Quick Flight For Dinner . . . Or . . . The $300 Hamburger

John HurlbutFlyingLeave a Comment

All over pilot blogs, forums, books, etc. there is mention of the $100 hamburger. The premise is that as pilots we will find any reason to fly, even if it’s just to fly across town to a neighboring airport for lunch and back. The airport I fly out of, Pierce County Thun Field (KPLU), has a restaurant and nearly every weekend I see pilots flying in for breakfast and flying out. So of course after getting my pilot’s license this is one of the things I wanted to do, grab a $100 hamburger.  However, I’ve pretty much realized that to get this $100 hamburger, the only way you’re going to do it is if the airport you fly out of happens to have a restaurant.  Because renting a plane at roughly $135.00/hour about the only way you’re going to keep the cost under $100 is to take off, do a … Read More

First Flight With a Passenger – Puyallup to Friday Harbor

John HurlbutFlyingLeave a Comment

So having passed my check ride finally I was anxious to take my first passenger on a trip somewhere, anywhere! I booked the plane the day after check ride #2 for about 5 hours in the hopes that I would be able to take my wife, Teri, flying somewhere.  (Author’s Note: This flight actually occurred on May 10th, 2015.  I’m just now trying to get my blog posts caught up, so expect a flurry of activity coming through!) One of the cross country flights I did as a student pilot was to fly from Puyallup Thun Field (KPLU) to Friday Harbor (KFHR) in the San Juan Islands. That flight was amazing for me on many levels, and I wanted to recreate that for my wife as much as I could. You can read about my solo cross country flight here. I booked the plane for 5 hours and my computations … Read More

Achievement Unlocked! I AM a Pilot!

John HurlbutFlying, Personal Growth2 Comments

(Author’s Note: I originally started this post on May 11th, 2 days after I passed my check ride. Life got in the way and it took me a month to get it completed. I’ve got a few more posts coming! Sorry for the delay!)  Well it’s been over a month since my last post “Why I’m Not a Pilot Yet…Or What Went Wrong” so I guess I should catch everyone up. (Both of you) After failing to pass my check ride on March 27th, it took me a few days to get back in the airplane. There was a lot that lead up to that day and it was a HUGE emotional letdown knowing I hadn’t passed. I think my recounting of the events was pretty accurate as to what I did, what went wrong and what I could have done differently. The only question after that was “Do I … Read More