Even a Piper Warrior can have electric trim. I fly GA, just mind your Ps & Qs, those TFRs too.

 

Thanks for the input everyone.

Really just wanted to fly the kids locally for an hour or two, not really continue regularly (just yet anyway, maybe at retirement or if I win the lottery). Figured $1000 might get me checked out and cover an hour or two, but good point about having someone else fly; maybe I'll just hit up an airplane-owning buddy to do the flying while I pay for the gas and burgers. That sounds like a win-win.

 

Watch out for TFRs and other restricted airspace! Flying IFR makes you forget real quick how much attention you need to pay to that stuff. You can find TFR maps on the faa website. I highly recommend a moving map GPS

 

I recommend ForeFlight if your going to do very much part 91. Set the display to show TFR's.



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I do a lot of 172/PA28 checkouts with guys coming from the airlines or the military. Most take 3-5 hours for people in your situation. My tips for success would be as follows

1: It's all you. Preflight planning, checking the weather, deciding how much fuel to bring, running a weight and balance. I spent an hour with a gentleman doing W&B last week who is a professional pilot who just hadn't done it in awhile. If you get Foreflight it will do it for you though

2: Plan, but don't over plan.

3: Understand your limitations. Though it may take just a couple of hours to get you safe in a small aircraft again, it will take several more to become truly fluid and proficient. You probably don't want to tackle a large, gusty crosswind just yet. If you want to fly IFR get a separate IFR checkout as avionics can either be older and simpler, newer and complex but more capable, or old and downright weird. Again, you're on your own as far as IFR flight goes.

4: Think safety. If the airplane is questionable, don't go. If the weather is questionable, don't go. If your abilities are questionable, don't go.

5: Have fun! Go get a burger in the next town. Take your kids friends for their first airplane ride. Enjoy not having a schedule or passengers to please. Just go fly because it's fun.

 

Just got back into GA and it scared the heck out of me at first, hardest part was learning how to land again.

 

I've always maintained GA currency. I'm a VFR local type of flyer. My biggest concerns are midair collisions. Lost a friend who was killed (midair collision) in the pattern at a towered airport, Class D.
But I do love it, even to go up for some touch and gos.

 

Way too many idiots flying GA, guys who haven't been to a towered airport in 20 years, never make a radio call, and takeoff/land against the prevailing traffic flow. Still wondering if they're oblivious or just don't care. My favorite was a P-51 aviator who never made a call and flew a wingspan under my student and me.

The closer I got to accruing my time instructing, the more paranoid I became, like a cop one day away from retirement...

 

Just a couple of add-ons that others mentioned:

If your GA experience is from pre-9/11, watch out for the TFRs. What used to be a quaint backwater of the AIM seemingly limited to forest fires and hyper-intensive oral exams, is now a giant PITA. If one pops up, it can shut down your whole show for hours at a time, if not more. They can also snare the unwary.

In theory...at least what the local CFIs say, is that an online briefing from DUAT or Leidos website (used to be LockMart) is the same as a phone brief as far as covering your tail for TFRs, but who really knows. I always follow up a on-line brief with a quick call to Flight Service to check.

I came back to GA in 2011 after 20 years gone...pros and cons:

Pros:
GPS
iPads + Garmin Pilot/Foreflight/Your favorite App flavor here
ADS-B/Sat WX
ADS-B Traffic...this is a new one and IT ROCKS!
24 hour self-serve fuel
Cell phones (ever run from a payphone to make a void time?)
Internet weather/filing (I was flying about a year before dial up DUATS became a thing...1200 baud FTW!)
Engine monitors

Cons:
TFRs and overall hassle
LOTS more towers. This might be bad or good depending on your perspective.
Can't fly into DCA (I know, like you were before, but at least you had the option)
Fences and getting trapped at an airport at night (call ahead...fuel might be 24/7, but the gate might not be).
Costs....gone WAY up outside inflation
No one around. Far fewer props turning. The bonus is that there are fewer idiots because there are fewer pilots overall. But 10% is still 10% so keep a look out.

Nu

 

Yes a TFR bust in GA can be hazardous to your continued 121 employment.

DUATS brief should cover you, but I print it out and carry it, and then keep it in a folder for six months.

Flight following is also a great way to mitigate collision and TFR risk.