The plane I want is about 40,000 bucks, which is cheap by plane standards (Piper Cub for anyone who knows planes).
Not knowing exactly that you live in the US and what 40,000 bucks is to you, but that isn't a far stretch from what many non-rich people pay for a car.
I live out in the country, in Pennsylvania where the only place you can make a decent paycheck is in Pittsburgh. Outside of Pittsburgh, you are looking at the average of $12 per hour jobs, degree or not. Since I'm out in the country, the most common vehicle people drive are full size pickup trucks. They range in the $30-35,000 price. If these $12-15 per hour people can drive $30-35,000 trucks and afford to put fuel in them for their 20-30 mile commutes to work every day at 9 mpg, it shouldn't be too difficult to be able to purchase an airplane if it is $40,000.
I am an avid flight simulator user. I truely feel that I could take off, fly, navigate, and land a Cessna 182 or something my first time out, with a pilot beside me just in case. I too would love to aquire a pilot's license and purchase a small airplane.
A different route to take is to go ultra-light. If you want to get up in the air just for recreational purposes, these things can be had for $5000-10,000. Also, no license is needed for these machines. Much more reasonable for "non-rich" to be able to surf the skies. I don't know when it will be, but I do hope that one of these days, I can purchase the field behind my house, cut a grass strip into it, and get an ultra-light.
As for the dangers of ultra-lights, from my research, they are only as dangerous as the pilot in his piloting skills and maintenance of the aircraft.
If you enjoy what you do, everything else just seems to fall in to place. Sure you might never get a plane, but you won't spend all your time wishing you could fly away either!
uke:
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