Will G

Getting paid to fly is the way to go. It may not easy to get started but once established, it ain't a bad gig. There's a joke that kind of sums it up. "When I was in school, I'd get bored and stare out the window. My teacher would inform me that I'll never make a living looking out the window. And, look at me now." It's not often that any two trips are the same. Weather, places, etc. are always different. Downside can be sleep schedule, weather, dealing with TSA/Customs/Immigration/Gate Agents/etc.

cloud

It does beat working for a living. Now Im working corporate and when asked what seat I want left or right I always tell them my lazy boy chair at home. And the best trip I can see on my schedule is OFF.lol

Hondo Gravel

My uncle was a pilot for American Airlines and was based in DFW. I believe he is retired. My aunt is such a B she would complain that he is just a bus driver I said I think flying an airliner is quite a bit different than driving a bus. Heck I can drive a bus. My aunt is blood related and thankfully for my uncle’s sake he is not.

Zinger

I turned a 4140 shaft for one powered by a turbocharged Subaru flat four for my boss on a 10" Southbend lathe of all things. It's what we used at one specialty shop for collet and small work and the only lathe in the place full of vertical manual mills . . . on company time of course. It flew but I didn't stay in contact to see if he ever crashed. He milled the splines if I remember correctly.

I do remember him saying that porpoising can be an issue with these things.

Zinger

How much you willing to invest in a relaxing hobby? . . . both time and money. Here's a ¾ Scale Carbon-Fiber Mustang replica (Papa 51 Thunder Mustang is the kit and Dean Holt of Mount Vernon, Washington is the current assets owner) It's powered by a Falconer 601 ci, V-12, Liquid Cooled, Aircraft Engine, Rated at: 640+ hp.

Watch your 6:00

JonnyHK 

I'm probably well past the age where I am likely to be able to find a way to make a living flying.

J.Higgin's point about the construction tools is well noted. I've got just about everything for wood or composite, but not much for alloy. I work with boats for a living.

I agree that the plan of getting a share in a practical - if mundane - aircraft is probably the best plan. However the first step is to actually pass my test!

Although I have enough financial resources to fund learning to fly and a build for a kit like this, I haven't really researched the on going costs like storage.

It's still a fun dream to have.

ahsposo 

So is dating a supermodel...

Zinger

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Thought this history might be of interest to pilot wannabees as once I was. I had made enough summer money at 16 years old for either private pilot licensing (didn't have to have instruments qualifying then) or a car . . . about $600 either way. Well telling HS girls you're a pilot without an airplane doesn't add up to having a car so I made my choice not to become a crop duster pilot. Not to mention the danger reason once it came to deciding. No posthumous lollipop for crashed crop duster pilots.
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After Pearl Harbor was attacked the Army Air Corps was enlisting High School Graduates without College into pilot training if they made the cut through some aptitude tests. That was an easier era to get some quality flight time if you lived through it.
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My dad somehow cheated the distance perception test by walking off the distance of the windows in the facility and used the shadows from those to get through as did some other enlistees. Well he drove a landing gear through the wing of a Ryan Trainer upon his first and last landing. He then declined an offer for volunteers for Glider training (whom they solicited from pilot training washouts) so they made a gunner out of him in A20 and A26 light bombers in a parafrag bomb group that operated against IJA airfields, Japanese commercial shipping etc, from New Guinea to Japan.

J.Higgins 

The secret to life, my friend!