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I have a confession to make. Over the last several months, I have committed several aviation sins. I once went on a flight without checking the weather. I recently departed without calculating my takeoff distance or obstacle clearance. On more than one occasion, I landed from a non–“stable approach,” being both below and above target approach speeds. I’ve flown non-standard traffic patterns. I’ve flown outside the glide range to the nearest airport. I’ve even flown without talking to ATC or filing a flight plan.
And there are many more “sins” I’m probably forgetting.
I call them sins because of the tone of many flying podcasts and articles I’ve come across. Maybe I haven’t found the right sources, but there’s just not much discussion about the fun of flying. Most of what I hear or read makes flying feel like a mechanical chore. I’ve even heard it described as a math problem to be solved.
Really? Is that the only way to view flying now?
The idea of heading to the airport, doing a thorough preflight, and going for the equivalent of a Sunday drive doesn’t seem to get much airtime. Personally, I’d like to be a proponent of flying just for the joy of it.
Every one of these “sins” occurred while flying a Cub, VFR, in the local area. My after-work therapy is to hop in the plane and fly around, soaking in the scenery. It’s cheaper—and more fun—than years of psychotherapy. My mission is nothing more than to enjoy the wonder and mystery of flight.
I’m an older guy, but I still love flying. I just enjoy droning along, watching the world pass under the wing. I’d fly every day if I could.
There’s a flight from my airport over Beaver Lake that I’ve done more times than I can count. In the Cub, it’s about an hour round trip from KASG to the Beaver Lake Dam and back. It’s my favorite way to relax after work. And no matter how many times I do that flight, there’s always something new to see.
Maybe my attitude toward these flights is wrong. Should I treat every VFR hop like I’m departing into low IMC with a 10,000-foot density altitude at max gross weight? Do I need to spend hours on ForeFlight before every local flight? Do I have to be within ±1 knot and ±10 feet on every approach?
Based on the podcasts and articles I consume, maybe I should. But viewing every flight as a math problem tends to keep your head inside the cockpit—and it drains some of the fun. Can’t flying sometimes be more like a blank canvas than a checklist?
I’m not arguing against safety, and I don’t want to provoke anyone. That’s not the point.
I fly cross-country often, and for those trips I plan thoroughly—weather analysis, performance calculations, forecasts for winds, icing, turbulence, the works. I fly pitch, power, and airspeed on instrument approaches. I do weight and balance calculations when appropriate.
But on a beautiful VFR day, is it OK to go for a flight to nowhere—and not feel like a substandard pilot?
I suppose it’s natural that so much of aviation content focuses on mechanics, systems, and career goals. But if that’s the only narrative, we risk losing our sense of wonder.
It’s only been a little more than 100 years since humans first flew. Has it really become so routine that the joy of flight has faded? I hope not.
Yet many friends of mine who fly corporate—and beyond—don’t enjoy GA flying anymore. Some don’t enjoy flying at all. Maybe if early flight training had included more emphasis on flying just for fun, there would be more joy left later in life.
If your flying has become nothing more than an equation to solve, I encourage you to try something different.
Find a simple airplane. If you need a CFI for currency, seek out an old salty instructor who just loves to fly. Head to the airport on a clear-and-a-million day. Do a solid preflight. Make sure you’re legal and safe—no TFR busts, plenty of fuel, and a sound airplane.
Then take off. Pick a direction. Go fly for a while. You might rediscover that sense of awe—and you might just have a little fun.
No post-flight confessions necessary.
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I too listen to many podcasts and YouTube videos that discuss flight safety, but I’ve never felt discouraged to take the joy out of flying as you have. You don’t necessarily HAVE to check take-off performance every flight, especially if you have a great deal of experience in type. But almost every accident I’ve heard/read about where take-off performance was a factor involved a pilot NOT checking performance, or doing it incorrectly. Of course you can recover and land safely from an unstable approach, but just about every landing accident I’ve heard/read about followed an unstable approach.
Having a great deal of experience in a particular aircraft allows a pilot to increase their personal minimums, but that doesn’t mean there are NO minimums. I suspect if you flew an unstable approach to the point you believed you were unable to make a safe landing you would go around. The point is you have enough experience to know how far outside the normal stable approach envelope you can go. Those who lack your experience have nothing on which to base such judgement; for them, following standard stable approach guidelines is the best way to avoid disaster.
Personally, I don’t view abiding recommended and/or personal minimums as limiting my joy of flying in any way. If anything, setting and sticking to minimums reduces the likelihood of an incident/accident and, therefore, stress. This makes flying even more fun for me, especially if I’m carrying passengers.
All good points Mark. No doubt, the podcast and articles base their discussions on what is happening out there. But, flying is much more than a math equation. I truly heard someone on a podcast say that you can turn flying into a mathematical problem to solve. You can fly well within a safety envelope, and still have a lot of fun. While I think 4 large people in a 172 on a hot summer day better run the numbers before they take off, one pilot in a super cub doesn’t need to be shamed if they didn’t check the exact DA. Does every 172 need to fly every approach to a 4 mile final to make sure the plane is on an exact glide path on an exact speed? Sometimes, you can turn off ForeFlight, the calculator, and just go fly. But, I agree, make sure you have the knowledge and ability to know when its appropriate.
I hear you: The romanticism of flying seems to have died somewhere between the latest crash “analysis” video or some new online ground school or rusty pilot program being offered (laudable programs no doubt, but usually devoid of THAT magic).
I think John’s article of “things you should do” after you get your ticket is a way to sorta bring some of that flying magic back. He probably should have added “flying within legal limits near non-convective clouds on a nice day” or something to that effect.
You are going to get a ton of folks that will remind you that most collisions happen in day VFR followed by some complacency talk with a sprinkle of 91.103 on top, ending probably with the sky is not yours and has a lot more flying contraptions in it these days than when you were a wee lad (these are all valid points I totally agree with too!).
The other point I would make to you is that there is fun in the rigor of flying – Martin Pauly has this thing about flying into Class Bravo airports on YouTube. Does that make a slick sense in his Bo? Not really (sorry Paul!). But I get it. It can be fun to fully exercise your privilege to the fullest and learn a few new things along the way.
Like everything in aviation, “it depends.” But I understand where your frustration is coming from at least.
Alexander,
All good points. I’m not saying you should never check weather, never talk to ATC, etc. But, I also don’t think you ALWAYS have to. I just don’t think you need to do a 5 hour brief on foreflight before every flight. But, that seems to be what’s preached. Also, I think if our goal is to turn flying into a “mathematical equation” to be solved, takes a lot of the fun out of flying. I spend a lot of time flight planning for both IFR and VFR Flights. I spend a lot of time talking to ATC on flights. I study weather for a week before a planned cross country flight. There will always a minimum of safety required for every flight. Pre-flight check, critical NOTAMs on Foreflight, and TFRs. But, beyond that there are days I just go to the airport, look at the sky, windsock, and I take off to see where the sites and sounds take me. And, in the end, I think that’s ok to do once in a while.
I think this was on Pilot’s Discretion if I’m not mistaken: When John interviewed the A&P/pilot behind SocialFlight, Jeff Simon, Jeff said that his most most memorial trip was him and his boys getting into a plane, picking a direction, and just flying “that way” – adventure ensued, memories for life were made. I get what you are saying.
Nice to read something that sees flying as fun, not just rules. Do you think this relaxed style works for newer pilots too, or should they stick to the stricter approach until they’re more experienced?
Elinor,
Thanks for the comment. I think like everything, experience matters.
I hope the article got across that there will always be certain pre-flight tasks that have to be done. POH checklist, check TFRs, check critical NOTAMS for closures. But, if you are going on a local flight, in a typical piston GA aircraft, around your area, with blue skies and no clouds, do you really need to check icing? Do you need to know the exact takeoff and landing rolls if you have a 5000’ runway? It seems that’s the way some teach. And it can discourage flying if every pre-flight is 2-3 times longer than the flight itself.
Each pilot has their own idiosynchracies they need to accept. I for one always look around the plane with one final 360 walk, since I’ve left chocks under the wheels more than once. I don’t take my cowling off every week, although I had a CFI tell me I should. I think these decisions should be left to the pilot without making “always” and “never” statements.
Then, experience comes into play. As a newly minted pilot, I hear a CFI on a podcast say you should “always” plan a flight to keep an airport within gliding range, what do I do? That removes a lot of flying. In my cub, I’d never make a backcountry flight. I wouldn’t have made that flight from Springdale to Phoenix I took last year. So, maybe the podcast CFI didn’t really mean “always,” but “consider.” Does a newly minted pilot understand that? How many flights have you discouraged with such a strong statement?
In the end, a newly minted pilot needs to spend a lot of time thinking about decisions. Can I, as a new pilot, go fly around the pattern, by myself, in the 172 I checked out in, on a CAVU day, and not check every performance table, and weather product? Given the basic safety checks above, I think they’d be ok. I don’t’ think that flight is a 3 hour math problem to be solved.
But, should a newly minted pilot, in that same 172, who wants to take 2 friends out, on a 90 degree day, at an airport with a 2500’ field elevation, to have lunch at a 5000’ field elevation airport, check the tables, probably so. This is where you, as a pilot, have to know what you do not know.
Honestly, for me I wouldn’t check those tables, because I just wouldn’t go on that flight. Regardless of what the tables told me, it would be too close for a pleasure flight. That’s where the experience kicks in, and the flying for fun has the benefits. I’d just make the fun flight tomorrow morning in a 182 when the temps, power, and gross weight all are in my favor. If it’s the summer where the days will be warming, I’d probably skip the lunch at the 5000’ elevation runway. I’d take my friends for a sight seeing flight and be back for breakfast by 10:00 before the temps and turbulence pick up. Now, that’s how to have fun. No math required.
I love your writing. I love your messages and the calculated risks, both in pen and stick. We both publish regularly here. Look me up if ever in Idaho or California.
Thank you Peterson,
I enjoy your articles & the first podcast. Your open discussions make for great stories.
I was just in McCall Idaho. It’s beautiful country. I’ll reach out next trip!
Amen!
Hi. I live at an airport in MD and often fly for fun. The wx looks great from the news channel, and I know the area. So, I do like you and see no harm for a quick flight in my Champ.
But I do suggest you take a second to check Notams. We have the President near us and TFRs, and you can’t tell when the airport manager may have needed to close the runway. The FAA has an app and it only takes a minute.
Enjoy.
Best, Vince
Vince,
100% agree. Every flight needs a minimum pre-flight. But every flight does not need multiple hours of pre-flight.
Know your area, know your plane, know your limitations.
I’ve been caught coming home from a local flight on 3 occasions now with a disabled aircraft on the runway. Flat tires. Delays getting in up to an hour. But, plenty of fuel, several other airports, and no rush to be home, just gave me more time to fly.
I didn’t calculate landing distances for those flights, but I was still prepped for contingencies that are impirtsnt for every flight.
I hear you. My normal ride, a Cessna 425 Conquest, needed maintenance, so I borrowed a minimally-equipped Cessna 150 for the 300 nm trip back home. Rather than flying in the flight levels, I cruised about 1,500 feet AGL and paid attention to the Wisconsin countryside. I was low enough to smell the newly mown hay in the fields. It was a whole different experience, and one I hope to replicate when I can find the time.
The more flying I do like you described, the more I rekindle my love of flying.
Thank you! Finally, somebody has captured what I have been thinking for some time. This article really hit home for me. We have a 65 150E and my primary motivation for flying is simply for the joy of being airborne with no particular place to go – OK we do lunch runs to local airports but you get the drift. Like Serrhel, I sometimes have to overcome a sense of guilt at not desiring long cross country flights or not enjoying navigating complex airspace like SF Bravo. I happily perform non stabilized approaches in our 150 coming in a bit high and slipping it in with a sense of satisfaction. Yes I use foreflight, pre flight carefully and never push our fuel reserves but it is important to never lose the pure sense of freedom that comes from drifting along on a blue sky over the farm fields around our home base at Salinas. Great article and very welcome.
David, thanks for the comments. I think we are losing touch with the notion that not every flight is the same. Again, flying is not an equation to be solved.
I’m spending time prepping to go to Airventure. The weather forecasts, traffic, distractions, etc all warrant that attention.
But, I’m also about to fly the lake in the Cub later. Clear skies, no airspace issues. Still, basics are covered. But, I’ll be out of the glide range of an airport or two.
Forgive me, father, for I have flown. Just for the fun of it. What a treat. Thanks for this.
Ha Ha. Love it.
Thanks for the article Serrhel! Brings back a lot of old memories, as the comments show. I got my PPL in 1964 in a J3 Cub, and that was the most fun I’ve ever had in my 9000 hours as a pilot. We had a few Cubs in our flight school, at a grass strip in northern Illinois. The planes had no electrical system, had to hand prop to start, and had the basic 6 instruments, of which 3 didn’t work on any given flight! The requirement for a PPL at that time was also 40 hours, but we used that time to actually fly the airplane – no comms, no airspace to worry about, just fly the airplane with whatever instruments and tools we had at the time. Could we stay within 100 feet of TPA without an altimeter? Sure, no problem! Did we need a tach or airspeed indicator to judge airspeed? No, just listen to the engine and the noise of the air flowing past the plane. The only engine failure I’ve had in over 60 years of flying was as a student pilot, on a solo flight practicing engine failures! I had set up to land on a cow pasture, pulled the power to idle, and set up my glide. I suddenly realized I had forgotten to pull the carb heat on, but when I pulled the knob, it just kept coming out until I had about 6” of cable. The engine quit and I had just converted my simulated engine failure into a real one. I landed safely and knew that the heat from the engine would quickly melt the ice, so I found some cow patties to use as chocks and got the engine restarted. The only scary part of the whole adventure was a bull and his harem on the other side of the pasture, who decided to investigate what the funny yellow bird was doing in their field.
I loved that Cub, which I could have bought for about $1000 at the time. It taught me how to fly! Quite a different experience from the Cirrus SR22T G6 I instruct in today, under Bravo airspace!
Vic, thanks so much for the reply. So much seems to be focused now on your last sentence. Flying a SR22T G6 (or similar) under a bravo. Some have forgotten that not all flying is that. You don’t always need ForeFlight. I started flying in the 1980s, and the emphasis was on just flying the plane. Not technology. From that, you really had the opportunity to pick up a joy of flight, that I feel may be missing from today’s private training. Maybe, that’s why I know too many younger people with ATPs who just have no interest in general aviation. They learned to be technology managers more than aviators? Flying by looking out the window, listening to the engine, and feeling the airplane is an utter joy. I wish more would experience it and encourage it.
Hi Serrhel, thank you for the wonderful article. A breath of fresh air. So many times I have heard instructors or senior pilots reciting a litany of be-carefuls and the-regs-say and other somber admonishments. Then there’s a pause, as if they had forgotten something…oh by the way, have fun. The last thing on the long list. Oh yeah, have fun, right. When I go flying, I turn that list upside down and what’s the first item? Have fun! I love flying in part because it has a lot to consider and figure out, the challenge to get it right. So for me, that’s part of the fun. But getting up there and buzzing along – ya know, there’s just nothing like it. Fun!
Bill, thanks for the comments. I agree 100%, I think there should be emphasis on the fun of flying during the PPL training. It can be encompassed with safety and technicalities. Additionally, flying for fun can be safer. I have decided NOT to fly on strong cross winds, hot high DA days, sketchy weather days, etc. My reasoning…I’m doing this for fun, no one is paying me to do this, and today would NOT be a fun day to fly.
Safety and fun are like innone of those Venn diagram thingees where they overlap. My dude—you’re DEFENDING BEING UNSAFE, which is just adorable—right up until you, oh, FORGET TO CHECK YOUR FLIGHT CONTROLS FREE AND CORRECT (R.I.P., Snort), or don’t plan a place to land if you lose your engine after takeoff (R.I.P., McSpadden). Of course flying is fun, that’s why we have to be safe so we can keep doing it.
Feels like bait.
1. I do say there’s always a preflight. Control check is on every pre flight.
2. I didn’t know RM personally, but I have friends who did. I don’t think anyone could accuse him of ever doing anything unsafe, including his last flight. A fact that every pilot realizes is there are certain situations that do not have a good solution. You take a risk every time you leave the ground. But, as the dong says, not all of us want to swim in a roped off sea.
Completely agree with the main point of the article. It depends on what your goals are.
If you want to accumulate hours to go on to the airlines, then yes just stick to the routine.
OTOH, some of us just enjoy flying. Stay safe but no need for just routine.