↓ GETTING STARTED IN FLYING
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NOT NECESSARILY. On your
discovery f light, you might go
up in a newer, nicer plane, just to
get a more pleasant first impres-
sion. There are some upsides
to learning on an older model:
Those planes have simpler con-
trols, which can make it easier to
focus when you’re learning the
basics. They’re also cheaper. The
rate for a late-1970s-era Cessna
152 could be around $100 an
hour; for a newer model, it might
be closer to $300 or $400. It’ll
mostly depend on what your a ir-
field has available, but a good
rule of thumb is to train on the
kind of plane you expect to be
flying after you get your license.I am quite sure
I will never be able
to afford a plane.Am I gonna
be flying an
old plane?EXPECT TO INVEST $7,000 to
$10,000 to get through train-
ing and certification for your
private license, says Shawn
Marshall, a Navy veteran and
chief flight instructor at Florida
Flyers Flight Academy in St.
Augustine, Florida. You’ll usu-
ally rent a plane at what’s called
a “wet rate,” which combines
maintenance, fuel, and insur-
ance costs; your instructor’s fee
is a separate hourly rate on top
of that, starting at about $70.
When you own a plane, you’re
responsible not only for the orig-
inal investment, but also for a
spot in a hangar, insurance, gas,
and maintenance fees. To ma ke
it worthwhile, you’d probably
need to be flying a whole lot.
If you do want to look into
buying a plane, think about
whether you could split the cost
with a couple friends to have
joint ownership, or even enter
into a timeshare. Also, keep in
mind that when you rent from
a local airfield, you’re only pay-
ing for the hours in the air. If
you have a $300-an-hour plane
for the whole weekend but you
only fly four hours, you’re pay-
ing $1,200—not $14,400.To Rent
Hourly: “Wet rate” (plane
+ insurance + gas): $100 to
$400 an hour, depending on
age and model of planeTo Buy*
Fuel: $5.50 a gallon; the aver-
age four-seater airplane gets
16 to 20 mpg
Insurance: Up to $1,500 a year
Hangar fee: Up to $550 a
month, depending on proxim-
ity to large metro areas
Maintenance: Usually about
10 hours a year plus parts,
around $2,
Keeping certification: About
$200 every two yearsCessna 172
Over 40,000 trusty 172s
have been built—more
than any other plane.Diamond DA 42
First diesel-powered
fixed-wing craft to cross
the Atlantic nonstop.Piper PA-28 Cherokee
Makes an appearance in
Goldfinger. Not just for
Bond villains.my 11-year-old son and a pilot
named Ivy McIver. Ivy has been
with Cirrus most of her career,
selling planes, f lying them,
evangelizing the very idea of
personal f light. She is laid-
back and cool, and before we
left the ground—before we even
climbed into the four-person
cabin—she demonstrated the
entire irresistible attraction
of learning to fly yourself in an
airplane. Here is how she dem-
onstrated that:
I said, “Where are we going
today?” (We were starting
out from Westchester County
Airport, about 35 miles north
of New York City.)
She said, “I thought we
would go to an air show in
Rhode Island first.”
I said, “Great!”
She said, “After that, I don’t
know...we could go to Maine?”
I said nothing.
(We could go to Maine?)
She said, “Or there’s this
great ice cream shop in New
Hampshire that you can walk to
from one of the airports there.”
I just looked at her. I felt like
a kid who’s just been told he can
stay up all night.
She said, “Don’t worry, I’ll
have you back by dinner.”
Right there, I got it. We
could go to Maine. Flying your
own plane is fun, it’s cool,
it’s glamorous, and, to most
people, it’s an exotic treat. But
most of all, flying your own
plane is freedom.
We went to the air show.
Then we went to Maine. On
the SR22’s navigation system,
we found an airport in a place
called Sanford. First it was a
yellow dot on the screen, then
we saw it, down there on earth:
a solitary strip of asphalt, with
a small building next to it, a few
small planes parked. Ivy radi-
oed. (“Niner-niner.. .”) They
said no problem, come on in.
Word s t o t hat effec t.
There were two ladies sit-
ting outside on folding lawn
chairs. They said hello, and told
us there was a good ice cream
place up the street a ways. They
said we could use the car—Ivy
told me this is quite normal,
that aviation companies would
have a “crew car” for visitors to
borrow. The crew car at San-
ford Seacoast Regional Airport
was a Suburban. They got the
keys for us.
At Shain’s of Maine we ate
lobster rolls and clam chowder
and their homemade blueberry
ice cream.
On the flight home—my son
flew most of the way from San-
ford back to Westchester—we
called my wife. (You can make
cellphone calls from your own
plane.) When we got close to
our town, Ivy took the SR22 as
low as she could (about 1,
feet). My wife and our younger
boy went out into the back-
yard, and they waved up at us.
We could see them, and we did
a little wing-tip.
Flying is freedom.
—Ryan D’Agostino*Source: The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, based off a hypothetical $40,000 used airplaneFor more inspiration,
read our four-part
series “Learning to Fly,”
by Joshua Ferris, on
popularmechanics.com.14 May 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com