Private Pilot License advice and info

[WPFY543]

Lots of good advice in here. Don't let the comments about cost scare you off too much before you have given it some exploration. While a high cost certainly represents the vast majority of situations, if you are willing to be patient and creative, you might find something that works out for you. I found a great CFI with rates (both instruction and plane rental) well below the average for my area. We have a fun group of mostly non-commercial pilots at our field. Except for the one guy with the teal Lambo, the rest of us drive 10 year old trucks and most have families at home. Finding this setup took persistence - visiting local airports, getting random names and numbers from people at the field, and deciding what was most important to me. I'm lucky, but those scenarios exist.

I've found it helps to think about the expense in larger chunks (specific rating, a block of time, a season/year). Even with good rates, the hourly expense feels painful. However, I didn't realize how much my out of state hunting trips cost until I really accounted for everything. It was easier for me to decide to hunt closer to home and reallocate that expense to my PPL this year.

What I can say, without hesitation, is that it's an absolute blast. It's mentally stimulating, very mechanical, and a nice break from my time behind a screen. For now, I'm wrapping up my PPL and then I'll be on to an instrument rating. Good luck!

 

[yfarm]

Interesting comments, have 2 neighbors retired colonels, one af, one marine. The marine was a fighter pilot, last flight in the military was his last flight, hasn’t flown since and had no desire to fly again.The af retired went to work for NW flying Minneapolis to Tokyo at the end. Had bypass surgery and was required by the faa to have cardiac cath every 6 months to verify stability of disease, turned 60 and was out the door.

 

[chaser_2332]

Interesting read, i recently started lessons for my
private pilot and really enjoying the experience. Even ground school as bad as it sounds is very interesting and I’ve learned a lot.

 

[type2bowhunter]

Interesting read, i recently started lessons for my
private pilot and really enjoying the experience. Even ground school as bad as it sounds is very interesting and I’ve learned a lot.

How do you feel now, over a year later?

 

[chaser_2332]

I’ve actually been grounded for the last bit ever since my prk surgery. My vision hasn’t recovered good enough for me to fill comfortable flying yet. Hoping in another month

 

[ShootOkHuntWorse]

I’ve actually been grounded for the last bit ever since my prk surgery. My vision hasn’t recovered good enough for me to fill comfortable flying yet. Hoping in another month

Wow I haven’t heard of that too much. Astigmatism at night or what are your symptoms?

 

[Geewhiz]

I got my ppl a year and a half ago. It’s a blast. It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done. Very expensive, especially to own a plane and maintenance/hangar fees etc., but if you can swing it, it’s a frigging blast.

 

[chaser_2332]

Wow I haven’t heard of that too much. Astigmatism at night or what are your symptoms?

It’s corrective surgery like lasik but for people with thin corneas and worse vision. Things just havnt came back into focus yet. I’m on track per my eye doc so I’ll wait it out.

 

[Cliff Gray]

I got my private pilot before I got my drivers license, mainly because I failed the later three times...

Flying is a fun, I never pursued it from a financial angle and still don't regret it.

Reflecting on my training and watching probably a dozen buddies go through it- You become proficient and capable by compressing as much training as possible into a short timeframe, make notes between training flights, go into each hour of flying with goals based on previous notes. I actually relied on Microsoft flight simulator a lot (this was 25 years ago) and it 100% helped.

Learning to fly had the unintended consequences of teaching me a lot about learning anything new.

Good luck.