I'm not a pilot and while I have thought of getting my licenese I don't know if it will ever happen. In reading the thread about the IL plane crash there are a few comments in there that he didn't have enough hours to be flying passengers. I read one person say 500 hrs and another say 1000 hrs before they fly passengers.

If I do the math on this I was told once it makes sense to own your own plane if you fly 100 hrs a year or more. That means 5-10 years if you fly 100 hrs a year. How many people can afford 100 hrs a year to begin with? By me a 172 rents for $92 an hour wet. 500 hrs is $46,000 while 1000 hrs is $92,000. Using rough numbers and 1000 hours then I'm being told I need to spend 100K before I can fly with anyone.

I have a feeling this is going to be more of a debate and personal preference on when you feel you can fly others. From someone with little knowledge in the field I had assumed that once you get your license you are good to go and trained. Knowing I couldn't fly others around for another 5-10 years seems and $92,000 is a lot of money and a very long time. It would be like saying once you get your auto license that you can't drive others until you reach 50,000 miles for example. I do understand that a lot more can go wrong with flying then driving.

I guess the question is how do you know when you are ready to fly passengers with you when you go flying?