the_stella•4d agoMost Upvoted

Just hit 500 flight hours in my little Cessna 172 last weekend

I've been flying out of this small airport near Prescott for about 4 years now, and checking that 500 number felt bigger than I expected. Most of those hours are just short hops to Flagstaff and back for lunch runs. It really surprised me how many small oil leaks and weird engine sounds I caught along the way that would have been trouble. Has anyone else hit a random milestone in their hobby that made them stop and think?

2 comments

2 Comments

piper_thompson314d agoMost Upvoted

And that bit about catching things others miss is SO true. I started keeping a little log of every weird noise or vibration I noticed during those short flights, even the ones that turned out to be nothing. After about 300 hours I realized I could predict when my oil filter needed changing just by how the engine sounded during the first climb out. The boring flights really do teach you more than the exciting ones, because that's when your brain learns what NORMAL feels like.

reese_taylor694d ago

That 500 hour mark is something else, man. I hit 500 jumps in skydiving a few years back and it was the same kind of wake up call. You realize how many near misses and close calls you actually had that just sort of smoothed over. The weird part is how your brain rewires after that many hours or jumps. You start noticing things other people miss entirely like that tiny vibration in the engine or the way the wind feels different at 3000 feet. It makes you appreciate the boring flights a lot more. The routine stuff keeps you alive way more than the exciting stuff does.