AirTalk.org Aviation discussions newsgroups   Archives   FAQ   Search   Memberlist   Usergroups   Register   Profile   Log in to check your private messages   Log in  How Often Goto page 1, 2  Next          AirTalk.org Forum Index -> Aviation (Students) View previous topic :: View next topic   Author Message kimmal Guest Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 5:11 pm    Post subject: How Often Just a quick question. How often do "regular" pilots fly during a typical month. By regular, I mean the typical Joe who just likes to fly for the enjoyment of it. Back to top Ross Richardson Guest Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 5:13 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often kimmal wrote: Quote: Just a quick question. How often do "regular" pilots fly during a typical month. By regular, I mean the typical Joe who just likes to fly for the enjoyment of it. at least once a week, but I have my own plane. Back to top d&tm Guest Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:30 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often "kimmal" <kimmal2 (AT) rogers (DOT) com> wrote Quote: Just a quick question. How often do "regular" pilots fly during a typical month. By regular, I mean the typical Joe who just likes to fly for the enjoyment of it. 120 hours in 4 years. terry Back to top Andrew Gideon Guest Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:32 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often Ross Richardson wrote: Quote: at least once a week, but I have my own plane. Weather permitting, that's about right for me too. I don't own, but I'm in a good club. However, "weather permitting" is important. I flew very little this winter, for example. From first flight in August of 98, I've flown almost 500 hours. - Andrew Back to top coloradocamper@hotmail.co Guest Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:02 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often My goal is at least 50 hours per year. Long cross countries are fun, but pattern work is also really important. So I try to mix it up a little. I'll do touch and goes for ..6 hours one or two weeks, then do the $100 hamburger run. If you own your own plane, insurance companies seem to want at least 50 hours a year to consider you current. I'm also just getting started on my instrument rating so that will add to the hours and frequency. It doesn't substitute for the pattern work though. Back to top Kevin Dunlevy Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 1:39 am    Post subject: Re: How Often I try to fly three times a week, but between weather, work and wife I acutally fly about twice a week on average. I fly all year round in Minnesota and have flown about 125 hours per year since I got my private in 2000. That averages to about 12 hours per month and I really enjoy every minute of it. Kevin Dunlevy "kimmal" <kimmal2 (AT) rogers (DOT) com> wrote Quote: Just a quick question. How often do "regular" pilots fly during a typical month. By regular, I mean the typical Joe who just likes to fly for the enjoyment of it. Back to top James Ricks Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:18 am    Post subject: Re: How Often Quote: How often do "regular" pilots fly during a typical month. 'Regular' as opposed to irregular? Don't think it's be too cool to fly on something designed to enhance regularity. Oh, that wasn't what you had in mind. . . . I guess one would fly as often as their interest and wallet allows. I personally don't get to fly as often as I would like. Work schedules and weather and aircraft maintenance schedules have conspired to allow me only 1 or 2 flights a week of 1.5 to 2 hrs each. I'm a private pilot student with no aspirations to commercial applications, just enjoyment and mental health. Jim Back to top Highflyer Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 4:38 am    Post subject: Re: How Often "kimmal" <kimmal2 (AT) rogers (DOT) com> wrote Quote: Just a quick question. How often do "regular" pilots fly during a typical month. By regular, I mean the typical Joe who just likes to fly for the enjoyment of it. Depends on whether or not he owns an airplane. Pilots who rent every time they fly generally fly less and less often until after a few years they can no longer keep current to rent at their FBO and stop renting. Then they may never fly again. Some few continue to rent airplanes regularly for years and even manage to stay current in several airplanes at more than one FBO. I have one friend who is current in fixed gear, retracts, and multis at two FBO all the time. He flys at least a couple of hours in each type each month at each FBO. Pilots who own an airplane are likely to fly quite regularly. Perhaps because the airplane is already costing you money but another hour in the air is only a few gallons of gas! I would say the average for airplane owners is about fifty hours a year. I don't have rigorous statistics, but every time I do an annual I record the tach time on the airplane and compare that to the tach time at the last annual. If there is only a difference of a few hours I would be hard to convince that he flew six hours every week all year! :-) Once again, that is an average. Averages don't always mean very much when the variance is very large. Of the privately owned airplanes based at Pinckneyville Airport about half of them fly quite a bit. A few of them haven't flown for a decade or so. The rest are in between. I have customers who fly several hundred hours every year. I have customers who fly several hours every year. The distribution is by no means Gaussian. If you don't really WANT to fly, it is really easy to find excuses to not fly. They may be spurious excuses, but it doesn't matter. You can let people use them to keep you on the ground. On the other hand, if you really WANT to fly, you will treat those excuses with the disdain they merit and find a way to fly whether or not you have an airplane available. Highflyer Highflight Aviation Services Pinckneyville Airport ( PJY ) Back to top Peter R. Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 12:11 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often kimmal <kimmal2 (AT) rogers (DOT) com> wrote: Quote: Just a quick question. How often do "regular" pilots fly during a typical month. By regular, I mean the typical Joe who just likes to fly for the enjoyment of it. About 2 hours a week for commuting (I own my aircraft and fly to my customers' sites) and 2 to 3 hours per week for an Angel Flight. Add that up and it is about 20 - 24 hours per month. -- Peter http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- Back to top Dan Luke Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 12:53 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often At least once a week, 120-160 hrs/yr. That seems to be more than most of the other owners who park their planes on the same ramp as mine. When I flew club planes, I was flying 2-3 times/month. That was declining until I bought an airplane. It seems generally (but not absolutely) true that renter pilots eventually become non-pilots. -- Dan C172RG at BFM Back to top Dan Luke Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:43 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often "Jeff Gostin" wrote: Quote: It seems generally (but not absolutely) true that renter pilots eventually become non-pilots. Why do you, the collective readership, believe this to be? I'm not doubting the issue. I'm more curious about why it appears to be happening. I'll be renting for the foreseeable future, thus my concern. Perhaps renters simply don't feel the commitment to flying that owners feel. Also, renting has some built-in aggravation that gets discouraging after awhile: Often the airplanes are maintained to bare minimum standards--or below. Using the airplane for a trip to Grandma's lasting 3-4 days will usually require the renter to pay minimum charges for days out of town when the airplane just sits. Airplanes unavailable when needed on short notice. Airplanes left messy or damaged by other renters. Having to load and unload all your junk--charts, etc.--every time you fly. -- Dan C172RG at BFM Back to top Andrew Gideon Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:54 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often Dan Luke wrote: Quote: Often the airplanes are maintained to bare minimum standards--or below. Using the airplane for a trip to Grandma's lasting 3-4 days will usually require the renter to pay minimum charges for days out of town when the airplane just sits. Airplanes unavailable when needed on short notice. Airplanes left messy or damaged by other renters. Having to load and unload all your junk--charts, etc.--every time you fly. All of this is true. But the upside of rentals is that a failed aircraft doesn't necessarily mean a failed flight. This is actually one of the strengths of the club environment, and why I'm just the slightest bit wary of leaping into ownership (although I believe that this is in my future). That we've four aircraft means that we're a little more insulated from individual aircraft failures meaning that pilots are grounded. I also have to point out that some FBOs do rent aircraft kept in excellent shape. Both Lincoln Park Aviation (Lincoln Park Airport) and Mac Dan (Caldwell), in my experience, are like this. They also both rent recent vintage 172s: SPs even if not glass (although perhaps LPA has glass by now; I've not checked recently). Both places do have daily minimums. However, it was hinted to me as I was "leaving" (joining a local club) that Mac Dan was willing to negotiate. LPA had previously reduced their "minimums" when asked about it (by a frequent flyer). I'm sure that, buried amongst the lessor places, there are gems to find in the FBO/rental market. It's not a complete solution, obviously, but they're around. And a final note with respect to availability: On this beautiful weekend, one member/friend was able to just grab a plane for the day in the morning. *That's* short term availability. - Andrew Back to top A Lieberman Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 10:07 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often On Sat, 09 Apr 2005 17:54:56 -0400, Andrew Gideon wrote: Quote: And a final note with respect to availability: On this beautiful weekend, one member/friend was able to just grab a plane for the day in the morning. *That's* short term availability. Hi Andrew, Short term availability would be "relative" *smile*. All I do is grab my flight bag with my keys in it, and go. No phone calls, no fuss no muss. All kidding aside, you bring up some very valid points. My flight school really takes pride in their airplanes, and they are maticulously maintained. To the original poster, I fly at least once a week. I fly instrument approaches at least 2 times a month, if not more. Anything less, and I start feeling "rusty". Allen Back to top Dan Luke Guest Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 10:38 pm    Post subject: Re: How Often "Andrew Gideon" wrote: Quote: ... the upside of rentals is that a failed aircraft doesn't necessarily mean a failed flight. This is actually one of the strengths of the club environment, and why I'm just the slightest bit wary of leaping into ownership (although I believe that this is in my future). That we've four aircraft means that we're a little more insulated from individual aircraft failures meaning that pilots are grounded. Oh, yeah, clubs can be great. The reason the local club didn't work for me is that we couldn't justify having anything more capable than Skyhawks. It wouldn't have taken much--my Cutlass RG serves my needs quite well--but the pilot population around here wouldn't even support a Skylane, as the club found out. In larger cities there's more variety, to judge by some of the web sites. Quote: I also have to point out that some FBOs do rent aircraft kept in excellent shape. Both Lincoln Park Aviation (Lincoln Park Airport) and Mac Dan (Caldwell), in my experience, are like this. There's a flying scool at BFM that has some pretty nice aircraft, but they're new; we'll see what they're like in a couple of years. All other rentals in my experience have been beaters. -- Dan C172RG at BFM Back to top Andrew Gideon Guest Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2005 12:47 am    Post subject: Re: How Often A Lieberman wrote: Quote: On Sat, 09 Apr 2005 17:54:56 -0400, Andrew Gideon wrote: And a final note with respect to availability: On this beautiful weekend, one member/friend was able to just grab a plane for the day in the morning. *That's* short term availability. Hi Andrew, Short term availability would be "relative" *smile*. All I do is grab my flight bag with my keys in it, and go. No phone calls, no fuss no muss. Well, yes, that's true. However, for many of us (including my likely future self), "ownership" also means "partnership". So there's still some possibility of unavailability. [BTW, we don't use phone calls. It's all on a website.] Quote: All kidding aside, you bring up some very valid points. My flight school really takes pride in their airplanes, and they are maticulously maintained. Good. I like hearing that there are FBOs like this around. Too often the image of the rundown rattrap rental is all we discuss. - Andrew Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First         AirTalk.org Forum Index -> Aviation (Students) All times are GMT Goto page 1, 2  Next Page 1 of 2   Jump to: Select a forum Aviation----------------alt.aviationAviation safety EnhancementPlanes, gliders and flying in AustraliaAviation et pilotage (Français)rec.aviationAviation (Aerobatics)Hot air, gas balloons and airshipsHang-gliding, paragliding, foot-launched flightAircraft Design & BuildingInstrument Flight RulesAviation (Classifieds)Military AircraftNaval AviationAviation (Miscellaneous Topics)Owning AirplanesAviators (General Discussions)Aviation related productsAircraft RestorationHelicopters and rotary wing aircraftsFlight SimulationSailplanesAviation (Students)Light aircraftFlying related activities in the UK Airports----------------alt.airportsEdinburgh Airport Glasgow Airport Humberside Airport Luton Airport Aberdeen Airport Glasgow Prestwick Airport  You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2006 phpBB Group SEO toolkit © 2004-2006 webmedic.