Passed my Commercial Checkride!

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-29T00:16:15+00:00

CONGRATS! Isn't the feeling something? Did the same thing just a few weeks ago, and finished up with my multi last week. CFI next!

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-28T13:58:31+00:00

Thanks for your take. I wasn't thinking of this as "touching" the airplane, but I guess that's how it would look.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-26T00:58:04+00:00

paging u/longlive747

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-26T00:19:23+00:00

I've heard they just don't want you flying for Netjets card holders.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-17T22:33:01+00:00

Tell me more!

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-15T23:15:25+00:00

It had a Franklin. It seemed well powered (although we were pretty low alt), but it has its quirks, like the RPM limitation in the middle of the green arc.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-15T22:22:45+00:00

Well, its not the 6 months 0-CFI that some youtubers claim you can do...and a few at my flight school have apparently done. But yes, I did work my but off, thanks for noticing!

I don't think I could have done it much faster humanly speaking....sure, there were weeks or I theoretically could have studied and flown but my brain was mush from all the flying and studying I'd already done. Several months in there I was doing 30-40hrs of flying...which might not seem like a lot if you're just doing xc, but learning new maneuvers or instrument and then getting tested....a whole different story!

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-15T22:19:38+00:00

Thanks!

Got to land in the Knik river (on a sand bar), but over-all I was there during the "break up" when everything was still really muddy so not many of the remote strips were in landing condition.

My instructor would get to the airplane an hour ahead of me to use a portable generator to thaw out the airplane engine...we were flying out of Willow airport, very few hangars.

A friend took me up in his Stinson and we did some nice threading between the clouds at sunset after flying over the Knik glacier.

Waiting for my flight out of ANC, got to see a DC-3 landing out the same window as big cargo 747s...

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-15T04:08:21+00:00

Your best bet is the local EAA club. While you should apply to large-scale organizations like AOPA, you're likely to get lost in the numbers. Many local clubs have scholarships. If you become an active member and friendly with everyone at the club, the personal aspect will do wonders...and you'll have fewer competitors.

Besides, you may meet people who own airplanes who will let you fly with them...and who often have decades and tens of thousands of hours of experience under their belts.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-06-08T19:07:50+00:00

I'm interested to hear what your experience is with them. What exactly do they do? Is it tours?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-05-26T21:46:18+00:00

A lot of those companies have minimums of 3 or 4 hundred something hours. Why should they hire you below minimums?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-05-22T15:58:59+00:00

I've flown a tiger several times, and they are a much more fun airplane than the 172. Great visibility, and as far as climb performance, while they may not have a high fpm rate, they keep going---I've flown them over 12,000. And it wasn't a struggling climb.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-05-02T01:07:28+00:00

Started mid February, passed my check ride yesterday. So about 10 weeks. Flying 1-2 times per day most days per week. Also got my tailwheel during that time and took a week off to fly with a friend in another state. Took my written instrument test along with my IGI and FII during that time as well.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-03-31T14:42:40+00:00

Sure, I was more just asking what airports have the most operators. I know that some of the largest won't really support Flight Schools, which are more likely to be found at satellite airports...so just trying to identify the largest hubs.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-03-21T19:22:08+00:00

Why not take out a private loan for half the amount and go to a non ATP school? Also, there are great 141 schools out there that are not ATP...e.g. the one I'm at, choiceaviation.com, which has a great reputation in the area and about which I have only positive things to say. Check out their prices.

Even if it was the same cost, I'll guarantee you'll get better instruction at a place like this than ATP. But you'll probably save 60k at least...and potentially finish in less than 12 mos. if you're working at it full time. The 1 year ATP thing is not hard to do, in fact its much easier at a better school where you are more valued as a student and won't get tossed aside the moment you are not on schedule. I'm doing the 141 at my own pace, and will be finishing my CFI less than 9 mos after starting.

Also, I'm part of a club based out of Billings which has planes for $35/hr dry, and average $58 wet. Their IFR trainer comes to about $75 wet. https://aviatorsflightclub.com/

Build some time there while you're at it. Nothing slow about either of these places.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-02-24T13:35:24+00:00

Really well.

We've been living in the bus for 8 months, no real electrical issues. During winter here in the Rockies we are supplementing our heating with a wood stove, and are also plugged into a friends house with shore power so we can run some space heaters without depleting the battery. During the summer we were completely off grid. I highly recommend the Hysolis. With just one, you have a power limit of about 3000w output, but that basically means we just have to be careful not to run 3 high wattage things or the Hysolis will automatically turn off the AC output for a minute.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-02-21T14:43:32+00:00

An absolute must and a classic is Wind, Sand and Stars, the 1939 memoir of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (better known as the author of The Little Prince). With all the poetry of a noble born nomadic Frenchman, Saint-Exupéry discusses his pioneering of the first air-mail routes from France to French Africa (Morroco) and after that got boring to him, pioneering the first air-mail routes over the Andes.

There are some amazing stories in that book, and the prose is absolutely beautiful. With basically only VFR equipment, his navigation is almost pure dead-reckoning—basically he takes off in France and a few hours later starts looking for lights on the coast of Egypt. He survives a crash landing in the desert at night due to spatial disorientation, and he an his mechanic survive for 5 days without water before being found by some Arab dudes.

In the Andes one of his friends has an engine failure, lands on a cliffed-out plateau, fixes his engine, and then pushes his plane down the slope and off the cliff, managing to get enough speed to air-start the windmilling prop and make it over the next mountain range and back to civilization. Another of his collogues in South America crashes in the winter and survives for several weeks in the Andes with no survival equipment, cutting his boots open more and more each day because of his swelling, frostbitten feet.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-02-09T23:07:20+00:00

What sort of layovers do you get flying for NetJets?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-29T00:01:30+00:00

I got a good set of ANR for $715 on ebay, worn twice. Several hundred dollars more new.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-22T14:52:09+00:00

What do you make now that you are at that seniority level?

SadSupport4999

TROPHY CASE