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You worked hard, paid a lot of money and earned your pilot’s license. Congratulations! Now what do you do? It’s a question that comes up more often than most pilots care to admit. Sure, you’ll want to take friends and family up for a ride, but once you’ve done that a few times, you may find yourself looking for new missions.
The good news is that your flying adventures are limited only by your imagination (and to a certain extent, your budget). When you think about it, this is probably one of the main reasons you learned to fly—the unbelievable freedom and possibilities that come with the title “pilot in command.”
Everyone’s dream list will vary, but let me suggest 11 things that every pilot should do with their license. Call it a bucket list if you want, but I consider it a flight plan for a fulfilling life in the cockpit:
1. $100 hamburger flight. Why do greasy hamburgers taste better when you’re at an airport restaurant? Because you’ve accomplished an actual mission and you’re probably with a group of pilots. This social element to flying is often the fuel that keeps the fire burning. These flights don’t have to be long, and can take you to a fine dining establishment (like fine French dining at Louisville’s Bowman Field), or to a simple diner (like the Corsair Cafe in Terre Haute). Either way, it’s a memorable meal.
Greasy hamburgers taste better when you’re at an airport restaurant.
2. Night flight over a city. The word “peaceful” is probably over-used in aviation, but a pleasure flight over a city on a clear night is exactly that. The thermals are gone, the wind is often calmer, traffic is lighter, and the twinkling lights below make it impossible to think about anything else.
A pleasure flight over a city on a clear night is a peaceful experience.
3. Fly a taildragger out of a grass strip. Everything may not have been better in the “good old days,” but this is one part that probably was—at least on a warm summer day with the window open. I can clearly remember a flight in a Piper Cub out of a farmer’s field that is among the most awe-inspiring 30 minutes of my life. So find an old airplane and a quiet strip and take a trip back in time.
Find an old airplane and a quiet strip and take a trip back in time.
4. Take a kid for his or her first flight. Whether it’s your own kids or a Young Eagles ride, showing a young person the wonder of flying will remind you how fortunate you are. Even if your passengers never become pilots, their perspective on flying and personal responsibility will be changed forever.
Showing a young person the wonder of flying will remind you how fortunate you are.
5. Go on a flying family vacation. As this website declares, “There is nothing as rewarding and satisfying as using an airplane to go places.” That’s especially true when you can take your family with you, and show them that all the time and money you spend on flying can pay off. It probably won’t be a flawless trip the first time, but that’s part of the fun. Plan a relaxed schedule that allows you to enjoy the flying as much as the beach.
There is nothing as rewarding and satisfying as using an airplane to go places.
6. Low and slow cross country in the Fall. Even if you’re not an outdoorsman, a 500 ft. flight across the changing colors of the seasons is breathtaking from the air. Do yourself a favor and turn off the GPS and radio–you’ll want to be looking outside anyway. Pick a winding river or a country road and simply follow wherever it leads. And don’t forget to take a camera.
A 500 ft. flight across the changing colors of the seasons is breathtaking from the air.
7. Fly an actual instrument flight. Even if you don’t earn an instrument rating, you owe it to yourself to fly a real approach in IMC (with a pilot who has the rating). Flying through featureless gray clouds for an hour and then seeing the runway lights appear in the windshield is a high that most drugs cannot match. It’s just about magic.
You owe it to yourself to fly a real approach in IMC.
8. Fly something different. Get outside your comfort zone and take a lesson in an aircraft you’ve never been in. Many pilots would argue that seaplane flying is about the most fun you can have in the air, and I agree. But other great options are gliders, helicopters or aerobatic airplanes. No matter what you fly, you’ll get a new perspective on flying and you might even discover a new passion.
Get outside your comfort zone and take a lesson in an aircraft you’ve never been in.
9. Go to the Bahamas or Mexico. While this may not be a short trip (depending on where you live), watching the turquoise waters of the Caribbean or Mexico slide under your wings is well worth it. It’s not as hard as you might think, and there are dozens of outstanding destinations that specifically cater to pilots. And since an airplane is the only way to get around many of these places, you’ll see things that most ground-bound people never will.
There are dozens of outstanding destinations in the Bahamas that specifically cater to pilots.
10. Oshkosh! Technically called EAA AirVenture, the world’s largest fly-in is one of the few events in modern life that is not over-hyped. You could easily spend the entire week at the show and never see it all. It’s an eclectic mix, too, at once old fashioned and thoroughly modern. You can see antique bi-wings in the morning and modern jet fighters in the afternoon. But the most impressive part of Oshkosh is the culture of hospitality–wildly different people come together as equals at Oshkosh and become friends simply because they love aviation. It’s impossible to describe adequately, so make plans to see it yourself.
Oshkosh, Wisconsin becomes the center of the aviation universe for one week a year.
11. Your answer. What would you add to this list? Something you’ve done already or hope to do some day?
- Pilot’s Bucket List: 11 Must-Do Adventures After Earning Your License - March 14, 2025
- Who is the pilot in command of your aircraft? - February 10, 2025
- The pros and the cons: Cirrus SR22 - January 13, 2025
Fly the Hudson River corridor.
I think flying on a river(maybe through New York/Manhattan)would be a thrill!
it is the NUMBER ONE flight after you get your ticket that everyone does.
good one!
Great article, it’s hard to suggest it could be added to, I don’t think the need to make a social interaction can be overstated. In my inquiry of pilots most find themselves solo 95%+ and this seems to me to be a bit of a travesty in that it cost nothing to share a second seat, nothing to loose everything to gain by sharing what has become a shrinking culture. The reasons are numerous but top on the list is expense. Something that cast you nothing more than an invitation seems to me to be the gift of a memory that endures.
As for the adventure of flying, the risk of flying low and slow is one of the most significant experiences I’ve had. Farmers in a field, truck drivers, bouncing earth moving equipment operators, or sharing the updrafts with hawks soaring all come to mind. It seems for the moment all observers stop and give pause as if for the moment they transform themselves vicariously taking a seat with you. These too are shared experiences even though you never met, a sense of knowing between you occurs.
Oh back to that farmer in the field; his curiosity turns to excitement if by chance you decide to land, the hospitality of a morning country breakfast complete with biscuits and gravy give me the pilot a sense of being family, how it must have been in the days of barnstormers. It beats the 100 dollar hamburger all to hell, and there is no way to plan it you just do it. Folks here in Texas are a friendly sort, I got invited to breakfast 3 different time and two of those had the traditional red plaid table cloth, so it’s more probable than you might think. Ultralight flying on a calm still morning is a freedom few will ever know, it’s not a flight plan, down low and slow you are transformed into an explorer, from the unnatural experience of flying into part of nature, and if you are friendly you are received in kind.
Do it, slow and low brings you to a whole new dimension of being in the air.
Richard Carey
PS
Soaring with hawks, he is friendly enough and is happy to show you where the updrafts are; a hawk will fly with you at surprisingly close quarters sometimes but his tolerance of your presence will only go so far, he will never let you come up on his six try as you might. It’s then that you remember the master of the sky you are not.
Yep … did that … northbound … just to the left of the Statue @1,500ft … up the Hudson … right turn at the Tappan Zee … over to White Plains. Glorious.
Fly to Alaska and Paris.
I was lucky to fly missions for the Civil Air Patrol.
Formation, emphasis on aerobatic tail chase and rejoins vs welded wing. Similar spirit as when you were 10 yrs old riding bikes with your friends, except you don’t need to make the sound effects.
…same caveats as IFR/aerobatics, appropriate equipment and either with someone qual’d or after getting qual. (look up FAST for more info).
Rich, We did this in T-38’s with student pilots and called it ‘extended trail’ where you would maneuver in a 30 degree ‘cone’ 1,000 feet behind the ‘leader’ as they did Cuban 8’s, Cloverleafs, etc. We also did ‘close trail’ where you were stacked slightly below and much closer than 1000′. Here is a video of that less aggressive maneuvering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef0Ss9SwUVc
Cool….
…yup. still doing that every time I can round up another “10 yr old” to go play…and as you know while it would be fun to do it again in Uncle Sam’s finest (with his gas card!), slow airplanes can also be fun because it’s all about working relative motion.
It’s relative motion in the fast planes as well, only at higher speeds! I used to tell my students that you’re always managing your ‘pursuit’ on the other guy, i.e. if you’re starting to ‘close’ on the other guy, you’d better ‘lag’ him a bit, and if he’s ‘pulling away’ from you, it’s time to pull some ‘lead’ on him.
Thx, Dale! Remembering!!I would post movies of my flights at 200’ and 500 kts at night in my F-111- but you wouldn’t see anything…..just as I didn’t either
Fly to a business meeting that would take 3 hours by car or 45 minutes in the plane!
Flying F-16’s out of MacDill AFB in Tampa Florida, we operated in several Military Operating Areas (MOAs) over the Gulf of America and there were several bucket list items one could check off while out there.
1. Accelerating in afterburner (A/B) to just under the Mach, and then doing an A/B climb and only stopping at 50,000 feet because you can’t go above that altitude without a pressure suit! It’s as close as one can get to being launched into space!
2. Dropping to 100′ above sea level and finding a sailboat on the waters below you, then going out a ways before turning around and making a high-speed (just below the Mach), afterburner pass to say ‘Hello!’ as you roar past and rock your wings to the folks on deck below you who are jumping up and down and waving at you!
Just stop it..it’s the Gulf of Mexico.
Not according to my map.
It’s a joke!
Land in 49 states and fly in the 50th.
The Grand Canyon, the painted desert, mountain flying.
My bucket list when I was only 7 Years old was fly Coast to coast & Border to border & beyond in my own airplane! Check!
Fly under Niagara Falls! Check! Fly under the Bridges crossing the Allegheny River from the point to 40th. Street! Check! Circle the Univ. of Pittsburgh building at mid point! Check!
BTW, I learned flying from a former Thunderbird Pilot!
Take a helicopter ride, on a date or see the sunset. Truly the Best!
One thing on my list is to enter in a flour bombing contest! It seems like it would be really challenging and fun. Maybe this year is the year…..
– Flying with a rated pilot in an acrobatic airplane
– Bay Area Tour- Over the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, Alcatraz & Downtown piers.
#11A – fly the VFR corridor along !-10 over downtown Houston west to east, finish at the San Jacinto Monument, then cruise down Galveston Bay.
#11B – volunteer for an air care flight, such as an angel flight, or Pilots n Paws. Few things are more personally rewarding in flying.
Volunteer with a local American Legion or VFW to do Honor Flights over veteran’s funeral services and on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Form a group of pilots to provide this service.
A memorable Bucket List mission: I was #2 in a 4-ship formation of A-10s flying out of Myrtle Beach AFB when we performed a fly-by of the Wright Brother’s National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills in NC on the 75th anniversary of that famous first flight! I was the low man in the formation (on the right wing of the flight lead) and spotted the Memorial with my peripheral vision as we passed overhead at maybe 200 feet! I sure wish I had a picture of checking off that ‘Bucket List’ item!
It was her 21st Birthday, 1st airplane ride and our 1st date. I flew her to Teterboro, NJ in a Cessna to see the NYC lights and have dinner. I guess I impressed her, we are about to celebrate our 54th anniversary together.
Fly coast to coast and fly over (and or visit) major national parks and geographical features enroute. Upon reaching California, land on Catalina Island.
I’ve done several of the previously suggested flights. I’ll add for anyone on the East Coast a visit to First Flight is in my mind a MUST.
I agree that a flight to FFA is important if you can do it. Also, KTGI (Tangier Island) lunch at Lorraine’s is a blast.
Fly to Brazil. It’s not as difficult and you might think, and flying over the Amazon is a real hoot. There is an impressive aviation culture in the Western part of Brazil, since roads are not good and ranchers depend on aircraft for supplies and personal transportation. The favored aircraft is the C206.
FlyCamp. Fly to a grass field, hike around or hang out, make some dinner, pitch tent under wing, fly back next morning.
Climb VFR to 17,500′ in the left front seat of my own airplane, enter the umbra of a total solar eclipse (over Alliance, NE in this case), and look out at the sunlit terrain 40 nm distant in all directions, while the earth is in darkness directly below.
Fly an animal rescue mission with Pilots N Paws or similar organization. SO rewarding!!
Absolutely. Have done this with my sister, mom and wife. Very good memories.
In addition to the things you suggest, I have also done the following:
Fly formation as a wingman
Fly formation as lead
Aerobatics
Become a CFI and help others to learn the joy of flight
Circumnavigate the Earth
Fly in an airlift
Fly a glider
Fly a helicopter
Fly an open-cockpit biplane
The list can be endless.
Great article John, it got us all thinking! Like others have commented, I’d add for consideration a basic aerobatics lesson – I found it a great confidence booster.
My most memorable flight so far was a solo long cross country from my home airport (CYAV) to KFFZ in Mesa, AZ. Border crossing, south through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Texas, then west over the mountains through New Mexico and in Mesa. The scenery was stunning, and the sense of reward after so much flight planning was fantastic. 1300 miles each way. Looking forward to another long trip!
Land off-airport somewhere. I’ve landed on dry lakebeds, on the beach, and on alpine meadows. It is important to know your LZ well before touching down in a plane. If possible, walk the proposed LZ before attempting a landing. At a minimum, talk to another pilot who has landed there recently. Once this bucket list item is checked off, you can claim to have experienced the real freedom that aviation promises.
Fly into the lakeside airports. Miggs (unfortunately gone but did it shortly before it closed), Burke Lakefront-KBKL, Toronto City-CYTZ. Also Love landing at Key West-KEYW
Two more:
1. Volunteer to fly for Angel Flight or Lifeline Pilots and then help some wonderful folks who really appreciate your efforts. Not only are you helping people, but you get to fly while doing it. (And you can write off your expenses at tax time.) Plus, you’ll likely visit airports you never would have otherwise.
2. Use it for business trips. Efficient, enjoyable, and it’s a great conversation starter at any meeting. I’m based at UGN, north of Chicago, and frequently flew to meetings in the Loop when Meigs was available. Everyone else arrives frazzled by traffic, and you’re relaxed and smiling.
Agreed. My Lifeline Pilots flights are among my favorite flying memories. Whether it was reuniting a family after Katrina or flying a kid from Paducah, KY, to Iowa City for medical treatment, it was always rewarding.
Business flights can be quite productive. We had a satellite office in Northfield, MN, and it was easy to there from MDW and back in a day.
I’ve hit all of those except Oshkosh…way too many people for me. I quit doing long lines when I got out of the Army. Somebody beat me to this one, but I strongly recommend doing an “Angel Flight” – type mission. I would also add a trip up the Alaska Highway. The people you’ll meet and the scenery you’ll see make the effort well worth it. Plan plenty of extra time to deal with the inevitable WX delays.
I would like to fly the Mississippi River from the mouth to were it starts.
Get a seaplane rating! Coming up next.
So many good additions here in the comments – thank you! I had to limit myself to 10 or I would have written all day, but there are obviously as many ideas as there are pilots. My main takeaway from this article is to encourage pilots to go do that bucket list flight and not get stuck in a rut. Just beyond your comfort zone is where you find the best experiences.
I was taking flying lessons at a Unicom airport in college and enjoying hanging out after my flight. I was approached by a man leading a wobbly boxer(dog) who had just been released from a nearby vet hospital. He needed someone to attend to the dog while he flew back home about an hour away. I agreed and crawled into the back seat of his C-172 with the dog on my lap. Shortly after takeoff the pooch was snoring and slipped off onto the floor quite content. Turns out my pilot was a newbie with only ~15 hours since getting his certificate. We had a sporty landing with gusty winds and he decided that was it for flying that day. We hopped on his motorcycle and I enjoyed the wind in my hair and bugs in my teeth halfway across Washington state. Does that count for an airplane bucket list?
I’m 76. Retired from USAF. Fired from a major airline because I got too old…:-) (No, I did NOT voluntarily retire, if you know what I mean..). But got requaled and took all of my grandkids up for most of their first flights. THAT was pretty cool !
I had the good fortune to undertake a couple of Ground Controlled Approaches (GCA) just before it was shut down and the operator wanted to do a couple before going on to something else. It was fun in a Cessna 182 in tropical air just to make it more difficult but they both came out well in the end. It was an experience that not many pilots of today would ever be able to do in the electronic age.
Experience the ice runway at Alton Bay in New Hampshire
Great article, John! I’d have to add “fly coast to coast” as a bucket list item. I’d done it in the sim many times over the years, often with pilotage or ded reckoning only, but I was finally able to do it a while back (NJ to CA and back) and would highly recommend it. Give yourself plenty of time and a flexible schedule. Fly into states you’ve never been to and be sure to visit small, sleepy towns. Tough to beat.
John: How did I get to do all of those items? And more? I have just stopped flying, I guess, now at age 88, under pressure from my Sweet Little Wife, my aircraft is sold and I stare at the sky every time I hear an airplane. But, starting at 16 years, I made Lt Col in the CAP, searched for downed pilots, taught cadets to fly, owned a great bunch of airplanes (including a Stinson and a Partenavia), flew in Europe, the mid-East, the UK, (and almost in Mongolia, but they were out of avgas!) and loved every moment! I worked on a NASA campus, went to The Cape, presented 14 programs at Oshkosh, and once, in Australia, found that the copilot of the 747 I was traveling in learned to fly at an airport I flew from in NJ. …Maybe I shouldn’t have sold my airplane….