Pilots who are avid brewers

HEY, how many of you (I have talked to quite a few) are pilots and brewers? In my weekly travels in this small yet convoluted industry I have flown with and met an abnormally high ratio of pilots who are also brewers! Who do you fly for, what started you in your brewing obesession, how do you balance monitoring your brews when you are away 4-5 days consecutively per week? Doesn't it suck to brew a batch and come home AFTER it has fermented? LOL
There just seems to be a high ratio of pilots who are also homebrew freaks! Nothing wrong with that!

The Pol

I used to be a pilot . . . started flying when I was 12, soloed at 16, got my PPL at 18 then quit flying at 19 (was going to college to be a airline pilot) when I joined the navy, havent gone back to it since :\

Heh, you probably got out of it at a good time! I never planned to be an airline pilot, yet here I am... funny how things work out! Ever miss flying?

Private pilot here. Got it when i was 17, now 21. I have around 160 hours, college makes it hard to fly too much prices are getting up their. When i finish college im gonna start building an RV.

Yeah, I remember that when I started it was about $48 an hour, wet, for a 172... I can imagine that fuel and insurance have balooned that drastically!

I fly an RJ, if that counts as flying. Yeah, it's kinda funny. I know a bunch of guys that are into homebrewing. Some of them are winemakers too. As far as our schedules are concerned, I think being out on a trip eases the impatience of waiting to move a batch from one step in the brewing process to the next. Just my $.02.

The Pol said:

Heh, you probably got out of it at a good time! I never planned to be an airline pilot, yet here I am... funny how things work out! Ever miss flying?

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Funny thing is always planned on being an airline pilot after i spent time in the navy as a pilot. I started mowing lawns when i was 12 just to fly then every dime I made from 12 - 19 went to flying. It wasnt until 1989 while I was in college I decided as much as I love flying I didnt want to be a bus driver at 40,000ft.

I like to fly to do EVERYTHING you're told not to do. My friends and I would take rolls of TP and let them run out behind our BE-77's and chase each other and try to cut the TP with our props, we would get as low as possible over Lake Michigan and see how close we could make it to the bluffs and we would drop napkins full of flour onto cows. The more I flew the less I wanted to do staight lines and the less I wanted to have a plane wrapped around me. Do I miss it? I dont mis going from point A to point B just because, I dont miss doing practice approaches for hours on end, and I dont miss doing the paperwork and math for weight and balance issues. I do miss jumping in the plane and skipping class to fly to Oshkosh for a coke, I miss screwing around and landing at a small airfield to pull marsh grass out of my gear before I went ack to Timmerman Field to return the plane . . . I miss the freedom of flying. I would love to fly again but now I just cant afford it and WHEN I do start flying again it will probably be in something like this http://www.southernskies.net/ss_paragliders.html

I agree, being away from your brew all week does help with being impatient... I fly an RJ too, the EMB170. Everyone is hiring now though... we cannot even keep our planes staffed people are leaving so fast.

Private pilot here, too, not current but working on it! Funny thing is, SWMBO got me flying lessons for my bithday years ago, and also got me my starter beer kit for Christmas a couple years later. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't do anything fun!!! I'm pretty lucky...........

Your wife has you doing the things that most women would rather us not! Fly and brew!!

CFII with about a 1,000 hrs until I quit to go work in a factory. Pumbaa sums up my feelings quite well, however, after working in a factory for almost 6 years flying a bus wouldn't be so bad. I did enjoy the flying I used to do. Started towing banners(Scout), flying skydivers (C182), then moved to VA and started instructing, photo flights and traffic watch.

Going to school for accounting now and even though I'd rather be flying, my Captain buddies all tell me to stay away from the airline industry. Someday I'll get my own plane for hopping back and forth from VA to MI and NJ.

Another one here.

Not a pilot but racked up many hours in planes for 5 years as a FAM.
Hung up my spurs last year.

Got the private, finishing the instrument this semester.

The Pol, I bet I know at least 15 people that would love to work for your company.

Hey, speaking of which... do they have our company hiring minimums? If so, let me know, we are strapped for pilots here... looking to hire 1,000 more in 18 months. Maybe I could help them out!

Pol

Hey Pol, you're not Brewpilot, are you? The only reason I ask is he has been absent lately, is no longer on the members list, and sounds like he could be your twin (starting out on AG).

FYI, if it is you then I'd like to add: as a member you can change your name and avatar as often as you like. One of the perks of membership.

If it's not you then that's one more flyin' brewer. Budbo happens to be an ex-navy jock (so there is one more), seems his new job keeps him quite busy though.

Im have my A&P and Avionics element 1,3,& 8. But we are notorious alcoholics anyways......


Did that for 6 years but too damn stressfull so I do tactical RF now

Private pilot for the last 8-9 years, plane owner for the last 7, and if the gods smile on me, NON-plane owner in another month! Too damn expensive for the amount of time I was flying. Rather brew some beer for a while, maybe get back in the air a few years down the road.

Any one of you ever consider a mile-high brew session (sans drinking, of course)?

Chimone said:

Im have my A&P and Avionics element 1,3,& 8.

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Been an A&P since before they had those fancy numbers and elements and things...

Toot said:

Been an A&P since before they had those fancy numbers and elements and things...

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I love turning wrenches, but it got to the point where they wanted me to sign off on other people's work. Yea that wasnt going to happen......

I fly R/C planes, does that count? Hey, it may only be 1/10 scale, but at least I get to fly a Focke-Wulf

The Pol said:

Hey, speaking of which... do they have our company hiring minimums? If so, let me know, we are strapped for pilots here... looking to hire 1,000 more in 18 months. Maybe I could help them out!

Pol

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Well first, I'm not quite sure how many hours everyone has. Some have over 1000, but a lot have in the 800ish range. I know it's all mostly SEL dual as a CFI time.

What's your company name and what are the minimums. 1000 in 18months!!! Can you wait 24, lol, I'll have graduated by then with all the rating, but I'm sure not enough time.

I am an A&P mechanic for an airline and there are a few of us that brew.

I'm an RJ pilot and brew. I know at least three other co-workers that do the same.

I think our mins have gone down to 500TT... for the 170 they are still requiring ATP mins though. Look at Republic Airways, it should have all of the hiring requirements there, they are changing all the time because of short staffing levels, not enough pilots around here.

Pol

I think if anythng ever happened where I couldnt stay in firefighting and had to get a new job I would go back to ATC, it's a hell of a lot more fun then being a pilot and at my age I'm not worried about the glory/chick factor

Thanks, I know I'm going to keep their site bookmarked for a few years. It does say 1000hrs TT on the website along with 100mel and 100 instrument hours. I'm sure the second two are no problem, but 1000TT is a bit more than we get in 4 years.
Seems like the pay isn't to good though, 22,000 a year? I can make more working a high school edu job.

z987k said:

Seems like the pay isn't to good though, 22,000 a year? I can make more working a high school edu job.

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That is exactly why I gave up on being an airline pilot. I still have some ideas for personal business ventures where I can fly for myself when I'm done with school, though.

Yah, the first year pay is hard... 2nd year you are looking at 35K as an FO... Cap'n and you are looking at 80k flying an RJ. Welcome to the airlines! It isn't about what you make now days, it is all about where you have it invested, that is the only way to make it. Also, being a pilot has never been about "glory" or "chicks"... neither have ever been a part of this career I assure you.

Pol

Unless you count OLD, furloughed TWA F/As as chicks...(at least that's what we have to deal with at my current employer)

Are any of you with flight benefits, etc considering AHA in June??
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=22619
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=25207
It's going to be a good time.

Now If I could find a thread that tells me who is within driving distance...

Perhaps I will, my wife and I can fly one leg to Denver from IND on our flight bennies... sounds like some cheap fun!!!

Pol

I can also get an airline hotel rate with my ID...

Pol

The Pol said:

Perhaps I will, my wife and I can fly one leg to Denver from IND on our flight bennies... sounds like some cheap fun!!!

Pol

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Do it man.

It'll be a good time.

Funny that I've been discussing homebrewing on a pilot forum and now discussing flying on a homebrew forum.

Comm ASEL/AMEL/Glider, instrument, CFI, CFII, IGI with about 1850 hours right here. I flew survey for 3.5 years and recently quit to become a full-time contract pilot and go out to find my big break... no real interest in the airline thing, that seems too much like work.

Anyone with a commercial rating ought to come over to propilotworld.com and join up... quite a wealth of info, no trolls like the hellhole of flightinfo.

z987k said:

Seems like the pay isn't to good though, 22,000 a year? I can make more working a high school edu job.

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I have a good friend that is only making 15K a year as a pilot right now. I make that working part time.But it did let him get lots of hours and now he got offered a job starting out at 60K and a 7% part in the company. Im really glad that i made the decision to just keep flying as hobby and not a job. I would like to go into the Marines after college flying though (If i can get my fat ass back into shape).

Private Pilot also, but haven't flown in 20 years now, ever since I started truck driving. Too expensive now to rent a plane.

Dave R said:

Private Pilot also, but haven't flown in 20 years now, ever since I started truck driving. Too expensive now to rent a plane.

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I hear that, when I started 5 years ago i was paying 55 and hour for a piper 140. Now everywhere wants at least 110. This is my main reason for wanting to build a homebuilt. Its the only way for a middle class person to fly anymore.

Nah you can buy an older plane for what it would cost to homebuild.

but yeah we pay 103 for our Cherokee 180 with instruction.