Don't really know what to do from here...

Ok so I don't know how many people remember me here but let me give you some quick background. I'm 16 (17 this year), I have a 1/4th share in a 150 and I'm about 5 months away from being able to take my PPL test on my 17th birthday.

Right about now your probably thinking what the problem is and I'll tell you right now. I literally cannot stand flying that 150. One of my partners is a total **** who has written us legal letters about a scratch on the fuselage (not exaggerating it was literally a 1" scratch near the cowling.) and every time I fly an email comes out an hour later saying how there's something wrong with the airplane. Then there's the fact that its a Cessna 150... I guess I was spoiled by getting to fly a Pitts, Cherokee 235 pathfinder, Cessna 320, and an RV-9A before I even solo'd but I always have to come back to the 150.

Now your thinking "Are you freakin kidding me"... you'd be right to think that. Either way I've been searching for Sonerai's (cheap, low fuel burn, and from what I've heard fun and easy to fly). Multiple times I've found an S2 LTS (low wing tri gear) for the same price as our 150 share and there are plenty of people who have offered to buy the share... Parents just keep refusing. Still not quite sure why, we've had the 150 for about a year and we hadn't planed to keep it that long anyways.

So yeah I'm not quite sure what to do... I would probably enjoy flying it more if I could go somewhere but my instructor never replies to texts and then when you schedule something with him he cancels on you when your in the airplane waiting for him and he says he's in LA.... (happened on the 3rd time I tried to do a XC with him). So at this point I have no Idea what to do. Cant fly anywhere even to go to lunch, can't get an airplane I'd actually enjoy flying (the owner of the pitts would check me out in the sonerai for a tail dragger if I couldn't find a tri gear) and have nothing to do when I fly. Ill (hopefully) be going to ATP flight school after high school and fly for an airline after (hopefully eventually United ) still need 100 hours to go to ATP so looks like ill be forced to fly something.... Just don't know what. So yeah any input on the situation (try and keep it positive please) would be helpful.

 

Move to Borneo and live in a bamboo hut with no money for a while. I don't think you realize how good you have it - you need some perspective. The hours themselves are valuable, even if it is boring. Scrape the fence, paint the fence.

 

For some reason I knew the first comment would be something like this. Now, If you have any helpful inputs please feel free. The situation is not that it is boring to log hours (it is but meh) the situation is a partner whose a prick and an instructor who is harder to get a hold of than the president and therefore cannot fly to build instructed time and get checked out at local airports. If those two problems were solved I wouldn't mind taking the 150 out for a $100 hamburger. Even though the 150 is pretty boring to fly its not the problem. The searching of the Sonerai was an attempt to get away from the partner.

 

you might need to try and remember why you started flying in the first place. Dont look at the 150 as a "chore", after all it does get air under your feet. You could still be just looking "up" with no way to get there. Patience....you have all the time in the world.

 

I love your signature Brian! But yeah true...

 

Dump useless people from your life.
Build an ultralight.

Sincerely,

LuPi

 

Geez.... Just call Nancy Pelosi.. she is your neighbor and has the presidents phone number on speed dial...

All kidding aside.... Don't walk.. RUN away from the 150 partnership.. If that one partner is that anal, he/she will find something wrong with every other partner and flight.... Rent a plane to get your PPL, buy one you like and never look back...
Life is TOO short deal with controlling partners... IMHO..

 

Holtzy3. I put 80 hours on a `150 rental one summer and other than routine radio failures it was fine. Now if you are flying with a instructor the climb rate in the mountains of west virginia was challenging, but when he
wasn't there it was pretty good. As for the partner if you haven't done anything wrong just ignore him. Don't respond or get into a pissing match with an idiot. As long as he can't legally deny your use of your share of the flight hours
he is irrelevant. If you aren't flying more than 50 hours a year sell the share and rent. No annual, insurance, engine overhauls etc. With a rental you can get a 172 or cherokee and mix it up. Both these have much better climb rate
and were not intended to be trainers so the handling is different. As for the instructor, he's your employee not the other way around. I got the first 7 hours with the airport owner and did the solo thing, then I was handed off to two
CFI's that worked there part time. I liked the different points of view from two instructors and also picked up a few free hours taking them places like to pick up an airplane at another airport. If there isn't another instructor at your
airport, find one nearby and see if he will come to you and sign you off to fly to his regular airport. You could rent a couple hours from his field flying back to yours with a 150 and get that signed off as an alternative. It sounds
like your instructor should have you spending time on short hops to local airports for signatures. After I had about 30 hours I went up to the Canadian border so I could say I saw Canida. Even when you are flying hops you still
will be flying some percentage with an instructor for hood time or unusual attitude recovery. Also shooting simulated emergency landings at flight idle anytime he pulls the throttle without warning. He had warned me he would
be doing things like that but the first time was a real attention getter.
wizzardworks

 

Based on your summary in the above paragraph.........

Stay with the C-150, and finish your certificate. Put 100% of your efforts into finishing your certificate. There is no reason why you can't finish your certificate then get checked out in other airplanes. Perhaps a customer/CFI talk is in order.

I think one reason your not getting done with your certificate is too many distractions. Need to focus Grasshopper. Finish your certificate. Good luck.

 

Holtzy, just three comments:

1) Change instructors. Surely there are other instructors in your area that would be happy to take your money.

2) Have a sincere talk with your parents about the partnership issues. Are they aware of the problems? Have they seen the "legal letters" from the other partner? Explain the problem and offer them a reasonable solution and maybe they will go for it.

3) If you're bored flying the C150 at this early stage, I worry about how you'll feel about flying after you've got a few hundred hours. Many of us learned to fly in C150s, C140s, Cubs, and other "boring" aircraft - but I doubt most of us felt bored at such an early stage.

Have you volunteered to fly with your other partners? Do you have any pilot friends that could fly your aircraft as PIC for that $100 hamburger ride? Every flight should be a learning experience at this point. Even as a student pilot flying with a private pilot, there are lots of opportunities to learn: Navigation, radio procedures, airmanship, avionics, etc. I commend you for asking a group of more experienced pilots for advice, even though a few comments were rather crusty.

EDIT: Lots of good advice in the last few posts. I like the idea of renting to get experience in different aircraft and to reduce the boredom factor. But when you get your checkride, you're going to want to know one aircraft like the back of your hand - then take the checkride in that aircraft.

 

What? I thought that was positive and helpful; I even put a smiley face on it! :grin: Seriously, though; if the partner really is a jerk (but you did admit to scratching the plane...), then he is trying to run you off and you can win by keeping your cool and not letting him do that - and get your certificate.

Holtzy, it is difficult for some older people to talk to someone your age, but I have to admit - you are a good sport. Your parents seem determined to make sure that you have this opportunity, to the point of not letting you skip around and waste time and resources, and I would say that you probably have some of the best parents in the world, no joke.

 

Thanks for all the input guys, in the upcoming weeks myself and the other 2 partners will be offering the last partner an ultimatum. Either he sells his share to someone else, or we purchase it from him. My parents are involved in everything I do (thankfully) so they know everything going on. There actually are no other instructors out at my airport. The only other one is the owner of the Patriots jet team and he's usually busy. Ive always been looking for a new instructor ever since my current one canceled on me 4 times in a row. He's a good instructor but just doesn't have the time for me. And he gives me a good rate. On another point id love to have a cub or 140, I LOVE Taildraggers, especially the Pitts!

 

You should fly the 150 and pay the dues. Until you have your PPL, most instructors will keep you on a short leash, and it has nothing to do with age. I would seriously doubt any instructor would sign you off solo in a Soneri or like. Dumping the partnership and renting would be better, or you could just sent the guy an email, "Its a 150; chill." I would say if you cant handle flying the 150, quit. Most airline flying will be like flying a 150; it is not exciting like flying a Pitts. People flying an airliners get off on being in charge of something big; it is a different thrill than flying a Pitts. Company protocol will drag you down to where you will wish you were back flying a 150.

 

It's not that I don't like flying the 150, I don't like flying It because I can't fly it anywhere, like I said i would so fly over the hill from C83 to KLVK for lunch. It's less than a 15 min flight in the 150 and it was about a 3 min flight or shorter in the Cessna 320 cruising at 185 kts lol I enjoyed that.

 

If a Cessna 150 is boring, flying a airliner that never banks more than 30° and flies itself will be.....
I bought a basket case Aeronca Chief at around age 19 with my brother and we restored it. Used it to build time cheaply before getting my private.

Flying is mostly boring. That's why we discuss airplane design here.

 

My first CFI was a great cheerleader. I could have landed on a wheel and wing tip and she still would have called it a good landing. She got a new job right before my solo.

So I had to start over with CFI #2. He was a great technical flyer. Cool as a cucumber. We were practicing stalls and the plane about flipped, wing pointed straight at the ground. He never budged, just said "Rudder". I soloed, but he got a job right before my check ride.

So I re-started with CFI #3. He was always busy, like your guy. It took all summer to get signed off for the check ride before he disappeared.

The FBO arranged for a guy to come up for my check ride. Total stranger. Thunder storm of the summer coming in, but we still had ceiling and vis. That was the check ride of a lifetime. Lightning in the distance, rain cells all around, updrafts, downdrafts, and the quickest landing I ever did before a total white-out down pour.

All in a boring C-152. (Great for doing "carrier" landings!)

Hey, you're 17. These will be your "war stories" someday. Get that ticket. Then, dump the PIA share. Then do whatever is next on your list.

 

+1 thanks for your experiences, I'm glad I don't have it that bad. Thanks everyone for the encouragement. Hopefully the next thing on that list will be ATP and building an airplane until I meet The new airline requirements of 1500 hrs and 23 years old

 

I used to instruct in a college-based flight program, as well as teach a class on aircraft systems and looked after the maintenance. We had numerous impatient young people in that outfit, most often the ones whose parents bought them everything and paid for a lot of expensive training. They were used to instant gratification, see, and failed to understand that the world demands that you earn your way forward, and that it takes time to do that. You can't buy a license or experience; it's earned.

Your parents are likely rightly concerned about you, a student, flying anything more capable than a 150 at this point. Young people tend to view themselves as immortal, and in my experience they took far more deadly chances than the older students. Guys, especially. A Sonerai would be an irresistible temptation to start doing illegal aerobatics, and without training it's easy to get into an unforeseen situation and break something. This happens with distressing regularity.

I was young once and know the impatience and the frustration with older folks holding me back. I'm glad they did; I'm still here. The other older guys on this site, as far as I know, weren't born old, either. They know it, too.

Dan

 

why don't you get together with the other partners, tell the last one you're taking it out for an hour. All of you sit there, eat lunch, don't touch the plane and go home.
When the complainer emails you with a list of new problems, confess that it was a set up, no one touched the plane and tell him what you will sell your share for.

 

I was born old, and am still impatient.