Aviation

After finishing my commercial pilot rating, I was really hankering for owing my own airplane to avoid all of the randomization with renting and, ultimately, _go someplace far. _That destination would be Oskhosh, WI, for EAA’s Air Venture. For various reasons, not limited to prolonged time being unable to use the restroom and wanting to spend more time with the grandparents, my wife and kids flew out commercially to Chicago. This meshed well with my evil plan of not actually flying into the controlled chaos of EAA Oshkosh. Bwuhahaha. ...

I did my initial flight training at an uncontrolled airfield outside of the Austin city limits. It was very relaxing to go out after work once a week and fly in a random direction to Palacios, San Angelo, Waco, College Station or wherever I could get to and back in about three hours. There’s a lot of empty space in Texas, and the eastern part is very flat. Clear nights were a great time to fly. ...

For you newly-minted pilots who have asked me, “should I buy an airplane?” I offer a quick rule of thumb, based on my ten years in general aviation, four years of ownership, and MBA: No. Okay, now that we’ve gotten that formality out of the way, here is some insight into the costs of acquisition and ownership, so you can make the inevitable decision. You have no doubt heard the fairytale that you should consider ownership if you fly more than 100 hours a year because airplanes are an investment. It’s true that my airplane outperformed 11 of my 12 stocks, but if you look at the numbers closely, you’ll notice that buying postage stamps or stuffing the money into a mattress for those four years would have beaten everything. ...

About nine years ago I started flying as a way to blow off steam from the stresses of work. As with anything I do, once I got past the initial learning hurdles, I pursued the hobby very aggressively, eventually earning an instrument rating, a commercial certificate (land) and a private pilot certificate in seaplanes. (NB: Flying seaplanes is almost as good as sex.) In March of 2000, I became a delusional airplane co-owner. Yesterday, I came to my senses and sold my share. ...