Bored By Grandmacore Hobbies? Learn To Fly A Plane Instead

It seems like everyone’s been on the hunt for the perfect grandma hobby — a cozy pastime that feels slow, relaxed, and grounded. Things like crocheting, crafting, and baking sourdough have topped the list, but a new trend is emerging that may make you rethink how you view hobbies. Perhaps they don’t have to be “grandmacore” at all.

On TikTok, many women are posting about learning how to fly planes, and it’s on the opposite end of the spectrum from grandma-approved hobbies. On April 3, creator @nataliafreiree shared a post saying “I love my girl pilots.” In the clip, she shows herself arriving at an airport, fueling up a 1974 Cessna 172 SkyHawk, and taking to the skies.

In her comments, someone asked, “How do you even get into this? I want to be in this!” Someone else wrote, “This is as cool as y’all think it is.” The FYP is filled with even more pilots, like @alexa.isabelll who posts about her “niche secret hobby,” aka casually flying planes in her spare time.

On another page, @kinseywolanski shares a behind-the-scenes look at flying, including what it’s like to communicate with Air Traffic Control via her headset so she can safely take off and land. And on her TikTok, @thegirlypilot regularly posts tips for getting involved in flying to her thousands of followers.

Some of these pilots go up for quick joy rides. Others take a plane to see their friends, like @.neeloo who flew to meet her bestie as if she was simply driving a car. The hobby really is taking off — quite literally. Here’s what to know.

The Latest Hobby To Take Off

Every now and then an unexpected hobby will go viral. In 2020, it was roller skating. Then it was skateboarding. Now, the girlies love flying planes.

Thanks to social media, more people are getting a peek inside the world of aviation — something that rarely comes to mind when you think about how to spend your weekend.

When someone’s video goes viral that shows them getting their pilot’s certificate or flying their own plane to get lunch, it may land on someone’s FYP and give them a spark of inspiration.

This trend is not only the perfect personal challenge, and a way to build confidence, but it’s also one that’s surprisingly age-inclusive. Lainey Jones, an 18-year-old student at Thrust flight school, was only 16 when she took her first lesson.

Now she takes off from an airport in Texas and flies on her own for about two hours five times a week. “I love being up in the air and getting to see the places I go every day on the ground,” she tells Bustle. “It’s such a fun feeling to point down and say, ‘Look! There's my house’ or ‘There's my dog's vet!’”

On TikTok, creator @secondwindpilot said she started to fly in her 40s. “One day I just thought, why not me? Why not now?” In her comments someone said, “Same! 45. Never too late.”

Some people fly as a way to get over a fear or push their limits. Others are in it for the adrenaline.

The latter is one perk that drew Caroline Paul, a pilot and author of the book Why Fly, to the hobby when she was 21. “It gave me adventure,” the 62-year-old tells Bustle. “It gave me a new way to see the world. I wanted to be up high.”

Paul first learned how to fly in a tiny two-seater plane, then moved on to paragliders, and then gyrocopters — a tiny, helicopter-like aircraft.

She says the ability to fly improved her mental health when she went through a divorce, a topic she covers in her book. “I was basically feeling like everything on the ground was out of control, so why couldn't I learn instead to pilot this little yellow craft that would do anything I said?”

That new perspective, Paul says, helped her figure out who she was and what she wanted to do next in life.

“I thought of it as escape initially, because you escape into learning all these new controls and all these new rules,” she says. “But it's a physical escape because you're actually just getting 3,000 feet above the earth that is so troublesome below.”

The literal perspective shift of being up in the sky can change your mental point of view, too. Imagine taking flight to get your mind off a stressful meeting or flying on the weekends to decompress from a failed date. When you’re miles up in the air, all of your problems seem so small and you have to focus exclusively on the situation at hand.

Dr. Michelle Kole, a licensed psychologist and certified flight instructor, treats flying in much the same way. “I see it as a meditation,” she tells Bustle. “My mind is focused entirely in the present moment and cannot be anywhere but right here, right now. It feels like a spiritual experience to be up there with the clouds, way above any earthly concerns.”

If flying piques your interest, look into it. Or just admire the many viral TikToks that show what people are capable of.

“There are more role models than ever before,” Kole says, noting the many benefits flying brings. “Becoming a pilot will teach planning, decision-making, reasoning, and can instill confidence and self-esteem,” she says. “I highly recommend it!”

Sources:

Caroline Paul, pilot, best-selling author of the new book Why Fly

Dr. Michelle Kole, licensed psychologist, certified flight instructor