To seriously want to work towards a private pilot's license?

[Muddygreenfingers]

Perhaps AIBU isn't quite right, perhaps it's AIBCaUN? (Am I being completely and utterly nuts?)

I've been on a few flight experiences and I absolutely love being up there. It gives me a buzz I haven't had since my horse riding days.

I've always loved going on planes (as exciting as the actual holiday) and always track planes on an app/look up for them on clear days. I love being up there, love the view and the feel of it. I play flight simulator, I watch videos, follow pilots on Instagram etc.

Financially it's expensive (about 12k to train), but I can afford it comfortably.

My biggest concern is that the aviation world is full of men over a certain age.
Sexist and ageist I'm being perhaps, but it honestly makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.

I'm a 30 something female, and even though I haven't felt uncomfortable with any of the instructors I've had (all male), I just feel like I'd end up feeling a bit lonely and/or uncomfortable.
I know IBU but it's honestly how I feel.

Should I let that put me off? Do I go for it?
A long shot but any other female pilots out there ??

OP you haven’t given us a good enough reason why you shouldn’t do it !

Also, how cool will it sound when you say you’re a Pilot 👩‍✈️ 😀

Of course the aviation industry and those who wish to keep on making unnecessary flights will cherry pick statistics. I desperately miss flying abroad. But I don’t NEED to. So I don’t.

https://flightfree.co.uk/

The thread was started by by somebody interested in doing not much more than a few circuits in something like a Cessna 172...also many ultra lights these days are powered by something not much more powerful than a lawn mower engine.

It's a bit of a stretch to start shoe horning into the same thread images of 747's, Trump in a biz jet and emissions due holiday flights.

Can you afford the upkeep of your licence? You will need to put on a certain number of flight hours per year to maintain it.

@Bugalogaloo thanks for clogging up my thread with around 10 of your own, basically stating the same thing. You could have said all that in one post.

But thanks for your input.

Muddygreenfingers

Well, to be honest, I find the thought of anyone flying for fun pretty abhorrent (although I can see the appeal and would love to do it also). I wanted to cite several sources about the impact of aviation so that there is no doubt about its impact. I make no apology, as the need to significantly change our behaviour is abundantly clear and now urgent. It’s an emergency so I’m acting as such.

@Bugalogaloo fair enough. Thanks for your input.

Do it. A young woman I work with has her pilots license and part shared in a Luscombe. She's forever popping to the Isle of Wight for fish and chips on a summers evening or nipping over to Brittany on a hot Sunday afternoon. It looks amazing!

Cessna 152 fuel consumption is 24 litres per hour, or about 20mpg, making it more fuel efficient than a substantial number of cars still on the road. It’s not quite the same level of atrocity as business jet use. I can think of many more things to get angry about than light aviation. I get cross about single use plastics, food miles and amount of pollution and destruction of the earth palm oil and soya production brings about. Ironically I get a Birds Eye view from my cockpit of the gigantic mess it’s creating. But I manage not to bang on about it every time someone says they have soya milk lattes in a disposable cup.

I could've started this thread! Just can't afford it but would love to, being a plane geek! Absolutely go for it, very jealous