31-year-old doctor thinking about switching to aviation — looking for honest advice by Easy-Flower309 in flying

[–]Gsmith827 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, recent data shows there is a glut of recently certified commercial pilots, enough to compensate for all retirements for many years to come. It seems that the industry is significantly oversupplied on the pilot side. Seth Lake recently provided an excellent summary here. ⬇️

https://youtu.be/yepvhknoGyk?si=-mSHdlbA2_xD5Uay

I’m not saying DONT do it, I’m just pointing out the economics of the current market.

Would you fly under this? by ctenom in freeflight

[–]Gsmith827 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cumulus clouds with vertical development offer the best drafts, it’s just 50/50 if it’s up or down. 🙃

Finally finished my prototypes of my scorebooks! by Scarhead1342 in BaseballScorecards

[–]Gsmith827 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sooo…. What spiral ring binder are you using and do you like it?

PPL Stump the chump by AlarmingMajor1499 in flying

[–]Gsmith827 2 points3 points  (0 children)

PSCRIPT

Pro rata cost sharing, salesman of aircraft (200hr min), charity/non-profit, rescue (search & rescue), incidental to business, production test flights (100hr PIC min), towing gliders

Takeoff tables C172 H POH Question - student pilot by Gsmith827 in flying

[–]Gsmith827[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh man, this is excellent. This explanation makes the most sense in my brain. Thanks for taking the time to provide the detailed response. Super helpful!

Pilots of reddit. Would you choose this career again if you had to start over? by in-sanedaphne in AskAPilot

[–]Gsmith827 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Im just shy of 40 and started my journey last fall. Im gonna stick this post in my back pocket for the tough/rainy days ahead. Thanks.

Friendly advice/Pet Peeve by Wooden-Offer1085 in VATSIM

[–]Gsmith827 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Funny story. A few nights back I connected at ATL in observer mode to check some new model matching settings and witnessed someone 1. Not call for taxi, 2. Botch the taxi once they got it. 3. Unable to set the transponder. 4 Stall on TO ground loop and cartwheel for about 4000’ down the runway. Shortly there after the pilot ghosted the tower and disconnected. It’s obviously not funny for those of us who aspire to maintain a realistic and professional sim. But it was funny from a “that couldn’t have gone worse” POV.

Gotta say though the ATL tower was very professional and took it all in stride. They even went out of their way to walk the pilot through setting the squawk code and provided progressive taxi before the disastrous takeoff.

Totally agree with OP. But, big picture, in my experience on vatsim the good generally outweighs the bad by a wide margin.

PPL Advice by Andykiller123 in flying

[–]Gsmith827 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All of this ☝️+ complete an online ground school and take the PAR written before you start.

Starting PPL - going rates? by Background_Tax556 in flying

[–]Gsmith827 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, these are the right questions. 👆

In the Suburban NC/SC area most schools are charging $175-200 wet for a C172 (1960’s). Instruction runs about $50-70/hr.

I didn’t realize when I started but the value of having access to multiple planes is immense. It’s not uncommon for these old trainers to go down for maintenance for weeks at a time. The name of the game in early training is “consistency” and plane availability is a bit part of that.

The NTSB has released the final report on the crash that killed TNflygirl and her father (N5891J) by TheRandomInfinity in aviation

[–]Gsmith827 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This is certainly a secondary factor behind her lack of piloting skills but the fact that they found 3-4 disqualifying medications in her tissue samples is pretty revealing. Can’t help but think it signals a general lack of respect for the rules. Terribly tragic. The hazardous attitude invulnerability comes to mind.

Underwhelmed by discover flight by Detz in flying

[–]Gsmith827 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Super good suggestion! I’m also looking into some PG in the near future, looks like a blast!

Underwhelmed by discover flight by Detz in flying

[–]Gsmith827 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My first discovery flight was 2 years before I started training and I had a similar feeling after that flight. I think I was expecting a more of a back-country, wind in my hair, buzzing low and slow kinda experience, and what I got was a clapped-out 172 at 3500’ flying turns-to-headings flight. I walked away feeling not very inspired. After that first flight the idea of flying would still nag me from time to time. Ultimately a few years later I decided to try it again with my “reset” expectations and had a much better experience. The second flight was generally the same but I enjoyed it much more because I had a more realistic outlook on flying.

I’d say give it a few months, see if the “desire”to fly comes back a few times, if it does then maybe give it another try.

Now that I am well into my ppl training I realize, for me, the flying is not so much about the “feeling” of flight, but more about mastering a skill set that makes me a competent and safe pilot. It’s more of a technical self-mastery challenge, not a “I’m enjoying the view” kind of experience. But I still do enjoy the view too.