them in a small airplane, and my first time taking them up! The stars aligned perfectly to make this day happen… 1) My friend Scott and his girlfriend Angie happened to be in my general neck of the woods due to a race earlier in the day (they are basically semi-professional triathletes). 2) Another flying club member was able to move his booking to another plane to open up the schedule for me to fly that afternoon. 3) The weather was nice – even though the day before brought some of the first snow of the season. 4) My friend Mark who has 2 kids and a very busy December was able to find a few hours free on a Saturday, which is rare.
Scott, Angie, and I started from Westosha (5K6) and flew southbound to DuPage (DPA) airport. Mark met us there since he only lives about 5 miles away from DPA. Timing worked out well as I was able to text him right before we departed. We hung out and chatted at DuPage for a few minutes, then jumped back in plane to head westward. We did a quick landing and takeoff at DeKalb Regional (DKB) then a traveled a bit further west to just putz around in the sky. We had great views of Northern Illinois University and, upon request, performed a brief “zero-g” moment to let them feel what a very steep dive feels like. After that, we headed back to DuPage to let Mark get back to his family and then the remaining three of us flew back home to Westosha.
All three of my friends got to ride in the front and all three seemed to really enjoy it. It was definitely a blast for me to share my hobby and passion for flying with all of them. We are already talking about other times we can get together and go somewhere with a more set destination in mind. All-in-all, it was an awesome day and I can’t wait to fly again with them! You can see pictures from the day on my friend Scott’s Picasa Page here. It was also my first time to DeKalb airport, another airport down on my list!
This flight I logged 2.1 hours of flight time and 4 landings.
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SkyCharts
Released Oct 18, 2009
Seller: Heikki Julkunen
(C) 2008-2009 Heikki Julkunen
Price (as of 10/20/2009): $9.99
Rated 4+ as of 10/20/2009 on iTunes Store
Most general aviation pilots know how expensive true aviation-grade portable GPS systems can be. Garmin and Lowerance systems cost upwards of $2,000 for a decent one, even the seemingly awesome Bendix-King AV8OR costs around $700+. In my mind, those are ridiculous prices for the amount of functionality those devices provide. After experimenting with my Mio Personal Navigation Device for aviation use with some success, I was hopeful to find something just as useful on my iPhone. I’m very happy and excited to report about the SkyCharts app…truly a great little gem on the iPhone!
Granted, it’s no fully integrated electronic flight bag (EFB), but it does exactly what it claims to do… it puts your GPS position directly on top of the paper sectionals/charts you’ve grown to know and love. The first versions of the app did ONLY that, but the latest version added some flight planning capabilities as well.
One VERY important feature of this app is that you can cache the various charts to use while you don’t have a data/cellular signal. In other words, you can use this while flying (even though you aren’t supposed to – like any app). Furthermore, it now has a database of all U.S. airports, nav points, and fixes – all of which can be selected and routed direct-to. For each airport, it also will cache and display approach plates and airport diagrams. Overall, very useful stuff! The flight-planning is currently only 1 point direct-to lines, but future versions may include multiple waypoints. The development of this app has been moving quickly, so I wouldn’t be surprised if those features are included in the near future.
Overall, for $10 ($9.99 technically), it’s WELL worth the cost! I’ve used this MANY times in the air already, and think it’s a superb app. I HIGHLY recommend it! Check it out on iTunes here!
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