Short story, I have worked at the airport for a couple years on the ramp. Fascinated with the planes! Had my intro flight and fell in love with flying.
I have 10k life savings LOL and my ultimate goal is to be a flight Instructor.
my question is, would you get your recreational? or private pilot licence first?
I was told by my instructor I can complete it in as little time as 4 months or take up to 2 years.
How quickly should I try and get my licence?
out of personal experience how often should one fly to stay current and not forget what they are doing? The reason I ask that is so I can financially plan to
fly once I have my PPL while trying to save up or line up finances to get my commercial.
Also, is it best to save up before beginning the commercial portion or is pay as you go a good option? reason for this question is if I run into financial difficulty would it ultimately cost me more in the long run by having to have more lessons with the spread out time vs the consistent training.
hope this makes sense lol any opinions on what route to take, pro's and con's and best financial route would be greatly appreciated.
If your plan is to do a CPL then don't bother with recreational permit, do private right away.
When I was doing my training I took the pay as you go route, flying 3-4 times a month after obtaining my PPL. It took me 2 years, but I never had financial difficulties. I don't think this approach would require you to take more lessons than if you did it in a short period of time, because you would be refining skills that you've already learned, rather then learning new skills.
The cost for ground school is $300 for the ground school and about $250 for the books plus tax.
The flying will cost you $165 an hour with an instructor and for solo flights the cost is $110 an hour plus tax. In a Cessna 150 Most lessons are about one hour long
I have 10k that I can use towards my private licence. How often should I plan to fly to make it most beneficial for me? should I aim for 3 lessons a month or 3 a week..
I really don't think blowing threw the 10k in 4 months then being broke for a while would be a good idea but at the same time I think the more often I can fly the quicker I will learn resulting in less hours needed saving me money.
anxiety, stress and lack of guidance has brought me to a forum for advice and I appreciate all that I get
As you do your PRIVATE licence fly 3-4 times A WEEK if you can. Two times a week minimum. Last summer I had a student in exactly the same situation (10K inheritance) and he managed to go from zero to PPL flight test in 3 months spending just a couple of hundred dollars more than his budget.
If I do that and I complete it in just the few months, how often afterwards would you recommend I fly until I can financially afford to commit to the commercial portion?
how often afterwards would you recommend I fly until I can financially afford to commit to the commercial portion?
The beauty of it is, you don't have to "commit" to the commercial portion. Get your PPL, then bite stuff off in small chunks. Do these then in whichever order you can time and afford.
While you're wating to save enough for each of those, fly just enough to stay current within whatever rental policy you're working. For us, we require renters to have flown one of our aircraft within the last two months, most schools will be similar, but avoid a place where the currency policy is too onerus.
After you have all that done, then think about your commercial. If you have all the time above, you should meet most of the requirements, so your first step is hunting down how to complete CPL ground school and get the written done. Then work towards a flight test.
so what your saying is rather then just renting and flying solo, just hit these one by one and if financially unable to just make sure I am flying about once a month depending on the requirement from the school to stay current?
**edit- just to make sure I understand correctly lol sorry! for example if I am working on say my Multi-engine witch requires 12 dual.. those 12 dual I could do at 1 hour per month for 12 months if I was financially stuck?
just to make sure I understand correctly lol sorry! for example if I am working on say my Multi-engine witch requires 12 dual.. those 12 dual I could do at 1 hour per month for 12 months if I was financially stuck?
Where did you get these numbers from?
12 hours of dual for multi rating is too much.
45 hours of dual for PPL is also too much, unless you are training at a big busy airport and have to spend most of the lesson flying to and from the practice area... and why do you think you need 3 hours of SIM for your PPL?
Anyway, you can fly as often or as seldom as you want, but if you want to train efficiently, when you are learning something new, for example a multi rating, try to do it in a short period of time, flying 2-4 times a week. If you are doing time building you can do it once a month.
Also, you can do Commercial ground school online at your own pace rather than at an FTU.
I'm not sure if you misread some of these, but all of those times for those seem way off. If this is what you're getting quoted, I would look for a different school, or by Jove, do some shopping. I have no idea what a "High Density Course" is. Mountain training will also generally be dual, it wouldn't make sense just to go flog at it solo unless they're doing some sort of cheesy "supervised solo".
so what your saying is rather then just renting and flying solo, just hit these one by one and if financially unable to just make sure I am flying about once a month depending on the requirement from the school to stay current?
Yes. If you want to maximise the money you spend, don't be one of those guys who wastes time in a plane. Have a goal you're working towards. Even when you do solo renting - which you will have to do to get some of the time, don't be a joyrider. Make the most of it.
ItsJustMurray you have been getting very bad information judging by the courses and times quoted to complete them..for instance the " mountain course " is something that no two schools will teach the same, and like Shiney said I also never ever heard of such a thing as a high density course..
Never ever take anyone's word for how long anything takes....for instance the multi engine rating has no minimum time requirement. Find the regulation for each license, rating you need and read the requirements yourself.
If you want to learn to fly find a good flight school to learn at.
However if want to get screwed find a whorehouse.
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The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no
After over a half a century of flying no one ever died because of my decision not to fly.
The following table outlines the program costs. Once the Private Pilot License is achieved, the order of the course may be varied based on personal preference and the time of year (weather). Most of the PIC time building will need to be completed prior to the group 1 Instrument Rating Flight Test to meet the 50 Hour Cross Country requirement for that rating
Full-time students (2 bookings per day – 5 days per week) can expect to complete this program in 5-6 months and part-time students (2 bookings per week) should plan about 21 months. For those students who already have a Private Pilot Licence, plan about 4-5 months for full time studies and 14 months for those doing the Professional Pilot Program on a part-time basis
Total from Zero Flight Time Prices do not include GST 60,755
Upon completion you will have a Commercial Pilot’s License with a Multi-Engine Instrument Rating. This will be achieved within the 200 hours required by Transport Canada for the Commercial Pilot License. By taking this all-inclusive Professional Program versus an ad hoc approach to the Commercial Pilot License there is a significant savings (in excess of $14,000!!) as you don’t have to add the cost of the Multi-IFR on top of the Commercial Pilot License. Abbreviations: Dual = Aircraft Plus Instructor Solo = Aircraft Only – Sole Occupant PIC = Aircraft Plus Instructor for Mountain & High Density Courses PIC* = Aircraft with or without Passengers PGI = Preparatory Ground Instruction (Briefings) Sim = Approved Single Engine & Twin Engine Simulator RON = Overnight Expenses FT = Aircraft Only – Flight Test GS = Ground School Fees = Landing & Airport Fees, Licensing, written exams and flight tests
Thank you everyone!
I have decided to look around for another school. I found one out in the country that is a lower per hour cost as well as not being at a busy location waiting for clearance and such is not an issue in return allowing you to maximise the time spent flying.
I thought the above list of "requirements" was a chart I should follow.
I will try and piece together my own chart so I can not just " joy ride " and have goals instead.
perhaps does any one have a link to a similar chart of the required minimums or could help me piece one together so that I can stay on track threw out this all.
Sole Occupant PIC = Aircraft Plus Instructor for Mountain & High Density Courses PIC*
Not sure how places get away with sending instructors along when students are counting PIC. Very cheesy, run far away. Either way, quotes for prices of that school are high. My advice: find another place.
I am happy I came on this website lol I enjoyed my intro flight and was ready say TAKE MY MONEY lets fly!
This new school I have inquired about sent me this email:
Our Next ground school starts Wednesday September 3rd one evening, a week, 7:00pm to 10:00pm for 17 weeks
The cost for ground school is $300 for the ground school and about $250 for the books plus tax.
The flying will cost you $165 an hour with an instructor and for solo flights the cost is $110 an hour plus tax. In a Cessna 150 Most lessons are about one hour long.
The total cost for a recreational pilot permit is about $7000 and for a private pilot license is about $9000 plus taxes this is pay as you go. You pay for your flying after each lesson. Getting your license could take as long as two years or as little as four months, it is up to you.
We also have a Cessna 172 that is used for instruction as well at a little higher cost.
We offer an introductory flight lesson for $60 plus tax. This is your first lesson where you learn to fly the aircraft straight and level, it will last for about half an hour. After this lesson you can decide if you wish to continue learning to fly. You can start flying before you start ground school.
I am just to figure out what the actual requirements are and are each one of those steps necessary ie: the 2 day mountain course or is that stuff optional?
I found there breakdown to be very straight forward, however now I understand it is not set up properly and would like to remake it so I know what goals to work towards.
I am happy I learned from you guys that rather then joy riding getting random hours I should just pluck away at one of the requirements.
sorry for sounding like a broken record lol I am about to commit to spending a lot of money towards my CPL and don't want to mess it up just because I didn't ask questions.
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Last edited by ItsJustMurray on Sat Aug 16, 2014 11:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I am just to figure out what the actual requirements are and are each one of those steps necessary ie: the 2 day mountain course or is that stuff optional?
It is optional at best and is often nothing more than a waste of your money as far as learning much of value.
Next course I can see coming down the tube is a Prairie flying course designed to teach people how to get from A to B on the prairie.
I found there breakdown to be very straight forward, however now I understand it is not set up properly and would like to remake it so I know what goals to work towards.
Forget a breakdown from a school, find a school and an instructor you can work with and start your training....as you progress you can research what you are getting...if you are not satisfied change instructors or change schools.
---------- ADS -----------
The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no
After over a half a century of flying no one ever died because of my decision not to fly.
Cat Driver wrote:
It is optional at best and is often nothing more than a waste of your money as far as learning much of value.
Next course I can see coming down the tube is a Prairie flying course designed to teach people how to get from A to B on the prairie.
In some ways Cat, you have to applaud the effort. I mean if someone can dress stuff up and sell it for a higher price, all the power to them. There's apparently market demand for such things. You probably could sell a "Prairie Flying Course" if one was clever enough. I'm not sure what the "High Density Course" (is it high density traffic area or high density altitude flying - no one knows!) is, though I'd bet I know lots of people who think it would be a great resume filler, and a bit of bragging rights at their flying club meeting.
But this thread is illustrative of one of the problems with flight training. While our OP is shopping, why hasn't he looked right at the source? TC publishes all the stuff on what all their specific ratings are. Minimum times and requirements. Why isn't that every prospective student's first stop? They would quickly find out there is no such thing as a mountain rating or high density rating. For quotes offered from FTUs or instructors, they can compare directly, then ask the big questions.
^ I agree. It was naïve of me to go to the flight training school next to my job at the airport and inquire about flight training. They provided me with a print out of the above chart and said these are the steps to becoming a private and commercial licence holder. I looked at it as perfect, a break down of hours and requirements that I can make as my goals to see my progress and continue to the next step.
Actually I now am not sure if either I should not go back or go back and ask them wtf is up with that. Is this a course they designed and recommend to make sure your well versed in all areas but above and beyond the actual requirements? If so that is fine and understandable but should have been explained to me when I inquired.
I just don't want to be that guy joy riding when I should have had a break down of requirements to work towards not just PIC hours.
I will look up the TC website and try and build my own chart that I can check off as I go along with my training.
Again, I am happy I joined this forum and didn't just start with block one of there program. Maybe if it wasn't so expensive I would just because hah but due to the costs associated I would rather do it the most productive way and not there recommended way.
lets fly!
