I've prepared this FAQ to address most of the common questions aspiring pilots ask when first discovering the aviation forum. The information in this document is to be used at your own risk and is subject to change

I've never been in a small airplane, where do I go if I just want to go for a ride?

Most flight schools offer introductory or "discovery" flights for between $50 and $100. Helicopter flights can be had for around $200.

There are also a lot of pilots who are happy to take someone up for their first time flying. I try to fly at least 5-10 hours a month to maintain proficiency and will often take people along if they ask.

What are the costs and how long does it take?

Under part 61 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, your private pilot rating requires a minimum of 40 hours total time, 20 hours of dual instruction and 10 hours of solo time. The other 10 hours can be either solo or dual.

There is also a "light sport" certificate that has less stringent medical and training requirements, but restricts you to carrying a single passenger, flying during the day and from flying in controlled airspace. I recommend that people go ahead and get their private pilot certificate as it realistically only requires marginally more training.

Flight schools will often give you a price list drawing up the costs. These price lists are the most optimistic from a cost perspective and frequently omit other costs, such as examination fees. I always tell people to expect to pay $10,000 and to never let the flight school or your instructor know that's your budget.

Some schools offer package deals to encourage students to pay up front. NEVER do this with an unfamiliar flight school. I would occasionally buy block time when I was working on my instrument rating, but I had gotten my private pilot rating from that school, was flying up to 8 hours a day and would buy time before going up. Flight schools are frequently financially unstable and are often sold or go out of business.

The average time most people have in the US when they get their private pilot certificate is 55 hours. Though I don't have statistics on the amount of solo time, I would most certainly think that it would be closer to 45 hours of dual and 10 hours of solo time. You also have the expense of your check ride at ~$450 and your FAA written exam at $150.

You can expect some of your instructional time to be on the ground, so while you have solo time in the airplane, you will also have some dedicated instruction on the ground.

A realistic sample breakdown of cost:

Airplane rental (with fuel): $120/hr
Instructor time: $45/hr

Airplane rental * 55 hours: $6600
Instructor * 50 hours: $2250
Headset: $150
Medical exam: $100
Books/materials: $250
FAA written exam: $150
FAA Check Ride: $450
––
Total: $9950

How do I find and select a flight school and instructor?

I haven't yet found a good, comprehensive directory of flight schools, but the following two sites seem to have some information:

http://www.airnav.com/ –– Use this to locate the airports in your area. Click the "Airports" tab and then enter your city. Flight schools also frequently operate as the FBO. Scroll near the bottom of your selected airport's listing and there may be listings under the heading labeled "FBO, Fuel Providers, and Aircraft Ground Support"
http://www.flightaware.com/ –– Enter your city on the left to select your airport (the search isn't as good as airnav's) and click the "FBOs" tab after selecting your airport.

Good instruction saves time, money and lives. I always recommend that people find a school that offers a part 141 program, but to do their training under part 61. A part 141 program has a slight reduction in minimum time required to take your check ride, but requires a strict sequence of training. This sequence can be a hindrance since your skills or weather may make it advantageous to focus on other things in your training.

The advantage in a school that offers a 141 training program is that the flight school, its instructors and airplanes have to meet more stringent requirements from the FAA in order to offer training. You will often find better qualified instructors and better equipment at these schools.

If you're flying a sketchy old Cessna 152 with an instructor that seems like he (or she) doesn't know what they're doing, you may find yourself losing all that money you think you're saving. While there are a lot of differing opinions on trainers, with the Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokees having a solid track record as trainers, I'm partial to the Diamond DA20 as my trainer of choice. Usually you can fly one for less than a new 172; they're fast (for a 2-seat trainer), efficient and I've only heard of one fatal accident in the airframe; and that one involved high-tension powerlines.

Another thing to consider are the airport facilities. An airport with two or three runways at different angles will give you more days to practice your first landings, but don't rule out an airport with only one as there are often others close by you can fly to and work on your landings.

The amount of operations running out of the airport are also a factor and can cause the price of your training to skyrocket. RDU has flight schools operating out of it, but you can expect to spend a few minutes on the ground waiting for clearance, possibly waiting in a queue of 737s waiting to take off and then having to fly 20 miles or so to get to a practice area. Not only can you waste 7/10ths of an hour of instructional and airplane time getting in and out, you may likely be fatigued by the time you get to the learning part of your flight. The interaction on the ground and departure with ATC, while working on the basics of flying, can really wear you out as a student pilot.

Why are people flight instructors? Most instructors, especially younger ones, are working as flight instructors to build experience to become airline pilots. Often they only get paid when they're charging for instruction. If they're training you, they get paid to fly instead of paying upwards of $100/hr to fly the plane; keep this in mind. An instructor with few students is often available, but also may try to milk their students for a little more time. Most instructors are trying to obtain 1500 hours however they can. Ideally your instructor will have at least 2000 hours and your school will have more than one instructor with that amount of experience.

You should get along well with your instructor. A good instructor should be able to let you spend most of the time at the controls and should only need to touch them to demonstrate maneuvers. Learning should be progressive. If you find yourself unable to grasp a concept, the school should let you fly with another instructor. The school that I attended for my primary and instrument rating insisted that, after completing a section of training, that you fly with another instructor to verify that your training was sufficient to fly solo or cross-country. Those were the flights where training deficiencies were caught.

Here is the general FAA section LINK which contains a PDF and online version of the first link quoted above http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/pilot_handbook/ as well as many others that will eventually be mentioned.


Having said that I like having a hard copy that I can make notes in, etc.


Another good one is http://www.amazon.com/Private-Pilot-Manual-Jeppesen/dp/088487429X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303071686&sr=1-2

Originally Posted By Screechjet1:
As a CFI, CFII, and MEI, please, pretty please with sugar on top, read ahead of every flight. Your CFI should brief every flight, and debrief every flight. Be a good student and have the aircraft pre-flighted for your instructor. Thanks. It shows you care.

.Mil students are great for this. Chair flying (pretend flying in chairs in a quiet room) esp. for procedural hops, especially in crew served aircraft is invaluable. The Snowbirds and Blue Angels chair-fly their routines.

The brief should cover the flight's events, with a discussion of the nuts and bolts of each evolution "At 5000 feet, you will slow to Va, do a set of clearing turn and then commence a clean stall with the aircraft at idle power. At first sign of developed stall, recover the aircraft with minimum altitude loss while maintaining or recovering to assigned heading."

The debrief should cover what was learned, things that went poorly/well, and a preview to what is going to happen next. This should give you a clue of what to read.

You should know the memory emergency procedures and limitations for your aircraft. Cold, from memory. Period. Its not difficult.

Check rides are won or lost, much of the time, in the first five minutes in the oral, the first five minutes in the taxi and the first five minutes in the airwork.

The first questions on the oral are usually either very basic general aviation or aircraft knowledge. Answer clearly, confidently and without hesitation.

The first five minutes in the taxi will demonstrate your general confidence in the aircraft and aircraft control.

The first airwork manuver, on just about every FW check ride is a set of steep turns. Do steep turns well and you've demonstrated to the examiner aircraft control and confidence.

A checkride's outcome should never be in doubt. Don't be cocky, but be confident of your knowledge, skills, and abilities. If you don't know, answer "I don't know." You generally get one or two of those in an oral. Don't abuse them, but don't lie. Sometimes, examiners will ask questions specifically outside of your required oral knowledge base just to test your CFI.

Your checkrides are a reflection on your CFI as much as you.

Originally Posted By SuperSixOne:


Going to have to disagree on the bold portion. All too often the CFI is the one that doesn't give two shits, he is building time and getting paid. If the student didn't care he wouldn't be coughing over $130 an hour to be there.

Originally Posted By Toiyabe:

There is also a "light sport" certificate that has less stringent medical and training requirements, but restricts you to carrying a single passenger, flying during the day and from flying in controlled airspace. I recommend that people go ahead and get their private pilot certificate as it realistically only requires marginally more training.

Originally Posted By RC12XPilot:
Don't be afraid to fire your CFI. The opinion you form about him or her in the first five minutes is valid. It's your money, time, and instruction.

Originally Posted By Brohawk:


One thing I've found is that it's pretty common for people who hold a PPL to speak condescendingly and disparagingly of the Sport Pilot License ("light sport" is the class of aircraft, Sport Pilot is the license). A coworker goes off on that rant when Sport Pilot comes up in a conversation. He goes on about how we're going to see inadequately trained quasi-pilots falling out of the sky and killing themselves. He speaks out his ass.

An advantage of the Sport Pilot license is that the cost is roughly half of a PPL. Considering about $8,000 for a PPL and $4,000 for the Sport Pilot rating, it's a good way to get a running start, and your time & experience can go toward eventually upgrading to a PPL.

A Sport Pilot is limited to an airplane of relatively modest performance, one passenger, and daylight VFR conditions. (There are more details on the bioundaries, but those are the main points). If you don't need to go Warp 6, are content to carry one passenger (like me taking my wife or a friend up), and aren't interested in flying in crappy weather, there is nothing wrong with the Sport Pilot license. It makes perfect sense for the person who has a desire to fly, but is limited by resources.

General aviation was in a serious decline due to the costs of getting a PPL. The Sport Pilot license is reinvigorating GA, bringing in many new aircraft manufacturers in addition to new pilots.

Just my 2 cents.