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Comment by pdelbarba | Hacker News Reader

PPL ASEL will cost you about $8k (doable if you really want it) and a 172@$105/hr wet to travel around in at 110kts. Take two fearless friends and you have yourself a private airline.

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Whats the time commitment like? is it full time for 3 months or a couple hours every weekend for 6 months ?

It took me 13 months all told but I had a lot going on at the time. If your expenses are low you can do it in 8 months or so but that's unusual. Note that I say expenses and not income, it's usually best to pay as you go and not go into the red month to month.

That said, if you live somewhere with a convenient airport and a decent rental fleet (more places than you'd expect) it's highly liberating. I live near Denver and have gotten bored and flown to Canon city and surrounding areas for the day. Also, Pilots n Paws is awesome

Yeah, that isn't going to work very well for getting me from California to my family in New York.

Assuming you have no fear of death: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Long-EZ

Surprisingly economical too, 2000mi on ~$200 in fuel. Probably around $60k to build right now (depending on avionics)

Edit: 100LL (aviation gasoline) is around $4/gal right now, hence the $200 for 52gal

The best advice I've received while earning my PPL is: "fly for fun, not for transportation". When you add the stress of "I/we need to get to our destination on time", mistakes get made.

Yes and no. You can definitely travel with it, just make sure you continue your training (IR), plan carefully, and don't put yourself in a position where anything worse than some PTO usage will occur if you don't make it back on time. Also, start small and get used to FBO operations. Nothing like being stuck somewhere after hours

What do these acronyms mean? Google is not helping me.

Private Pilot's License? ASEL is a commercial pilot's license, apparently.

Nope: https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/media/priva... taloft explains it well. You can have a PPL or CPL (or ATP) in the ASEL, AMEL, ASES, AMES, etc.

Airplane, single-engine land. It's a rating added on to a pilot certificate, and says what kind af aircraft you may fly. The "land" part means an airplane that lands on the ground, which is different from "sea", for airplanes that can land on water.

Also, note that minimally you would need a commercial certificate to fly for hire. Even then, there are some restrictions on how you can do that. A private allows you to fly with friends, but you may not charge them. You can share expenses for the flight with friends, but need to be careful that it's legitimate sharing.

My comment was tongue in cheek but you can share expenses if you are traveling for a "common purpose" and not "holding out". In other words, fly with friends to somewhere you all want to go together. You basically just can't create an airplane Uber (naturally, people have tried).

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