Why become a pilot?

#1 An Incredible Sense Of Accomplishment

It takes a lot of hard work to earn your wings. Students begin with challenging flight lessons, and hours of study before being subjected to oral, written, and practical exams. Not everyone is cut out to be a pilot, but there are few achievements that are as satisfying as earning your wings.

#2 Getting A Pilot’s License Has Never Been Easier

In recent years, the Federal Aviation Administration has created a new type of pilot certification called a Sport Pilot’s license. While still offering a challenge, flight students can earn this certificate in half the time and expense of a traditional Private Pilot’s license. Once earned, holders of a Sport Pilot’s license are limited to smaller aircraft that can seat only the pilot and a single passenger. Other limitations include speed and altitude restrictions and a prohibition against flying at night or in clouds. Nevertheless, Sport Pilots can enjoy spectacular flights in clear weather at speeds of up to 140 miles per hour.

#3 Lifelong Adventure

Walk into a hangar some day and find that klatch of old pilots chatting among themselves. Ask if any of them ever regretted taking up flying. They’ll look at you like you just confessed to being sorry you won the lottery.

Then they’ll bend your ear for hours, if you let them, about all the adventures. You can have them, too. Incredible places. Sights unbelievable. Hair-raising badventures (you’ll love telling your grandchildren about those!). But you’ll need to bear one thing in mind: pilots are like fishermen. The older the story, the better it gets.

#4 FlightSeeing

Have you ever flown over the Grand Canyon or seen your house from the sky? When you have a pilot’s license, taking to the air becomes far more than just a means to reach your destination. See whales jumping out of the ocean, herds of elk running across a mountain range, fly over several major cities just for the fun of it.

#5 Efficient Transportation

If you need to fly from New York to Los Angeles, you are better off traveling with the airlines. However, if you need to fly from Albany, New York to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there is no other form of transportation that is as fast and convenient as a private aircraft as there are no non-stop commercial flights between those two cities. Traveling to one of the thousands of small airports that aren’t even served by the airlines is even more efficient than flying into a far away airport and driving the remaining distance.

#6 Impress Your Friends And Family

While it is not recommended to become a pilot strictly to enhance your social stature, there is no denying the fact that people look up to pilots. Most people have never flown in a private aircraft, and they will recognize your achievement and be thrilled to join you in the skies.

#7 Finally Use All Of Your High School Math And Science

It was never any fun to solve hypothetical problems about how far a car can drive at a given speed with a certain amount of fuel. Being a pilot requires you to actually use these skills in real world applications; calculate how far your aircraft can fly and how much fuel it will consume. The problems are no longer theoretical when you are about to add fuel before undertaking a cross country flight. Other dormant skills that pilots must use involve physics, weather, and geography.

#8 Gain Critical Skills That Are Useful In Other Areas Of Life

The key factor in safe flying has always been the judgement of the pilot. Learning how to fly is as much about making critical decisions as it is about operating the controls. Over time, pilots realize they are able to apply this new way of thinking to other activities in their life.

#9 The Pure Experience Of Flight

One can make all sorts of logical arguments about the benefits, convenience, and advantages of becoming a pilot. These facts are important, but you can’t overlook the intangible feeling you get when you are at the controls of the airplane. It is noisy, yet peaceful, serious, yet fun, and there are always new challenges and experiences. At the same time, there are numerous ways to convince yourself that flying is not for you. It is expensive, time consuming, and far more dangerous than staying at home and watching television. We only get one shot at living life to its fullest, and becoming a pilot is a necessary pursuit for all those who have ever dreamed of it.

#10 You become a member of an exclusive fraternity

Surely you’ve heard of Wilber and Orville. How about Eddie Rickenbacker? (If not, it’s time for some homework.) Does the name Charles Lindbergh ring a bell? How about Amelia Earhart, Chuck Yeager, Jimmy Doolittle, John Glenn, Alan Shephard, Neil Armstrong, just to name a few. And the latest in a list of famous pilots: C. B. Sullenberger.

You can join the ranks of these men and women who made a difference in history. Only about .2% of the American population holds a pilot’s license. As a pilot, you can be one of them.