# The addiction is killing me. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addiction-is-killing-me/267952 "2004-10-07T00:50:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addiction-is-killing-me/267952/21 "2004-10-08T02:27:38Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > **Broomstick** , you’re a much, much, _much_ braver person than I. _in awe_ Aw, yeah, I looked real awesome standing next to the gate at O’Hare puking into a trash can from fear going “I _have_ to get on that airplane… I _have_ to get on that airplane…” before a business trip. Felt really stupid because I had already been taking flight lessons two months - call myself a pilot and I couldn’t get on a nice, safe passenger jet? On take-off I was white-knuckling the armrests. The nice flight attendant came by “Ooo, you poor thing - is this your first time?” Soooooooooo embarassing… two days before I’d been doing touch ‘n’ goes off a grass strip in Wisconsin in an aircraft that, Og help me, _really did_ have things held on with duct tape and now I was having a meltdown over a stodgy, reliable old Boeing. :smack: I always loved flying until a Bad Thing happened to me on a flight between Detroit and Chicago - took me years to get over it. I got comfortable with myself on the controls in an ultralight and small planes about four years before I learned to relax on a passenger airline again. You can stay afraid, or you can go forward despite being afraid. I wanted to get back to loving to fly. As an extra plus, I can really related to frightened passengers. I get the biggest kick out of taking someone all nervous and skittery up, showing them a really fun time, and when the flight’s over having them say “Do it again! Do it again!” ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addiction-is-killing-me/267952/22 "2004-10-08T03:31:31Z")
_shakes head_ No, you see, that makes me even _more_ impressed… I’m hugely admiring you right now. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addiction-is-killing-me/267952/23 "2004-10-08T04:56:39Z")
In my experience, there are two classes of flight instructors - those working their way up the educational ladder into an airline job, and retired or second income earners - older pilots making a little on the side teaching on weekends, guys doing it part time to help pay through school, etc. That puts the salary a bit more in perspective. After all, we don’t complain about the meager pay doctoral students get - we recognize that the pay is basically just enough to allow them to get by until they reach their doctorate. Same with flight instructors - The chief value the instructor is getting is not the money, but the valuable PIC time needed to find more sophisticated work. ---
**Author:** ![caligynephobia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7feea3/32.png) [@caligynephobia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligynephobia)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addiction-is-killing-me/267952/24 "2004-10-09T16:07:37Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > 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. I second that. I enjoy flying airplanes, but I love flying gliders. A club is the way to go if you’re willing to put in some work to save money. My club’s gliders rent for about $5/hour, definitely worth a few hours pushing gliders around on a Saturday afternoon. > [@shagnasty](#): > > 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. Well, there’s a few commercial pilots on SDMB. However, the easiest thing for **don’t ask** might be an introductory instructional flight. I think [Be A Pilot](http://www.beapilot.com) has certificates for a $50 first flight. See if you like it. If money’s an issue, there’s the new [Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft](http://www.sportpilot.org/) which promises to be a less expensive way to fly recreationally in airplanes, powered parachutes, gliders, gyrocoptors, and trikes. Sorry, no helos **Johnny L.A.** Hang in there man. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addiction-is-killing-me/267952.md?page=1)