Aug
24
Private Pilot License - Pre Solo Flight Training Costs
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Airfreddy asked:
Your Pre- Solo Training is the first Part of your Private Pilot License Training. In order for you to solo you have to be instructed and be found ” COMPETENT” in the areas listed in the Student Pilot Regulations of the FAA. I Have them listed in the Private Pilot License Requirements in my other articles.
Now there are 15 Aeronautical Experience areas that need to be covered and you need to be proficient at them. I am finding two different types of students have two different ideas about soloing.
The Younger Student: The younger students want to get soloed as fast as possible.
In Either case if the student is not ready to solo I move them forward.
For the purpose of this article I just add up the cost for you to get up to that phase of your training. If you are not ready to solo I just move on to the Post Solo Requirements.
If you take a look at the requirements you can see that there are 15 areas that you have to be instructed in and it has to be logged in your logbook with an instructors signature. I always tell students not to focus on the solo. You want to focus on being a safe pilot and getting your Private Pilot License done on schedule and on a budget.
Now in my syllabus I have 13 Flights to cover these areas with the addition of a Spin Entries Lesson and a Review Flight. In know that spin entries are not required but years back I had a student get himself into a spin. Since then I try and show every student spin entries and recoveries.
All of this training adds up to about 17 hours and 3-5 hours of ground instruction. Now you have to remember that is me. If you have a good dedicated instructor, you should be somewhere close to this. If you are at a school that is going through flight instructors left and right, you can expect having different instructors. This turns out to be more money. Once again the reason I tell people to plan things out ahead of time.
I will use an aircraft rate of $120 Per hour For a C-172 and $45 for the Instructor Since that is what I charge. You will find many different rates in different areas of the countries so just use my numbers as a guide for you. I have put 1.5 hours of solo time in here since your first and second solo should be close to this. If you are not ready to solo you will pick it up later on.
17 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour
1.5 Hours Solo @ $120.00 Per Hour
5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )
Total Dual Instruction $2805.00
Total Solo Time $180.00
Total Ground Instruction $225.00
TOTAL $3210.00
Now you want to remember this should be close with a dedicated flight instructor and flying on a regular basis. I would suggest 4 lessons per week. If you are not ready to solo, you should ask your instructor to move you forward. Most people have problems with landings so there is no reason not to move forward with the rest of the requirements because each flight you have to land. You will get the lightbulb to come on soon or later. Many times you will find that if you stop focusing on just landings you will start to get them nice and smooth.
One other thing you want to remember is you are not the only person in the world who has problems in certain areas. Most students in general have the same problems and usually it is landings. Don’t let it bother you, you have been driving a car all your life and it takes a very long time to break the habits.
Soloing is a great milestone but you want to remember that your main goal is to be a safe and confident pilot. I always ask students, would you rather solo in 10 hours or would you rather be prepared to handle any emergency that came up. You are dealing with a machine and sometimes no matter how well maintained they are, they are going to break.
Your goal is to “FLY THE PLANE” and handle the emergency so you can make it to happy hour.
Hope to see you in the sky
Airfreddy
GILBERT
Your Pre- Solo Training is the first Part of your Private Pilot License Training. In order for you to solo you have to be instructed and be found ” COMPETENT” in the areas listed in the Student Pilot Regulations of the FAA. I Have them listed in the Private Pilot License Requirements in my other articles.
Now there are 15 Aeronautical Experience areas that need to be covered and you need to be proficient at them. I am finding two different types of students have two different ideas about soloing.
The Younger Student: The younger students want to get soloed as fast as possible.
____________________________________________________________________
In Either case if the student is not ready to solo I move them forward.
For the purpose of this article I just add up the cost for you to get up to that phase of your training. If you are not ready to solo I just move on to the Post Solo Requirements.
If you take a look at the requirements you can see that there are 15 areas that you have to be instructed in and it has to be logged in your logbook with an instructors signature. I always tell students not to focus on the solo. You want to focus on being a safe pilot and getting your Private Pilot License done on schedule and on a budget.
Now in my syllabus I have 13 Flights to cover these areas with the addition of a Spin Entries Lesson and a Review Flight. In know that spin entries are not required but years back I had a student get himself into a spin. Since then I try and show every student spin entries and recoveries.
All of this training adds up to about 17 hours and 3-5 hours of ground instruction. Now you have to remember that is me. If you have a good dedicated instructor, you should be somewhere close to this. If you are at a school that is going through flight instructors left and right, you can expect having different instructors. This turns out to be more money. Once again the reason I tell people to plan things out ahead of time.
I will use an aircraft rate of $120 Per hour For a C-172 and $45 for the Instructor Since that is what I charge. You will find many different rates in different areas of the countries so just use my numbers as a guide for you. I have put 1.5 hours of solo time in here since your first and second solo should be close to this. If you are not ready to solo you will pick it up later on.
17 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour
1.5 Hours Solo @ $120.00 Per Hour
5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )
Total Dual Instruction $2805.00
Total Solo Time $180.00
Total Ground Instruction $225.00
TOTAL $3210.00
Now you want to remember this should be close with a dedicated flight instructor and flying on a regular basis. I would suggest 4 lessons per week. If you are not ready to solo, you should ask your instructor to move you forward. Most people have problems with landings so there is no reason not to move forward with the rest of the requirements because each flight you have to land. You will get the lightbulb to come on soon or later. Many times you will find that if you stop focusing on just landings you will start to get them nice and smooth.
One other thing you want to remember is you are not the only person in the world who has problems in certain areas. Most students in general have the same problems and usually it is landings. Don’t let it bother you, you have been driving a car all your life and it takes a very long time to break the habits.
Soloing is a great milestone but you want to remember that your main goal is to be a safe and confident pilot. I always ask students, would you rather solo in 10 hours or would you rather be prepared to handle any emergency that came up. You are dealing with a machine and sometimes no matter how well maintained they are, they are going to break.
Your goal is to “FLY THE PLANE” and handle the emergency so you can make it to happy hour.
Hope to see you in the sky
Airfreddy
GILBERT
May
25
Private Pilot License - Post Solo Training Costs
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Airfreddy asked:
The Post Solo Training Costs associated with the Private Pilot License are normally close to the pre solo phase but will burn your money up the fastest. Once you break this down you want to look at the big picture of the entire license. You don’t want to get stuck and run out of money because in this phase of your training, you are doing longer flights and will have more ground instruction.
Once again there are some requirements put out by the FAA that have to be done before you can do your solo cross countries. Some training syllabuses will do some of the things I list below before solo but I like to build each lesson on top of the other so you learn one thing and then integrate it into the next lesson.
A perfect example is the simulated instrument training. I have this broken into 2 post solo flights. That will get about 2.2 hours of simulated instrument time. Then I have a lost procedures lesson where we will get about another .3 hours then the rest I will pick up at the flight test preparation stage. Bottom line is you need the three hours but if you are getting a little here and then a little there, chances are someone misses it and the examiner picks it up on flight test day and then walks out because you aren’t qualified.
For our purpose here I will just list the requirements and then give you an estimate on the cost. The Private Pilot Post Solo requirements can be found at the link below. I will just outline the cost for you:
Private Pilot License, Post Solo Requirements
Basically there are 5 things needed before you can go on solo cross countries.
Soft Field Takeoffs and Landings
Short Field Takeoffs and Landings
Simulated Instrument Time
Vor Navigation
Cross Country Flight Training
Now the Hour Requirements are just for the Private Pilot License Aeronautical Experience but you have to have logged the above subject areas. I also Include the Dual Cross Countries Day and then all the night time Required.
1.5 Hours Dual Instruction for Soft-Field / Short-Field Takeoffs and Landings
2.2 Hours Dual Instruction / Simulated Instrument Instruction
4.4 Hours Dual Instruction for Cross-Countries
2.5 Hours Ground Instruction
3.0 Hours Dual instruction for Night Flying
5 Hours Solo Cross Country
In my syllabus, I have two dual cross-country flights, and each averages 2.2 hours. The FAA only has an hour requirement for the private pilot certificate, but I personally think that students need two different cross-country flights and about 2-3 hours of ground instruction. I am also going to add the solo cross country hours here since the goal here is to get the solo cross country requirements and move on to the flight test preparation portion of your Private Pilot Flight Training.
If we add this all up we get the following cost for this part of your private pilot training:
Private Pilot License Post Solo Cost
11.1 Hours of Dual Instruction @ $165 Per hour $1831.50
2.5 Hours of Ground Instruction @ $45 Per Hour $112.50
5 Hours of Solo Cross Country Flight $600.00
Total $2543.00
Once again with a good instructor and flying consistently, you should be close to this amount for this phase of your Pilot License Training.
Depending on the instructor or the syllabus you may do one day cross country and then one night cross country. I personally have two different day cross countries to different types of airports.
Hope to see you in the sky
Airfreddy
BRANDEN
The Post Solo Training Costs associated with the Private Pilot License are normally close to the pre solo phase but will burn your money up the fastest. Once you break this down you want to look at the big picture of the entire license. You don’t want to get stuck and run out of money because in this phase of your training, you are doing longer flights and will have more ground instruction.
Once again there are some requirements put out by the FAA that have to be done before you can do your solo cross countries. Some training syllabuses will do some of the things I list below before solo but I like to build each lesson on top of the other so you learn one thing and then integrate it into the next lesson.
A perfect example is the simulated instrument training. I have this broken into 2 post solo flights. That will get about 2.2 hours of simulated instrument time. Then I have a lost procedures lesson where we will get about another .3 hours then the rest I will pick up at the flight test preparation stage. Bottom line is you need the three hours but if you are getting a little here and then a little there, chances are someone misses it and the examiner picks it up on flight test day and then walks out because you aren’t qualified.
____________________________________________________________________
For our purpose here I will just list the requirements and then give you an estimate on the cost. The Private Pilot Post Solo requirements can be found at the link below. I will just outline the cost for you:
Private Pilot License, Post Solo Requirements
Basically there are 5 things needed before you can go on solo cross countries.
Soft Field Takeoffs and Landings
Short Field Takeoffs and Landings
Simulated Instrument Time
Vor Navigation
Cross Country Flight Training
Now the Hour Requirements are just for the Private Pilot License Aeronautical Experience but you have to have logged the above subject areas. I also Include the Dual Cross Countries Day and then all the night time Required.
1.5 Hours Dual Instruction for Soft-Field / Short-Field Takeoffs and Landings
2.2 Hours Dual Instruction / Simulated Instrument Instruction
4.4 Hours Dual Instruction for Cross-Countries
2.5 Hours Ground Instruction
3.0 Hours Dual instruction for Night Flying
5 Hours Solo Cross Country
In my syllabus, I have two dual cross-country flights, and each averages 2.2 hours. The FAA only has an hour requirement for the private pilot certificate, but I personally think that students need two different cross-country flights and about 2-3 hours of ground instruction. I am also going to add the solo cross country hours here since the goal here is to get the solo cross country requirements and move on to the flight test preparation portion of your Private Pilot Flight Training.
If we add this all up we get the following cost for this part of your private pilot training:
Private Pilot License Post Solo Cost
11.1 Hours of Dual Instruction @ $165 Per hour $1831.50
2.5 Hours of Ground Instruction @ $45 Per Hour $112.50
5 Hours of Solo Cross Country Flight $600.00
Total $2543.00
Once again with a good instructor and flying consistently, you should be close to this amount for this phase of your Pilot License Training.
Depending on the instructor or the syllabus you may do one day cross country and then one night cross country. I personally have two different day cross countries to different types of airports.
Hope to see you in the sky
Airfreddy
BRANDEN
Apr
6
The Pilot Interview Process
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Tobay Dytham Swifft asked:
When you decide that you want to become an airline pilot you must ensure that you fully research and understand the role of the pilot, what is expected of you and the roles of those around you.
Many people prepare for the pilot interview by reviewing the role of just the pilot but to truly demonstrate you have done your research you must show you understand how the first officer, cabin crew and air traffic control all fit.
If you take a minute to consider the roles of the cabin crew and air traffic control, the pilot would not be able to do his job without them. During the pilot selection process there will be interview stage not matter what airline you apply to and this is often the final part of the process.
An ideal candidate will show the recruitment team he has awareness of his own role as a pilot and the significance of the others around him.
There a number of topics and questions that the selection team can ask you during the interview stage. The best way to prepare for this is to develop and practice a number of general responses which you can then adapt on the day when asked about a specific area.
Those candidates that do not undertake any preparation often struggle on the day for the simple reason that they having nothing prepared and have to go with what ever comes into their head at that point in time.
Many struggle when put on the spot and start to panic and end up producing a confused and often mixed answer. By preparing for the pilot interview and creating some generic answers you will be able to recall on these during the interview.
To help you prepare for the pilot interview here are a list of areas which the recruitment team typically base their questions:
- your decision making ability (critical as a pilot)
- your leadership qualities (also another key characteristic)
- Emergencies situations (remaining calm is a key aspect here)
- Questions related specifically to the aircraft
- How to deal with problematic passengers
Now that you have an understanding of the type of questions that could arise you should now be able to prepare your answers to these. Remember, if you are asked a question try to link it back to a specific time and give an example of how you showed this.
For example, if you are asked a question about your leadership, do not just say that you have great leadership qualities, this is not a sufficient answers. Give an example of a specific time that you demonstrated these qualities. This is a key difference that separates the good candidates from those who really stand out and excel.
KURTIS
____________________________________________________________________
When you decide that you want to become an airline pilot you must ensure that you fully research and understand the role of the pilot, what is expected of you and the roles of those around you.
Many people prepare for the pilot interview by reviewing the role of just the pilot but to truly demonstrate you have done your research you must show you understand how the first officer, cabin crew and air traffic control all fit.
If you take a minute to consider the roles of the cabin crew and air traffic control, the pilot would not be able to do his job without them. During the pilot selection process there will be interview stage not matter what airline you apply to and this is often the final part of the process.
An ideal candidate will show the recruitment team he has awareness of his own role as a pilot and the significance of the others around him.
There a number of topics and questions that the selection team can ask you during the interview stage. The best way to prepare for this is to develop and practice a number of general responses which you can then adapt on the day when asked about a specific area.
Those candidates that do not undertake any preparation often struggle on the day for the simple reason that they having nothing prepared and have to go with what ever comes into their head at that point in time.
Many struggle when put on the spot and start to panic and end up producing a confused and often mixed answer. By preparing for the pilot interview and creating some generic answers you will be able to recall on these during the interview.
To help you prepare for the pilot interview here are a list of areas which the recruitment team typically base their questions:
- your decision making ability (critical as a pilot)
- your leadership qualities (also another key characteristic)
- Emergencies situations (remaining calm is a key aspect here)
- Questions related specifically to the aircraft
- How to deal with problematic passengers
Now that you have an understanding of the type of questions that could arise you should now be able to prepare your answers to these. Remember, if you are asked a question try to link it back to a specific time and give an example of how you showed this.
For example, if you are asked a question about your leadership, do not just say that you have great leadership qualities, this is not a sufficient answers. Give an example of a specific time that you demonstrated these qualities. This is a key difference that separates the good candidates from those who really stand out and excel.
KURTIS
Feb
7
Private Pilot License- Understanding The Private Pilot Cost
Filed Under Education | Comments Off
Airfreddy asked:
If you have been looking around the internet on information about the cost of a private pilot license, I am sure you have seen some articles written by people who are not even in the industry and others written by private pilots who may have just received their private pilot licenses.
Some of the information may be close and others are pretty far off. There are a lot of factors that will determine what a Private Pilot License (Certificate) will cost you. The first things you want to think about are:
1: Airplane Price Per Hour
2: Flight Instructor Price Per Hour
Depending on where you are in the country these rates can be dramatically different. These two rates will be the most important factors however, there are other factors that can dramatically increase your cost. I will give you some examples of things you want to look at.
1: The Flight School Itself: You need to poke your nose around the community and see what is going on. You will want to ask people who recently got their Private Pilot License and ask them how much it cost and how many hours they ended up having.
In many cases you will see much more than the flashy clean flight school. I know of many Flashy High Dollar Flight Schools that once you get out into the aviation community, you will want nothing to do with them. You may find many of the people you talk to ending up with an excessive amount of hours and may have had up to six instructors. I know this first hand since many of those students come to me half way through their training. This is one reason I always tell people to take some time and research and come up with a plan first.
There are on the other hand many flight schools that are concerned about their students and are willing to work with students to get them licensed in a cost effective manner. You just have to find them.
2: The Flight Instructor: If your instructor is not a good teacher your chances of getting your private pilot license in a cost effective manner get slimmer. You need to look into this. Other factors that have to do with the flight instructor is their aviation game-plan. If they are a good flight instructor that cares about his/her students you can plan with them and get things done in a cost and time effective manner. If you have an instructor that is just trying to get to the magic hiring number for an airline, your flight training will be compromised and you can plan on spending a lot more money.
3:Books and materials: In most cases you can get home study courses for about $200 or so. Some schools will require you get their $500 DVD packages. I have always told students to do what is best for them. All of the courses out there cover the same material taken from the official FAA publications. The material that is used for your practical test is the FAA publications.
4:Examiner Fees: This part most flight schools don’t even mention at all. Once again depending on where you are in the world, this price can vary a lot. One part of the country you may find a private pilot flight test for $200 but in others like here in phoenix it will around $400.
A few of these factors put together can make the difference between a happy safe confident Private Pilot and a frustrated student pilot. If you are on a tight budget and have been saving for a long time, these factors will make a difference.
Planning this out is the most important thing you can do. In order to pass the Private Pilot License flight test you need to be proficient. Depending on the rates, instructor, and Flight School You Choose, $8,000-$9,000 is a realistic budget and finishing at 45-50 hours is realistic.
The Planning process is the most important part. There are many delays that can happen, weather, maintenance and people getting sick.
For Explaining this I break the Private Pilot License Cost down into four parts. I do this so you can understand each phase of training. Then we will add it all up and you can see were the expenses are coming from. I have published an article on each one of the areas. I break everything down in the following manner:
Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost
Private Pilot License Pre-Solo Pilot Training Cost
Private Pilot License Post- Solo Pilot Training Cost
Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost
Private Pilot License Total Cost
Each one of these areas has a cost. It is easier to understand when you have everything broken down in front of you. Planning for the Private Pilot License is the most important thing you can do.
Hope to See You In The Sky
Airfreddy
JAMES
If you have been looking around the internet on information about the cost of a private pilot license, I am sure you have seen some articles written by people who are not even in the industry and others written by private pilots who may have just received their private pilot licenses.
Some of the information may be close and others are pretty far off. There are a lot of factors that will determine what a Private Pilot License (Certificate) will cost you. The first things you want to think about are:
1: Airplane Price Per Hour
2: Flight Instructor Price Per Hour
Depending on where you are in the country these rates can be dramatically different. These two rates will be the most important factors however, there are other factors that can dramatically increase your cost. I will give you some examples of things you want to look at.
1: The Flight School Itself: You need to poke your nose around the community and see what is going on. You will want to ask people who recently got their Private Pilot License and ask them how much it cost and how many hours they ended up having.
In many cases you will see much more than the flashy clean flight school. I know of many Flashy High Dollar Flight Schools that once you get out into the aviation community, you will want nothing to do with them. You may find many of the people you talk to ending up with an excessive amount of hours and may have had up to six instructors. I know this first hand since many of those students come to me half way through their training. This is one reason I always tell people to take some time and research and come up with a plan first.
There are on the other hand many flight schools that are concerned about their students and are willing to work with students to get them licensed in a cost effective manner. You just have to find them.
2: The Flight Instructor: If your instructor is not a good teacher your chances of getting your private pilot license in a cost effective manner get slimmer. You need to look into this. Other factors that have to do with the flight instructor is their aviation game-plan. If they are a good flight instructor that cares about his/her students you can plan with them and get things done in a cost and time effective manner. If you have an instructor that is just trying to get to the magic hiring number for an airline, your flight training will be compromised and you can plan on spending a lot more money.
3:Books and materials: In most cases you can get home study courses for about $200 or so. Some schools will require you get their $500 DVD packages. I have always told students to do what is best for them. All of the courses out there cover the same material taken from the official FAA publications. The material that is used for your practical test is the FAA publications.
4:Examiner Fees: This part most flight schools don’t even mention at all. Once again depending on where you are in the world, this price can vary a lot. One part of the country you may find a private pilot flight test for $200 but in others like here in phoenix it will around $400.
A few of these factors put together can make the difference between a happy safe confident Private Pilot and a frustrated student pilot. If you are on a tight budget and have been saving for a long time, these factors will make a difference.
Planning this out is the most important thing you can do. In order to pass the Private Pilot License flight test you need to be proficient. Depending on the rates, instructor, and Flight School You Choose, $8,000-$9,000 is a realistic budget and finishing at 45-50 hours is realistic.
The Planning process is the most important part. There are many delays that can happen, weather, maintenance and people getting sick.
For Explaining this I break the Private Pilot License Cost down into four parts. I do this so you can understand each phase of training. Then we will add it all up and you can see were the expenses are coming from. I have published an article on each one of the areas. I break everything down in the following manner:
Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost
Private Pilot License Pre-Solo Pilot Training Cost
Private Pilot License Post- Solo Pilot Training Cost
Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost
Private Pilot License Total Cost
Each one of these areas has a cost. It is easier to understand when you have everything broken down in front of you. Planning for the Private Pilot License is the most important thing you can do.
Hope to See You In The Sky
Airfreddy
JAMES
Jan
24
Private Pilot License - Total Flight Training Cost
Filed Under Education | Comments Off
Airfreddy asked:
In this article I am going to add the total cost of a private pilot license up for you. As you can see from breaking your private pilot training down into three sections and then adding in books and materials, this is probably quite a bit higher than most flight schools will lead you to believe.
Like I said there are a lot of great flight schools out there and then there are a lot of bad ones. The key to the entire process is planning and researching. From the other three articles here, I have put down all of the costs together to come up with a realistic cost estimate for you.This way you can understand what you are getting into before you start spending money.
Once again I will use an aircraft rate of $120 Per hour For a C-172 and $45 for the Instructor Since that is what I charge. Remember you will find many different rates in different areas of the country so just use my numbers as a guide for you. After you read this you can use the cost estimate workbook at the bottom of the page to plug in the rates for the aircraft and flight instructors in your area.
Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost. This is all the books and materials needed for your pilot training.
Private Pilot License Kit $200.00
Aviation Medical $100.00
Headsets $290.00
Total $590.00
Private Pilot License Pre Solo Cost. This is the Cost of your Pre Solo Flight Training.
17 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour
5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )
Total Dual Instruction $2805.00
Total Ground Instruction $225.00
TOTAL # 2 $3030.00
Private Pilot License Post Solo Cost. This is all the Post solo training required before you go on solo cross countries.
11.1 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour
2.5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )
5 Hours of Solo Flight Time @ $120 Per Hour
11.1 Hours Dual Instruction $1,831.50
2.5 Hours Ground Instruction $112.00
5 Hours of Solo Flight Time $600.00
TOTAL# 3 $2543.00
Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost. This is the cost to get prepared for your flight test.
3 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour
5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )
10 Hours of Solo Flight Time @ $120 Per Hour
Flight Test Examiner Fee
Flight test (airplane)
3 Hours Dual Instruction $825.00
5 Hours Ground Instruction $225.00
7.5 Hours of Solo Flight Time $900.00
Flight Test Examiner Fee $400.00
Flight Test (airplane) $180.00
Total # 4 $2,530.00
Total Private Pilot License Cost. This is everything all added up. This will give you a realistic idea of what a priivate pilot license will cost you.
Now when we add all of this up we get the following cost Estimate:
Books and Materials $590.00
Pre Solo Flight Training $3030.00
Post Solo Flight Training $2543.00
Flight Test Preparation $2530.00
TOTAL $8693.00
So you can see this is probably more than most flight schools will lead you to believe. There are some honest one out there. You just need to research before you start flying. Remember you want to plan and then get your private pilot license in the most cost effective manner.
Hope to See You in the Sky
AIrfreddy
SAMUEL
In this article I am going to add the total cost of a private pilot license up for you. As you can see from breaking your private pilot training down into three sections and then adding in books and materials, this is probably quite a bit higher than most flight schools will lead you to believe.
Like I said there are a lot of great flight schools out there and then there are a lot of bad ones. The key to the entire process is planning and researching. From the other three articles here, I have put down all of the costs together to come up with a realistic cost estimate for you.This way you can understand what you are getting into before you start spending money.
Once again I will use an aircraft rate of $120 Per hour For a C-172 and $45 for the Instructor Since that is what I charge. Remember you will find many different rates in different areas of the country so just use my numbers as a guide for you. After you read this you can use the cost estimate workbook at the bottom of the page to plug in the rates for the aircraft and flight instructors in your area.
Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost. This is all the books and materials needed for your pilot training.
Private Pilot License Kit $200.00
Aviation Medical $100.00
Headsets $290.00
Total $590.00
Private Pilot License Pre Solo Cost. This is the Cost of your Pre Solo Flight Training.
17 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour
5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )
Total Dual Instruction $2805.00
Total Ground Instruction $225.00
TOTAL # 2 $3030.00
Private Pilot License Post Solo Cost. This is all the Post solo training required before you go on solo cross countries.
11.1 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour
2.5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )
5 Hours of Solo Flight Time @ $120 Per Hour
11.1 Hours Dual Instruction $1,831.50
2.5 Hours Ground Instruction $112.00
5 Hours of Solo Flight Time $600.00
TOTAL# 3 $2543.00
Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost. This is the cost to get prepared for your flight test.
3 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour
5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )
10 Hours of Solo Flight Time @ $120 Per Hour
Flight Test Examiner Fee
Flight test (airplane)
3 Hours Dual Instruction $825.00
5 Hours Ground Instruction $225.00
7.5 Hours of Solo Flight Time $900.00
Flight Test Examiner Fee $400.00
Flight Test (airplane) $180.00
Total # 4 $2,530.00
Total Private Pilot License Cost. This is everything all added up. This will give you a realistic idea of what a priivate pilot license will cost you.
Now when we add all of this up we get the following cost Estimate:
Books and Materials $590.00
Pre Solo Flight Training $3030.00
Post Solo Flight Training $2543.00
Flight Test Preparation $2530.00
TOTAL $8693.00
So you can see this is probably more than most flight schools will lead you to believe. There are some honest one out there. You just need to research before you start flying. Remember you want to plan and then get your private pilot license in the most cost effective manner.
Hope to See You in the Sky
AIrfreddy
SAMUEL
Dec
11
The Cost of Learning to Fly and the Private Pilot License
Filed Under Education | Comments Off
Frederick Longe asked:
Since I started flying, I noticed that flight schools were not completely straight forward with the students. I was also a victim. Since that time I have grown into a Career Flight Instructor and we even a flight school owner. I owned and operated 5 airplanes and have had many flight instructors working for me.
One thing I always tried to do was be straight forward with students, telling them exactly what they were going to spend. Also to make sure they understand if they don’t stick with their training, the more it is going to cost.
The first thing you want to make sure you do is commit to getting your private pilot license. Many people will start learning to fly and then run out of money because a flight school wasn’t quite truthful about what it was going to cost. Another scenario is the student will let everything get in their way when learning to fly. In short many people won’t get their license because they don’t plan.
The first thing you want to do is plan. Would you just start building a new house without a plan? Probably not. So why do so many people just start taking flying lesson without a budget or plan?
So I will familiarize you with some terminology that you will need to know and start you going thru this entire process.
When you start looking around you will find a few things that are in the cost estimates of all the flight schools.
Dual Instruction: This is also known as flight instruction received. This is the time you are up in the airplane with your flight instructor. In the case of dual instruction the cost will include both the airplane and instructor.
Solo Time/Aircraft Rental: This is the time you will be renting the aircraft that is charged on a per hour basis like the dual instruction:
Flight Instructor: This is the charge per hour for the flight instructor.
There are some different ways that a flight school will word their cost estimates.
One school may have DUAL INSTRUCTION in an estimate and another school may have Aircraft Rental and Flight Instructor.
I will give you some sample prices below:
Flight Instructor Rate: $50.00 Per Hour
Aircraft Rental Rate: $96.00 Per Hour
Examples of a brief cost estimate from a flight school may look like this:
A: 40 Hours Aircraft Rental $3,840.00
B: 20 Hours Flight Instructor $1,000.00
Total $4,840.00
Another Flight School May have a cost estimate that looks like this:
20 Hours Dual Flight Instruction $2,920.00
20 Hours of Solo Flight $1,920.00
Total $4,840.00
In a lot of cases this will be it. Some schools do try and make this a little more realistic. But in general they all will stay very competitive. Since flying is very expensive they like to keep their cost estimates as low as possible to get the students.
You have to remember this is just pure business. So you may want to call it a scam or you may not want to call it that. I call it just telling the customer what they want to hear.
Now the FAA only requires 20 hours of dual instruction and 10 hours of solo for the private pilot license but there is still a minimum of 40 so you have to get them somewhere. I just put them under the solo hours.
Most of the schools will be honest about it if you start asking the right questions. You have to remember that there is a lot of competition in this industry and there aren’t enough students to keep every flight schools planes flying 100 hours per month. Bottom line is they need to keep the planes flying or they go out of business.
You will want to remember that the national average for private pilots is 65 hours. Most private pilot syllabuses are between 45 and 55 hours. There are to many things that need to get covered. If you want to be a safe pilot you should plan on over 30 hours of dual instruction.
With that said, you have just added another $2000 on to the above cost estimate. Remember this will also depend on the aircraft rental rates and the flight instructor rates. So you are already somewhere around $6,800 and you haven’t included any books, materials, medical expenses, flight test fees and any other costs you may have.
I have a made up a free detailed report on the cost of learning to fly. You can download it using the link below:
Learning To Fly, What it Will Cost You
Username: freeuser
Password: 88888888
The first thing you want to do before you start learning to fly is PLAN. I tell all of my students to plan on at least $7,500. You may want to add a little to that estimate since people learn at different speeds.
Once you start, don’t let anything get in your way. This is the best way to keep the cost down for a private pilot license. Remember that learning to fly is not like driving. You will need to be proficient in all the maneuvers and be a safe confident pilot. The quicker you can get it done, the better.
RUSSELL
Since I started flying, I noticed that flight schools were not completely straight forward with the students. I was also a victim. Since that time I have grown into a Career Flight Instructor and we even a flight school owner. I owned and operated 5 airplanes and have had many flight instructors working for me.
One thing I always tried to do was be straight forward with students, telling them exactly what they were going to spend. Also to make sure they understand if they don’t stick with their training, the more it is going to cost.
The first thing you want to make sure you do is commit to getting your private pilot license. Many people will start learning to fly and then run out of money because a flight school wasn’t quite truthful about what it was going to cost. Another scenario is the student will let everything get in their way when learning to fly. In short many people won’t get their license because they don’t plan.
The first thing you want to do is plan. Would you just start building a new house without a plan? Probably not. So why do so many people just start taking flying lesson without a budget or plan?
So I will familiarize you with some terminology that you will need to know and start you going thru this entire process.
When you start looking around you will find a few things that are in the cost estimates of all the flight schools.
Dual Instruction: This is also known as flight instruction received. This is the time you are up in the airplane with your flight instructor. In the case of dual instruction the cost will include both the airplane and instructor.
Solo Time/Aircraft Rental: This is the time you will be renting the aircraft that is charged on a per hour basis like the dual instruction:
Flight Instructor: This is the charge per hour for the flight instructor.
There are some different ways that a flight school will word their cost estimates.
One school may have DUAL INSTRUCTION in an estimate and another school may have Aircraft Rental and Flight Instructor.
I will give you some sample prices below:
Flight Instructor Rate: $50.00 Per Hour
Aircraft Rental Rate: $96.00 Per Hour
Examples of a brief cost estimate from a flight school may look like this:
A: 40 Hours Aircraft Rental $3,840.00
B: 20 Hours Flight Instructor $1,000.00
Total $4,840.00
Another Flight School May have a cost estimate that looks like this:
20 Hours Dual Flight Instruction $2,920.00
20 Hours of Solo Flight $1,920.00
Total $4,840.00
In a lot of cases this will be it. Some schools do try and make this a little more realistic. But in general they all will stay very competitive. Since flying is very expensive they like to keep their cost estimates as low as possible to get the students.
You have to remember this is just pure business. So you may want to call it a scam or you may not want to call it that. I call it just telling the customer what they want to hear.
Now the FAA only requires 20 hours of dual instruction and 10 hours of solo for the private pilot license but there is still a minimum of 40 so you have to get them somewhere. I just put them under the solo hours.
Most of the schools will be honest about it if you start asking the right questions. You have to remember that there is a lot of competition in this industry and there aren’t enough students to keep every flight schools planes flying 100 hours per month. Bottom line is they need to keep the planes flying or they go out of business.
You will want to remember that the national average for private pilots is 65 hours. Most private pilot syllabuses are between 45 and 55 hours. There are to many things that need to get covered. If you want to be a safe pilot you should plan on over 30 hours of dual instruction.
With that said, you have just added another $2000 on to the above cost estimate. Remember this will also depend on the aircraft rental rates and the flight instructor rates. So you are already somewhere around $6,800 and you haven’t included any books, materials, medical expenses, flight test fees and any other costs you may have.
I have a made up a free detailed report on the cost of learning to fly. You can download it using the link below:
Learning To Fly, What it Will Cost You
Username: freeuser
Password: 88888888
The first thing you want to do before you start learning to fly is PLAN. I tell all of my students to plan on at least $7,500. You may want to add a little to that estimate since people learn at different speeds.
Once you start, don’t let anything get in your way. This is the best way to keep the cost down for a private pilot license. Remember that learning to fly is not like driving. You will need to be proficient in all the maneuvers and be a safe confident pilot. The quicker you can get it done, the better.
RUSSELL