Time and Money

It takes the average person over 60 hours of flight time to get a private pilots license. There will normally be a 2-4 hours of ground work for each of these hours - including self-study, watching videos, doing tests/exams (mock and real), theory sessions with the CFI, flight planning, pre-flighting the plane etc. Given most people can only fly on the weekends this stretches the elapsed time out a lot. Also bear in mind that weekends get busy so you may not be able to fly when you want to - the planes and instructors may be booked well in advance. Weather will blow you out on many weekends - could be poor visibility or icing in winter - or thundershowers and winds in summer. Plus you may have a few things on the weekends apart from flying that you absolutely need to do - or a team that you follow which will be vying for your time/support in the pub. Speaking of which - flying limits your drinking and socializing time - you must be rested and alert for flight (so no late nights before an 8am flight)... and there must be a minimum of 8 hours since your last drink before you fly (you must not be hungover either)

Time is money. The longer you take to get certified - the more it will cost. (You will need some time to remember/refine things after a break - before you get back into developing new skills.) Each hour you spent in the plane with the engine running could be from $100-130 (North-East US prices). Each hour with your instructor (on the ground or in the plane) will be $50-60. Add that up for all the hours above. You may want a ground kit (you may need one if the flight school uses them) containing books, DVDs and mock-tests etc. These are normally tailored to the FAR-141 or 61 curriculum to ensure you are instructed in a standardized manner. They cost around $300. A Third Class medical certificate is needed from a FAA accredited doctor (Aviation Medical Examiner)- about $100. The FAA knowledge and practical tests cost a couple of hundred. You may want to buy your own flight gear (flight bag, headset $200-300, fuel tester, flight computer etc) which will add up also. More on those later.

But as you can see - the cost adds up pretty quickly. So make sure you have savings or a steady income to support it. Expect it to be upwards of $9000 depending on how quickly you get it done and how much the plane rental is. (BTW: don't rent the most expensive plane at the school - use a workhorse plane to learn the basics rack up most of the hours. You don't need GPS on the plane if you are practicing landings - and you can't use it for your cross country navigation anyway)

Some schools will let you bulk buy time in advance for "a discount" but most will want you to pay as you go which can help spread the cost over several months. I would be wary of any school offering a fixed cost as you won't know in advance how many hours you will need to be comfortable let alone to get your license. Some schools offer financing - as do some banks with student loans... and you can also do this via Sallie-Mae (https://www.salliemae.com) if still offered and you qualify.

Why are you doing this?

Like I said - you need to figure this out. It will be a big commitment of time and money - but more on that later.

Maybe you are going into flying as a career... to become a CFI (Certified Flight Instructor), a commercial pilot, a airline pilot etc. There will be more stringent requirements as your responsibility increases past just being a private pilot. The training and flight hours requirements are MUCH more substantial (250 hours for a Commercial pilot and 1,500 hours for an airline pilot) and your physiological requirements are higher (and medicals must be done more regularly). The hours and the costs go up and up with higher certification... so don't expect to be an airline captain any time soon. Also if you intend to be an airline captain - make sure the airlines are hiring so you will be able to pay off the loan you took out for training.

Or maybe you're doing it as a hobby. It's expensive and it takes a lot of time. So many people think of taking it up as they approach retirement as they tend to have decent amount of both money and time. But better to get into it sooner so you have more time to enjoy it and take advantage of your increased freedom to travel.

Maybe you're doing this to distinguish yourself or become part of some elite band of human beings that can soar with the birds. Quite possibly - but bear in mind there are over 500,000 pilots in the US alone so you are in good company and maybe not quite that elite.

Whatever the reason it had better be good enough to encourage you through to the end or you will be wasting time and money.

Why am I doing this?

There have been a few times that I thought this when the alarm went off at 5:30am so I could make an 8:00am flying lesson in New Jersey. But I know why I am doing it and you need to know why you are doing it also. It's a big commitment of your time and money - and will limit what you can do with the rest of your free time while you are learning too. So you need to be sure you want to do this before you start.

But why am I doing this Blog? Just to jot down some thoughts and experiences - hopefully they will be useful to others and it will help me remember too. I started flying lessons nearly 4 months before this initial post - so I will recollect those times as best as I can and will hopefully catch up to realtime as I am soloing in preparation for my license.

As most of us are - I was fascinated by flight as a child. We made model aircraft from kits (all the old AirFix greats from WW2 and onwards) - and also balsa wood gliders and wire-controlled planes powered by BabyBee engines. My first flights on commercial airliners were when they used to allow smoking on planes - and noise and emissions regulations weren't in place. It was exciting though - and although the increased security of modern times has made flying a drag for most people - I still enjoy it.
 
I used to play flight-themed video games - including the venerable Sopwith, FlightSimulator 1, F15 Strike Eagle, Fighter-Bomber, F16 Fighting Falcon, F117A Nighthawk etc. I still prefer simulations to action games and I have FightSimulator10 (FSX) on my PC. I could visually identify most of the WW2 and cold war era planes - and visiting an airshow or flight museum was (and still is) a big thing. Watching the RedBull Air Race in NY in earlier in 2010 was amazing - and every time I go to the Smithsonian Air and Space museums I am like a kid again.

The US is a big and amazing place - and with a large network of airports it makes travel and exploration by light aircraft easier than anywhere else. You could pop up to Maine for a day trip or do a different kind of sightseeing when you are next in Florida. The number of airports also means a good number of flight schools to choose from - and a lot of varied experiences with busy and controlled airspaces - which makes it a good place to learn.

So why am I doing this? I will stop rambling (hopefully future posts will be short and to the point):

1. I love the physics of flight and have always been fascinated by it
2. I am in the US where there's a great network of airports and amazing stuff to see
3. I had a bunch of money saved up for the purpose
4. I have an understanding and supportive girlfriend - who will also be occupied for the next few months training for an IronMan and won't mind me studying, practicing on the simulator and waking up early on the weekends to go up for lessons