getmyppl.blogspot.com: March 2015

Friday, March 13, 2015

Flying Club

Living in AZ was like having one of those dreams that you never want to finish. For the entire family it was just the best time ever. I look back and smile when I relive the aviation experiences I had. I'm forever grateful for the aviation experiences I had the people I met (you know who you are!)

Fast forward to 2015. I have now joined my first flying club. The club operates a few nm's SW of Dublin and run a single C172P registration EI-ING. I look forward to getting checked out by the CFI in two weeks time and look more forward to some Irish flying adventures in 2015.

https://flic.kr/p/nSmqFf

Tracker

LICENSE

Private Pilot / Airplane Single Engine Land.

TOTAL HOURS (FAA/JAA)

221hrs Total / 126hrs PiC

AIRPORTS VISITED (FAA)

KPAO, KCHD, KCGZ, A39, KDVT, KSDL, KIWA, KTUS, KRYN, KPRC, KSEZ, E25, KRHV, KSTS, KHWD, KHAF, KMFY, KMYF, E60, KMZJ, P19, KLUF, KPHX, P08, E67, KFLG, E77, 7S3, 2S6, KPAN, KAUS, 50R, KSLE, KAOU, KTMK, KAST, KKLS, KCLS, KEUG, KPDX, KRNT.

SEAPLANE PORTS VISITED

0W0 (SEATTLE)

AIRPORTS VISITED (JAA EUROPE)

EIWT, EGNT, EGNV, EGPN, EGPJ, EGNC.

AICRAFT FLOWN

C152, C172N, C172P, C172SP (G1000 + Dial), C182S, PA28-161, F16 Sim(!), C172D, C172M, FLOATPLANE C172

Why learn to fly?

Ever since a child I always had an interest in aviation. Living next to a front line RAF base in the 80's fueled my interest. But becoming a pilot was never on my radar. That just didn't happen to "average Joe's" like me.

In 1999 I was living in Dublin, Ireland. My wife suggested that I go for a flying lesson at a local airfied (EIWT). Then I realised how simple it could be to get a Private Pilot License.

Over the last 10 years I have struggled to complete the hours for my PPL. Work and most of all money always seemed to get in the way. One lesson set me back £200 in a C172 for 1 hour dual. That just wasn't substainable.

Since 1999, I have managed to total 31 hours dual instruction. That all important solo eluded me. In 2008 I was ready for solo but I put my medical off and off. Then work took me abroad and my flying stopped.

In 2011, I started flying again. Solo'd in September. In November, work brought me to Phoenix, Arizona in the US. On the 27th June 2012, I passed the FAA ASEL checkride.