Private Pilot License, Types of Flight Schools

There are two different types of Flight Schools, Part 61 and Part 141. The Part refers to the Section of the Federal Aviation Regulations. The one thing that most people don't understand is the fact that the Private Pilot certification will always come under part 61 of the Federal Aviation Regulations.

Once again this boils down to the flight instructor signing you off for your flight test.

The only difference between the two is an official FAA approval. The Part 141 flight schools have gone thru the process of getting their flight syllabus approved by the FAA. In most cases the syllabus is exactly the same as the part 61 syllabus with the exception of what is called "STAGE CHECKS". These are flights with another instructor to make sure you are progressing on the right pace. In many cases the part 61 Flight Schools will also have Stage Checks.

There are a lot of options out there that most people don't realize exist. Under part 61 you have a number of options. I have listed them below:

Part 61 Flight Schools: Most of the flight schools you will come across are part 61 flight schools.


Flying Clubs: Flying Clubs are another option that fall under Part 61.


Aircraft Ownership: Many people will decide that owning an airplane is the best option for them. You can own your own airplane and then hire a flight instructor to do your flight training in your own airplane.


Freelance Instructors: There are thousands of Freelance instructors out there that are not associated with traditional flight schools. I am a freelance instructor. The good thing about Freelance instructors is that many of them have been teaching pilots forever. The one drawback can be that they don't work with most of the flight schools on the airport. Sometimes finding an airplane to teach in can be a problem. Most of them will teach in privately owned aircraft.


Part 141 Flight Schools: Many people will just look at the title of being FAA APPROVED and start training. There are a lot of things you will want to look into if you are not going to be a full time student.


Like the flight training cost estimates I gave you in the first few lessons, all flight schools will give you price estimates based on the minimum required by the FAA, not a realistic estimate. Some schools will be a little straight forward about this but many won't. You don't want to start your training and then run out of money half way thru. Planning ahead is the most important thing when you are flight training for your Pilot License.


Tomorrows Installment is Flight Instructors and Training Schedules.


Hope To See You In the Sky

Airfreddy



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