I travel app. 100 days a year for work. Always rather short trips during the week. Flying as a hobby has meant that I find both commercial flights interesting and I’m able to fly on my own sometimes.
I own and pay for all flying expenses on my own, but then invoice the company for my trip. In this way the only thing to possibly discuss with the taxman is the hourly rate.
I am in my mid 50s with son at university, and a wife who enjoys going places in the plane. I have the money and more time/flexibility than I did 20 years ago. There is no way I could have done this in my mid 30s.
For me as a 28y old, its definitly a money issue. I have been studying doctor for 10,5years now and have 1,5 to go. Only the last 5 years are (very poorly) paid. After deducting rent, car, food,.. i have maybe 200-300€ per month to fly. Hopefully afterwards thing will be better. But being a doctor will consume lots of time so in a couple of years job/family/time will ne a problem. Also I see a lot of 50/60y old people dealing with diseases, and I am sometimes scared I wont be fit to fly anymore at that age. One should peak its flying around 30-35y but money wise this is impossible.
I am:
Most of the posts above suggest that for someone like me flying is simply not going to be possible! And yet here I am desperately wanting to spend what money I have left on buying a plane in the probably misguided belief that I will be able to fly around in it all the time. I must be more crazy than I thought. 
A syndicate
I’m of the mind that anyone can afford to own and fly a plane. Even if you work at McDonalds. Question is just how much are you willing to forsake to be able to fly? The lower your pay, the earlier you are in hour career, the more you have to really give up a lot financially to be able to do it. And as we get older and start families, buy houses and have obligations, the demands on our financial situation grow with the increase in paycheck. But it’s not impossible. I do see that those who fly more expensive planes, almost all are self employed or own some sort of business. I would say it would be almost impossible to afford a higher end aircraft as a mere salaried worker, perhaps with the exception of some very high end jobs in financial sector etc.
But there’s a plane for everyone. Don’t hesitate to buy it. You will not regret being a plane owner.
I agree; when I look around who I know, a lot of the highest hour pilots have “simple” jobs which are not far from home. The avoidance of commuting dramatically improves your quality of life and leaves you quite a bit of money and time in which to do nice things.
Or you can find someone to fly with who has a plane. Most pilots are men and most of them really struggle to find “nice” people to fly with. Most men kill themselves working 5 days a week and are “tied down” all weekend, so don’t make good passengers because despite lots of “let me know when you are flying next” enthusiasm they are nearly always busy when asked As a pilot, you can easily end up with a list of them but you very soon you stop bothering because when you message one of them you can’t ask the next one until you have heard from the one before. Women tend to have the most time but most pilots can’t fly with women without getting into loads of complications, sooner or later Many high-hour pilots have so many hours they don’t need to log any more and they can put you on the insurance so you can log some hours from the RHS.
There are various ways to get in the air and have fun.
Buying my own plane in 2002 was by far the best thing I ever did for my flying but it isn’t for everyone and it requires a lot of time and determination. There is no such thing is a dirt-cheap plane; if you buy an old wreck you spend more on maintenance. The only dirt-cheap thing is a parachute with a lawn mower strapped to the back
MedEwok wrote:
Flying is simply a hobby too expensive and time-consuming for most people between say 25 and 40 who also want a decent family life, children and buy a house someday…
Fully agree. And while the monetary part of it eventually falls in place, the time shortage hardly ever does. Seeing it for myself right now, currently grounded due to the fact that my SEP rating lapsed, not a chance to get the hours togehter this year, probably not the next year either.
I think this is also where most hopefully go wrong when taking up any hobby. They bank on time they do not have.
The time argument I don’t buy — everybody has time for flying if he/she really wants, it’s a matter of setting priorities and organizing your life.
On the money, I take the opposite view — no, not everybody with a normal job can afford flying, absolutely not. For most people spending a Euro is always a decision whether they spend it on x or on y not whether they spend it or keep it for the future. If you have kids, there often are things that objectively speaking far more important and there is simply no money for anything like flying. I know quite a few people around here that do not have a car because it would take too much of their income.
Flying requires money. Single people usually have discretionary income. Families very often do not.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
Fully agree. And while the monetary part of it eventually falls in place, the time shortage hardly ever does.
Well… It did for me when my youngest child was 16.
