That is quite a moment isn’t it? You are like: seriously??! And when your instructor gets out, and you are all alone in there, you’re like: this is really nice to not have that guy constantly yammering at me. And then you take off and (in my case in a Cessna 152) - you’re also like: Wow…that guy must weigh a ton because this thing just leapt off the ground!
As an instructor, I wasn’t so far removed from that moment myself, so I used to take great pains with my student’s shirt tails after I snipped them. I’d always try to put some unique drawing on them that was specific to the student. I really enjoyed those moments.
You get released from the bonds of earth. You form new bonds with others who share your newfound three dimensional freedom. And if you do it the smart way (in a glider) you will learn what arguably is the greatest of all airborne arts: soaring. But remember also that this joy can be acquired perhaps more cheaply through hangliding, parasailing, powered parasailing and ultralights. If you get into it for the $100 cheeseburger but without Beech’s enviable luck with women, you will probably get bored quick.
Well I suppose if you want to chuck money out the window you can come to the UK and do a PPL(a) for what I guess is the price of a helicopter licence in the states and get charged a gazillion times more for landing fees, maintenance, licence currency, fuel, hangar-age
All of that for a bargain price and to top it all off, you get to fly in one direction for 5 minutes before hitting a matz or a control zone for a major airport (which are too busy to even consider letting you enter) and you get the pleasure of thinking 3000 feet is massively high because everything else is restricted airspace…
So yeah, I recommend the UK, our tax system loves it.
.
(disclaimer)… there may be some over exaggeration to the above.
Someone at the conference my wife was at this week told her apparently about the same thing, I think she has/had plans for me to do this and do a side/retirement business surveying sites and other stuff. Don’t recall all she said, I have a tendency to tune her out when she goes into “engineer mode”.
Long story short, just said I could get a light sport license for less than that and bring a camera lol.
Apparently she was also cool with the idea of me doing so in a full scale DR.1 or Camel, ugh I hate having to be the sensible one that has to say no.