I am a private pilot, licensed in 1976, but have not been active for a couple of years. I flew with a flying club which avoided the hassle of owning my own plane or dealing with the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) rentals. Here is what I learned very quickly about flying as a private pilot.

1. Flying time is half of what the trip would take by car. The trip from Denver to Pittsburgh is possible to do in one day if the winds are in your direction. I flew a Piper Archer at about 110 knots/hour (126 mph). Head wind will subtract from that and a tail wind will add to it. I made a trip from western Colorado to Dayton in one day but we had significant tail wind the entire way. In the Archer I could fly about four hours before I landed for fuel.

2. If you want to travel any distance an instrument rating helps. You can travel all over the US with just a private ticket but you will have to wait out more weather than the instrument pilot. HOWEVER, even if you have an instrument rating your experience will limit how much weather you can fly in. As a private pilot you can not tackle thunderstorms. They will rip you into little pieces and spit you out on the ground. You don't have power, altitude or weather radar to cope with them. Traveling from CO to PA you will run into a line of storms somewhere along the route on any given day in the spring/summer. What about winter flying? Now you have something else to contend with: ICE. Unless you have a lot of money none of the private single engine planes you will fly will be certified for known icing. After my first experience with ice I never flew in the clouds (instrument flight rules) in the winter. If the weather forecast calls for icing in clouds the FAA considers that "known icing" (my understanding anyway) and now you risk busting the rules going on that flight. My winter flying was limited to staying out of the clouds.

3. Flying across the country is a lot of fun but have plenty of time because of the weather. The most enjoyable trip I took was Dayton, OH through the Rocky Mountains in the Piper. I went with an experienced mountain pilot. We took seven days to make the trip. We lucked out on weather. Only had one day on the ground because of snow in the Rockies. Don't get sucked into making a bad judgement flying call because you have to be there at a certain time. If you have a tight time frame the airlines start looking better.

4. Keeping an instrument ticket current takes work. You have to travel a lot or spend several hours a month practicing instrument flying "under the hood". If you are not current you have no business flying in bad weather.

4. The typical "four" place single engine plane can not carry four adults and baggage for a trip. It may have four seats but you don't have the load capacity. More like two adults and baggage. Step up to a high performance single then you may be able to do it but not in the Piper Archer or Cessna 172.

Flying is a lot of fun and a great accomplishment to get the license. I am sure you would enjoy the experience. Just keep it in perspective when thinking about using the private ticket for family trips where time is limited and your flying experience low.

Flying is getting very expensive now and if we go to a user fee based air traffic control structure you can kiss general aviation good by. Some will disagree with me but from what I have observed in Europe and Canada a user fee based system made flying too expensive for those of us where it was just a hobby.

Good luck

Mike