Life Updates:

- I was offered a new job opportunity a couple of weeks ago, which I accepted. This is a full-time work from home opportunity, which is going to allow me to live in Alaska for as long as I want. Previously, I had to worry about getting moved all of the time, I was very fortunate my company allowed me to stay in Alaska for as long as they did. Because I'm now going to be able to stay in Alaska, my fiancée and I have decided we're going to look at buying or building a home, hopefully in Homer, AK, after our wedding this coming October. We're super excited to move out of Anchorage.

- I've decided to sell the PA-12. My mission is changing. After doing some serious thinking, I decided that if we were going to be moving down to Homer, then I wanted to have a bigger airplane. The rest of my family still lives in the southeastern states, so when they fly up to AK to visit, I'd like to be able to fly down to Anchorage to pick them and their luggage up in my airplane and fly them back to Homer. Obviously, this isn't something I can do in one trip in the PA-12, so I will be in the market for a Cessna 180 or something similar. This will also allow us some room for expanding our family in the future. I'm thinking this purchase will be 2-3+ years out though unfortunately. I knew saving for the extra cash to buy a 180 wasn't going to be easy while paying for all of the expenses to maintain, insure, and fly the PA-12. I got a steal of a deal when I bought my -12 and I have a feeling the market is probably peaking or maybe even on it's way down right now, so I had a hunch that if I wanted to get top dollar then I needed to let it go sooner rather than later. After less than a week of having the airplane posted for sale, I received an offer which I accepted. Sucks to let it go for such reasons, but I think it was the best long term decision for me.

- The housing market here is pretty crap right now, not many things for sale. If we can't land on something in the next 6 months, we may decide to look elsewhere in AK for a hangar home. If that's the case and we're around an hour or so drive from Anchorage, then I will probably be looking to purchase an SQ2 kit to build instead. The timeline on that would probably be within 12-24 months.

- Even though I only owned the -12 for less than a year, it's been an amazing experience. I put nearly 200 hours on the plane, exploring all over AK. I'll have memories that will last me a lifetime. I officially became a backcountry pilot. I landed in some pretty epic places and felt that I vastly improved my piloting skills.

This last week, I realized that I hadn't flown my fiancée to the Picnic Table strip yet. So we took one last flight, headed over there, and landed at the Picnic Table Strip. We walked over to the glacier and watched it for a couple of hours. I told her about how when I first moved up to Alaska in 2017, I started watching a bunch of Alaska aviation videos on Youtube and such. I'd look at those videos of people landing at the Picnic Table Strip and just thought to myself, "dang I really want to do that". Seemed like such a distant dream though, as a practically broke 22 year old fresh out of college. Having received my PPL in 2018, flying rented 172s after work, I knew I needed to get a backcountry plane in order to get me to the Picnic table strip. Fast forward to 2019, I almost purchased a Taylorcraft BC-12D and then the owner/instructor nosed it over on a gravel bar my first time ever in the airplane. Fast forward to late October 2021, having not flown since the 2019 incident, I decided to get my tailwheel endorsement in a rented Citabria because I wanted to get back on course for achieving my dreams. A week later, I had the endorsement and a biennial flight review. A couple of days after, the PA-12 practically landed in my lap, I officially flew it for the first time on November 3rd, 2021. After practicing diligently during the winter, when Spring arrived, I was ready to explore. On April 2nd, 2022 I landed on the Picnic Table Strip for the first time. I was then amongst those whom I wanted to be. I know I'm someone who my 22 year old self would be proud of, someone whom he'd look up to. I hope there's someone else out there reading this who wishes to have such experiences, but maybe sees it as a distant dream...who can look at my experience and have some sort of realization that it's obtainable and maybe not so distant.

- There's no telling when the next time I'll fly is. Thinking about potentially getting my Instrument rating and Commercial license during my down time, but I don't want to start that until after things settle down from moving, the wedding, starting my new job. Then there's also the point that spending the cash for such training will inevitably delay my savings for a future airplane purchase. So I don't know. All I know is that I sure am going to miss flying the Knik in the meantime. =/ I had so much fun back there. I'm thrilled to have had the experience though.

- Lots of things happening right now, but I think I'm handling it pretty well. Taking it one thing at a time.

Short walk from the Picnic Table Strip to the toe of the Knik Glacier. Here's a couple of pics from our last trip out:

Funny how your mission changes the minute you start flying a plane you own, eh? Too bad they aren't making anymore 180s, cause those things cost a small fortune. I'd seriously look at a '56 182 to lower the acquisitioncost. Those birds have the same legs as a 180 with decent prop clearance for most flying needs and comparable useful. Heck, it's the identical frame where they added a piece to attach the tri-gear. Nose fork change will give you 95% of everything the 180 could.

OOoooooooooo! Imagine a great GIF of some dude rubbing his hands together with glee.

These kinds of life decisions are where it really starts to get interesting. Hopefully you've paid attention to my utter failure at handling lofty dreams from my other thread. I sold my perfectly fine Cessna 170B right before buying my first house. I'm still trying to get back to the simplicity of single ownership of a flying airplane.

Locking down a good home thats not a money pit is the best financial anchor you can have (well, market considerations notwithstanding.) My wife has only ever seen the airplanes as something that makes me happy, which she supports, but they are not, in her view, fundamental to life like a nice home. I'm still working on satisfying both those things.

Make a plan, stick to the plan. Homer area is nice. I call it the "Santa Barbara" of Alaska. You packed in a lot of good flying this year and that hopefully can sustain you for a while.

Edit: Found one.

Zzz wrote:These kinds of life decisions are where it really starts to get interesting. Hopefully you've paid attention to my utter failure at handling lofty dreams from my other thread. I sold my perfectly fine Cessna 170B right before buying my first house. I'm still trying to get back to the simplicity of single ownership of a flying airplane.

Locking down a good home thats not a money pit is the best financial anchor you can have (well, market considerations notwithstanding.) My wife has only ever seen the airplanes as something that makes me happy, which she supports, but they are not, in her view, fundamental to life like a nice home. I'm still working on satisfying both those things.

Make a plan, stick to the plan. Homer area is nice. I call it the "Santa Barbara" of Alaska. You packed in a lot of good flying this year and that hopefully can sustain you for a while.

Yesss, I've taken notes. I will be sure to stay away from money pit homes, I could see that being a nightmare. I'll get her a home she'll be happy with for a long time in and that I won't have to work on or keep blindly throwing money at. Afterwards, the logical and obvious next step would be to buy her a nicer airplane to go with the home. Gotta get her something bush fancy to fly her around in.

A young man with a real life plan. How refreshing in this crazy time we live in......

Buying a house/home that needs fix'n, is good way to make some money. As long as the house has "Good Bones", meaning good location, layout, land and basic structure, but needs TLC. But, you need to do most all the work yourself on the "Fix-Up" or remodel. If you have to hire outside labor for the "Fix-Up" then you come to the sale with a little profit. Plus, you gain 5-6% on inflation (maybe more) per year. Did I say the profit it is "Tax Free" or deferred ? Structured correctly it is "Tax Free"...well almost...!! I've been self-employed in the real estate management development business for 50+ years (I'm 81) I've walked away from sale closings, with a "!/4 of a Elephant" of profit in the brief case, Woo-Hoo..!! Long term, real estate is good value. Anyone on this list every sold a piece of RE for less than you paid for it? Or what was your percentage of profit for a RE sale, 20-30-40%? Plus, you had a place to live, be sure to compute that value in the sale. Dave B

Sound like exciting plans! Good luck with it all!

It can be very difficult to go from flying to not flying. It can be easy to let the flying dreams fade away when more practical matters consume limited resources. I recommend roughing in a few detailed “flying life” scenarios that may satisfy you, and making it clear to your self and your fiancé that you fully intend to return to it sooner or later, even if you end up in less than your ideal ride. No shame in flying the bush in a Champ or a tri-pacer if it fits the budget.

Renting airplanes for ratings will set you back, but ratings are valuable and are a path to flying for compensation.

Good thoughts on the airplane market softening though. For the last couple of years, there were VERY few 180s that made it to the market, or stayed there a full day. Now there are a handful of offerings, most attempting to exploit the top dollar period before supply and demand equalize.

Also good thoughts on getting in to a home before buying an expensive airplane. It can be challenging to maintain these priorities when realizing that you can’t fly a house, but you can sleep in an airplane.

ColoMtnMan wrote: As long as the house has "Good Bones", meaning good location, layout, land and basic structure, but needs TLC.

Location and layout/usefulness of the lot are #1. I bitch a lot about my crappy little houses I've owned, but what they have both had in common is a great location and a level lot. And they were on or very near to lakes. These are things you can't change and it's what starry-eyed buyers will value someday. You can fix up a house or build a new one but you can't really improve your basic lot characteristics.

ColoMtnMan wrote:Buying a house/home that needs fix'n, is good way to make some money. As long as the house has "Good Bones", meaning good location, layout, land and basic structure, but needs TLC. But, you need to do most all the work yourself on the "Fix-Up" or remodel. If you have to hire outside labor for the "Fix-Up" then you come to the sale with a little profit.......

Therein lies the problem.
A lot of people start home improvement projects, then get bogged down before successfully completing them.
Kind of like what happens with a lot of airplane building or restoration projects.
"More/ better" syndrome has impacted a lot of people.
Remember the guy on here who wanted to restore his grandpa's 185?
For a lot of people (maybe most),
it's probably best to just buy the nicest silk purse(house or airplane) you can afford,
instead of sinking a lot of time and money into a pig's ear.
That may or may not ever get finished.

Good luck with your plans, real estate has been the only way I have ever made any $$, buying junk and working it. Junk in a desirable location.

But flying is fun, and I wish I had started younger (like my dad tried to tell me). I wasted my life skiing, climbing and sailing. Owning real estate (that I mostly did not live in) allowed me a re-entry in middle age.

But you have a great start on the flying, don't let it be too long.....

YMMV. Advise is worth what you pay for it.

If you have the skills you can do really well buying homes and fixing them up over time.

hotrod180 wrote:For a lot of people (maybe most),
it's probably best to just buy the nicest silk purse(house or airplane) you can afford,
instead of sinking a lot of time and money into a pig's ear.

Screw that. Ride the lightning, buy the pig's ear.

My technique was to get the house and airplane before the wife. Lots of women out there, not too many 185s.

CompSciAndFly wrote:Life Updates:

... I will be in the market for a Cessna 180 or something similar. This will also allow us some room for expanding our family in the future.

I love this, that the airplane is what determines family size. Priorities!

Great update. I'm mostly a lurker here and can identify with a lot of what you've written. Though I'm about 20 years later than you are in life, it seems like we both had similar revelations when we did that first landing at a remote strip. I'm hoping that the aircraft market is starting to come down and I'd LOVE to own my own plane someday (likely a 182) but for now I'm happy to have access to two well-maintained 180/172s in my club.

Good luck and keep us all posted!