Hi Gents,
I'm looking for some advice. I'm starting my PPL in September (FINALLY can afford it) and after that, I'm looking to get my Night Rating and CPL, but I'm a tad confused on the hour building needed as a pre-req to the CPL.
Assuming my do my PPL in a modest 55 hours (10 more then the minimum 45 hour requirement...lets blame that on booze)...and adding 15 or so onto that for the Night, I'm set to stand at 70-75 Hours total before I'm ready to start my CPL. Now lets say the CPL course takes me the minimum 65 hours, that leaves me at about 135-140 hours total, but in order to get my CPL, I need 200. That means I need about 60 hours on my own to build up. How do most guys get these hours, because thats a lot to fly just on your own...a lot as in $$$ a lot.
Do some guys do their MEIFR before the CPL??? Having read the thread about EI playing for the MEIFR (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52036), would you still be able to get EI to do that if the MEIFR comes BEFORE the CPL?? I'm not trying to swindle the Man too much, but being a 20 yr old in a single income family makes affording flying hard as hell.
Thanks guys.
Building Hours for CPL/Order of obtaining ratings
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Re: Building Hours for CPL/Order of obtaining ratings
I started my commercial training after doing a PPL, a float rating, and had about 100TT. I did my Group 1 IFR for my commercial buildup. I counted the dual IFR hours as part of my CPL dual requirement, and the IFR hours took care of themselves and then some.
The caveat was the cross-country requirement (IIRC, 40 hrs PIC to hold an IFR rating) and you can't count any of your IFR trips as cross-country. So all my PIC building time was cross-countries. I would make sure to land at every airport along the way to keep fresh and the plane I flew didn't have a GPS. Did a couple hours of review and tidied up a few things at the end and wound up with a hair over the minimum requirements.
The only thing I would have changed was getting my night rating earlier. I went straight into IFR rather than doing night first. By the time I was ready to finish my night rating (I needed 1 hr dual), no instructor in their right mind was going to stay up to midnight in the middle of summer to finish it. Then I would have done most of the cross-countries at night to help with the ATPL requirements.
The caveat was the cross-country requirement (IIRC, 40 hrs PIC to hold an IFR rating) and you can't count any of your IFR trips as cross-country. So all my PIC building time was cross-countries. I would make sure to land at every airport along the way to keep fresh and the plane I flew didn't have a GPS. Did a couple hours of review and tidied up a few things at the end and wound up with a hair over the minimum requirements.
The only thing I would have changed was getting my night rating earlier. I went straight into IFR rather than doing night first. By the time I was ready to finish my night rating (I needed 1 hr dual), no instructor in their right mind was going to stay up to midnight in the middle of summer to finish it. Then I would have done most of the cross-countries at night to help with the ATPL requirements.
Geez did I say that....? Or just think it....?
Re: Building Hours for CPL/Order of obtaining ratings
I was just talking to someone not 10 min ago who is doing just that. After completing the PPL he got his multi rating and is working on his IFR. He has not completed the flight test or written test for the CPL yet though. That's also the way I am doing it now as well. Does it really take all that dual time to work on ONLY the comm flight test? Probably not. Might as well put it towards something else.
+1 for the night rating after the PPL. A guy I know does all his XC time at night in prep for an ATPL way down the road. Can't hurt to plan ahead!
+1 for the night rating after the PPL. A guy I know does all his XC time at night in prep for an ATPL way down the road. Can't hurt to plan ahead!
Re: Building Hours for CPL/Order of obtaining ratings
Don't forget to have fun with it. Your training will be the last time (until you buy an airplane) that you will be able to go where you want when you want. Once you get a job, you no longer have that freedom.
Time building doesnt have to be as expensive as the flight school posts. You can spilt the cost of the flight with your friends who you fly, so if you have any friends/family who are willing to pitch in on a flight to go camping or whatnot, then you can save a bit of money there.
If you buy an airplane (or a share in one) before you start your training and find a freelance instructor you can save a bunch of money too. because an airplane with an extra 200 hours on an engine wont devalue the airplane all that much and you'll be able to sell the plane for almost as much as what you paid for it.
+1 on the doing cross countries at night if you want to get an ATPL at some point of your career...
cruise the forums, theres a lot of information here that the flight schools dont tell you, and although there are a lot of jaded comments around here take them with a grain of salt.
Time building doesnt have to be as expensive as the flight school posts. You can spilt the cost of the flight with your friends who you fly, so if you have any friends/family who are willing to pitch in on a flight to go camping or whatnot, then you can save a bit of money there.
If you buy an airplane (or a share in one) before you start your training and find a freelance instructor you can save a bunch of money too. because an airplane with an extra 200 hours on an engine wont devalue the airplane all that much and you'll be able to sell the plane for almost as much as what you paid for it.
+1 on the doing cross countries at night if you want to get an ATPL at some point of your career...
cruise the forums, theres a lot of information here that the flight schools dont tell you, and although there are a lot of jaded comments around here take them with a grain of salt.
Re: Building Hours for CPL/Order of obtaining ratings
Agree to some extent...KHills wrote:Don't forget to have fun with it.
Never buy 1$ tickets
Re: Building Hours for CPL/Order of obtaining ratings
WTF?767 wrote:Agree to some extent...KHills wrote:Don't forget to have fun with it.
Going for the deck at corner
Re: Building Hours for CPL/Order of obtaining ratings
No matter what there will be time building involved. If you want to use the IFR towards some of our CPL hours, rememeber you will still have to meet the 50 hours PIC x-country requiremeent for the IFR rating.
I am working on my CPL and IFR at the same time right now. Although this is not what I had planned, that is how it is going for me based on my time restraints right now.
As soon as I walked out of the school with my PPL certificate I started the time building. I had some fun flying friends and touring around the province.
ALways make the most of your time building. Don't fly circuits cause that does not get you anything you desire. X-country time and NIGHT x-country time are imortant hours for ratings down the road like the ATPL etc.
Only regret I ever had was how quickly I banged off those 50 hours. Looking back at it now I could have flown across the country, down through the states etc. THe things life and a full time job prevent eh?
I am working on my CPL and IFR at the same time right now. Although this is not what I had planned, that is how it is going for me based on my time restraints right now.
As soon as I walked out of the school with my PPL certificate I started the time building. I had some fun flying friends and touring around the province.
ALways make the most of your time building. Don't fly circuits cause that does not get you anything you desire. X-country time and NIGHT x-country time are imortant hours for ratings down the road like the ATPL etc.
Only regret I ever had was how quickly I banged off those 50 hours. Looking back at it now I could have flown across the country, down through the states etc. THe things life and a full time job prevent eh?
