Same here polly, I lost two good friends at the Bowland Forest Gliding club, both flew with me and were intrumental in me going solo in a K13, my first solo with no engine, scary as !! They were killed flying a "powered" sailplane of all things. :@( a very sad time.

It really doesn't have to be 'that' expensive and once you get your PPL you can rent an air craft for $65 an hour, but you've got to put your own fuel in. A 'good' golf course would probably cost more. I did it in France, so it was considerably cheaper....but...it's FUN...I am more scared of any winter sport than I am of anything avionic!

Hah. I'd LOVE to pay 65 an hour for a rental!

Not sure what you'd get for $65 an hour dry here. Local flying club is $135 wet plus tax, which is below cost. Mine cost more then $65 an hour to operate dry with engine reserve, maintenance, hangerage, insurance and SONA.

Zoe, go to Kijiji in Toronto, there is a nice looking Cesna 150 on there for $60 an hour dry and we have seen a couple of 4 place aircraft too for very little more. If you have a problem pm me and I will get my husband on it.

Local flights schools here are about $120/hour wet, there is a flying club with 2 planes and it is slightly cheaper but not $65 if I remember right it's about $80.

It is never cheap but it doesn't always have to be out of people's price range.

Lots of people need to keep their crafts running...get on the phone and discuss this...I'd be highly surprised if you couldn't get this for a reasonable rate. Please do let me know if you have a problem.

A 150 has a burn rate of about 6.5GPH if I remember correctly. Fuel price before the oil price drop was $2 litre for 100LL and will be again soon. So that would add around $50 and hour for fuel. So you would still be looking at $110 an hour (plus tax from a commercial operator) all in.

A 172 or warrior is around 10gph (can achieve 8 with good leaning practice), so this would cost around $75 for fuel, plus rental cost of $80-90, $155+ per hour wet.

Mind, a 150 is a tight squeeze and somewhat lack lustre performance for cross country with any weight.

Buying block time can bring the cost down a bit.

Either way, it does not take long to rack up a $500 bill with a decent cross country.

Any pilot who wants to keep flying 'cheap', rent, don't buy your own aircraft! I just had a strobe pack up, little flashing light on the wing tip, cost $1500 to finally figure what the problem was.

Any one on this thread watching "Airshow" Mon nights. It's a great programme IMO. 10:00pm Discovery Channel

Have you considdered taking up soaring/gliding? No engine to worry about, no noise, and you can do chappelles and eights and lots more....

It's probably as close as u can get to flying like a bird, closest has got to be paragliding as I actually did follow and fly with the birds, they have a much better idea as to where the lift is.

The hardest part of flying a sailplane is landing. U get one chance only, no go around !!

Also the Red Bull Air Race which I get through a Red Bull App on my Apple TV. Excellent viewing. "Smoke On!"

One of the Red Bull AR guys was on last night. Broke his leg parachuting and unable to fly. And the video of Dave flying loops around his sponsors own private plane lol

It's a well put together programme.

Thru that. But you can land in a farmer's field if need be.....

I used to thermal with the birds in a sailplane near the coast in the Netherlands and that at or below 1500ft (Controlled airspace above that), that was awesome. Miss that a lot....

That isn't very high. How far can one glide from such a height without benefitting from another thermal?