Is it too late for me?

[kgwilson]

I am not sure how the statistics have been produced but apparently around half of all aircraft building projects are never completed.

[rgmwa]

Marty is a builder. I assembled a kit.

[Builds By Baz]

WOW. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for your candid answers and chat amongst each other. It's nice to know that as a noob, I might be encouraged rather than looked down upon. I am looking into it. I'll start by going to Canberra Airport and ask there.

 

I agree, it probably would be a good idea to get my licence to fly first. My kids still visit me weekends and I still work full time, so I can't probably do both at once.

 

After building the Viper from scratch over seven years, I've looked at kits and some instructions and I don't think it will take me nearly as long.

 

Years ago I dabbled in microsoft flight simulator. Do you guys recommend anything like that in this day and age? Would it help?

 

Baz.

Edited 5 hours ago by Builds By Baz

[rgmwa]

I don’t know about a simulator. I think maybe it could help with things like navigation training but flying is a three dimensional seat of the pants thing and you won’t get that sitting in front of a screen.
One advantage of getting a licence first is it will give you time to look to look around and decide what type of plane you might want to build. You might change your initial ideas once you’ve done some flying.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by rgmwa

[BurnieM]

I bought MS Flight Sim before I started lessons.

It was ok but I do not feel it helped much. Probably depends on your learning style.

 

If you can try to do 2 lessons a week.

May be a problem if you can only fly on the weekends as this is when others want to fly.

After work mid week is an option too but you probably need to wait for summer.

Expect to have to fly 50% more hours than the 25 year olds to absorb the knowledge.

 

You need at least 1 lesson a fortnight.

Less than this and you will forget and have to relearn each time.

 

You will probably lose a third of your lesson slots due to weather.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by BurnieM

[Builds By Baz]

31 minutes ago, BurnieM said:

I bought MS Flight Sim before I started lessons.

It was ok but I do not feel it helped much. Probably depends on your learning style.

 

If you can try to do 2 lessons a week.

May be a problem if you can only fly on the weekends as this is when others want to fly.

After work mid week is an option too but you probably need to wait for summer.

Expect to have to fly 50% more hours than the 25 year olds to absorb the knowledge.

 

You need at least 1 lesson a fortnight.

Less than this and you will forget and have to relearn each time.

 

You will probably lose a third of your lesson slots due to weather.

 

Now that, is good information.

 

Thank you.

38 minutes ago, rgmwa said:

I don’t know about a simulator. I think maybe it could help with things like navigation training but flying is a three dimensional seat of the pants thing and you won’t get that sitting in front of a screen.
One advantage of getting a licence first is it will give you time to look to look around and decide what type of plane you might want to build. You might change your initial ideas once you’ve done some flying.

 

Makes sense. Thank you.

[Thruster88]

One problem with aircraft ownership is finding a hangar, none at Canberra and parking on the grass is something like $4k per year. I would learn to fly and so how much you like it. There is a syndicate at Canberra with a Vans RV8, a fun to fly fast, useful, beautiful aircraft, the buy in price will be cheaper than any build now that every thing is getting expensive. Renting is also a good option, plenty of choice of aircraft type.

 

Join the local aero club.