Back to flying

[vanNostrum]

Hi all
Havent flown in 8 yrs, PPL NR 500 TT Im looking for a cost/time efficient way to get back to flying in the YOW area I dont know how many hrs of dual is going to take to bring me up to standars but at the same time I like to use those hrs to gain new flying experience. Some ideas I had:

Flying gliders [ too late in the seasson ?
Bigger airplane than a 172
Taildrager
Where
YRO-YSH- YCC ?
Freelance Instructor with airplane?
Im not considering OFC -OFS,very often a lot of time is wasted on the ground, to and from the PA and during night circuits.
I welcome your ideas[/i][/size][/size]

[Beefitarian]

Welcome back. I went right around five years with out flying. It's a really big bummer. Have you been studying?

[Colonel Sanders]

Get a medical

Study for the PSTAR, and write it at any FTU

Get a passport photo taken, and send in an
application for a licence booklet

Complete a flight review with any instructor,
comprising all the exercises on the PPL flight
test, to those standards. It is not a test. Will
probably take 3 or 4 flights.

[vanNostrum]

Thank you Beefitarian and Colonel appreciate your perspective. Have been reading a bit FGU and the Avcanada Training threads.
Beef how much dual did you need to regain your wings? What was the most difficult /easy flying exercise?
Regards vN

[Panama Jack]

Question is, what do you want to do when you get back into flying?

You mentioned cost-effective. The think I am worried about here is that flying has gotten more expensive than when you left it. Are you going to get in only to drop out again because of economics?

I assume, by your description, you are looking to fly "for fun" rather than as a career. Have you ever considered going into Ultralights? The economics are such that you will be able to fly a lot more, and you can just do a Class 4 medical rather than a Class 3. Sure, you can't do night, IFR, haul more than 1 passenger, or fly really fast, however, if those aren't deal breakers for you then I encourage you to take a look see what this category has to offer.

In any case, welcome back.

[linecrew]

I think for your case Rockcliffe Flying Club may be the best bang for your buck. They have a Super Decathalon tail-dragger that is fully aerobatic. OFC and OAS are at CYOW where you get charged by the airport for landing and by Nav Canada for taking off so they will always be more expensive per hour. An advantage at OFC is that they have a 60 day currency limit instead of the others' 30 day and currency on the Cessna 172 will automatically make you recurrent on the 150. There's a flight school again operating out of Carp now but I don't know any details.

[Colonel Sanders]

TC PSTAR. 200 questions, 50 of which will be selected for your test:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/Publications/en/TP1 ... 11919E.pdf

A lot of people use this to study for the PSTAR:
http://www.flyingstart.ca/FlightTrainin ... RIndex.htm

But you can study for it by just looking up stuff in the AIM:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/p ... u-3092.htm
which you can either html on-line, or download a PDF.

CARs are found here:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/r ... s/menu.htm

602 and 605 are mostly what you might look at.

[Beefitarian]

I'm going to tell you the brutal truth. Especially since it's been 8 years it's going to seem way too expensive and you will probably panic several times, thinking that you can't do this.

Don't stop. Plow through!

Flying is unreasonably expensive! Even more than before, having said that, for me it's very worth it. Every cent I've spent flying even a few hours I had with a bad instructor several years ago feels right. Buying a house for my wife, I regret.

How much dual?

I am not what anyone including me would call normal so the short answer is, Less than I did.

I'll try to wander back and be helpful while regaling you with tales about getting back to a current PPL later.

[NeverBlue]

Don't stop. Plow through!

for me it's very worth it. Every cent I've spent flying even a few hours I had with a bad instructor several years ago feels right. Buying a house for my wife, I regret.

Well said Beef...well said

..can't stop chuckling at that one.

[Beefitarian]

So, yeah since I'm not even divorced I can't ask for some of that money back.

You're thinking about it wrong van. Right now you're trying to figure out how to get your license back for the least amount of money. If that's what you want you already have a PPL. Check that off and move onto the next column.

If you have the same illness most as of us airplane guys let's get going! Flying is like laundry, it's not difficult yet easy to screw up some small details, so your under pants end up discolored and most important you're never finished. You do all the loads then the next week there's more.

Huh?
I am not a bum. I'm a jerk.
I once had wealth, power and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things, my friends and....I
Uh? My thermos.

Huh, my story? Ok. It was never easy for me....

Well actually it is kind of easy so I don't work hard enough.

Find an instructor you respect and fly until he or she sends you sends you off. Then they'll sign your book and you can go solo and rent again.
So I went for a quick flight in 2010 to see if I could still kind of fly. I more or less could. Then I came on here. I have no problem reading about Jason Trowbridge and other super important pulp online for 15 hours but studying sucks the life out of me.

If you read From the ground up and The Flight training manual you will have a pretty excellent start.

Next I did 1.3 hours flying around Catalina island. Training value possibly low, but I flew the whole flight with an excellent landing.

5 months after that I finally broke my piggy bank and started back to try to get that autograph in my log so my new blue book would actually be valid to allow me to, "exercise the privileges."

I started attempting the PSTAR. You know 50 relatively simple multiple choice questions about things you should know but I didn't. Like, How long after a cat 3 medical must a pilot get an ECG if they are under 40 years old? What does a flashing green light mean during taxi? That ended up being the most difficult part probably because I blew it out of proportion, it's kind of a hobby.

I then did 5.6 hours with 3 different nice instructors. Things were going ok. The last flight was a repeat with a nice young fellow. I think he is a decent instructor. The problem was he wanted to see straight stalls. I was hoping to move forward. I had done straight stalls with the other instructors. They were quite good, no one made notes about that. The second problem was we waited half an hour or so for take off, yeah around a hundred bucks. I guess there are a few cents I regret spending.

Things were progressing but I became worried I would get to fly 50 dual hours with these terrific young gentlemen.

I decided to take a break. February 2012 I went for another tourist flight. Those are awesome!

In April I decided to try a smaller airport with an instructor that I was able to fly with every time. I finally passed that PSTAR, flew 4 more flights then he sent me off solo.

So my total dual hours were 12.7 but if I didn't fool around so much it probably would have been around 6 or 7.

So that's it, it's an old story. One you've probably heard before. But I never thought it would happen to me.

Here's the rub. I only flew twice this summer. Now we need to put shingles on the house, so I'm in need of a renters check out again. In other words there's dirty clothes in the hamper again.

[NeverBlue]

So, yeah since I'm not even divorced  I can't ask for some of that money back.

...you can ask for it back??

[Beefitarian]

My understanding is if you buy a house, then get married, then divorced you are entitled to part of the equity. Half is one rumor. I have even heard you get to keep assets you owned before the marriage, but I doubt that happens in most cases.

I told her in the past I would take my basses, motorcycle and my favorite blanket. She could have the mortgage. That's a way better deal for her now.

[CpnCrunch]

I hadn't flown in 3 years, and it took 3.25hrs dual plus a few hours of ground briefing to get to the point where both myself and the instructor were happy that I could fly safely.

I also revised the PSTAR (I didn't need to take the exam again, but still useful to know), and went through my groundschool books, revised all the checklists and emergency procedures, etc.

It all comes back to you after a while - it's not a big deal getting back into flying. As you've been more than 5 years you'll need to do a bit more than I did (as CS pointed out above), but still I don't think it's going to be a big deal.

[vanNostrum]

Question is, what do you want to do when you get back into flying?

That is an important question. When I started flying I wanted to persue a career in aviation but I missed that boat long time ago, so for now Im interested in doing something new and maybe find some goal to achive that will keep me from dropping out of aviation.


. Have you ever considered going into Ultralights? The economics are such that you will be able to fly a lot more, and you can just do a Class 4 medical rather than a Class 3. Sure, you can't do night, IFR, haul more than 1 passenger, or fly really fast, however, if those aren't deal breakers for you then I encourage you to take a look see what this category has to offer.

Years ago I used to read about the high rate of UL accidents and in my mind I filed as ''dangerous'' but I will look into it.I like the idea thank you.
In any case, welcome back.

TC PSTAR. 200 questions, 50 of which will be selected for your test:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/Publications/en/TP1 ... 11919E.pdf

A lot of people use this to study for the PSTAR:
http://www.flyingstart.ca/FlightTrainin ... RIndex.htm

But you can study for it by just looking up stuff in the AIM:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/p ... u-3092.htm
which you can either html on-line, or download a PDF.

CARs are found here:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/r ... s/menu.htm

602 and 605 are mostly what you might look at.

Colonel thank you for the time saving links

[vanNostrum]

So, yeah since I'm not even divorced I can't ask for some of that money back.

You're thinking about it wrong van. Right now you're trying to figure out how to get your license back for the least amount of money. If that's what you want you already have a PPL. Check that off and move onto the next column.

If you have the same illness most as of us airplane guys let's get going! Flying is like laundry, it's not difficult yet easy to screw up some small details, so your under pants end up discolored and most important you're never finished. You do all the loads then the next week there's more.

Huh?
I am not a bum. I'm a jerk.
I once had wealth, power and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things, my friends and....I
Uh? My thermos.

Huh, my story? Ok. It was never easy for me....

Well actually it is kind of easy so I don't work hard enough.

Find an instructor you respect and fly until he or she sends you sends you off. Then they'll sign your book and you can go solo and rent again.
So I went for a quick flight in 2010 to see if I could still kind of fly. I more or less could. Then I came on here. I have no problem reading about Jason Trowbridge and other super important pulp online for 15 hours but studying sucks the life out of me.

If you read From the ground up and The Flight training manual you will have a pretty excellent start.

Next I did 1.3 hours flying around Catalina island. Training value possibly low, but I flew the whole flight with an excellent landing.

5 months after that I finally broke my piggy bank and started back to try to get that autograph in my log so my new blue book would actually be valid to allow me to, "exercise the privileges."

I started attempting the PSTAR. You know 50 relatively simple multiple choice questions about things you should know but I didn't. Like, How long after a cat 3 medical must a pilot get an ECG if they are under 40 years old? What does a flashing green light mean during taxi? That ended up being the most difficult part probably because I blew it out of proportion, it's kind of a hobby.

I then did 5.6 hours with 3 different nice instructors. Things were going ok. The last flight was a repeat with a nice young fellow. I think he is a decent instructor. The problem was he wanted to see straight stalls. I was hoping to move forward. I had done straight stalls with the other instructors. They were quite good, no one made notes about that. The second problem was we waited half an hour or so for take off, yeah around a hundred bucks. I guess there are a few cents I regret spending.

Things were progressing but I became worried I would get to fly 50 dual hours with these terrific young gentlemen.

I decided to take a break. February 2012 I went for another tourist flight. Those are awesome!

In April I decided to try a smaller airport with an instructor that I was able to fly with every time. I finally passed that PSTAR, flew 4 more flights then he sent me off solo.

Beef I enjoy the description of your path back to the Sky and the analogy between flying and doing laundry I think Im going to take one of those turist flights that you mention and see how it goes
So my total dual hours were 12.7 but if I didn't fool around so much it probably would have been around 6 or 7.

So that's it, it's an old story. One you've probably heard before. But I never thought it would happen to me.

Here's the rub. I only flew twice this summer. Now we need to put shingles on the house, so I'm in need of a renters check out again. In other words there's dirty clothes in the hamper again.

Sorry to see that you have to do laundry again,but once you do the check out when the roofer comes to do the shingles in your house offer him or her an airplane ride in exchange for a substantial discount on the job would that be legal ?

[Beefitarian]

I kind of did a diary thread of most of my flights after Catalina.
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=74758

Laundry's not bad it just never ends.

The roofing estimate guy is not phoning me back. Good old Calgary, he's too busy.

[linecrew]

Laundry's not bad it just never ends.

Life hack: to offset laundry schedule, on days that you don't need to leave the house, don't wear clothes. Remember to factor in whether you need to cook bacon that day.

[Beefitarian]

I was onto that years ago. My wife is the worst, she will have multiple baths in a day requiring a wardrobe change, the kids are close behind. I'm a guy so I also have several stages of dirty.

Sometimes you need to smell a shirt to see if it's gone too far. Unless I'm walking the kids to school before a shower, no point making something new dirty I'll pull a non under wear item out of the hamper for that.

You'd be surprised how much laundry little kids generate. There are weeks I do two loads per day for up to three days in a row. Again I have had real jobs so I don't confuse it with actual labour. But coupled with cleaning and cooking it can put me in a bad mood on occasion. Particularly when it's announced, "We can't afford "X" I don't make as much money as you did when you were working."

If x = flying I get particularly grumpy.

[bmc]

My understanding is if you buy a house, then get married, then divorced you are entitled to part of the equity. Half is one rumor. I have even heard you get to keep assets you owned before the marriage, but I doubt that happens in most cases.

I told her in the past I would take my basses, motorcycle and my favorite blanket. She could have the mortgage. That's a way better deal for her now.

Basses? I got a pile of them too.

[xiz]

Been there, done that ...

I'd been away just under five years, and prior to that for over 20.

I started up with RFC this spring, and was finally signed off to go solo a couple weeks ago. Went up by myself for some slam-n-goes just over a week ago.

The main requirements were (and have already been covered in this thread)
- Medical - mine was fine. I'm a cat III (Private license)
- PSTAR - Rewrote this at RFC just a few weeks ago. The online study guides referenced in the RFC student resources section

http://www.rfc.ca/en/hangar/studentresources

I found were excellent. The 'robyn's flying start' guide was particularly useful

- Flight review

You mention you have just over 500 tt, so you could probably git 'er done in less time than me. (I took around 10 flights, spread over six months) but added about four hours of instrument time, as well, which I didn't have, since I got my license back in the 80s, before the 5 hour instrument requirement was in effect.

[Colonel Sanders]

just under five years

Hold on a sec. If it's been less than 5 years since
you logged PIC, you don't need to do the PSTAR
and flight review - you just need to go flying, get
checked out dual, and then log some PIC.

One way of thinking about it, is that every pilot
in Canada has a "5 year timer" ticking on them,
which is reset every time they log PIC. Think of
a watchdog timer, if you are an OS or EE type.

If have had old students of mine call me up, frantic
that their "5 year timer" on their PIC is about to
expire, and we solve that problem pretty easily
and quickly

PS In this context, PIC does not mean Programmable
Interrupt Controller. And I don't want to talk about
pin muxing and pad config.

[Beefitarian]

He's right if you do a renter's check ride and get the ok to go solo again, do that and you're set.

You might want to do the PSTAR anyway. Some of the 200 questions are things you really should know.
Even if I obviously tended not to.
It won't affect how much dual you need.

PS In this context, PIC does not mean Programmable
Interrupt Controller. And I don't want to talk about
pin muxing and pad config.

Please?

[Colonel Sanders]

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php ... Processors

PS I forgot - if you haven't logged PIC in 4.999
years, you probably are out of "2 year" currency
which is satisified by the following pencil whipping:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/p ... 2-6454.htm

And if you want to carry pax, it's 5 takeoffs &
landings (not necessarily successful ones - it's
legal if you crash each time) in the last 6 months.

Night is good for day, but day is not good for night,
and single and multi don't help each other at all.

[Beefitarian]

Excellent. A new distraction.

Maybe if I could ever stay on one task I would know the answer to things like.

12.19 Every person who is the holder of any pilot licence or permit shall, on demand, produce such licence or permit for inspection by persons authorized by the Minister, by peace officers and
(1) FSS operators.
(2) Transport Canada airport managers.
(3) immigration officers.
(4) all of the above.

(5) random guise in funny outfits.

[Colonel Sanders]

If this guy tried to ramp check you:



What would you do?