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Comment by tw04 | Hacker News Reader

Honestly: at least in my circle there is an oddly massive cross section of tech workers who have private pilot's licenses. In my relatively small circle (less than 200 people) of close friends/acquaintances, 25% of the tech workers have a private's pilot's license and 0 of the non-tech folks.

Maybe it's truly just my circle but I always found it odd/amusing that such a high percentage had or were going for their pilot's license. Maybe the same personality trait that pushed them to tech pushes them to want to fly themselves. And/or it's just a matter of having more expendable money and free time than the average joe.

Either way I think it's less HN and more the profession.

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I think it’s because we all played MS Flight Simulator as kids

(Disclaimer: I don’t have a PFL, but my boss does… and his own Cessna)

That was me. Played FS2, F/A-18 Hornet, Falcon 3.0, tons of others. Always wanted to fly. Finally grew up, made some money, and got a lesson. Turns out I'm terrified of small planes. Then I learned they're roughly as dangerous as motorcycles for a given distance traveled (about 10x the risk of an auto) and gave up the dream for good.

Ha. I did exactly the same thing. Took a lesson, was terrified the entire time. I like flying in the bigger stuff but a cessna seems like somebody has thrown a volkswagen beetle into the air. Every time that thing dropped a metre due to turbulence i was glad i went to the toilet beforehand.

> Volkswagen Beetle

Not a bad comparison actually. Between the airframe design era, air-cooling etc it's pretty apt.

Fwiw I think the overlap is also because the tech thing. Flying airplanes is a pretty technical hobby so it makes sense it appeals to people like us tech workers

Wow, exactly my experience.

*EDIT: PPL, not PFL. HN won’t let me edit my post.

I think flying is especially attractive to people in tech because it is cognitively demanding (flight planning, comms, instrument work) but also requires a lot of physical coordination and prediction (landing, stall recovery, maneuvers) that working in front of a computer doesn’t help you develop.

It also requires you to develop a certain level of personal responsibility and good decision making to fly safely. This positively impacts the management of a team/company.

It’s also one of the few things that lets me entirely unwind from other things going on and focus only on flying (technically and enjoying it).

Flying is fairly expensive, no?

Depends - here in Europe you can jojn the local "aeroclub", pay a reasonable yearly fee, perform various work alignments from the club (airport and aircraft maintenance, manning the advisory radio service on the tower, etc.) and then you can fly the clubs gliders at first come first served basis (after appropriate training of course).

This way even university students can fly (gliders) without being rich & quite a few of my friends did.

Also, not really a problem with leaded fuel in most gliders. ;-)

(The towing aircraft or the winch might be a different matter.)

Yeah flying clubs and/or experimental aircraft are the way to go, cost wise. There are some complications for learning to fly that way, but it can be much cheaper. We estimate the hourly cost of operation for our Sonex (https://www.sonexaircraft.com/) is $35/h.

tl;dr: private license is gonna run you about $10k. Instrument add-on another $10k (for flying in less than fair weather, it's basically required).

You don't have to own an airplane, the above presume renting one ($150 to $200 per hour depending on the particulars).

Definitely closer to $15k for VFR alone in the Seattle area. Doing this right now at Boeing Field.

Cessna 172 with G1000 avionics rental rate is 185/hour wet (with fuel) if you pay for a membership program at the flight school. Otherwise ~200/hour.

For rentals you pay for engine time only. There are usually minimums per day if you wanted to rent a plane for a weekend trip or something like that.

Flying Seattle to Orcas Island is a fun little trip.

Way better than my rate at bfi, which fbo?

G1000 is overkill for PPL, though. Admittedly I did mine in 2011 so it's been awhile, but I was paying $145 an hour then plus $60 for the CFI, so around $200 per hour all in.

Considering you can do 10 hours sim time toward the minimums, I don't think $10k is impossible? But ancillary stuff will probably get you to $11k or $12k admittedly. In my case I did the American Flyers weekend ground school for the written test and they gave you a few hours of sim time included with the course cost.

It's overkill but it's more easy to fly with. No periodic adjustment of the gyros etc. I also find it much easier to view everything in one go.

Our non-G1000 has autopilot and the G1000 doesn't (it's an expensive option) but I still prefer the G1000.

No doubt safer for IFR purposes. I have a little time in a G1000 but a lot more with aftermarket Aspen panels, I put them in my own airplane back in 2014.

I had no problem taking off into a fog with 3D terrain in the panel. On old mechanical gauges with nothing but a beep telling me about the mountain? .... not so much....

Then again, I also live in North-Central Texas. Every black spot on the ground that you can't see at night is a cow pasture devoid of trees, land in whichever one you like with your dead engine and your odds are pretty good.

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