I know here is a real pilots too, not just virtual. My dream is a be a real pilot too, and I'm realy think to start in pilot school. I think is not to late, but it can be to late soon. I'm 32 years old. But it is a one thing, that stop me is a money. I have a family with 3 childrens and it's not easy to take out a 6700 EUR from family budget, to get EU-PPL. And I think when you have PPL, you can't get any job as pilot, is it true?
I really want to hear Your opinion about it.
Airplanes and sky, attracts me from early days, but just now I can start to do something. Now I'm trying to be a good virtual pilot.
P.S. The reason I write this, is "If you have a dream, you need to talk about it. And can be it will come true"
It is good to have dreams. Only dreams can drive you to imagine new projects and give you the strength to realise them.
I know that in Europe, generally speaking, the cost of a pilot license can be very high. Furthermore, from the basic license valid for one basic type of aircraft, one has to consider all the extra expenses to get the further needed licences for ILS, radio, etc… and that can be very, very expensive.
From my own experience, it is sometimes much cheaper to attend a pilot school on another Continent where private flying is more common because of the distance between places within the same country. You might have a look on US, Canadian or even Australian flight schools. Despite the travel expenses, you might very well find an opportunity to learn how to fly in two or three weeks full time for less than half the European cost.
Myself, I learned to fly a single prop aircraft at the end of the sixties in East Africa (Kenya) and then I flew tourists going to Natural Reserves from 1969 to 1971, in a small Cessna Cardinal (VFR flight… Bush flights!).
Anyway, keep dreaming ! And your flight simulation experience is going to be of great help if once you have the opportunity to begin a flying school. I highly recommend that you set the realism at a high level in your flight simulator. Only this way you will experience a feeling very similar to reality… with stress and the responsibility to realise almost perfect control. Using real weather will add to the challenge.
Good luck Edvinas. I sincerely hope that you can realise your dream.
YOLAND, Special Operations Manager sopmanager@stpaulairlines.com
SKYPE ID = yoland.grosjean
"Always remember that English is not my own language. I speak French... so please, forgive my mistakes".
I'm using FSX with full realism, but I need better hardware, to more experience and challenge. And I will invest in it soon.
And I need to learn English
I am on the same page as you are. I am currently 37 and I have two daughters (8 and 9). Money is tight like everyone else. I remember one of the SPA pilots, doing his PPL after his kids were off to college. Ha, hopefully, my kids will get some sort of scholarship so I don't have to pay for their college.
I started flight training at 15 years old. One hour of PPL training, including a new aircraft, fuel, and instructor, cost $13 an hour. It was tough to get that money together back then. There has obviously been a lot of dollar inflation ever since.
New pilots in commercial aviation do not get paid very much. You will not become rich doing that. If you can start your own business, then maybe someday you could afford to do all of the flying that you want.
c/o Robert Thompson,
President and acting MIA Hub Manager
I know exactly what you mean. All my life I've dreamed of being able to fly... as simple as if you walk to your car, start the engine and drive away... but, as you, I leave in Europe, and the price to achieve this goal is huge. I do not have children yet, but at the moment I'm the only one providing for me and the wife so it's impossible to rise that amount of money. And I absolutely refuse to make a bank loan for so much money.
So I just keep happy flying on the computer and still hoping that maybe... just maybe one day the euromillions prize will be mine... you never know!
Just to add to the wise words of (Master) Yoland ), even when you complete your PPL, at least here in Portugal, you still have to spend some money from time to time to keep the rating active, witch means going to your local airfield and rent something to fly with... witch is not cheap at all.
But keep the faith! As I said before, you never know when luck can smile your way!
To become rich it is not important. It could be perfect to have a dream job, and enough money to live. Small business could be great too, but I do not have one idea what it could be. Really I have a company registered, but it not working. Maybe I will get a idea soon.
Well Edvinas, you are right: being rich is not important, but what I meant was that unfortunately, in the days we live in, money IS important. At least to start something you need investment. After that, I think most of the time, it depends on yourself to be successful or not.
But one thing is for sure: its important to keep trying, because if you don't, it's absolutely certain you won't get anywhere!
83-year-old student pilot begins flight lessons
Idaho resident Kenneth Boughton, 83, enrolled in flying lessons this year to fulfill a lifelong dream. "It's just a feeling of freedom, it's just an experience," said Boughton, who has logged nine hours of flight time. In high school, Boughton saved earnings from his paper route to take a flight with a local pilot. KTVB-TV (Boise, Idaho)
