What to do with my next 100hrs

[bigEh]

I've just reached the 100 hour mark of my training, having finished my night rating, VFR OTT and mountain rating. I still have some review time before my flight test, but other than that I have 100 hours of flying left. This may be the only time for a long time that I choose where and when I am going. So I was hoping for some stories or ideas of what other pilots did in their build up to 200. I have lots of my own ideas and plan on doing my float rating, maybe up to 50 hours, my Multi but not IFR, and if I can find someone to train me, I want to get time in a taildragger. I live on Vancouver Island, so any trip ideas or stories from around this area would be most helpful, but I am open to hearing any advice from anyone. I want to make the most of this time and really take advantage of the freedom. I have to do my 300NM trip still, but would rather turn that into a multiple day trip with multiple locations. I am thinking south down the Coast would be the most fun, so if anyone has any experience in Washington, Oregon or California, I would love to hear all about it.

Cheers and thanks in advance.
BigEh

[shimmydampner]

NIGHT TIME!
Reference the ATPL requirements for this.

and mountain rating

Who ever told you that a 'mountain rating' is a real thing?

[1000 HP]

I did my time building a lot with rental. Then I got sick of that and bought a 1957 Aeronca 7EC Champ. It burned 4 gallons per hour and about 1 liter of oil every 10 with the 90 HP engine. It had full electrics, cleveland disks, scott tailwheel, and the big panel. I flew quite a few hours on it at night, but if you turned the landing light on, you could smell burning electrical, so I learned to land without it.

It was a good idea in the short term. I travelled all over, and eventually flew it out to Camp Borden north of Toronto from Winnipeg. Then, I sold it. I flew 190 hrs in 18 months, and got out before I got hit with an engine or fabric job.

[trey kule]

A bit off topic, but how much weight can the champ carry. Not wink wink, nudge nudge weight. The allowable useful..tks

[1000 HP]

Shoot it's been 25 years. It has 26 gallons of fuel and I was a lot skinnier then. Quite often my 140 lb buddy would be in the back. I once took off a 1000' moss-covered strip and just about didn't clear the 6' trees at the end, with half tanks. Legally, don't know. Fun to fly though.

[CFR]

I used to do Victoria, Campbell River, Tofino and back. I had rented some block time on a 150 back then (late 80’s) so it was reasonably inexpensive to do.

I highly endorse tail dragger time (in a Citabria you can also do aerobatics – see below) and just as you are considering I got my multi engine rating to have a different experience in a more complex aircraft. I thoroughly enjoyed that, but for me it was work to get the procedures down pat. VSE is a VERY important number!

Have you considered aerobatics? I took around 16 hours of instruction and now when I am looking for something to do, I take my plane out and do 45 minutes or so of FUN. As a bonus it makes me keep the cockpit tidy (you would be surprised what ends up on the canopy when you fly inverted!)

Do you have experience flying in the States? If not I would suggest getting someone experienced to do a cross-border with you (I flew to Friday Harbour and back, that was in 1992, I suspect things have changed!)

Any fly-ins nearby? You get to enjoy the company of other aviators and experience different airports.

100 hours can be a very long time if you simply bore holes in the sky. I found by varying the things I do, and trying different experiences, the hours have mounted quickly and remained fun.

[TheStig]

NIGHT TIME!
Reference the ATPL requirements for this.

+1, but I'd add, make it night cross-country.

[Lotro]

I don't know your timeline for achieving the 100 hours, but I'd highly recommend a trip to OshKosh. You have to fly-in at least once. Might as well do it now

[Diadem]

Go south. The trip down to Southern California/Vegas/Arizona is quite nice, and with the oncoming winter it gives you a chance to take a vacation. If you like amusement parks, there's no better place to go in the world, and Vegas is, well, Vegas. The only caveat is that you shouldn't try to fly down the coast; that's difficult at the best of times, and in the winter it gets worse. The more mountain ranges you put between yourself and the water the better the weather will be, and the Sierra Nevada are much more scenic than the beach from 3000 feet. On the plus side, the mountain ranges run north-south, which will make it much easier to go that way than to try to go across BC at this time of year, and US airports put those in Canada to shame in terms of services. The FBOs at even small, out-of-the-way airports in the middle of nowhere literally roll out the red carpet and provide a complimentary car to anyone who buys fuel, even in a 172. Definitely do a US checkout with someone who's done it before so you can get used to the customs procedures, and plan everything out ahead of time; there's a lot of controlled airspace down there.

[Rowdy]

I'll add to the night PIC build up for the ATPL! Do a couple fun night cross countries if you can.

What direction are you looking to go in aviation? If you wanna be a float rat.. go put some time in on something with pontoons. If you want to be a bush guy, fly a dougie, tow gliders as a first gig or anything of the like, get some tail wheel time. If you want to have the easiest time for an A licence later on.. like I said above. Night PIC baby Enjoy that next 100hrs.. You wont forget it

[cncpc]

If you're on the Island, and you have the time, rent a 172, get some buddies who can share the cost, and go to Bellingham and get Customs, or Boeing field, then over to the Oregon coast. All the way down to Brown Field just north of Tijuana, then Palm Springs, Vegas, Reno, the Dalles, down the Columbia past Portland and then a beeline for Victoria.

You'll get about 35 hours. On a four way the rental will be about $5000 or $1250 each, you'll get exposure to coastal weather, desert weather, TCAs at Frisco, LA, Lindbergh, McCarran, put your mountain training into practice, maybe use your VFR OTT if you use it for what its meant for. And you'll be stopping every two hours for fuel, with four people and bags, so lots of landings and takeoffs.

An alternate way is to get a US tourist licence and drive to Seattle and rent there. Much more choice and you can probably get something with an autopilot. If you know three Canadians who are allowed into the US these days.

When you get back, take a three month break, then go north to Inuvik and back in July.

On both trips, hook up with a very experienced pilot who will mentor you from home. Get a briefing from him or her before every leg.

[bigEh]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Just to clarify about myself, I am hoping to be done in March or April. I am hoping to go the float route or "bush" route. I am trying to tailor my training with that in mind.
I am really interested in taking the trip south to the US. I am hoping that I can find a couple other guys from ground school to come with me, but they are not as far along and not sure they are ready to go. But maybe I could find some non-pilot buddies and then not fly as much per day. I definitely think I would learn more on a longer trip than doing 20 trips up island and back. I already know the coast line pretty well and although it is beautiful around here, I am getting used to it. Becoming complacent and too comfortable in my surroundings is probably a bad idea this early on. I need to continue to push my limits...within reason.
Is renting a plane in the US with a PPL easy? Or would there be any restrictions? And would they let me take a plane for multiple days? The one thing about renting a plane from the flying club, from what I understand at this point, is that we rent the 172s wet, so the price of fuel in the states wouldn't matter. But I may be wrong on that.
Either way, I would love to hear some more stories from trips south.

Cheers
bigEh

[esp803]

If I was to do it all over again, it would be a minimum of 25 night PIC, the rest of the hundred on a super cup, half on wheels half on floats.

Although... Vegas does sound like more fun...

E

[Fr8 dawg]

BigEh -

I agree with 1000 HP - the cheapest way, borrow some money, like a line of credit, buy yourself a plane - any plane - fly all the hours you need, specially night PIC, then when you're done, sell it for the same price or close to it.
At the end, all you had to fork out was the gas, the loan interest and insurance, but still way cheaper and faster and waaay more fun than renting from a club. You can go anywhere you want for as long as you want.
Airplanes are not like cars which lose their value every day and every kilometer you drive. If you buy and sell it within a year or so, for a matter of only 100-200 hours, not much loss there.

However, if you really wish to do something smart, forget all this flying crap, get yourself an university degree and find a real job.

[Flap_Operator]

One thing guys from my flight college did, that i wish i would have done, was sve up some hours and plan to go down to Daytona beach in Florida during spring break!! stay for a few days and fly back.... They had a blast... I wish I had done the same.... Mix of all types of experience ... Night flying (if you want) crossing the border to the U.S (great experience most private don't have) long cross country included haha... Mix of mountaineous regions planes etc... Good analytical skills with WX brief, go from icing conditions in canada to TCU's/CB's in southetn USA .. (PS avoid icing with a C172 haha)

Awesome experience in my opinion!

My two cents

[Lost Lake]

I'll add to the night PIC build up for the ATPL! Do a couple fun night cross countries if you can.

What direction are you looking to go in aviation? If you wanna be a float rat.. go put some time in on something with pontoons. If you want to be a bush guy, fly a dougie, tow gliders as a first gig or anything of the like, get some tail wheel time. If you want to have the easiest time for an A licence later on.. like I said above. Night PIC baby Enjoy that next 100hrs.. You wont forget it

Pontoons Rowdy? How is driving around on a pontoon boat going to get him time. I never flew a pontoon boat, but I have flown a FLOAT plane!

[Flap_Operator]

Something "with" pontoons.... Slang for float plane its true... It varies depending on what u want to do later on with your flying career

[Rowdy]

I already know the coast line pretty well and although it is beautiful around here, I am getting used to it. Becoming complacent and too comfortable in my surroundings is probably a bad idea this early on. I need to continue to push my limits...within reason.

Careful my friend.. you dont know the coast THAT well then.. It can bite you pretty hard out here if you're ignorant or arrogant. You just havent gone outside of the flight schools very well established limits.. and for good reason.

Maybe try a trip up to Bella bella, Rupert or Masset. Now thats a good stretch and a big eye opener.

Hey LOST LAKE.. maybe you should get lost The guys on the res. last year kept calling it a 'water plane' or 'canoe plane' !

[Lost Lake]

Rowdy, I fly a float plane, cuz it has floats on it. Maybe water bombers or something I don't know about are pontoon planes. Sorry. it's kinda like in Florida, you don't live in a trailer, it's a MOBILE HOME.

[Rowdy]

Funny that.. only in canada are they 'float planes'. Say that to anyone not in the know and they stare blankly at you. You say 'Seaplanes" and they go 'ohhhhhhhhh okay'

[xsbank]

Nobody's buying a/c right now - you'd likely own it for a while. I knew a lady who, at age 16 bought a 150 with her sister instead of a car and flew it all over the US building time and then started her own flying school... she's in corporate jets now...

Save some time to fly your road trip in the spring to visit operators for your first job - worked for me.

Fly at night whenever you can as you will need it for your ATP and its hard to get. I had to rent and fly from Williams Lake to Quesnel to YXS and back once a night for what seemed like months as I racked up night time for mine.

[Doc]

I like xsbank's idea. Buy a 150. Travel. Do the Bahamas, Do the southern USA. THe west coast all the way down to PVR. Take a sleeping bag, tent, bottled water and a roll of "fun tickets" (American ten dollar bills) That should burn most of the 100 hours. Do 25 of them (at least) at night. You can get a good 150 for the price of a mid line Harley Davidson.
The main thing here is....ENJOY! It'll be your last chance to hop in an airplane and do what YOU want!

[Lost Lake]

Gotta agree 100% with XS bank. Night cross country, night cross country, night cross country!

[1000 HP]

Night time is definitely harder to get. I went the float route, and any time I landed at night, I had to log the trip as day VFR anyways

Now, 28 years after getting my night rating, I've got about 140 hours night time, 40 in the last 3 years.

[Duncan Idaho]

Fly to Jamaica