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Here are some of my collected thoughts on Flight Training and my experiences
in learning to fly.
Basic background bits.
Here's my introduction to what it takes.
How long? Take that 60 hours
and assume you'll average 1.3-1.5 hours flying a lesson. Then spread that
out over time based on your realistic expectations for how many times a week
you will fly. Then factor in overhead due to cancelled lessons and weather
problems. In California in the summer that might be only 10% if your
schedule is not busy - if you work 60 hours a week with an impatient employer
and you're learning over the winter it might be 40% or more. If your
school/FBO requires stage checks by someone other than your primary CFI add
three weeks (1 week for each stage check) to factor in availability of that
often scarce check ride instructor(s). Finally add a week or so scheduling
overhead for your final FAA check ride. If you're not taking a ground
school consider adding some time as you'll spend some more hours covering things
that would have been covered there (see my thoughts on Ground
Schools). Then spread that out over the calendar and see.
I started a ground school and flight training in January and I'm currently
thinking I'll end in late June or early July. I started out planning 2-3
times a week and ended up averaging about 1.5 times a week the first two months
and now have my average up closer to to. But it doesn't take a lot of
scheduling to drop your rate. I'm really scheduling at 2-3 times a week -
but you go out of town one weekend here and cancel a lesson there and suddenly
you only have six or seven lessons in for the month.
Thoughts on choosing a school.
Thoughts on ground schools.
Here are some of my thoughts on choosing an instructor. I'm repeating a
bit of advice I've gotten but my own experiences bear this out (see the January
22 Flight Journal Entry). Be a little picky about your CFI. You
are going to spend a lot of money on and time with this person. Your hour
or two in the cockpit had better be fun as you're going to spend 60ish hours
with this person (on average) in a space that makes a VW bug (the _old_ ones)
seem roomy. If you don't click well or especially if you grate - don't be
shy about trying someone else. The time to switch is in that first few
lessons when you won't spend a dozen hours retracing old steps to satisfy the
new instructor.
Other things to think about are make sure your instructor will be around for
your training. Most CFIs are younger guys working on their hours for their
ATP to get a "real" flying job. If you pick an older person who
loves flying your pretty safe.
There is nothing wrong with the younger guys. They tend to have great
enthusiasm and in some ways their own learning experiences are more recent
history so they remember different things than the older CFIs. But if you
pick get a younger CFI - ask questions like what are their plans and how close
are they to their ATP or a commercial job?
Do a realistic estimate of your instruction time.
You loose some ground visibility but it's still not bad and being able to see
the sky around you is nice. Some people complain that you cant see
directly behind you like a Cessna but I don't know how much you really see
imitating an owl to look out that old window in the back with the vertical
stabilizer blocking the middle view anyway.
But there is more risk on approach and descent. The most common mode
for mid-air collision in general aviation is on landing - especially when
merging traffic. Two of the biggest factors in these collisions are
traffic doing "straight-in" approaches colliding with planes turning
to final from a pattern and collisions between high wings and low wings.
A lot - here's my fairly honest accounting of what I
spent to become a Private Pilot Single Engine Land:
| Flight Training Costs |
|
|
|
Instruction + Flying |
|
|
Dual Aircraft Time (3.8 hours @ $94, 46.4 @ $74)+Tax |
$4,117.14 |
|
|
Solo Aircraft Time (5.2 hours @ $94, 58.6 @ $74)+Tax |
$1,515.53 |
|
|
Flight Instruction (50.2 Hours @ $35)+Tax |
$1,906.35 |
|
|
CFI Ground Instruction (5 Hours @ $35)+Tax |
$189.88 |
|
|
Total Flight Training |
$7,728.89 |
|
|
| Misc. Fees. |
|
|
Written Exam |
$70.00 |
| |
Practical Exam Fee |
$300.00 |
| |
3rd Class Medical Exam |
$85.00 |
| |
Total Fees |
$455.00 |
| |
|
| Supplies |
| |
Charts, Bag, Books, Kneeboard |
$327.85 |
| |
Headset |
$363.48 |
| |
Total Supplies |
$691.33 |
| |
|
| |
Total |
$8,875.21 |
This is probably a pretty good representative of
what it costs to learn to fly on a realistic budget. I took a total of
67.6 hours of flying to become a pilot including my check-ride. I had 0.8
hours not included here to fly home from my check-ride (at that point I was a
pilot so it's not included ;-). Supplies where probably on the high end -
I got a "Starter Kit" with a lot of study guides (good and helpful) and a basic
flight bag. I also invested in a good Active Noise Reduction headset.
I got about the cheapest good ANR headset I could find - the Lightspeed 15XL.
Great value.
I flew a few Cessna 172 hours and mostly Warrior
hours. I didn't do any time in a Cessna 152. I did do some of my
work - especially my night cross country and my long cross-country solo in a
newer Warrior (1998) with nice avionics including a Garmin 430 - that cost an
extra $20 an hour.
My ground school definitely saved me money. My instructor only got me
for 5.0 hours of ground - the little .2 here and there for each lesson.
Given that most people without a ground-school end up with 10-15 hours of ground
time it paid.
Could I have saved money - sure. I could have cut expenses close to
half by being cheap with the supplies - but the difference a good headset makes
on your radio and learning skills is huge. The study guides were also very
helpful. I passed everything on the first try and never had to repeat a
stage check or test so they did their job. I could have saved about $1200
by flying in a Cessna 152 - but I'm 200 pounds and 5'9". My CFI was in
fact light enough for us to train in a 152 and be legal - but it would not have
been much fun. I went through a school that did formal stage checks.
I probably would have saved about $500 in instructor and aircraft time if I
didn't have to do those. But my training was good and my stage checks were
valuable training tools and a great chance to get input from a different CFI -
so I'm not sure not having them would have really saved things.
My school and my CFI were both pretty conservative. Given what I've
seen with a CFI and/or a school with a little more aggressive attitude I might
have saved 5-10 hours before my solo but I'm not sure I would have saved any
time net as once I soloed the rest went very quickly and 67 hours is dead middle
of the bell curve for people who do it straight through at some reasonable pace
(but less than full time).
I have in all honestly spent about another $700 beyond the above amount in
supplies. As a completion gift to myself I got a better flight bag and a
2nd (better) ANR headset. I spent $280 on a combo deal of
Destination Direct IFR Pro Flight
Planning software and a 1-year Premium Pro membership at
Aeroplanner.com. Given that IFR
Pro is $250 by itself and this is a great deal - it includes full access to what
I think is the finest web based planning site and great PC based software as
well as a bonus of 50 full soft chart downloads. Also - after six months
of training charts and guides expire and just plane wear out. I pretty
much figure my San Francisco Sectional is only good for 3 months. After
that it's a new one for the plane and use the ratted up copy for flight planning
at home.
I'll probably get another headset or two for riders and I think a low-end GPS
is somewhere in my future. I also think a hand-held nav/comm is a
worthwhile investment for both backup and utility. But all that together
will only be another $1000 or so spread out over a year in all likelihood.
So I'm mostly set for now. I expect I'll have $500 a year or so in charts,
airport guides, and flight planning software updates. Compared to what
I'll spend just flying this isn't bad.
My goal is to be started on my Instrument ticket within six months and have
it within a year. So the next six months are just building time with an
eye towards as much of it as possible being cross-country. I'm budgeting
to spend $500-$600 a month flying which should let me get a couple of good long
trips a month in on my way to the 50 hours of cross-country I need as part of
getting ready to work on my instrument rating. That should be mostly done
in 4-6 months and then adjust the budget allow for taking a couple of instrument
lessons month and still be able to fly for fun a once or twice a month.
So you want to learn to fly - what next?.
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