I've got a fair amount of Super Cub experience from my time guiding in Alaska. I've taken of and landed in some very sketchy places. Creeks, rock fields, up
And down hill slopes etc but I don't have a license.

I've thought about pursuing it but I haven't started yet.

I don't think he could be MORE right, in this instance...

So what does this cost? How much to get licensed? How much to maintain license? Can you rent planes? What can you buy a decent plane for? How much does it cost to keep it at the airport? Fuel? Maintenance? Insurance? Am I leaving anything out?

My dad had license when I was little

Got too expensive to keep up

If you have to ask any of those things, you can't afford it.

License is roughly $10k. You can rent a plane and it's usually around $200/hr wet and with an instructor depending on what airplane. Planes are all over the board based on plane, time before overhaul or new engine, and panel. $3-350/mo for a hanger. Fuel depends on how efficient. I planned for 10gph. Maintenance you can plan on about $2k per year for oil changes and required annual maintenance. You also have to put money aside for engine overhauls, and every time you turn around its $2k here and 2k there. Insurance is not that bad. When I had my plane I budgeted about $12-15k per year including the $200 hamburger run every few weeks.

You would be surprised at who owns airplanes. It's not just rich guys. You see a lot of everyday joes who have General aviation as a hobby. They don't have a bass boat or a Polaris ranger, they have an airplane and that's what they do for a hobby. You scientists, maintenance managers, sales people, retired school teachers, etc.

If you are interested, check out Pilots of America forum for more info than you could possibly want.

CFI, here. I'm not flying a whole lot right now but plan to get back into is soon. Gave cadets their primary training while in college. I sold one plane back in March of this year. I have been working on the restoration of a 1947 Aeronca L-16A for a few years. Hope to have her back in the air by mid spring. I'm about to bring her back to the house from Sylacauga so I can turn wrenches every evening..... Hard to make progress when its not at home. "She" had her 70th birthday 9-27-17 and it was my hopes to have her back in the air for that but it didn't happen....

If you haven't got $100,000 in disposable annual income you can't afford to own a plane.
The license isn't too bad, probably $10,000 to $20,000 depending on how fast you want it.

I would like to get my license. I prob will never own a plane until I win the lottery that I never play. Just thought it would be something else scratched off the bucket list for things to accomplish. But I’ll have to wait until my kids are grown first

I got my pilot's license when I turned 18. Part of my "Master Plan" to make a career in Military Aviation. Unfortunately my sitting height was 1.5" more than the Air Force or Navy would allow for fighters. I could have flown heavies or helo's but back then all I cared about was fighters so I opted out before being commissioned.

My dad was an instructor pilot so I got a race-horse deal there... still had to pay for the airplane hours though. That was pretty tough for a punk kid working for minimum wage - but I wanted it bad and managed to pull it off. Used to wash & wax a Cessna 150 (692Q)for 6 hours of flying time. Sounded like a great deal until I did it the first time - man, talk about a ball-buster job! Got my license flying out of the airfield in Hazel Green. During the summer I used to help a crop-duster (for free) that operated an AG-CAT 500 out of that field - just to be around that aircraft - nothing like the sound of a radial engine!! When I hit 100 hours and had some stick experience in a tail-dragger - the guy let me take the AG-CAT for a few laps-around-the-track. Never flew a plane as PIC before or since that had the sheer power that thing had! The other cool experience I had was when I was 15. My best friends dad was a squadron commander of F-4's and took me for an "incentive ride" - that was an unbelievable experience that was what made me decide I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I sometimes wish I would have not been so tall and had been able to make it as a fighter pilot - but then I would have never met my beautiful bride or had my wonderful girls. If I could go back and change things - I wouldn't. God has blessed me in so many ways and I am happy with the path he has led me down!

I have just under 500 hours as PIC but haven't flown PIC in over 20 years. Gave it up when my oldest daughter was 2... Had too many bills, too many expensive hobbies and something had to go. Thought about getting back into it now that the kids are just about grown up - but since I can't remember where I put my sunglasses when they're on my hat - I figured that I'm much better off to look back with fond memories instead of pushing my luck at this point!

Same story here. Too tall by 1/4 in. No fudging it.
Lucky for me I get to work around planes every day.

The tail draggers are what separate the men from the boys my Dad always said. I grew up on the weekends as an indentured servant with] Dad at the Brewton airport. I don't know how many planes we went thru top to bottom but, He had a 1947 Stinson that was probably one of my favorites. Another he had was a Air Coupe that was a lot of fun. We used to fly to all of my brothers football games when he played for Troy State. Sure miss the Old Guy, he was a hard charger. He taught me a lot of how to do things the right way. We went through a few planes that never even got to fly in, pissed me off how fast he would wheel and deal sometimes.

Ahh, the Air Coupe... When I was ~6 years old I got my finger smashed when my Dad slammed the cockpit canopy shut as we were on our take-off roll. Christmas Eve 1967 - going for a flight over the city to check out the Christmas lights. Just about took the end of my middle finger off. Bled like a stuck hog! Still got a "dent" in my fingernail from that wound over 50 years ago.