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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CoronaBorealis" data-source="post: 4004324" data-attributes="member: 43847">I fly for a living.  Learning to fly is not impossible.  I have around 2000 hours as a flight instructor and the textbook side of learning to fly is a piece of cake.  Of course you won't know some of the things right now that people have mentioned on this thread, but once you're finished with ground school you'll know those things.  It just takes instruction, as with anything.Learning to actually fly is a challenge, but not impossible.  We aren't training you to be Maverick and land on an aircraft carrier.  Holding altitude, attitude, heading while simultaneously talking on the radio and being situationally aware of other airplanes in the area -- that's certainly overwhelming to new pilots, but gets easier with experience.Your question was about owning an airplane, though.  A decent airplane could probably be had for the price of a very nice car -- $50,000-$60,000.  Insurance,  hangar rent, annual inspections are all fixed costs.  Avgas runs around $5/gallon right now, and most little airplanes are going to burn around 8-10 gallons/hr.  Your actual operating cost will vary based on how frequently you fly.  The more you fly, the lower your hourly operating cost will be because you can divide the fixed costs over a greater number of hours.You can generally land at any public airport.  Some charge parking fees, some don't, and some will waive the fees with a fuel purchase.  As for just landing the plane out in the wilderness, I really don't have any knowledge of that but if it's a wildlife refuge, you can just about be sure that's not going to be allowed.  You aren't even required to file a flight plan as a VFR pilot.  It's encouraged though, so if you go missing people have a general idea of where to start looking for you.Your profile says you're in Oklahoma City -- before buying your own airplane, I'd look into joining a flying club.   Engineers Flying Club is at Wiley Post and has been around for quite a while.  I also found <a href="https://coaflyingclub.com/" target="_blank">Central Oklahoma Aviators Flying Club</a> after a quick search, but I don't know much about them.  If you just plan to fly a few hours a year, renting on an hourly basis is probably your best option.  Flying clubs typically have monthly dues to cover maintenance, hangar and insurance, but will also offer much cheaper hourly rates on the airplanes.  You'll have to find that break even point for your goals.I would absolutely love to own my own airplane, but right now I'm more interested in saving money for vacations with my family, stocking money away in retirement, saving for my daughter's college, etc.  Maybe I'll buy a plane later in life.  Hopefully I do.</blockquote>

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