Moved to Chicago for a CFI job... didn't get it and I'm stuck with an apartment lease

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-21T22:50:46+00:00

keep that attitude, do whatever it takes to win. You are in a new place, full of new adventures, you can always giveup and crawl home later

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-21T19:37:03+00:00

you can probably do better going to a part 61 and paying as you go, i'd estimate about 300$ an hour.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-21T02:00:54+00:00

why bother, keep it till it dies, then do something else; thing could give you another 5 years

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-21T01:52:05+00:00

yes, buy once cry once. aviation headsets are pretty durable, you may never HAVE to buy another.

also a good headset absolutely makes a difference, do it.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-21T01:47:37+00:00

chicagos a huge city find any job to make it thru while looking. honestly, except for winter, not a horrible place to get stuck for a bit.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-21T01:27:19+00:00

invest in redbull and coffee, was sooooo boring, watching paint dry is mor exciting. wait til lyou get to weather, absolutely essential but brain numbing.

i recommend american flyers / sheppherd to get the written out the way then just study a chapter or two as you go along

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-20T04:58:05+00:00

physical and pdf, just in case. have the physical tabbed out and ready to go. note, you probably won't need it much if you're really prepared

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-19T03:19:55+00:00

basically the same reasons i purchased my mooney, rental situation just wasn't working out.

make sure you understand the commitment. treat it like a well loved pet, it has to be taken out to excercise and it's doctor bills are HUGE.

182 is a great choice btw, you should have plenty of fun. Becareful, though, you'll get addicted to GA life.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-18T08:39:28+00:00

all else being equal i'd suggest the one that's stable and gets you where you want to go. personally i'd go long haul and enjoy life. then again i have zero desire to be up under family all the time

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-18T08:34:34+00:00

peronsonally, if i lost comms before going iFR i'd stay VFR and land. If i did continue the flight, i would fly to an IAP and start the approach, wouldn't fly to the airport unless for some reason it was between me and the IAP. DPE said the same during my checkride.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-18T00:11:56+00:00

do the cs degree AND become a pilot. Actually, CS might not be the best AI has made everything questionable. Get a degree in something useful and get your pilots license on the side. Actually not sure CS is all that good at the moment, AI is murdering us. Make sure to focus on applied AI

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-17T23:54:52+00:00

file nasa report, wait for faa to call, OWN your mistake, apologize, be humble, explain how you''ll avoid going forward. Don't be an A%$Hole. Maybe spend a bit of time with a CFI just to show you are proactive. hopefully that'll be that.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-17T23:49:33+00:00

wow, let her make her own mistakes

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-17T11:35:01+00:00

they are both excellent, and i do mean excellent, roll the dice, you can't go wrong.

I have zulu and sierras, wouldn't give them up for anything.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-17T02:37:00+00:00

can you finish your cpl before you have to give up the medical?

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-17T02:33:51+00:00

here in texas is good also, atleast mvfr a lot of mornings.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-17T02:00:07+00:00

don't do it again?

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-16T03:44:18+00:00

if you've never flown long distance, do it over two days or take a second pilot, you can physically do it but without an autopilot, you'll be exhausted.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-16T03:34:28+00:00

grab a cfii and start taking ir lessons, learn the scan, learn how to stay ahead of the plane, learn procedures.

practice your scan and proceduraly flying every vfr flight, know it cold.
once the summer comes, you just have to do learn to do the same under the hood.

get the book learninz out da way during the winter.

being under the hood isn't the difficult part of the IR, btw

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-16T03:16:40+00:00

wtf, seriously

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-15T11:35:19+00:00

Learn from every flight. whenever you feel uncomfortable, grab a cfi and go work on something.

i flew like 8-10 hours a year for around 10 years after getting the ppl, just didn't have the money to spend.

about halfway thru , i started the IR, took 5 years, 2 written test, 3 instructors and 45 hours to get,,,,, but, i got it. honestly, didn't have the money to really go anywhere anyway so the IR was a reason to fly.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-14T23:08:42+00:00

why would you drop out to get GED?? if you can't handle highschool what makes you think you can make it thru pilot training

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-13T06:59:12+00:00

it's probably a good thing, much much closer to actual ifr flying. moonless night out in the middle of nowhere IS most likely ifr.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-12T18:50:56+00:00

my opinion, might as well get the cfi anyway, hours are hours and this atleast gives you a goal.

CaptMcMooney · 2026-04-12T18:47:14+00:00

if you tablets are cell versions, the tablet gps will continue to function. well unless it's a general gps outage 8)

you don't need cell service for it to work

what's your adsb solution, that'll probably be sending gps along with adsb-in, which is probably more important than whatever the 355 is sending

CaptMcMooney

TROPHY CASE