Hobbies for pilots

[MrTurbine]

I am intrigued as to what pilots who are blessed with good amount of GDOs do as a hobby.
Apart from family life and housework, and an occasional holiday, I find myself rebuilding old guitars.
What kind of other healthy hobbies do you pilots find ourself doing on your days off? I would like to try something new.

[Rockie]

Scuba diving.

Also take up sports and anything outdoors that gets your heart rate up. We live a sedentary lifestyle at work with lousy irregular food, disrupted sleep, and a constant battle with fatigue. We need all the help we can get.

[MrTurbine]

Scuba diving sounds great. Best place to try scuba diving for the first time?
Also yes, We definitely are pretty outdoorsy as a family.

[Rockie]

Best place to try scuba diving for the first time?

That depends on where you live and whether or not you like cold water. Some people are strictly warm water divers which for us limits the activity to southern holidays which can be spectacular, but Canada's coasts and other waterways also provide good diving. There are forums and websites that give good information on inland diving sites, but again your access to it depends on where you live.

Trying it out once can be a little problematic unless you are on a southern holiday at a place that offers such things. Basically if you like snorkeling and the short duration dives to the bottom you will probably really enjoy scuba because you can get down where you want and stay there for a while. It can be technically challenging and there are certain risks and anxieties that can go with it depending on the person, plus there are restrictions you should observe between diving and flying for decompression concerns.

[photofly]

Does AvCanada count as a hobby?

[Wacko]

Does AvCanada count as a hobby?

No. That's called an addiction.

[cgzro]

flying is my hobby! Riding AC15 is my job:(

[Old Dog Flying]

Building a collection of model aircraft..RCAF 1914 to the present but not leaving out those aircraft that played a part of my life. Oh by the way I also grow fantastic roses!

Barney







The Fleet Canuck and Grumman AA1A are scratch-built from measurements taken from the real thing..the Tiger Moth is a kit but with a whole lot more detail..all in 1:32 scale

[Adam Oke]

I enjoy night Trap shooting and pistol shooting. I would like to start competing in IPSC one of these days. I've recently started reloading pistol calibres.

[Minimums]

Firearms.

Collecting, smith work (for the mechanically inclined), general shooting, hunting, completive/sport shooting, skeet/clay, long range precision, self defense training, cowboy action, you name it. You can get into it for as little as $100 for an old used .22 and a box of ammo, or spent $10-12k on a precision setup for long range target shooting, and everything in-between. Unlike most hobbies, firearms (always an exception here) usually maintain their value. Some increase, some decrease a little, but as an average, most don't depreciate a great deal unless heavily used or abused. Many firearms purchased 20 years ago and kept in good condition are worth 3-5x the original purchase amount, that's even accounting for inflation; History Winchester model 94's as an example. Something you can do with a friend, group of friends, with your significant other, kids, or on your day off alone and at odd-ball times when your schedule allows.

[Chris M]

Cars, RC models, and exploring grass strips in whatever low and slow rental plane I can get my hands on.







I need cheaper hobbies.

[cap41]

Porsche! NUFF said

[Black_Tusk]

I have a habit of spending too much time and money on cars. Specifically building them to make more HP than anyone really needs and then driving them around a track at high speeds.

That, and motorcycles. I have a few vintage reso-mod projects on the go right now.

[lownslow]

I have a habit of spending too much time and money on cars. Specifically building them to make more HP than anyone really needs

Same, except replace the need for power with a weird attraction to gutless oddities. That and more plane stuff when I'm not doing plane stuff at work.

[SuperchargedRS]

Fly my own (non work) plane, fast cars, skydiving, tweaking my house, said cars or said plane.

[dashtrash1]

If I'm not at work, you can usually catch me at the gliding club in the Spring and Summer

[PilotDAR]

Well, aside from allowing myself to be distracted with the restoration of a rare plane, and now a second restoration/conversion on my horizon, the hobby I quite enjoy is the restoration of antique diecast toys, of the Dinky Toys and Corgi toys variety primarily. I often remove the paint, and disassemble for repair a truck or plane, and see the file marks where a worker removed casting flash, or other imperfection by hand, two or three generations ago. These toys, made with care, then played with to near destruction, deserve a second life of being appreciated.

[ThatArmyGuy]

Scuba diving FTW!

[Scudrunner703]

I build floats in the off season.

[geodoc]

Vintage Italian motorcycles:







.

[Black_Tusk]

Vintage Italian motorcycles:







.

Very nice. Did you restore it yourself?

I am broke so I stick to the older Japanese vintage bikes. Currently working on a 1971 Suzuki T250 2stroke.

[ditar]

Amateur astronomy. The highlight of the pursuit for me (and one of the highlights of my life so far) has been the six weeks I spent in the Atacama Desert in Chile, observing with an 18" aperture telescope. It is arguably the finest place on Earth from which to view the night sky. The photo, which I took during my second trip there in 2011, is just one example of why (I had to compress it for the upload, the original is much sharper).

[Rockie]

That is cool ditar.

[pelmet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vRZTrV9z-o

[crazyaviator]

Hang gliding, off-road biking, scuba, ( cant afford to travel, ) Restoring houses, Aircraft ( Presently Aeronca super-chief ) and trying to do the least amount of work while entertaining entering semi-retirement