Mentoring

I’d like to address the issue of why so many (most?) new PPL’s give up.

It’s unfortunate how the popular perception of having access to a ‘private plane’ differs from the reality here in UK. In the US, everyone knows at least one person who owns an aircraft and through this route they have a realistic idea of the real utility of something that’s rather less efficient than a Labretta scooter at going from A to B. So they know about weather, endless delays at airports, aircraft breaking down and so on.

In UK the popular image seems to be of someone owning a mini jetliner and in fairness, some contributors here (Peter) come close to this in reality. But for most of us it’s another matter and you can see this in the faces of otherwise quite intelligent people who look so totally shocked when you tell them it takes 10 hours to reach Stockholm.

This permeates right through to qualified PPL’s (and I’ve seen this first hand) who turn up direct from UK at an FBO in Las Vegas wanting to rent a Warrior to go 4 up to the Grand Canyon with all their luggage.

The trouble is people of this mindset get so rapidly disenchanted that they never get to experience the joy of just getting in a plane and going somewhere, anywhere, on their own or max one other and letting the world drift by. I’ve crossed continents in this way and regard it as the high point of my life, but I suppose it’s not really on the agenda of many would be PPL’s to travel in such a relaxed way. Instead, they are looking for something that’s more convenient (and cheaper) than Ryanair and anyway don’t have the luxury of putting up with innumerable delays, inconvenience, etc..

So this mentoring business really needs to start right at the beginning. Why are you learning to fly? To beat the airlines? Probably not. But if you want to experience the freedom, the joy of wandering like a cloud over majestic terrain, great cities, even icy cold oceans, then sign up here because those things we can do. And we can do them in a way that ordinary mortals (ie non-pilots) can only guess at, because they can never know how it feels to have done these things themselves.

> In the US, everyone knows at least one person who owns an aircraft

That’s actually very true…

> and you can see this in the faces of otherwise quite intelligent people who look so totally shocked when you tell them it takes 10 hours to reach Stockholm

The 4 standard questions I always get from curious non-pilot non-americans: 1) “How long does it take you to fly to X”. 2) “How fast does it fly”. 3) “How much do you pay for fuel and parking”, 4) “How many people do you have room for”. They also always implicitly assume the cabin is pressurized & there’s onboard toilet. (and get horrified when I tell them there’s neither)

Good post Aveling.

A small element of any mentoring would be the presentation of realistic expectations for how “flying” would be undertaken, and there are a lot of ways. A “normal” flight for Peter, or Jason would be very different than that for myself, or others. Both these, and the many other “normal” operations, are made to be workable with the careful application of skill, effort, money, and an attitude toward safety.

Personally, I have enabled aviation to work for me as a mode of primary personal transport – lots of the afore mentioned application. But, mine is very low tech personal transport – lots of stick and rudder, little tech, no IFR, and some flights which are weather out. This is part of my flying reality, and entirely agreeable. Then, on the other end of the single GA scale, is a C182 I fly, whose value is six times the value of both my planes combined, and whose avionics value alone exceeds the combined value of my two planes. But, that owner has more resource to apply. Ultimately, my Teal will get the same load to any of the same places at two thirds of the speed, 80% of the time. Personally, I cannot afford to raise the speed, or weather capability, any more than I can afford to arrive vertically to the intended landing area. I am entirely happy with how I have made aviation work for me.

My aviation reality has as a large element, owning 100 acres of property, so I could build a runway and hangar. A big step into the aviation world – not necessary, but the way I wanted it to be. My result is that I can step out of my back door, and be airborne within five minutes. A 0.2 airtime flight is common for me. I can see how people just would not bother to go for a brief flight, when it’s an hour drive to the airport.

So, why do I fly? I just simply like it. I like it best when I have a door off the 150, or I’m touching down on an isolated lake. A bag full of charts, a schedule and a flight plan are okay, but not my favorite way to fly. But, to each their own! Prospective pilots must consider why they want to fly. Any reason is fine, as long as that person can realistically sustain the goal. Realism required, but then we can help mentor realistic expectations too. When I bought my 150, 27 years ago, I did not really work in aviation. I kept my expectations low (evidenced by the fact that I still own a 150!), but I always flew. But I realized that I would rather keep the 150, and invest in property to keep it, than rent parking, for a much larger aircraft. My choice, and I’m happy with it. If my goal is to carry four people, I’m out looking for another aircraft.

Prospective pilots are welcomed to mentoring here, about simply planning to fly cost wise. Not to say “affordably”, that is totally relative to the person, but simply to enable a realistic expectation. Very quick rule of thumb for aircraft ownership: In the next three years, how much money can you afford to simply throw away (not considering fuel you might want to burn)? Buy a plane not exceeding half that value. You’ll probably do much better than that, and sell the plane for what you paid for it, but, you could also have unexpected maintenance cost, so it swings both ways, be ready.

I know many owners who simply fly what they own, whenever they want. From ragbag T carts, to his MB105 helicopter, if not his Beech Duke. Those owners are fine with their cost and operational realities of flying. I have known a few owners, who constantly struggled with the cost to maintain and fuel their planes. They did not sustain themselves in aviation.

New pilots; ask us for mentoring, what is realistic, and how we fly, but make your own good decisions.

I totally agree with PilotDAR. I once read that most problems in financing aviation would be that everyone flies one number bigger than his wallet allows. Don’t know if that is true, but is likely to be true in many cases.

It’s a shame, that becoming an instructor get’s harder and harder, leaving the aero clubs bleeding out of dedicated colleagues who’d rather fly than write a bill for a traffic circuit on the right hand seat.

> dedicated colleagues who’d rather fly than write a bill for a traffic circuit on the right hand seat.

Yes, these dedicated people…

Prospective pilots, I mentor you to embrace the value of a well and broadly experienced instructor. Yes, you want to go solo, but you are not wise to be trying to minimize your time with this person. After you go solo, fly with this person, and others like them more. After you get your PPL, fly with this person, and others like them more. And pay them as though you think their wisdom is something you need to save you life – over and over again.

Hiring a skilled person to teach you is not where you want to save a buck/quid/euro. Choose appropriate, wise qualified trainers, and push money toward them. I would rather fly a safe, but otherwise very modest spam can in the company of the grey haired flying wizard, than to fly in the flashy plastic glass cockpit rocket, with an eager new instructor who will fly for next to nothing, and knows little more. Spend your disposable flight training money to upgrade your instructor, not the plane. Sure, every instructor deserves to get a foothold, but only as a part of your training – not the whole of it. Yes, you should have more than one instructor through your PPL training.

When the instructor tells you that you need more training (= more cost to you), they probably speak the truth. But, just to satisfy yourself, ask them to demonstrate the standard of flying skill they expect of you for that maneuver – then fly same thing yourself. Can you fly it as well as they did? If not, pay for the training! On the other hand, you might surprise both of you, when $ are now on the line!

>I totally agree with PilotDAR. I once read that most problems in financing aviation would be that everyone flies one number bigger than his wallet allows.

I also couldn’t agree more. I am quite conscious of staying within my means, paying cash for everything, keeping my aviation ambitions within the comfort zone. That said, I must be the poster child for the benefits of aviation mentoring – for 10 years people have helped me in a great many ways (for nothing) and basically made my activity possible, just because they believe in aviation as a community, and presumably like what I’m doing within that community. Its people like they who really do make the world go around, and I hope that somebody else sees me the same way based on what I do.

I actually have no idea how much it costs to own an aircraft. I just do it at a level that I don’t have to worry about. I live in a small house and that helps pay for the hangar, which then functions as a remote annex to my house. The planes were bought with cash, and buying both combined took less cash than buying a nice car. Insurance is $1100/year. My training expense is about zero, because of several instructor friends. My maintenance cost is parts and outsourced overhauls only, because of A&P friends. The cost of parts and fuel is what I’d consider the cost of owning an aircraft, but I don’t know what it is. If I found myself tight on cash, I’d just stop buying parts and fuel for a while… and not fly. Nothing else would change, I wouldn’t want or need to sell anything.

>In the US, everyone knows at least one person who owns an aircraft

After her initial visits to the US my wife initially concluded that everybody in the US owns an aircraft, or once did :-) She had only the limited database of my friends, their wives and girlfriends but since that database spans a wide economic, work and ‘other interests’ spectrum it was an easy mistake to make.

This has become a very interesting thread.

I like the idea of mentoring at all levels and in all areas. Flying with less experienced pilots challenges us to demonstrate skill. But my sort of flying now is different from PilotDAR’s. I would probably fall to pieces flying in remote parts of Canada in a C172. Because I am not experienced or current in that sort of flying.

I would certainly be happy to have more people along on flights. The key though is for a mentee to fit in with a mentor. That is what was great about the flight to Spain. I was doing a trip and asked if anyone wanted to come. And they turned up. And got a bonus night in Nantes. And I am glad they both took different things from it.

> One can’t just have somebody come along and jump in your plane. Not if they are going to take something lasting away from it.

Well you can. But that may impart something different from planning a pre-PPL navex. Even if these things just maybe inspire people’s interest they can be valuable. It doesn’t have to be adoption.