I started a similar tread in AOPA forums "why private pilots fly so little" most said no money , no time and some its boring unless you are going somewhere.(The last one surprised me).

Got my PPL January of last year and have 360hrs now and still enjoy flying a lot.
I fly 3 or 4 times per week.
Photo shoot, training with CFII , pratice short field landings,360's 720,s emergencies, just plain sightseeing, go to beach for weekend.Taken a few people who never flown, one timeTook a very sick girl who never flown, participate in a search and rescue mission of a missing surfer.Fly people to their farms now and then.Meet my customers riding our Motorcycle tours, And try to know every runway in Costa RICA.

How often you guys fly?

At least once a week to keep the engine in good shape.

When the wx is nice but no trips 4-8 hours a week.

Did Mexico the first two weeks of March. 32 hours.

Just got back from Ut, Nv, Az, Co, Ca. 30 hours I flew 10 out of 11 days.

In 2009 I had 240 hours in 2010 230 hours.

Good day

Like having sex, as often as possible, every chance I get, but it has to be fairly safe conditions. Hmmm, this works for both activities! But I have to admit I fly more then anything else.....

Just like Courier Guy, When ever my wife says ok..... this winter was brutal only got about 180 hrs last year. never enuff

Not often enough. But when I review the amount of money I spend on it in a given month, it seems way too much.

Prob 5-10 hrs a month, which for me is an easy cost calculation of $550-$1100 based on the rental. Tough, because it's hard not to see that as cutting into my new airplane kitty.

I think currency is probably the most valuable safety item we can buy, but it does cost.

This last winter was my first full season spent on wheel skis. Work was slow, so I was ready to fly every chance I got, and I live at the "airport". I had two periods, one early, one late, in the winter where I could not fly for 6 weeks! It was either blowing 40+ mph and crosswind, snowing, foggy, or all of the above! I am limited a lot more, then a real airport, in my lousy little side of the mountain strip, in the conditions I can handle, but still that surprised me that the weather was that constraining for such a long period, twice. I always quit flying off my two different strips I've had in the last 30 years up here, didn't have skis for one thing, and figured it'd be too big a hassle and the weather is so crappy anyway why screw with it. I was right on both accounts, it can be crappy, but the skis and my ski ramp/repositioning of my hangar egress system (?) largely took the hassle out it, and I still managed to get 55 hours of ski flying in, way better then nothing! Otherwise I should get an additional 150 hrs in or so, so around 200 a year. Just about anything I else I could be doing is harmful to me or costs more so I don't begrudge the money spent, and I get the same exact same warm fuzzy feeling filling out my log book as I do when making a bank deposit, even though some may think it's a "waste" of money, go figure.

Twelve hours per week, plus any play time is extra.

Never enough.

I try to go at least once per week.

Too much is never enough. But I'm in Arizona without my plane. It will be three months without before I get the chance to fix that. Damn. But normal is about 100 hours per year. I'm purely flying for the fun of it. I mostly agree with the poster that said it is boring if you aren't going somewhere.

Next fall I'll fly my plane to Arizona and then the notion of somewhere to go will change dramatically. While I've flown to 80% of the airstrips in Oregon, the whole state of Arizona will be new places to go.

I can hardly wait.

tom

I find myself flying less and less just to fly than I used to. I've put 175 hours on my plane since it's first flight in Sept 09. I try and get out once a week to just go dink around for 30-45 mins. I have several other hobbies that eat up weekends but I get in a trip to a fly-in or open house at least once a month it seems. Even at 4.5 gallons per hour of pump gas it hurts the wallet these days though. I can't imagine you guys who are burning 10+ an hour. I'd say the lack of time is probably my biggest hinderance to flying. I don't even count my Military time as flying anymore. It's just not the same doing 3000NM legs at FL360. Hell with CPDLC we don't even have to give position reports anymore while crossing the pond. Want a FL change?? Send a text message..

I seem to average about 70-80 a year in my 170 and another 40 or so in the supercubs. hope to do more now that I have my own strip and soon a heated hangar, if all goes to plan.

Each year I fly out to the Northwest at the end of August for a couple of weeks of backcountry flying. This is my going somewhere flying. I do not need a

reason to get in the plane and fly the rest of the year, just doing it is reason enough. When the time comes I only want to fly when I have some place to go it's time

quit.

I do 3-5 flights a month .About 1 1/2-3 hours per flight ---- Last year about 170 hrs. in my airplane --mostly business & 2 trips north to Idaho/Oregon .Weight and Balance-Rigging and prop balance / prebuys /annuals etc. Another 80 hrs or so delivery's,test flights etc. for customers.

I don't think flying is boring if you don't have somewhere to go. During those times I like to go shoot a bunch of landings and see how short I can land, or how short I can get off the ground, do stop and goes in the least amount of space possible, try flying my approach at different speeds, different flap settings, tighter patterns, slips, slow flight, flying on the edge of the stall..... There are a lot of things you can do to keep the flying interesting, even if you don't have anywhere to go. Plus doing all those things will make you a way better pilot than just flying somewhere just to go somewere, IMO. I still love going new places whenever I can though too.

robw56 wrote:I don't think flying is boring if you don't have somewhere to go.

I agree. I really haven't done a long XC since I sold '60C, but I have been having a ball flying around the Portland area, dropping into strips and practicing takeoffs and landings, enjoying the varied approaches and departures at all the little strips our area has to offer.

There are elements of excitement that only a long XC can offer, like fuel planning, weather, unknown regions, etc, but that's just another deal altogether. It's all fun. When I feel like I'm running out of ideas, I take some dual, which is always a good idea anyway to let a 2nd pair of eyes sort of evaluate you. I personally, have a way of glossing over the areas that I need work on and magically "forgetting" what those were in the first place.

If you can't achieve quantity, you can still achieve quality. That's one reason I haven't been tripping in the Sport Cub. A straight line somewhere is expensive (in my current situation) without giving me the stuff I enjoy-- the practice that will make me a better non-standard approach shortfield tailwheel pilot.

The Portland/Vancouver area is an awesome place to fly there are so many places to fly within about a 25 mile radius, a lot of them are grass too.

The weather here has been just plan ROTTEN for the last 6 mos........sucks

With gas prices going up, I've cut back to no more than once every couple of weeks for a while. Gotta save up for flying season.

Oh such a sore spot. 200 hours a year for 5 years then marriage and ten acres, two houses a bridge and a crappy barn. Then, 250 hours a year for 2 years, on a bulldozer. Talk about low and slow. Many, many hours of construction. Now, the bridge and one house are rebuilt, the barn is gone and a new one is complete, the pasture is flat, lush and green. Averaging 25 hours a year in the air. Sold the Maule for a 206. The big wheel in the front hides my growing lack of proficiency. Hope this year the scales tip hugely the other way. Maybe I'll fly over her very nice property on occasion. The outcome is, up in the air. Little venting here. Thanks BCP's