Hello Mallory, I am an instrument rated private pilot with ~930 hours. I started flying ten years ago. My son had just started taking flying lessons, and I thought I'd join him. At age 60 I found this to be a significant challenge.

My PPL studies were hampered by two flight school closures and flying hiatuses of 3-6 months. That's not a good way to learn to fly and I wasted a number of years. In the end, however, I found a flight school with enough stability to do the job right. I got my PPL in 2017 and my instrument rating in 2018.

In those early years I flew a number of Warriors and and Archer. In the final flight school I was flying DA20s. I much prefer the latter. Lovely little machines based on glider technology. It took another year to get my instrument rating flying a DA40 with G1000 avionics. Nice.

With my instrument ticket in hand I looked for a good airplane to purchase. I found a very nice 2005 SR22 with 300 hours on the overhauled engine, and Avidyne avionics. N345TS -- The Countess. I picked her up from Greensboro in February of 2020. That date was very, very fortunate.

Covid clamped down in March, but I could still fly. My wife and I flew all over the country during those crazy days. We have children and grandchildren in four different states spread out from the central plains to the Gulf of Mexico, to the southwest desert. The airports were still open, the FBOs were still manned, and in that microcosm of general aviation life was still pretty normal. So we flew and flew and flew.

Nowadays I do a lot of dog rescue and Lifeline Pilot flights. I fly for business as well, and still travel to see my kids and grandkids from time to time. Overall it was a great decision to learn to fly. I recommend it. It is a kind of freedom that has to be experienced to understood.

From: -Mallory<-DerekRoss at 09/25 17:08

> nostr:npub19mun7qwdyjf7qs3456u8kyxncjn5u2n7klpu4utgy68k4aenzj6synjnft has posted some flight content. I’m not sure his experience, seems to have at least a private pilot’s license and his own plane. I’d love to know more about how he started flying.

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