Was flying for the Navy/Marines worth it?

[Griz882]

Good cost breakdown; thanks. Makes owning a plane seem a lot more achievable and more on par with a boat or a hobby car...

My goofy little bug-masher costs even less. As for the family, it is easy as mine is a single-seat craft. But, there is nothing like a nice fall afternoon clipping down the Chesapeake, open cockpit, landing at JGG and grabbing a burger before figuring out a different way home. At 3.5 GPH running with an auto-fuel STC it is cheaper (and faster) than a sports car that in all cases is limited by the speed of traffic.

 

[Gatordev]

Good cost breakdown; thanks. Makes owning a plane seem a lot more achievable and more on par with a boat or a hobby car. I see your last point as key in any expensive hobby. If you own a boat and your wife hates the sea and everything in it then you might have some problems.

Guess I'm off to look at aircraft classifieds....

It really comes down to how you want to use the airplane. It can be very affordable to just be able to fly. Costs start to escalate quickly if you want more than one person to come with you and if anyone wants to have a change of clothes. Costs continue to go up if you want to get there sooner.

Fuel prices right now are definitely helping with cost though, which was a bigger part of the equation 5 years ago. However now you need to also factor in NEXT Gen/ADS-B costs, as most used airplanes won't have that yet (assuming you want to go anywhere other than the middle of nowhere).

 

[wink]

Maybe, as a NFO, I was looking for something a bit different than some. I had most my civ pilot ratings before I went into the Navy as a NFO. But being a stick monkey was not all I wanted out of aviation, NAVAIR or otherwise. I always just wanted to be a part of aviation, as many aspects as possible, not just driving or even in the cockpit. So, I took a more global view. And the Navy didn't disappoint. The War Hoover was my first choice. I preferred the home port options, the fact I got a tailhook, and we had to qualify in two positions in the aircraft and routinely switched between them. Never instructed, but was a fleet tactics eval, JFAC/ATO guy, TACRON bubba, and staff air officer for a 4 star. All of that was close enough to aviation to suit me. I bought my first plane as a LTjg after saving money on cruise. My 1946 Luscombe cost $7500.00. It was a hoot taking squadron pilots flying in a plane that had to be hand propped and never talk on the radio while flying all over San Diego exploiting every nook and cranny of the Class B. Most couldn't believe I knew what I was doing.

To me, the airline career isn't so much about flying, but just a different experience. It has gotten old. If it weren't for my other aviation avocations, like law enforcement flying ( not a pilot, but tactical flight officer) instructing aviation merit badge to scouts, giving Young Eagle rides through EAA, being in the leadership of a Army Aviation Heritage Foundation Chapter operating a AH-1 (again, I am not piloting), soon to be restoring a UH-1B Huey Gunship, and owning two planes (1954 Cessna -170B and another 1946 Luscombe ), I would be wholly unsatisfied. For me, it takes more than having been a NFO or B 737 Capt to satisfy my aviation bug.

 

[Recovering LSO]

At the end of your commitment for flying for the Navy/Marines, do you think it was worth it?

What were some of the other career paths you considered?

What was the peak experience of your career?

Right now I am a premed who has a good shot of getting into med school. But I think I would always regret it if I didn't go for a pilot slot and try to fly for the military.

Also, see here. It looks like it's probably "dated," but maybe there's something in there for you.

 

[Swanee]

Another subset of sport aviation that is fairly inexpensive to get into is soaring. Being a member of a club is a common way to go about it. And if you eventually want to own your own airplane you're not worried about fuel costs or engine overhauls. Annuals generally cost next to nothing (last one for me was $100). I pay 45 bucks a month to be a member of a club, ~30bucks for a tow to 2.5K, and if the lift is decent I can stay up until I have to take a leak or get tired, or I complete my task. You can spend as little as 6-7K on an airworthy sailplane (or as much as 200K+ for some of the really high performance open class sailplanes out there).

Soaring is flying for the sake of flying. You don't go somewhere to get a hamburger and come back. You go CCX because it's challenging, and it's fun. It's fun to run 100' off of a ridge close to VNE, it's fun to ride wave lift up to the flight levels, it's fun to bounce from thermal to thermal, and traveling 200 miles without a motor.

 

[Pags]

Another subset of sport aviation that is fairly inexpensive to get into is soaring. Being a member of a club is a common way to go about it. And if you eventually want to own your own airplane you're not worried about fuel costs or engine overhauls. Annuals generally cost next to nothing (last one for me was $100). I pay 45 bucks a month to be a member of a club, ~30bucks for a tow to 2.5K, and if the lift is decent I can stay up until I have to take a leak or get tired, or I complete my task. You can spend as little as 6-7K on an airworthy sailplane (or as much as 200K+ for some of the really high performance open class sailplanes out there).

Soaring is flying for the sake of flying. You don't go somewhere to get a hamburger and come back. You go CCX because it's challenging, and it's fun. It's fun to run 100' off of a ridge close to VNE, it's fun to ride wave lift up to the flight levels, it's fun to bounce from thermal to thermal, and traveling 200 miles without a motor.

I'd love to get into soaring. A buddy of mine's uncle is big into high performance soaring and he keeps saying he's going to bring me to a major soaring event in NH but our skeds haven't lined up yet.

I think a lot of the soaring in the DC area is out west so I might have to wait for the kids to be older so there's more time in my schedule that's not taken up by soccer games, etc.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Cost isn't too bad:
Plane cost ~$30,00o (although my plane was built right after the "Big War" which tends raise eyebrows to those new to aviation).
Maintenance/annual inspection ~$1,000 (assuming nothing major is broken, first annual was $3,700 since I replaced the hard fuel lines).
Insurance ~$700 a year (tailwheels are expensive).
My last hanger was $2000 a year.
Fuel cost per hour is $30.

Getting the family to adopt aviation as the family hobby is still pretty essential.

What kind of taildragger?

 

[croakerfish]

I never was clear on why we called Evergreen, Evergreen, since it's labeled on the chart as Middleton. But so goes the mysteries of flight school.

Because it's in Evergreen AL.

 

[Gatordev]

Because it's in Evergreen AL.

I get that, but the airfield is called Middleton. By that same logic, we should call NSE "Milton Field." I was also being a bit sarcastic.

I'm sure the real reason is because back in the day, when the area wasn't nearly as populated, everyone just went off the water towers/towns, and once we do stuff one way, it's hard to change...unless the airplane needs 9,000' of runway to do a touch and go. (Again, sarcasm).

 

[landthief]

Cool responses, especially enjoy hearing about all of the 'peak experiences.'

 

[Tiltedsky]

What kind of taildragger?

'46 Cessna 140. I bought it from an estate sale for $11,500 but the last annual was from ~1963... so it was a project. Installed new interior, rebuilt engine, new radio (came with a 320 channel VHF and a MDF), and other odds and ends to get to the final $30k price tag. Coming up on 1000 TT for the airframe.

 

[wink]

Only 1000 TT time for a '46. Nice. My '54 170B has just over 3400 and my '46 Luscombe close to 4000 TT, but with a total restoration 150 hrs ago.

 

[jtmedli]

Yuck. I just haven't seen this, but don't doubt it's out there. The one specific case I did see was easily quashed by JOPA (and as it turns out, but other contempories through "his" career). Within NAVAIR, I just have hard time imagining JOPA letting that stand. I lived through some painful times, but I guess I was lucky that at least that wasn't a reality.

Ive seen it amongst the DHs too. One DH tells us to log something a certain way as OIC and them makes fun of another DH right in front of the CO for saying the same thing when the second DH was OIC. I think it's more pertinent these days because of O4 board selections and flying orders being less prevalent (or seemingly so). Personally, I never saw the point. I've always kinda been the "shut up and do my job" kind of guy and it's worked out for me so far. I guess when that stops working for me is when I'll be ready to move on to the 'show' or whatever else awaits me.

 

[jtmedli]

Any number of former aviators leave after serving their country and go on to get professional degrees to include law and medicine. If you get out at ~35 after your initial commitment that still gives you 30yrs until retirement; which is plenty of time to have a meaningful law or medical career.

...Along with having some cool stories to tell the kids about. Of course, by then it'll probably sound something like "back when I was in, you know when people actually flew the aircraft,...."

 

[Gatordev]

Ive seen it amongst the DHs too. One DH tells us to log something a certain way as OIC and them makes fun of another DH right in front of the CO for saying the same thing when the second DH was OIC. I think it's more pertinent these days because of O4 board selections and flying orders being less prevalent (or seemingly so). Personally, I never saw the point. I've always kinda been the "shut up and do my job" kind of guy and it's worked out for me so far. I guess when that stops working for me is when I'll be ready to move on to the 'show' or whatever else awaits me.

There will always be DH shenanigans. When I was JO, there was no selection board and if you had a pulse, you got the job. Obviously that caused it's own problems, but there was in-fighting then, too, because there were just so damn many of them and some wanted to be noticed by the man while others were noticed by the man by just doing their job well.