Time in which to acquire a PPL

[Pilot101]

I dont mean to be a thread whore here, but looking for the right answers in the right place. Would one recommend spreding out the time in which it takes to complete the PPL, say over several moths or would it be beneficial to do it in a couple of weeks working longer days and busting ones ass so to speak. I was just thinking that if I can get it done in less time then I can concelntrate on building time and experience. Thoughts.

[Adam Oke]

Do it as quickly and as stress free as you can. I wouldn't be able to give you a set time frame, because everyone is different. If you can avoid having to pay for your PPL via paycheck to paycheck then you're set. Take that wad of money ... don't give it away until the bill arrives. Eat, Sleep, Breath Flying. Have your own coffee pot, coffee and mug at the FTU and basically live there. I found studying at the FTU was more efficient then studying at home because a) Instructors are right there, and b) There stuff at home to do.

The faster/closer all of your training is, the more you are going to retain, and less you are going to have to review. Thus less money wasted on review. Try to stick with one instructor, but ensure that you jump around to a few others to pick up on faults that your main instructor may have. Two or three heads are better than one.

My opinion is to get it out of the way asap … same with the CPL.

Also when it comes to time building, don’t build it in the circuit. Go somewhere! And make sure you go somewhere at NIGHT, by yourself! You won’t be kicking yourself in the ass come ATPL time. That one thing that I may run into trouble in the future with.

[Grey_Wolf]

Long story short ... Work on it at your pace.

The pace that is set though, may be faster or slower pending on some factors such as your instructor's ability to teach and your comprehension of the material, the weather, aircraft availability/maintenance, financial considerations, personnal commitment/determination/moviation, etc ...

I've taught students that completed the course in 6-7 weeks (Air Cadets Power Scholarhips), flying 1-3 hours a day/6 days a week, and doing ground school 4 hours a day/6 days a week, plus "homestudy" of 2-3 hours per night ...

And some "Civilian" Students that flew 2-3 times a week get in done in 5-7 months; doing ground school for 3-4 hours a week for 17 weeks
Homestudy was up to them, but I normally gave 1-2 hours of reading the FTM, digging through the CARs/AIM/POH, etc ...

As an extreme ... My "quickest" Air Cadet Student was ...
Solo at 7.6; Dual XC at 21.2; Solo XC at 25.6; Pre-Flt Test at 34.6; Flt Test at 41.4

Course Completed 45.1
- 31.2 Dual; 13.9 Solo; 5.1 Instrument; 3.0 Dual XC; 7.4 Solo XC

Academics
- 94% PSTAR;
- 84% on PPAER
- Flt Test Score 119/124
5 items at score of 3, all other 4's

Other Cadet Scores

1 - PSTAR 96%; PPAER 88%; Solo 9.6; Dual XC 19.1; Solo XC 26.0; Pre-Flt 38.0; Flt Test 42.0, Score 107/124
2 - PSTAR 98%; PPAER 74%; Solo 8.5; Dual XC 21.6; Solo XC 24.6; Pre-Flt 36.0; Flt Test 41.5, Score 110/124
3 - PSATR 100%; PPAER 74%, Solo 10.3; Dual XC 22.8, Solo XC 24.3, Pre-Flt 40.4 Flt Test 42.7, Score 108/124


Civilian Students
(do not have copies of their PTR's, so I can't "benchmark" the same as the above)

1 - PPL tested at 33.4 Dual, 10.9 Solo, Passed with 111/124
2 - Dual RPL/PPL tested at 37.5 Dual, 11.7 Solo, Passed RPL with 71/84, PPL with 106/124
3 - PPL tested at 36.3 Dual, 11.6 Solo, Passed with 106/124
4 - CPL tested at 89.8 Dual, 91.7 Solo, Passed with 115/132

[moetorious]

I dont mean to be a thread whore here, but looking for the right answers in the right place. Would one recommend spreding out the time in which it takes to complete the PPL, say over several moths or would it be beneficial to do it in a couple of weeks working longer days and busting ones ass so to speak. I was just thinking that if I can get it done in less time then I can concelntrate on building time and experience. Thoughts.

i finished it in 2 month by flying twice a day, although there were some bad weather days taht my flight had to be cancled. make sure u get it out of th eway as quick as u can thou.

[MyMeowCat]

It's taking me greater than 6 months due to many things beyond ANYONE'S control but here's what I'm finding I'd rather get it over with ASAP -- meaning you eat, sleep, drink and work it because:

If you spread it out -- it cuts into your other things that need attention. Example -- say 1 flight hr per day -- you have to get to the airport, brief, do the lesson, drive back, ect which kills off half a day -- what are you going to do for the other half?

The longer you continue -- you might lose your motivation, retention, and other things will get in the way.

If there is something you can't deal with/learn/work-around/accept about aviation -- you'll at least find out in 2 months rather than 8 months.

If you get stuck -- it can be time consuming and frustrating -- I know for most people it's that cold temperature effect on altimeters etc. It can take you days to figure that one out.

As a newbie -- I found that even after a few days gap -- that it'll impact how well you can actually maneuver an airplane. Especially if you get a surprise instruction from ATC or instructor asking you to do something introduced from 4 weeks back (which you probably haven't reviewed since). Trust me -- you'll forget more than you think.

I found at times -- switching around instructors can be bad because one instructor thinks the other one covered off certain kinds of stuff then expects you to know it. Which might happen if you drag it out over a few months.

Some professional coaches (ie Olympic level/pro basketball) get player to at least "visualize" in your mind the play and the movements if you're in the off-season-- but i think if you're a newbie (who might get grounded for bad Wx for long times) -- you really don't know what to quite visualize and might get the wrong thing burned into your mind...in other words you don't know what to visualize between days off.

However I wonder that if you "accelerate" it -- like cramming for an exam -- might you not forget all that stuff soon afterwards? In other words easy come easy go?

[Wacko]

I was just thinking that if I can get it done in less time then I can concelntrate on building time and experience. Thoughts.

are you planning to continue to commercial? If so... get you night rating as soon as you feel comfortable. Night X-Country is required for you A's and can be hard to come by.

[Pilot101]

Again thanks everyone, this is great info. defintely looking at my Commercial later on, but at this point just want to be able to stay in the sky. Looking to get the PPL done first and over several years build time and experience flying. Basically making this a five year plan to have everything from PPL, CPL and floats all done with all the endorsements required to be as versatile as possible. Thanks again.

[MichaelP]

Once upon a time I rented aeroplanes to people in England.

The USA and the three week PPL happened then, but those were more uncomplicated times for flight training.
It's more complicated now.

Just to be short about it... If the three week PPL trainee had not had any previous flying experience, nor had done a lot of study before taking such a short course, that new PPL was a huge liability.
I had to train such people all over again in order to ensure they were safe in my precious aeroplanes.

There's a minimum time required to learn and digest flight training.
This time grows longer as the student grows older... A forty year old is unlikely to be able to do a three week PPL, but an eighteen year old might.

The three week PPL candidate must see only good VFR conditions throughout that period... Losing a day or two for bad weather is not good.
In good weather perhaps there's little wind, no crosswind... There are many things to be missed.

This is the blurb I put out:

• PPL; Transport Canada requirements
 Medical Category 1 or 3
 45 hours Minimum
 17 hours dual
 12 hours solo
 40 hours ground school
• Reality
 More than 70 hours is the Canadian average for PPL completion.
• **** Flight Centre
 If more than 60 hours taken for PPL course we look at ourselves critically!
• The learning process
 The importance of home study.
 We learn to fly on the ground and practice it in the air.
 The three week PPL vs taking 6 months.
• In two days you forget 30% of what you learned.
• In one month you forget 60% of what you learned.
• A review in 7 days and again in 28 days enables you to retain nearly 90% of what you learned.
• Ground school
 Continuous rotation through lessons.
 $350 for course and able to attend again and again until PPL completed.
 Some ground school time from pre flight briefing.
• Flight school
 May be done at the same time as ground school
 Pre solo air regulations exam: PSTAR
• Study guide through http://www.tc.gc.ca TP 11919
• All exam questions plus references above
 Solo at around 15 hours
 Cross Country Flying
• Solo 150NM Cross Country requirement.
 Transport Canada PPAER written Exam $105.
 Final polishing up
 Flight Test [~$200 examiner fee]
 PPL issue fee $55
• Summary of costs based on 60 hours, 45 Dual, 15 solo:

The "28 day" review does not exist in the three week scheme!

[wxnut]

I dont mean to be a thread whore here, but looking for the right answers in the right place. Would one recommend spreding out the time in which it takes to complete the PPL, say over several moths or would it be beneficial to do it in a couple of weeks working longer days and busting ones ass so to speak. I was just thinking that if I can get it done in less time then I can concelntrate on building time and experience. Thoughts.

Don't move forward statistically on 'how long it takes to get ur PPL.' You've seen fine examples of how quick or how slow it could take.

If you're looking to make a career out of flying, learn the basics. It's like building a pyramid but not laying out the base with all the properties. Make sure everything makes sense to you and take it at your own pace. Learn the essentials, and no, you don't have to memorize every bits and pieces of the CAR's.

Good Luck !