I’m 31. Picked up MSFS2020, and it has now influenced me to pursue a career as an Airline Pilot. I’m at 0 hours, and i’m trying to save money to enroll in to flight school and start my journey. It’s gonna be a long journey for me lol.
Thank you, I appreciate your support. My biggest concern is, do I actually like flying? Or do i like flying on my pc. Obviously i just have to do it to find out the answer, but i just would hate to go through it all and give up.
There are discovery flights where you can try one hour with a CFI. Also check out r/flying to get an idea of what pilots have to deal with.
I am to settled in my career to change, but I love the idea of not having a 9-5 job in front of a computer.
That’s the plan, unfortunately that does cost money, and i’m between jobs right now trying to land this position at a Jet company. But as of right now my financial situation is the biggest obstacle in my way. So, i’ve got to handle that first before I move on to that step.
Simply way too expensive to do as a hobby for me. It can be doable for someone with savings or a good income, especially if they share ownership of an airplane to cut costs. Maybe someday I'll revisit it. I did take a discovery flight, and may do more in the future for fun. As a 'once in a while' thing that seems to be an ok way to experience flight. While it was cool, to be honest, it left me with even more of an appreciation for how close I can get in a home simulator to the real thing, for way cheaper.
In this economy? No way. It’s like $15k USD just for a PPL around here and then you actually have to fly regularly to stay current. It’s a crazy amount of money. I really feel like you have to be very wealthy these days to take up this hobby IRL.
In a way, it's not that bad.. People here in Germany like to buy cars that are more than that and you can easily spend $5000 for a regular car driving license..
When I inherited some money(too much to wildly spend, too little to buy something big like an appartment), I basically chose between a car+license and a pilot's license, since we're having a couple of smaller airfields around here and I could take the bus and/or bike there, but the mandatory hours put me off the license.. The absolute minimum is 12 hours within two years, which isn't all that much, but with charter fees and everything, it's still about $120 every month(charter prices with fuel for a 152 or 172 are about $220-$275/h), even if I don't feel like flying(I have quite a lot of equipment-heavy hobbies, so it happens regularly that I neglect some of them for a couple of years)..
Getting a Quest 2 (and later on a Pico 4) for MSFS in VR was the best investment ever, because it does scratch that itch good enough for me and it's a lot cheaper, safer and less hassle :)
I would certainly like too, went and did a discovery flight last spring in a Cessna 172. Was gutted to hear that the cost of a license was $30,000-40,000 depending on how long it takes to learn the skills. Hopefully one day I do it!
Is that here in canada? And damn thats expensive for me as well. I obviously need to do some discovery around the price first but wondering what my yearly expenditure will be.
This is in Minnesota, close!! That’s what I was told to get my private pilots license, which all in they said averaged 40 flight hours to achieve. So figure $1000 an hour. Then there is the cost of renting or owning an aircraft. If I wanted to rent that same Cessna, every hour was $150 not including fuel.
I’m not sure what the prices are anymore. I got a private license in 2015. It took me a year and about 66-68 hours. All in, it cost me $12,000, which was $1,000 a month doing about one lesson a week.
That includes the rentals, the flight instructor, supplies needed, ground school, and the check ride, and anything else in between.
I did around 10hrs a few years ago and stopped because of the money - I was in the same boat as you in terms of pursuing this recreationally. If I was doing it for a career I would’ve continued. I can definitely afford finishing it, but justifying it is difficult, for me at least.
I’ll bounce around starting up irl again and sticking to simming but I’ll usually just opt for buying a new piece of hardware for the sim :P
Haven’t enrolled in a full school, but I do occasionally do different discovery flights which have counted towards hours. I do plan on doing the full PPL once work slows down.
You could call up your nearest flight school and ask about a discovery flight. Generally 30-60 minutes of the basics to get a feel for flying and they might let you take control up there!
It’s a good way to test the waters. Flying lessons will be a big time and money commitment but if it’s worth it is up to you. I’m in Ontario as well and just the PPL was estimated around 25-30k.
My wife actually purchased a gift certificate good for one discovery flight at a nearby flight school as my gift for Christmas! Super excited to put that to use! As far as flight school goes…gonna have to do some serious homework and thinking before making that sort of commitment.
I’ve been told airline companies will pay for you to get your piloting license. Whether this is true or not I’m not sure but that would definitely make it affordable to pursue. What program or school that is through I’m not sure but would totally be into it if it was legit. I realize this isn’t much help….
Big airlines like Lufthansa, Qatar, Etihad and the like might loan you the money as they also operate their own [training centres](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzqQ5_CuZzA), but you'll have to pay it back in instalments when working for them(and probably pay back all/most of it if you don't end up working for them or quit before you've paid back your debt).
Smaller airlines that don't have their own training facilities(or chose not to have any) don't have that opportunity for cheap(er) training, so they will usually have the applicant pay for the training themselves(ie. "Call us when you got your license").
And with training costs starting somewhere around $65000, you'll be up for some fierce competition for these loans with people with a fiery passion for flying and people from lower-income countries trying to jump up the income ladder(ie. they're very determined, too).
The only one I know in the US that will front the entire cost is Republic, United will cover your ppl but the rest is on you. All the other programs will help pay back that loans. Also the 4-year uni option, Fasfa will cover the classroom stuff but all the flying expenses are pretty much out of pocket. This is just what I have gathered when I was exploring what schools were available.
The only way to get the training for free is to join the military.
Airlines that have cadet systems are extremely selective, not free, and mostly do not offer you a job at the end, only a promise to look at you.
I would do it if some airline paid for my training and I could work for them. For now I'm going to get a triple monitor , 5800x3d, 4070ti setup to scratch the itch
Something similar here, I got a quest to use vr with Msfs and got the honeycomb yoke and throttle, a crosswind pedal for Christmas and picked up the sportys online ground school. That’s a good place to start and should tell me if I’m serious about flying or not. Msfs in vr is insane and well worth it-I recommend it to anyone curious about a ppl.
Close to the same, really thinking about it. I've heard ground school is pretty cheap, could just be a fun learning experience. Definitely want to do a "discovery" flight.
A full PPL is at least a $15,000 piece of paper I'm not sure I will actually ever use except to do circuits every couple of months at the local airport.
If you have a couple of friends that are game for it, you could use the license for vacations.. shared charters are cheaper charters :)
...and from what I read and heard from friends, many charter places really only bill the flying hours. So you could rent out a plane, fly somewhere in a few hours and stay there for a couple of days and then fly back and only pay for the flying hours and the (relatively) cheap storage inbetween.
Of course, there will be all sorts of scheduling issues with the availability of the planes and when going abroad, the whole "wet charter" with included fuel might not apply anymore(so you'll have to negotiate a dry charter and pay for the fuel yourself), but there are people on youtube doing these things quite regularly.
I just spent 8 years of my life to become a medical doctor and I'm considering pivoting to become an airline pilot in a few years. I see you, and it's never too late. I want to hear success stories so I am rooting for you.
I've always wanted my PPL....my grandma was a stewardess for Eastern for like 30 years and her dad was a bombing instructor (wings earned) in WWII....and I absolutely love aviation...even if I can't get a plane or afford what it takes its still good to know I could fly if I had the chance...I know all about aviation I just am not officially certified for anything
Unfortunately, it is an expensive hobby to pursue, more so than many hobbies. That said, I have been on Flight Sim since MSFS 95. At the moment, I have 2 hrs experience flying Cessna 172 and 1hr in a Texan 550. Three introductory flights. Given as gifts. But still a hell of an experience.
I was super into flight sims as a kid and my whole family was into aviation. Kind lost track of it in high school and the 20-ish years after. In getting back into MSFS, I've been putting some solid thought into getting my PPL in the next year or two.
I am!
Currently, between actually fixing planes , and learning how to adult/career. I’m a little bit too busy to actually commit to a flight school for now.
So instead I bounce around my state with a little
Vision jet… once I’m good enough (and get push to talk working) I’ll swap over to vatsim for a little extra realism.
I've been playing flight sims as a kid and recently started flying. I had taken my flight sim experience pretty serious with vatsim and being as legit as I could be on procedures given my experience.
I took a discovery flight ($120 on Groupon) at my local airport (KSMO) and I loved it. My flight instructor took me through some ground school to go over basics and I commented that I had been playing flight sims for many years. He was happy about that and he too had been a flight sim geek.
The flight was great and it rejuvenated my love for flight and gave me the urge to save up to fly despite the cost. Due to my experience I was able to catch up extremely fast - we did S turns and he allowed me to set the aircraft up for final and damn near land it myself. He handled the rudders and maintained close control to the stick to make sure I wasn't passing thru any dangerous commands but my flight experience kicked in when it came to actually landing the aircraft.
My suggestion: Go for a discovery flight and soak up the experience. Choose the right school, if your not looking to become a commercial pilot it's not that bad. Some places quote around $10k - 15k but the amount of life experiences you get are awesome.
Btw Vatsim will help you get over the anxiety of being on the radio if/when you get to that point. At first i was nervous since we fly around LAX but after my third flight I felt comfortable enough to learn and be able to hear out ATC when they communicate to us. Not an ideal airspace to start out but it provides awesome views and gets you over the initial radio anxiety.
I was always an avid simmer through my youth and into my adult life. I flew for my PPL in my early twenties in Ontario, commercial pilot was always a dream of mine but life circumstances change and sometimes you have to make decisions about what path to take.
I flew off and on over the past decade but I've been lucky enough to work in the aviation industry and always have exposure to it. I've met many like minded people who share the same enthusiasm, a lot of simmers and a lot of pilots. I was flying jump seat one time with an older FO and in conversation I found out he had started his second career to become an airline pilot at 42 after a career in the music industry. Nothing is impossible but it does become a matter of cost, practicality and time - private/recreational flying is even more attainable.
I've done most of my flying in southwestern Ontario and the GTA and there's a lot of good people and resources. I too have been feeling that itch to get back in the saddle. I'd recommend a discovery flight at your local flying club then take it from there. Feel free to DM me if you want to bounce any ideas or questions off me.
38 here, a few coworkers of mine have PPL's, and the thought has certainly crossed my mind. At least to take a discovery flight.
Committing to it all the way ain't cheap, even for a PPL without any sort of instrument rating or anything. And I probably don't need another expensive hobby on top of photography and travel in general. But it sure is tempting 😂
I'm 36 years old. Been playing flight Sims for over 15 years now. Have thought of learning to fly in real life for a long time. Finally took the plunge a couple months ago and started with a nearby flight school. Completed about 12 hours so far and having so much fun.
It truly is an expensive hobby though. Approx $300 USD an hour for PPL training and usually 60-70 hours minimum for the PPL. After that it'll cost approx $15-$20K a year if you fly regularly. Most recommend that you get at least an instrument rating even if you plan to fly only recreationally.
Gliders and powered gliders might be definitely less expensive. A good alternative if it's viable in your area.
Just a recent set of numbers for you to look at. I finished my PPL back at the end of September in a 141 school flying a G1000 172S. I bought MSFS 2020 back in January and started flight school in April. I did my checkride after 62hrs of total time flying. It cost me right at $21K for flight time and extra ground sessions with my CFI during checkride prep.
This is not including the iPad, foreflight subscription, gas to and from the airport, renters insurance, King schools ground school, and any other material I bought for myself to help along the way.
Do not think you're going to go into training with a leg up from flying the sim. Unless you're flying a Cessna 172 and are doing basic manuvers like steep turns, Power on/off stalls, turns around a point, s-turns across a road, and slow flight, when you fly the sim, it's gunna be drinking from the fire hose for the first 15-20 hours.
Unless you have 12-15k to drop towards training without thinking about it, spend the next year saving up to do it without taking a loan out or paying as you go. You'll ultimately spend way more money in the long run if you don't have the money sitting aside to finish it as fast as possible. The more you fly the more you retain the information and more proficient you become.
Now after having my PPL I can tell you that finding a reliable place to rent from is a hassle. It's taken me 3 months of consistent hunting to get in somewhere with good quality aircraft. I'm flying a 1973 Archer that is $165 an hour to fly(fuel included).
I'm open to any questions because this has been one of the best things I've done for myself and it's definitely rewarding. However it's not cheap no matter the route you take!
I did it couple of years ago. I was in mid-40 and would never call doing the thing I was dreaming about for 40 years a „mid-life crisis”. I just realised I can afford it eventually without breaking family budget.
But I had slightly different decision tree than you. I was planning to build a gaming rig and then it caught my attention that PPL here in Poland was about 30k PLN ($7500) while a solid flightsim rig is 10k PLN.
Second step was to decide that even if I would just take 10hrs or something it would create meteorites much better than that gaming PC can give me.
So, I STRONGLY encourage you to take a discovery flight and then start flying. Even if you cannot afford to go past touch and go’s.
JUST DO IT.
&
PS
The only downside is that MSFS is not so great anymore afterwards ;)
I also have had a fascination with aviation my entire life. I flirted with the idea of learning to fly on and off but never had the time or money. During the pandemic, I picked up MSFS for fun and one day got thinking, hey, I have the time and money now! So I did a little research and long story short, I got my PPL this year. Here’s a few facts…
- I’m in the Midwest USA.
- It took me 1.5 years / >100 hours.
- 170 - 190 / hr. For the plane.
- 60 / hr. For the instructor.
- 1 - 3 hours per lesson.
- A couple thousand in tests, ground school, checkride, equipment, etc.
I started at one lesson a week but that’s not enough so I went to 2-3 times per week.
It has been one of the hardest things I have ever done but it is also extremely rewarding. Take a discovery flight, get your hands on the controls, and see what it’s about.
I’m 31. Picked up MSFS2020, and it has now influenced me to pursue a career as an Airline Pilot. I’m at 0 hours, and i’m trying to save money to enroll in to flight school and start my journey. It’s gonna be a long journey for me lol.
All the best my friend, you can do this! Dont forget to enjoy it, I heard flight school can become a grind.
Thank you, I appreciate your support. My biggest concern is, do I actually like flying? Or do i like flying on my pc. Obviously i just have to do it to find out the answer, but i just would hate to go through it all and give up.
There are discovery flights where you can try one hour with a CFI. Also check out r/flying to get an idea of what pilots have to deal with. I am to settled in my career to change, but I love the idea of not having a 9-5 job in front of a computer.
See if any local flightclub has the possibility for you to try out maybe?
That’s the plan, unfortunately that does cost money, and i’m between jobs right now trying to land this position at a Jet company. But as of right now my financial situation is the biggest obstacle in my way. So, i’ve got to handle that first before I move on to that step.
Flight school isn't a grind until you're the instructor trying to build 1500 hours haha
Check out Fly with Trent on YouTube. Lots of good info on pursuing this path. Good luck.
Thanks for the info, i’ll look him up!
Simply way too expensive to do as a hobby for me. It can be doable for someone with savings or a good income, especially if they share ownership of an airplane to cut costs. Maybe someday I'll revisit it. I did take a discovery flight, and may do more in the future for fun. As a 'once in a while' thing that seems to be an ok way to experience flight. While it was cool, to be honest, it left me with even more of an appreciation for how close I can get in a home simulator to the real thing, for way cheaper.
In this economy? No way. It’s like $15k USD just for a PPL around here and then you actually have to fly regularly to stay current. It’s a crazy amount of money. I really feel like you have to be very wealthy these days to take up this hobby IRL.
In a way, it's not that bad.. People here in Germany like to buy cars that are more than that and you can easily spend $5000 for a regular car driving license.. When I inherited some money(too much to wildly spend, too little to buy something big like an appartment), I basically chose between a car+license and a pilot's license, since we're having a couple of smaller airfields around here and I could take the bus and/or bike there, but the mandatory hours put me off the license.. The absolute minimum is 12 hours within two years, which isn't all that much, but with charter fees and everything, it's still about $120 every month(charter prices with fuel for a 152 or 172 are about $220-$275/h), even if I don't feel like flying(I have quite a lot of equipment-heavy hobbies, so it happens regularly that I neglect some of them for a couple of years).. Getting a Quest 2 (and later on a Pico 4) for MSFS in VR was the best investment ever, because it does scratch that itch good enough for me and it's a lot cheaper, safer and less hassle :)
I would certainly like too, went and did a discovery flight last spring in a Cessna 172. Was gutted to hear that the cost of a license was $30,000-40,000 depending on how long it takes to learn the skills. Hopefully one day I do it!
Is that here in canada? And damn thats expensive for me as well. I obviously need to do some discovery around the price first but wondering what my yearly expenditure will be.
This is in Minnesota, close!! That’s what I was told to get my private pilots license, which all in they said averaged 40 flight hours to achieve. So figure $1000 an hour. Then there is the cost of renting or owning an aircraft. If I wanted to rent that same Cessna, every hour was $150 not including fuel.
I’m in an expensive to live in state and the average cost per hour including aircraft and the instructor is $200 to $250 per hour. They lied to you.
I’m not sure what the prices are anymore. I got a private license in 2015. It took me a year and about 66-68 hours. All in, it cost me $12,000, which was $1,000 a month doing about one lesson a week. That includes the rentals, the flight instructor, supplies needed, ground school, and the check ride, and anything else in between.
40k is insane, I wouldn't expect more than 20k, even in the metro area where those rental rates start breaching 260/hr.
Certainly feeling swindled hearing from everyone else haha
That’s overpriced.. I was quoted 12K for a PPL.. Maybe 30-40K total? In that case it’s a steal
It would be a pretty rare person who can get a licence in 40 hours. Flight schools understate the hours required to get you in.
Where did you hear that?
I took my time (ie single income mostly limited funding) did it over 4 years and 80 hours) got my PPL back in August and it was just under $20k
I did around 10hrs a few years ago and stopped because of the money - I was in the same boat as you in terms of pursuing this recreationally. If I was doing it for a career I would’ve continued. I can definitely afford finishing it, but justifying it is difficult, for me at least. I’ll bounce around starting up irl again and sticking to simming but I’ll usually just opt for buying a new piece of hardware for the sim :P
Haven’t enrolled in a full school, but I do occasionally do different discovery flights which have counted towards hours. I do plan on doing the full PPL once work slows down.
You could call up your nearest flight school and ask about a discovery flight. Generally 30-60 minutes of the basics to get a feel for flying and they might let you take control up there! It’s a good way to test the waters. Flying lessons will be a big time and money commitment but if it’s worth it is up to you. I’m in Ontario as well and just the PPL was estimated around 25-30k.
My wife actually purchased a gift certificate good for one discovery flight at a nearby flight school as my gift for Christmas! Super excited to put that to use! As far as flight school goes…gonna have to do some serious homework and thinking before making that sort of commitment.
I would love to, but I’m in a wheelchair so it’s basically a no go. Flight Sim it is for me!
I’ve been told airline companies will pay for you to get your piloting license. Whether this is true or not I’m not sure but that would definitely make it affordable to pursue. What program or school that is through I’m not sure but would totally be into it if it was legit. I realize this isn’t much help….
Big airlines like Lufthansa, Qatar, Etihad and the like might loan you the money as they also operate their own [training centres](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzqQ5_CuZzA), but you'll have to pay it back in instalments when working for them(and probably pay back all/most of it if you don't end up working for them or quit before you've paid back your debt). Smaller airlines that don't have their own training facilities(or chose not to have any) don't have that opportunity for cheap(er) training, so they will usually have the applicant pay for the training themselves(ie. "Call us when you got your license"). And with training costs starting somewhere around $65000, you'll be up for some fierce competition for these loans with people with a fiery passion for flying and people from lower-income countries trying to jump up the income ladder(ie. they're very determined, too).
Some do, United and delta have their own school I believe.. but good luck getting in. United and delta are part of the big 4.. but it’s possible
I’m super unaware of how any of this works so exclusivity isn’t exactly shocking.
The only one I know in the US that will front the entire cost is Republic, United will cover your ppl but the rest is on you. All the other programs will help pay back that loans. Also the 4-year uni option, Fasfa will cover the classroom stuff but all the flying expenses are pretty much out of pocket. This is just what I have gathered when I was exploring what schools were available.
The only way to get the training for free is to join the military. Airlines that have cadet systems are extremely selective, not free, and mostly do not offer you a job at the end, only a promise to look at you.
I would do it if some airline paid for my training and I could work for them. For now I'm going to get a triple monitor , 5800x3d, 4070ti setup to scratch the itch
Why not play it in vr?
Something similar here, I got a quest to use vr with Msfs and got the honeycomb yoke and throttle, a crosswind pedal for Christmas and picked up the sportys online ground school. That’s a good place to start and should tell me if I’m serious about flying or not. Msfs in vr is insane and well worth it-I recommend it to anyone curious about a ppl.
Close to the same, really thinking about it. I've heard ground school is pretty cheap, could just be a fun learning experience. Definitely want to do a "discovery" flight. A full PPL is at least a $15,000 piece of paper I'm not sure I will actually ever use except to do circuits every couple of months at the local airport.
If you have a couple of friends that are game for it, you could use the license for vacations.. shared charters are cheaper charters :) ...and from what I read and heard from friends, many charter places really only bill the flying hours. So you could rent out a plane, fly somewhere in a few hours and stay there for a couple of days and then fly back and only pay for the flying hours and the (relatively) cheap storage inbetween. Of course, there will be all sorts of scheduling issues with the availability of the planes and when going abroad, the whole "wet charter" with included fuel might not apply anymore(so you'll have to negotiate a dry charter and pay for the fuel yourself), but there are people on youtube doing these things quite regularly.
I just spent 8 years of my life to become a medical doctor and I'm considering pivoting to become an airline pilot in a few years. I see you, and it's never too late. I want to hear success stories so I am rooting for you.
I let the USAF do that for me 20 years ago. But prior to that I had FS2000, 2002, and 2004.
I've always wanted my PPL....my grandma was a stewardess for Eastern for like 30 years and her dad was a bombing instructor (wings earned) in WWII....and I absolutely love aviation...even if I can't get a plane or afford what it takes its still good to know I could fly if I had the chance...I know all about aviation I just am not officially certified for anything
Unfortunately, it is an expensive hobby to pursue, more so than many hobbies. That said, I have been on Flight Sim since MSFS 95. At the moment, I have 2 hrs experience flying Cessna 172 and 1hr in a Texan 550. Three introductory flights. Given as gifts. But still a hell of an experience.
I was super into flight sims as a kid and my whole family was into aviation. Kind lost track of it in high school and the 20-ish years after. In getting back into MSFS, I've been putting some solid thought into getting my PPL in the next year or two.
You would be suprised how well you simulator guys translate over to real world flying. I see guys that can fly the plane day one. Really impressive
I am! Currently, between actually fixing planes , and learning how to adult/career. I’m a little bit too busy to actually commit to a flight school for now. So instead I bounce around my state with a little Vision jet… once I’m good enough (and get push to talk working) I’ll swap over to vatsim for a little extra realism.
I would but I have an intense fear of flying. Ironic, huh?
Hold on... *checks bank account* Nope...
I’m working on it
I've been playing flight sims as a kid and recently started flying. I had taken my flight sim experience pretty serious with vatsim and being as legit as I could be on procedures given my experience. I took a discovery flight ($120 on Groupon) at my local airport (KSMO) and I loved it. My flight instructor took me through some ground school to go over basics and I commented that I had been playing flight sims for many years. He was happy about that and he too had been a flight sim geek. The flight was great and it rejuvenated my love for flight and gave me the urge to save up to fly despite the cost. Due to my experience I was able to catch up extremely fast - we did S turns and he allowed me to set the aircraft up for final and damn near land it myself. He handled the rudders and maintained close control to the stick to make sure I wasn't passing thru any dangerous commands but my flight experience kicked in when it came to actually landing the aircraft. My suggestion: Go for a discovery flight and soak up the experience. Choose the right school, if your not looking to become a commercial pilot it's not that bad. Some places quote around $10k - 15k but the amount of life experiences you get are awesome.
Btw Vatsim will help you get over the anxiety of being on the radio if/when you get to that point. At first i was nervous since we fly around LAX but after my third flight I felt comfortable enough to learn and be able to hear out ATC when they communicate to us. Not an ideal airspace to start out but it provides awesome views and gets you over the initial radio anxiety.
I love all the flight simmers saying it’s too expensive to learn to fly but they’ll spend $200K converting a bedroom to a 737.
I was always an avid simmer through my youth and into my adult life. I flew for my PPL in my early twenties in Ontario, commercial pilot was always a dream of mine but life circumstances change and sometimes you have to make decisions about what path to take. I flew off and on over the past decade but I've been lucky enough to work in the aviation industry and always have exposure to it. I've met many like minded people who share the same enthusiasm, a lot of simmers and a lot of pilots. I was flying jump seat one time with an older FO and in conversation I found out he had started his second career to become an airline pilot at 42 after a career in the music industry. Nothing is impossible but it does become a matter of cost, practicality and time - private/recreational flying is even more attainable. I've done most of my flying in southwestern Ontario and the GTA and there's a lot of good people and resources. I too have been feeling that itch to get back in the saddle. I'd recommend a discovery flight at your local flying club then take it from there. Feel free to DM me if you want to bounce any ideas or questions off me.
38 here, a few coworkers of mine have PPL's, and the thought has certainly crossed my mind. At least to take a discovery flight. Committing to it all the way ain't cheap, even for a PPL without any sort of instrument rating or anything. And I probably don't need another expensive hobby on top of photography and travel in general. But it sure is tempting 😂
I'm 36 years old. Been playing flight Sims for over 15 years now. Have thought of learning to fly in real life for a long time. Finally took the plunge a couple months ago and started with a nearby flight school. Completed about 12 hours so far and having so much fun. It truly is an expensive hobby though. Approx $300 USD an hour for PPL training and usually 60-70 hours minimum for the PPL. After that it'll cost approx $15-$20K a year if you fly regularly. Most recommend that you get at least an instrument rating even if you plan to fly only recreationally. Gliders and powered gliders might be definitely less expensive. A good alternative if it's viable in your area.
Just a recent set of numbers for you to look at. I finished my PPL back at the end of September in a 141 school flying a G1000 172S. I bought MSFS 2020 back in January and started flight school in April. I did my checkride after 62hrs of total time flying. It cost me right at $21K for flight time and extra ground sessions with my CFI during checkride prep. This is not including the iPad, foreflight subscription, gas to and from the airport, renters insurance, King schools ground school, and any other material I bought for myself to help along the way. Do not think you're going to go into training with a leg up from flying the sim. Unless you're flying a Cessna 172 and are doing basic manuvers like steep turns, Power on/off stalls, turns around a point, s-turns across a road, and slow flight, when you fly the sim, it's gunna be drinking from the fire hose for the first 15-20 hours. Unless you have 12-15k to drop towards training without thinking about it, spend the next year saving up to do it without taking a loan out or paying as you go. You'll ultimately spend way more money in the long run if you don't have the money sitting aside to finish it as fast as possible. The more you fly the more you retain the information and more proficient you become. Now after having my PPL I can tell you that finding a reliable place to rent from is a hassle. It's taken me 3 months of consistent hunting to get in somewhere with good quality aircraft. I'm flying a 1973 Archer that is $165 an hour to fly(fuel included). I'm open to any questions because this has been one of the best things I've done for myself and it's definitely rewarding. However it's not cheap no matter the route you take!
I did it couple of years ago. I was in mid-40 and would never call doing the thing I was dreaming about for 40 years a „mid-life crisis”. I just realised I can afford it eventually without breaking family budget. But I had slightly different decision tree than you. I was planning to build a gaming rig and then it caught my attention that PPL here in Poland was about 30k PLN ($7500) while a solid flightsim rig is 10k PLN. Second step was to decide that even if I would just take 10hrs or something it would create meteorites much better than that gaming PC can give me. So, I STRONGLY encourage you to take a discovery flight and then start flying. Even if you cannot afford to go past touch and go’s. JUST DO IT. & PS The only downside is that MSFS is not so great anymore afterwards ;)
As a M53 who likes to land on helipads, please never let me inside the real thing.
I will be turning 60 in July and intend to start training for my PPL this month. It’s not cheap, but less expensive than my current Motorsport hobby
I also have had a fascination with aviation my entire life. I flirted with the idea of learning to fly on and off but never had the time or money. During the pandemic, I picked up MSFS for fun and one day got thinking, hey, I have the time and money now! So I did a little research and long story short, I got my PPL this year. Here’s a few facts… - I’m in the Midwest USA. - It took me 1.5 years / >100 hours. - 170 - 190 / hr. For the plane. - 60 / hr. For the instructor. - 1 - 3 hours per lesson. - A couple thousand in tests, ground school, checkride, equipment, etc. I started at one lesson a week but that’s not enough so I went to 2-3 times per week. It has been one of the hardest things I have ever done but it is also extremely rewarding. Take a discovery flight, get your hands on the controls, and see what it’s about.