O I wanna fly a plane. I did exactly what my parents said. I

Go down to your local GA airport

Inquire about flight lessons

>>1051829
Book an air experience flight at your local GA airfield, acquire logbook and log your first dual instruction, enquire about getting a PPL, throw money and time at the project. Come to love flying in old Cessnas.

T. PPL student.

>>1051829
>tfw you can fly a plane as a hobby but you can't drive a train as a hobby
why live

>>1051951
You think so? I work at a volunteer-operated narrow-gauge railway.

Where do you live? Must be a similar thing around there as well.

>>1051951
There are not many steam trains run by charities/volunteers, but they do exist.

I have interest in this too. Unfortunately I live in the NYC area and the costs for doing this are extremely high.

>>1051829
> got a boring IT job
Good luck being broke forever, my mom managed a GA airport when I was a kid and there were a lot of guys like you hanging out all day being poor. Literally all their money went into their habit, they drove beat up old cars and had strained relationships with their families because they wanted to "follow their dreams" while having a normal life

Go on youtube and see what people like Premier 1 Driver do for a living. They are not "IT guys", they are not dentists or middle management even, they're the kind of people who have money coming out of their ears. These people have a guy who has a full time job, getting paid more than you, managing their personal wealth, so they can spend their free time flying airplanes around for fun.

Sorry to rain on your parade.

Takes about $8-10k for instruction and hours to get your PPL.

It's not terribly expensive, but the FAA now has things like a Sport Pilot Certificates which let your fly some pretty neat planes without breaking the bank.

Don't be so negative about flying. My in-law actually got his license years ago than bought a plane. Sold that one and got a 1980s production plane. He fly's regularly even did a trip with multiple stops that lasted for a months vacation he took. Of course he lives in the Midwest where it's much cheaper than the NY metro area. Is he rich? No he is a firefighter I easily make a hell of a lot more than he does but again the cost of stuff around here is different
But he has stuck with it and some guys play golf as a hobby he fly's. It seems like a great thing to do.

Freedom of flight is like sailing

>>1051954
>>1051953
I live in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic nanny state, volunteer railways are practically a physical impossibility.

>>1051829
The second easiest way to get a pilot's license is to join the air force in your country. The easiest is canuck air cadet, but I'm assuming you're too old for that.

>>1051998
This really.

An used (1980-90) Cessna 152 is going to cost you at least 40k, not including the 80k for your license and the thousands more for fuel. Even an old ass glider like the 233 costs 10k minimum, not including your tow plane.

>>1052160
Why would anyone want to work for the railroad? It's fucking awful these days. They've taken just about all the fun out of it.

>>1051838
>>1051950
>>1051998
What's a GA airport?

>>1052483
general aviation

>>1052338
Not everywhere, at least not in Central Europe where I work for it

>>1051950
Old Cessnas are God-tier for fucking around but if you can find yourself a complex it's way more fun for exaggerated lazy 8s

Got my pilot licence for free through air cadets, feels good man

>>1056925
In the UK?

>>1056929
Canada, I did the power flying scholarship when I was seventeen.

>>1056931
Seems that they are better for training towards a private licence in Canada then, It seems to be unusual to get more than some air experience flying for our air cadets.

>>1056933
Yeah, with Canada you go through a preparatory ground school during the training year, and then if you get selected for the scholarship you go to a camp for 7-8 weeks in the summer where the majority of the training happens, there's also additional flight time afterwards. I heard somewhere that more than half of all Canadian airline pilots got their initial license through air cadets.