Training for PPL, Few questions.

[love2fly14]

Hello Members,
I just started flying school and using discovery in sudbury ontario. *great school and great staff so far.
I have done about 3 hrs of flying and it is going great.
I was just wondering if there is ways to reduce the cost on my flying.

Questions:

1. Do I need to continue with the same school until I get my PPL ?

2.Can I rent a block of hours and Hire a instructor to get my dual hours and solo hrs or they need to be done in a flight school. Ie:one of my friends is an instructor, can I hire him and rent a plane to complete my hrs.

3.My wife is also starting the ppl, so we are 2 ppl. Just looking for ways to reduce the costs. If any one can give me some ideas in how to reduce the costs it would be great.
Thank you

[Colonel Sanders]

1) No. Please make sure that every flight is
entered into both your PTR and your personal
logbook. Your personal logbook should be
regularly certified by your CFI and should remain
in your possession. The FTU holds the PTR until
you either complete your training, or when you
want to switch schools. Again, get your PTR
signed off!

2) No. What you are describing is perfectly legal
and safe in the USA but is completely illegal in
Canada, due to very successful lobbying efforts
of ATAC.

3) Don't teach your wife to fly, or drive manual
transmission.

[love2fly14]

Thank you for the fast response.
I guess no way around does fees.

Thank you for the suggestion of getting my personal logbook sign signed off.
I have been usng my logbook but it is not sign off, they sign off only the ptr.

I will asked them next time to sign my pers logbook.

[Posthumane]

Since both you and your wife are training, perhaps you should look into buying a small airplane (like a C150) and using that to train on. With you as the owner of the aircraft, you would be able to have an independent instructor teach you on it. After your training is done you can decide if you want to keep that particular plane or sell it off for almost as much as you paid and look into getting something else.

[love2fly14]

Since both you and your wife are training, perhaps you should look into buying a small airplane (like a C150) and using that to train on. With you as the owner of the aircraft, you would be able to have an independent instructor teach you on it. After your training is done you can decide if you want to keep that particular plane or sell it off for almost as much as you paid and look into getting something else.

this sounds interesting, will all my hrs count ? can I also do my solos?
Thank you

[Posthumane]

Yes, as the owner of an aircraft you can do all of your training on that aircraft, including solos, as can your immediate family (i.e. your wife). There is a bit of a learning curve with aircraft ownership though in addition to your regular flight training so it does complicate things slightly, though if you plan to continue to fly either privately or commercially then that knowledge may prove useful in the future.

[photofly]

Otherwise, if you want to learn at a flight school, ask that you and your wife can each sit in the rear seat while the other is having a lesson. Watching other students learn can be an extremely educating experience.

Of course that depends on you and your wife not minding that the other watches you make all the mistakes that you're going to make.

And that the aircraft has rear seats

[fozzi]

If both of you are progressing at the same pace, have the instructor PGI both of you at the same time. That'll cut the bit you spend on ground briefs in half. Also as photofly suggested, if you are learning in an airplane with rear seats, sit in on each other's flights (if you're not doing upper airwork). For things like navigation, diversions, precautionary, forced app, etc, it doesn't hurt to see more of.

[love2fly14]

If both of you are progressing at the same pace, have the instructor PGI both of you at the same time. That'll cut the bit you spend on ground briefs in half. Also as photofly suggested, if you are learning in an airplane with rear seats, sit in on each other's flights (if you're not doing upper airwork). For things like navigation, diversions, precautionary, forced app, etc, it doesn't hurt to see more of.

I just called my school and they do not allowed it. Chezzz It always has to be one on one. Not surprised. So I think my only way to make it cheaper is to buy an Airplane, but sounds scary.
I have been trying to do some research on the actual costs all in... inspections, maintenance, insurance, hanger...... But keep on getting different results. Also my fear is not to be able to sale the airplane when done.

I will do more research on this, If any one has more info on this, fell free to share. Appreciate all the help

[Posthumane]

Costs of ownership will vary greatly depending on the type of airplane you get, where you are, etc. I've posted details of my ongoing costs in a few other threads so search for them or let me know if you can't find them and I'll try to pull one up.

One thing to consider is what will you be doing after you get your PPL? If you plan to continue to fly recreationally then you may consider just buying an airplane that you can keep after you are done your training, so the need to sell it immediately will not be as much of an issue (as it is a valid concern - selling a plane quickly doesn't always work out). If you are planning to continue training towards your CPL then again owning a small aircraft is a great way to build experience for the first few hundred hours.

Edit: Keep in mind you don't have to be the sole owner of the plane. Having a share in one is good enough as long as other partners are okay with you training on it.

[love2fly14]

Costs of ownership will vary greatly depending on the type of airplane you get, where you are, etc. I've posted details of my ongoing costs in a few other threads so search for them or let me know if you can't find them and I'll try to pull one up.

One thing to consider is what will you be doing after you get your PPL? If you plan to continue to fly recreationally then you may consider just buying an airplane that you can keep after you are done your training, so the need to sell it immediately will not be as much of an issue (as it is a valid concern - selling a plane quickly doesn't always work out). If you are planning to continue training towards your CPL then again owning a small aircraft is a great way to build experience for the first few hundred hours.

Edit: Keep in mind you don't have to be the sole owner of the plane. Having a share in one is good enough as long as other partners are okay with you training on it.

my Goal is to get the CPL, also I want to get my instructor rating to accumulate hours. Thank you for your feed back. I will look for more info on this.
So afraid of making the wrong decision...

[CpnCrunch]

my Goal is to get the CPL, also I want to get my instructor rating to accumulate hours. Thank you for your feed back. I will look for more info on this.
So afraid of making the wrong decision...

Buy a Cessna 150 that has been flown regularly, unless you need the extra space of a 172. Then hire a reputable freelance instructor. You can also fuel it with unleaded autogas, as long as there is no ethanol in it. Note however that there are risks in both buying a plane and hiring a freelance, so do your homework! There are a lot of crappy planes and dodgy freelance instructors out there.

Another advantage of using a freelance instructor is that you're less likely to get 'death by briefing', which will save more money. You can then just do an online ground school.

The only potential issue is instrument flying. It might be worth getting a plane with a working ADF and VOR so you can do the instrument flying required for the private and commercial. If you want to get your instrument rating then you'd need an IFR equipped plane (or perhaps just do your instrument rating at a flight school, using as much of the simulator as you can).

Still, you may end up spending a lot of money on maintenance so it might not end up being any cheaper. I would only really recommend ownership if you intend keeping the plane after you get your CPL, and for the experience of owning a plane.

Bear in mind that I'm not an instructor, but if any of the above is wrong I'm sure I'll get corrected pretty quickly

[photofly]

The only potential issue is instrument flying. It might be worth getting a plane with a working ADF and VOR so you can do the instrument flying required for the private and commercial.

Actually you only need one or the other. And neither, of course, for the PPL, just to be clear.

[5x5]

I think most experienced instructors would not recommend doing PGI to 2 people at once. The whole intent of a PGI is to insure that the student (singular) understands completely and can perform in the air the exercise(s) being briefed. Trying to direct it to 2 people at once, both of which would have a different level of understanding would be incredibly counter-productive. Instead of saving money, it would probably cost more and the quality would suffer for both students.

And sitting in on flights is very over-rated as a learning scenario. You can't see much from a back seat as it is. If any effort is made to make the situation more focused/valuable for the observer it takes away a lot from the student in the front seat, who needs to be the complete focus of the instructor. At most, one time just for the experience of it might be worthwhile, but even that is questionable.