Your Mission

Before you begin your pilot training or make any other big financial decision regarding aviation, you must consider what your mission is. There is no single right way to be a pilot and the decisions that each individual must make largely depend on what he or she wants to get out of flying. There are countless things you can do with aviation and there's no sense focussing your training on any of the aspects of aviation that really aren't that important to you. So before you start looking at any flight schools or planes or airports or anything, take a moment and decide what your mission is. It might even help to write it down and prioritize the various parts of your mission. The purpose of this post is to give you some ideas of what sort of questions you might ask yourself and to give you some ideas of what sorts of things you might want to do as a pilot so that you can decide how important each one is to you specifically.

One of the first things you should ask yourself is "Do I want to fly for a living, as a tool to help me do other things (such as traveling), or just for fun?" This question may help you decide how much you want to invest in your training and give you a good idea of how much you'll be using it later.

Flying for a living

As far as flying for a living goes, this could include working for an airline, being a military pilot, areal tour guide, certified flight instructor, areal photographer, stunt pilot, test pilot, and countless other jobs. If you are considering flying for an airline, there are lots of options to help you including some hefty scholarships, unfortunately, I don't really know that much about them and I don't plan on spending to much time writing about airline careers in this blog. Similarly, if you want to be a military pilot, you may not find this blog to be very helpful. The military has a completely different system of certifying their pilots. In fact, I don't think they are even required to have a private pilots license. The military provides their own training for their pilots, but it probably doesn't hurt if you've had some general aviation experience under your belt already, so this blog could still help you get some experience. All aviation outside of the military and airlines is called "General Aviation" or GA and there are plenty of jobs in aviation in the GA category. For careers in aviation, you will probably need to invest a little more in your flight training than the average pilot you just likes boring holes in the sky on the weekends. Since you plan to make money with your license, you may want to consider buying a plane rather than just renting. If you plan on buying a plane at some point, then your cheapest option is to buy it before you ever start your training. Paying for aircraft rentals is the most expensive part of flight training. Also, I've heard that in some states, if you plan on only using your aircraft for your job, you don't have to play property tax on it. Definitely check with your state tax laws rather than taking my word for it though. You should also know that if you are flying for profit, you will need to earn a commercial pilots certificate. We'll discuss the different types of pilot certificates in a future post.

Flying as a tool

There are lots of ways you can use flying as a tool in your life. If you are hoping to save money on airline tickets by getting your own plane and just flying that, you might be a little disappointed. In general, it is cheaper to fly with an airline than to fly yourself, but this depends on the aircraft and the number of people you are transporting. If you are transporting several people, it might be cheaper to use your own aircraft than to pay for a ticket for each person. Even if it the airliners are cheaper though, there are some huge advantages to flying your own plane. One is that you usually don't have to go through the same sort of security that is required in the airlines. Some airports do require some security measures for GA pilots, but in many cases you can just walk out to your plane and take off. There's also the advantage of being able to fly on your own schedule; you don't need to worry about being late, and you can leave on a moments notice. But the biggest advantage (in my opinion) is where you can fly. Airlines only fly to a small percentage of the airports in the world. I think that most people don't realize how many airports are around them, but they are all over the place. Think of the airport that you usually fly out of to travel, and then look at skyvector.com to find the airport that's closest to your house. You'll probably find that there are multiple GA airports much closer to your home than the nearest one with scheduled airlines. You can go just about anywhere you want with your license. I've once heard of a business man in the bay area who was able to save big money on rent by living far outside of the bay area and commuting via airplane everyday. I also heard about a traveling salesman who was able to significantly increase his sales after he bought a Cirrus SR-22T and starting flying to all of his appointments. If you are planning on using your plane as a tool in your traveling life, you will likely be flying more often and this could affect your decision about buying versus renting and wether or not you want to get your instrument rating (which allows you to fly in low visibility conditions).

Flying for fun

If you want to just fly around for fun, then you should ask yourself what exactly you plan on doing for fun and how often you plan on doing it. Depending on what you want, you may be able to fly for a lot less money and might not even need a private pilots license. Here are some important questions you might want to ask yourself.

How many people do you want to be able to take in your plane?

If you only care about the thrill of being airborne and are happy flying alone, you may want to look into flying an ultralight. Ultralights are defined in part 103 of the Federal Aviation Regulations and basically they are small planes with a limited weight and fuel capacity. In order to fly an ultralight alone, you do not need a pilots license (but it is HIGHLY recommended that you receive some ultralight training from a certified flight instructor (CFI)). If you would only like to carry one passenger (for a total of 2 people in the aircraft) then you might want to consider getting a sport pilot certificate (which we'll discuss more in detail in a later post). Another option for zero or one passengers is to fly a glider or sail plane.

How far do you want to go in your plane?

If you want to take your plane on long cross country trips, you will want to be a proficient pilot. Even if you start out your trip with great weather, we all know that weather can change very quickly. You will probably want to get your instrument certificate and you will also probably want to make sure you have some training in a plane that is built for longer distances (often referred to as a "go places airplane" which often cost a little more and burn fuel more quickly).

Aviators refer to a quick trip to a nearby airport to just stop by and maybe eat a meal at the local airport restaurant a "$100 hamburger." If your idea of flying for fun is just to get an occasional $100 hamburger, then maybe you won't be as interested in a instrument rating and you will probably be ok with a smaller airplane.

If you just want to put around your local airport or like flying low and slow just to see the scenery and enjoy being in the air, then an ultralight or sail plane is probably your cheapest option.

What kind of thrill are you looking for?

Contrary to popular belief, most flying isn't a bug adrenalin rush. When pilots refer to the thrill of flying, they usually aren't referring the type of thrill you get on a roller coaster, but more often the type of thrill you get when you look off the top of a tall mountain or perform a piece of music in a large concert hall. If you're interested in the mountain/concert hall type of thrill, you'll be fine in a sail plane, ultralight, or really any plane for that matter.

If you are looking for more of an action packed type thrill, you'll probably be more satisfied with aerobatics. If you want to perform aerobatics, you should receive special aerobatics training after you complete your pilots license. Also, you should make sure you are performing aerobatics in an aircraft which is certified for the specific maneuvers you want to attempt. There are lots of rules in the FARs about aerobatics, so please consult with a CFI before performing any sort of aerobatics.

My mission

Thinking about my mission has helped me decide what sort of training I will be needing. Here is a prioritized list of the things that I want to get out of my license:

• I want to take other people flying. Whenever I discover something cool, I get a little bit of joy out of it, but I get way more joy out of sharing it with somebody else. I want to inspire other people to fly (probably why I'm writing this blog). I want to participate in EAA Young Eagles, I want to take my wife and kid (as well as any kids I have in the future) up in the air.
• I want to fly just to satisfy my geeky love for aviation.
• I want to be able to take my plane on vacations (though not necessarily huge distances away). I need a plane that has a decent range, but not necessarily a huge one. I want at least 4 seats in my plane, preferably more.
• I want to be able to fly on the spur of the moment. This would require me owning my own plane. We'll talk about aircraft ownership later, but this is a difficult goal to achieve. This is a lower priority goal for me, and due to its difficulty, I may not accomplish it.

I encourage the readers to write down their mission in a prioritized list. Keep it handy as you read this blog and make aviation decisions.

Happy flying!

If you have comments specifically regarding this post, please leave them in the comments section below. If you have comments regarding any other topic related to cost effective flying or some general feedback about the blog overall, please send them to thestingypilot@gmail.com and I will try to address them in a future post.