any pilots out there?
 

besides Tony that is (Monica's husband!)<BR><BR>not EXACTLY travel related, but...<BR><BR>has anyone out there decided to study for a pilot's license, maybe as a result of loving to travel (FLY!!)?<BR><BR>or already have one, either cuz you love to travel or you got the travel bug after the pilot bug?<BR><BR>I am starting down that road... I had my medical exam on Friday - I have to apply for a special issuance due to my near total blindness in ONE eye (other one is just fine, no worries) so it's gonna take the FAA about 9-10 weeks to figure out what to do with me... <BR><BR>OK, not completely a travel question, but hey, tell me your stories. where has your pilot's license taken you...<BR><BR>:-)

ok, sorry guys. for what it is worth, I posted this fdarn this ONCE. <BR><BR>I have hit refresh a few times cuz I got an "error request" - and obviously it is reposting this for me...<BR><BR>AUGH!!

Beth, I just wanted to wish you luck. I have always dreamed of getting my pilot's license and still hope to one day. My husband was going to give me lessons several years ago for my birthday, but we decided graduate school was more important (wish I took the lessons!). Anyway, good luck! Don't let anything stop you!

Good Luck Beth.<BR>Reminds me of a story.<BR>Whenever I see a pile of it here, I pilot it over there!!<BR>

My boyfriend's dream is to get his pilot's license! I gave him an introductory lesson for his birthday and he can't wait to do more! Good luck.

Spouse got his license years ago -- at age 19 or 20. I've heard something about "starting lessons while Dad would still pay for them."<BR><BR>I don't think his reason was travel. My guess is it was because of his childhood loves for rocketry and the space program. The moon landings, the Challenger disaster, etc. are things that helped shape his life.<BR>

Because the forum screwed up! <BR>Why bring them to the top?

My nephew got his pilot's license; in fact, he went to one of the few colleges in the whole US where you can get a bachelor's degree in flying. I thought he had lost his mind as I hate flying and cannot imagine doing that for fun or enjoyment. In any case, there are few job opportunities for anyone with a pilot's license at that level and no experience flying jets, etc or in the Air Force, so he never got a job in the field and I don't think he's flown in years now as it is a very expensive little hobby. His classmates could not get jobs as pilots, either, they do things like manage airports, flight attendants, etc. I think he got some very limited work at a local airport giving lessons or maybe local freight packages, not sure, but he couldn't make a living at it. If you just want to do that as a hobby and have lots of money for rental fees, that's a different story.

I toyed with the idea of getting a license some years ago, the result of spending a lot of time in the right seat on zillions of hops in single- and twin-engined planes (occasionally big stuff, too) all over the Bush in Alaska. I had had enough experience with my hands and feet and eyes and brain (such as it is) doing the pilot thing (including a few TOs and landings, with the "real" driver there to save our lives) that I was on the verge of thinking, "Hey, I can do this!" which in Alaska is just about the time when the mountain or the tree or the moose jumps up in front of you. <BR><BR>I didn't finish because (a) I was raising a child and college was starting to concentrate my mind wonderfully, and (b) because, in Alaska, I knew that once I got my ticket I'd be out shopping for a Maule or a C-172 on floats, and my budget and marriage and life (not necessarily in that order) would be, how you say, in a powered stall? So no license, but I still get downright itchy when I watch the float planes here in Seattle get up "on the step" and then change from fish to birds.<BR><BR>So go for it, Beth. We the vicarious, envious, maybe-someday-ers, will stand happily in your propwash, wishing you Godspeed.

Christina, I'm so surprised to hear that one can't get a job flying if one got a degree in it. I'd assume you'd need a lot of flight hours, but I figured there must be a way to get them.<BR><BR>I, too, would love to get a pilot's license. But I figure that I have been known to make a mistake or two while driving, so perhaps I'd not make a good pilot.<BR><BR>Best of luck, Beth. I'd love to hear about any of your adventures as a new pilot.