The addiction is killing me.

There is one thing that I’ve wanted to do ever since I was two or three years old: Fly.

I haven’t flown in a few years. Nothing makes me as happy as flying a helicopter; but there were times when I had time and no money, and other times when I had money and no time. Until I was laid off last year, my situation was the latter. Now the situation is the former. It’s killing me. I find myself holding my right hand as if it were holding a cyclic. My heart aches every time I see a helicopter. Or hear one.

Today I had to make an “emergency run” down to Skagit County. One of the guys needed some tools tout de suite. I went down to deliver the tools, and stayed to assist in the work. As it happens, the site was right next to the Skagit Airport. R-22s were buzzing around all over the place. I would look at them and do in my mind what the pilot was doing in the air. I could feel myself up there, flying.

After the work was done, I went to the FBO. Rental is $175/hour solo, $195/hour dual. Once the biennial is out of the way, there is a $500 fee per year for two years to cover the insurance while renting.

I’ve got to get a better job. I can’t stand not flying.

As my sig says…

I feel your pain. Since we sold our airplane, I haven’t flown a single hour. Don’t even have a medical right now. Many’s the day when I’ll look up at the sky and just ache to be up there. Sigh.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

(John Gillespie Magee, Jr.)

(This poem is in the public domain and can be quoted in its entirety.)

I love that poem.
Are you licensed? Do you own / can you rent a private craft?

Bloody. That was my late father’s favourite poem. (His birthday was Monday.)

Low Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And hovered out of ground effect on semi-rigid blades.
Earthward I’ve auto’ed and met the rising brush of non-paved terrain,
And done a thousand things you would never care to
skidded and dropped and flared low in the heat soaked roar.
Confined there, I’ve chased the earthbound traffic
and lost the race to insignificant headwinds;
Forward and up a little in ground effect
I’ve topped the General’s hedge with drooping turns
where never Skyhawk or even Phantom flew.
Shaking and pulling collective, I’ve lumbered
the low untrespassed halls of victor airways,
Put out my hand and touched a tree.

Heh. “and lost the race to insignificant headwinds;”. I once outran a Piper J-3 Cub in a headwind. :stuck_out_tongue:

Yes, I hold a Private Pilot Certificate for Rotorcraft-Helicopter and Airplane-Single Engine Land.

In order to rent, I would have to renew my Medical Certificate (which expired in June) and undergo a Biennial Flight Review (which I estimate will take ten hours, due to my inactivity). I cannot own a helicopter, because they’re too expensive. :frowning: (The guy at the FBO says a new R-22 Beta II costs about $175,000.)

I know what you mean. I really want to complete my private pilot’s license (airplane) but I am unemployed now and can’t justify the expense to my family. I bought some rudder pedals and a copy of MS Flight Simulator 2004 and use that instead for now.

I meant that for laina_f, Johnny, but that’s good to know. :wink:

Kythereia: If you like the poem, then you may need to be a pilot. :slight_smile:

I hope you decide to become a member of the SDMB.

It would work if I weren’t deathly afraid of flying, methinks. :wink:

As soon as I scrape together the money, you bet I’m signing up!

Kythereia, I got my pilot’s license in part to get over my fear of flying.

And Johnny… {{{{hugs}}}}

Thanks, Broomstick. I keep asking the goddess to help me get back into the air, but no joy so far. On the other hand, maybe my “new direction” in wanting to learn more useful programming languages is the first step in getting a job that will allow me to get airborne again.

Broomstick, you’re a much, much, much braver person than I. in awe

Man, I’d almost forgotten how much I miss flying until I saw this thread. I think I’ve flown twice since 9-11, and it’s been an even bigger pain in the rear than it used to be in this overly congested airspace around our nation’s Capital. It is a stressful experience around here, completely unlike my days puttering around in a Cessna 150 in Northern California, or in a PA-28-141 in Southeastern Connecticut.

sigh

Couldn’t a bunch of Dopers get together to hire some flying time so that a flight-deprived Doper can take them on a scenic joy flight?

What I take from this is that they only charge $20/hour for dual helecopter flight instruction. And the FBO might give only about half of that to the instructor. When you think of the knowledge, experience, skills, and responsibility that the instructor must have, it’s insane that they are paid so little.

Good idea but very against the regulations. Passengers with a private pilot can split costs but not pay for the whole cost of the flight. You need a commercial license (not the airline captain kind, a lot lower than that) to be able to charge for flying somebody including just paying for the airplane use for a joyride.

It is a crappy system but they don’t don’t do it for the money. They either do it because they love flying and it is just a great way to get paid a little to do it or they need to build lots flying time because they plan on getting a job with the airlines some way. That is really the only afforable way to get the several hundred/thousand hours that most employers want to see. They don’t all make as little as ten dollars an hour. My instructor keeps $20 per hour for example. However, that is only for actual instructing time. Open pockets in the daily schedule and bad weather can really screw up the already meager income. I think a full-time flight instructor at a typical FBO can only expect to make in the teens.

I think they’re discounting the fee for dual. Non-dual instructor fees (e.g., ground school) are $40/hour.

When I was in training in the early-1990s, my instructor said he made $6,000 that year. In Los Angeles.

My mom worked at airports most of my life. She said the flight instructor’s lot was a poor one. She was often making more as a secretary (as they were called then) than the instructors.

Dad, Combat Aircrew in the Navy, FAA for 22 years, CFII – obviously an avid pilot – said “Flight instructing is the most enjoyable way there is to starve to death.”

IIRC, you need a commercial license to fly passengers under Part 91. Part 91 flights with passengers are limited to 25 nautical miles from the airport of origin, and must begin and end at the same airport. Charter flights are done under the more strict Part 135. A commercial pilot may also fly non-passenger missions under Part 91 such as flight instruction (with CFI – and the student is not considered a “passenger”) or banner towing.

I just like to fly. If I can do it and have someone else pay for it (as in being a flight instructor), so much the better. Helicopters fill very specifis roles. Corporate flying doesn’t seem to be very “big” out here. It seems corporations prefer small jets. If, by some miracle, someone wanted to hire me for medivac, I’d do it in an instant. If someone needed pipeline patrol, I’d do that. But flying is the thing.

don’t ask: I appreciate the thought. :slight_smile: Maybe I should start one of those web pages asking for tuition. “My job went to India, and I need job retraining. Please donate what you can toward my Flight Instructor training tuition. $30,000 needed. Thanks.” :stuck_out_tongue:

You guys might want to take a look at soaring. It’s not dramatically cheaper than powered flight, but in lots of areas there are clubs, which means shared aircraft costs and cheap (often free) instruction.

And comparing motorless to powered flight (which I enjoy) is kinda like the difference between driving a car on a crowded freeway vs. riding a motorcycle on a twisting mountain road.

To find soaring sites, check out the Soaring Society of America.