Showing posts with label Private Pilot License Cost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Private Pilot License Cost. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Private Pilot LIcense Cost, Understanding the Cost of a Private Pilot License

The First thing you want to do is understand what the private pilot license is going to cost you. If you have looked around my website you can see that I have an entire section on the Cost of learning to fly and the Private Pilot License Training Cost.

I will outline and explain it here in the Private pilot License Course.

Most people don't have unlimited budgets so the most important thing to do is plan ahead so you don't get stuck halfway through your training.

With rising fuel costs, the costs per hour for airplanes is getting more expensive. You don't want to make the wrong choices. You want to research and plan all of your options before you start. Once you have your Private Pilot License, it is yours for the rest of your life. You will have to do a flight review every two years and meet some other requirements to carry passengers but once you get it, it is yours.

So many times I have seen students start and stop and start and stop again. Once they are finally licensed, they may have spent up to three times what they should have if they had committed to it in a short period of time.

First thing is, you need to understand that this is going to cost you more that most flight schools will put in their cost estimates. There is a difference between the FAA minimums for the Private Pilot License and the amount you are going to actually fly.

Many students will just go into a flight school and start flying. Half way thru their training, they will run out of money. Why does this happen all the time?... Because people don't plan. It is really that simple.

First of all you want to get a REALISTIC idea of what it is going to cost you. The quotes from most flight schools are probably at least $2,000 if not more short of what you are going to actually spend. So if you are on a tight budget for your Pilot Training I suggest you do some planning ahead.

If you haven't looked yet, I have broken the cost of learning to fly down into four parts. I do this so you can understand what is required at each phase of your training. I make reference to the rates that I charge for the airplanes and the instructor rates. In different parts of the country this can be cheaper or more expensive. I use the C-172 for my cost estimates. There are many other airplanes out there that you can train in.

I have looked at some articles out there that say it will cost $4,000-$6,000. Maybe ten years ago but not now. If you are in a less expensive part of the country I would say that you may be able to get your license for $7,000 or so if you have a good instructor and stay on track.

Here in the phoenix area, I tell people to plan on $8,000- $9,000. That is on a steady schedule with an instructor who is dedicated and will commit to finish your training all the way through.

As I have said before there are many factors that can change the cost of your training. You have to look at all of your options before you start flying.
So lets take a look at the cost estimates. I have them broken the Private Pilot License Cost into four sections. This way you can understand how the Pilot Training Process works.

Private Pilot License - Books and Materials Cost

Private Pilot License - Pre Solo Training Costs

Private Pilot License - Post Solo Training Costs

Private Pilot License - Flight Test Preparation Costs

I have this broken down this way so you can see what it required of you and the cost associated with it. I will just give you the outline here and you can look at my individual articles about each one.

Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost: This is the cost of the things you need to study for the Private Pilot Aeronautical Knowledge required and all of the other things you will need for your flight training. There are many industry standard courses out there based on the FAA publications for the Private Pilot License. They all have the same material they are just presented differently.
Private Pilot License - Pre Solo Training Costs: These are the costs that it will take you to get through the Pre Solo Phase of your training. This is the cost of all training required before your instructor can get out of the plane and let you go on your own.

Private Pilot License - Post Solo Training Costs: These are the cost that it will take you to get through the post solo phase of your flight training. This includes your cross countries, night flights and simulated instrument flight.

Private Pilot License - Flight Test Preparation Cost: This is the final phase of your flight training. In this phase your instructor will get you ready for the Private Pilot License Flight Test.

Total Private Pilot License Cost: Here in this section I put everything together so you can get a realistic idea of what it will actually cost for a Private Pilot License.

When you put all of these together, you will see there is a little bit more involved than most flight schools will lead you to believe. When you add all of these up you get a number that is somewhere around $8,500. Remember this will depend on the Aircraft and Instructor Rates but will also depend on many other factors.

Tomorrows Installment is Understanding The Private Pilot License General Requirements

Hope to See You In The Sky

Airfreddy

Airfreddy's Private Pilot License Manual

Airfreddy's Private Pilot License Course

Airfreddy's Private Pilot Training Stories

Airfreddy's Flight Training Website

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Private Pilot LIcense Cost, Post Solo Training Cost

The Post Solo Training Costs associated with the Private Pilot License are normally close to the pre solo phase but will burn your money up the fastest. Once you break this down you want to look at the big picture of the entire license. You don't want to get stuck and run out of money because in this phase of your training, you are doing longer flights and will have more ground instruction.

Once again there are some requirements put out by the FAA that have to be done before you can do your solo cross countries. Some training syllabuses will do some of the things I list below before solo but I like to build each lesson on top of the other so you learn one thing and then integrate it into the next lesson.

A perfect example is the simulated instrument training. I have this broken into 2 post solo flights. That will get about 2.2 hours of simulated instrument time. Then I have a lost procedures lesson where we will get about another .3 hours then the rest I will pick up at the flight test preparation stage. Bottom line is you need the three hours but if you are getting a little here and then a little there, chances are someone misses it and the examiner picks it up on flight test day and then walks out because you aren't qualified.

The other thing that can happen is your instructor picks it up and then up you go for an extra flight. The same thing can happen with the night time. I can't tell you how many times it has even happened to me no matter how careful I was. Now I do all the night time in one flight so it is over and done with. You don't want to get a call from your instructor the night before your flight test telling you to meet them at the airport to get some more flight time.

For our purpose here I will just list the requirements and then give you an estimate on the cost. The Private Pilot Post Solo requirements can be found at the link below. I will just outline the cost for you:

Private Pilot License, Post Solo Requirements

Basically there are 5 things needed before you can go on solo cross countries and then another

Soft Field Takeoffs and Landings

Short Field Takeoffs and Landings

Simulated Instrument Time

Vor Navigation

Cross Country Flight Training

Now the Hour Requirements are just for the Private Pilot License Aeronautical Experience but you have to have logged the above subject areas. I also Include the Dual Cross Countries Day and then all the night time Required.

1.5 Hours Dual Instruction for Soft-Field / Short-Field Takeoffs and Landings

2.2 Hours Dual Instruction / Simulated Instrument Instruction

4.4 Hours Dual Instruction for Cross-Countries

2.5 Hours Ground Instruction

3.0 Hours Dual instruction for Night Flying

5 Hours Solo Cross Country  

In my syllabus, I have two dual cross-country flights, and each averages 2.2 hours. The FAA only has an hour requirement for the private pilot certificate, but I personally think that students need two different cross-country flights and about 2-3 hours of ground instruction. I am also going to add the solo cross country hours here since the goal here is to get the solo cross country requirements and move on to the flight test preparation portion of your Private Pilot Flight Training.
If we add this all up we get the following cost for this part of your private pilot training:

Private Pilot License Post Solo Cost

11.1 Hours of Dual Instruction @ $165 Per hour $1831.50
2.5 Hours of Ground Instruction @ $45 Per Hour $112.50
5 Hours of Solo Cross Country Flight $600.00
Total $2543.00


Once again with a good instructor and flying consistently, you should be close to this amount for this phase of your Pilot License Training. Depending on the instructor or the syllabus you may do one day cross country and then one night cross country. I personally have two different day cross countries to different types of airports.

Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost

Private Pilot License Pre-Solo Pilot Training Cost

Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost

Private Pilot License Cost
Hope to see you in the sky

Airfreddy

Airfreddy's Private Pilot Training Guide

Airfreddy's Flying Stories

Airfreddy's Private Pilot license Course

Airfreddy's Flight Training Site

Monday, September 01, 2008

Private Pilot License , Pre Solo Flight Training Cost

Your Pre- Solo Training is the first Part of your Private Pilot License Training. In order for you to solo you have to be instructed and be found " COMPETENT" in the areas listed in the Student Pilot Regulations of the FAA. I Have them listed in the Private Pilot License Requirements section. You can find them by clicking the link below.

Student Pilot Requirements

Now there are 15 Aeronautical Experience areas that need to be covered and you need to be proficient at them. I am finding two different types of students have two different ideas about soloing.

The Younger Student: The younger students want to get soloed as fast as possible.

The Older Students: I have a lot of students who are my age or older. These students are going after their life long dream but are now in the phase of their life were they don't want to do anything stupid. In these cases the student doesn't really care about soloing. So I move them ahead and go through the cross country phase. I have had many older students that get to about 30 hours, I have completed almost everything with them and finally say, " It is time to get out there on your own" At this time they go do all of their solo time. Then we come back and finish up with the flight test preparation.

In Either case if the student is not ready to solo I move them forward.
For the purpose of this article I just add up the cost for you to get up to that phase of your training. If you are not ready to solo I just move on to the Post Solo Requirements.

From the requirements above you can see that there are 15 areas that you have to be instructed in and it has to be logged in your logbook with an instructors signature. I always tell students not to focus on the solo. You want to focus on being a safe pilot and getting your Private Pilot License done on schedule and on a budget.

Now in my syllabus I have 13 Flights to cover these areas with the addition of a Spin Entries Lesson and a Review Flight. In know that spin entries are not required but years back I had a student get himself into a spin. Since then I try and show every student spin entries and recoveries.

Here is the Story:

Private Pilot Training Spin Story

All of this training adds up to about 17 hours and 3-5 hours of ground instruction. Now you have to remember that is me. If you have a good dedicated instructor, you should be somewhere close to this. If you are at a school that is going through flight instructors left and right, you can expect having different instructors. This turns out to be more money. Once again the reason I tell people to plan things out ahead of time.

I will use an aircraft rate of $120 Per hour For a C-172 and $45 for the Instructor Since that is what I charge. You will find many different rates in different areas of the countries so just use my numbers as a guide for you. I have put 1.5 hours of solo time in here since your first and second solo should be close to this. If you are not ready to solo you will pick it up later on.

17 Hours Dual Instruction @ $165 Per Hour

1.5 Hours Solo @ $120.00 Per Hour

5 Hours Ground Instruction @ $45 Per hour ( Flight Instructor )

Total Dual Instruction $2805.00
Total Solo Time $180.00
Total Ground Instruction $225.00
TOTAL $3210.00

Now you want to remember this should be close with a dedicated flight instructor and flying on a regular basis. I would suggest 4 lessons per week. If you are not ready to solo, you should ask your instructor to move you forward. Most people have problems with landings so there is no reason not to move forward with the rest of the requirements because each flight you have to land. You will get the lightbulb to come on soon or later. Many times you will find that if you stop focusing on just landings you will start to get them nice and smooth.

One other thing you want to remember is you are not the only person in the world who has problems in certain areas. Most students in general have the same problems and usually it is landings. Don't let it bother you, you have been driving a car all your life and it takes a very long time to break the habits.

Soloing is a great milestone but you want to remember that your main goal is to be a safe and confident pilot. I always ask students, would you rather solo in 10 hours or would you rather be prepared to handle any emergency that came up. You are dealing with a machine and sometimes no matter how well maintained they are, they are going to break.

Your goal is to "FLY THE PLANE" and handle the emergency so you can make it to happy hour.

The Links to the Rest of the costs are listed below:

Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost

Private Pilot License Post- Solo Pilot Training Cost

Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost

Private Pilot License Total Cost

Hope to see you in the sky

Airfreddy

Airfreddy's Private Pilot Training Manual

Airfreddy's Flying Stories

Airfreddy's Private Pilot License Site

Airfreddy's Flight Training Site

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Learn to Fly Cost, Private PIlot License Cost, Become a Pilot Cost, Pilot Training Cost

If you have been looking around the internet on information about the cost of a Private Pilot License, I am sure you have seen some articles written by people who are not even in the industry and others written by private pilots who may have just received their private pilot licenses. Some of the information may be close and others are pretty far off.

There are a lot of factors that will determine what a Private Pilot License (Certificate) will cost you. The first things you want to think about are:

1: Airplane Price Per Hour

2: Flight Instructor Price Per Hour

Depending on where you are in the country these rates can be dramatically different. These two rates will be the most important factors however, there are other factors that can dramatically increase your cost. I will give you some examples of things you want to look at.

1: The Flight School Itself: You need to poke your nose around the community and see what is going on. You will want to ask people who recently got their Private Pilot License and ask them how much it cost and how many hours they ended up having.

In many cases you will see much more than the flashy clean flight school. I know of many Flashy High Dollar Flight Schools that once you get out into the aviation community, you will want nothing to do with them. You may find many of the people you talk to ending up with an excessive amount of hours and may have had up to six instructors. I know this first hand since many of those students come to me half way through their training. This is one reason I always tell people to take some time and research and come up with a plan first.

There are on the other hand many flight schools that are concerned about their students and are willing to work with students to get them licensed in a cost effective manner. You just have to find them.

2: The Flight Instructor: If your instructor is not a good teacher your chances of getting your private pilot license in a cost effective manner get slimmer. You need to look into this. Other factors that have to do with the flight instructor is their aviation game-plan. If they are a good flight instructor that cares about his/her students you can plan with them and get things done in a cost and time effective manner. If you have an instructor that is just trying to get to the magic hiring number for an airline, your flight training will be compromised and you can plan on spending a lot more money.

3: Books and materials: In most cases you can get home study courses for about $200 or so. Some schools will require you get their $500 DVD packages. I have always told students to do what is best for them. All of the courses out there cover the same material taken from the official FAA publications. The material that is used for your practical test is the FAA publications.

4: Examiner Fees: This part most flight schools don't even mention at all. Once again depending on where you are in the world, this price can vary a lot. One part of the country you may find a private pilot flight test for $200 but in others like here in phoenix it will around $400.

A few of these factors put together can make the difference between a happy safe confident Private Pilot and a frustrated student pilot. If you are on a tight budget and have been saving for a long time, these factors will make a difference
Planning this out is the most important thing you can do. In order to pass the Private Pilot License flight test you need to be proficient. Depending on the rates, instructor, and Flight School You Choose, $8,000 - $9,000 is a realistic budget and finishing at 45-50 hours is realistic.

The Planning process is the most important part. There are many delays that can happen, weather, maintenance and people getting sick.

For Explaining this I break the Private Pilot License Cost down into four parts. I do this so you can understand each phase of training. Then we will add it all up and you can see were the expenses are coming from. I break everything down in the following manner:

Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost

Private Pilot License Pre-Solo Pilot Training Cost

Private Pilot License Post- Solo Pilot Training Cost

Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost

Private Pilot License Total Cost

Each one of these areas has a cost. It is easier to understand when you have everything broken down in front of you. Planning for the Private Pilot License is the most important thing you can do.

Airfreddy

Airfreddy's Private Pilot License Manual

Airfreddy's Flying Stories

Airfreddy's Flight Training Site

Learn to Fly, Private Pilot License, Become a PIlot, Private Pilot Licence Cost

If you have been looking around the internet on information about the cost of a private pilot license, I am sure you have seen some articles written by people who are not even in the industry and others written by private pilots who may have just received their private pilot licenses. Some of the information may be close and others are pretty far off.

There are a lot of factors that will determine what a Private Pilot License (Certificate) will cost you. The first things you want to think about are:

1: Airplane Price Per Hour

2: Flight Instructor Price Per Hour

Depending on where you are in the country these rates can be dramatically different. These two rates will be the most important factors however, there are other factors that can dramatically increase your cost. I will give you some examples of things you want to look at.

1: The Flight School Itself: You need to poke your nose around the community and see what is going on. You will want to ask people who recently got their Private Pilot License and ask them how much it cost and how many hours they ended up having.
In many cases you will see much more than the flashy clean flight school. I know of many Flashy High Dollar Flight Schools that once you get out into the aviation community, you will want nothing to do with them. You may find many of the people you talk to ending up with an excessive amount of hours and may have had up to six instructors. I know this first hand since many of those students come to me half way through their training. This is one reason I always tell people to take some time and research and come up with a plan first.
There are on the other hand many flight schools that are concerned about their students and are willing to work with students to get them licensed in a cost effective manner. You just have to find them.

2: The Flight Instructor: If your instructor is not a good teacher your chances of getting your private pilot license in a cost effective manner get slimmer. You need to look into this. Other factors that have to do with the flight instructor is their aviation game-plan. If they are a good flight instructor that cares about his/her students you can plan with them and get things done in a cost and time effective manner. If you have an instructor that is just trying to get to the magic hiring number for an airline, your flight training will be compromised and you can plan on spending a lot more money.

3:Books and materials: In most cases you can get home study courses for about $200 or so. Some schools will require you get their $500 DVD packages. I have always told students to do what is best for them. All of the courses out there cover the same material taken from the official FAA publications. The material that is used for your practical test is the FAA publications.

4:Examiner Fees: This part most flight schools don't even mention at all. Once again depending on where you are in the world, this price can vary a lot. One part of the country you may find a private pilot flight test for $200 but in others like here in phoenix it will around $400.

A few of these factors put together can make the difference between a happy safe confident Private Pilot and a frustrated student pilot. If you are on a tight budget and have been saving for a long time, these factors will make a difference
Planning this out is the most important thing you can do. In order to pass the Private Pilot License flight test you need to be proficient. Depending on the rates, instructor, and Flight School You Choose, $8,000 - $9,000 is a realistic budget and finishing at 45-50 hours is realistic.

The Planning process is the most important part. There are many delays that can happen, weather, maintenance and people getting sick.

For Explaining this I break the Private Pilot License Cost down into four parts. I do this so you can understand each phase of training. Then we will add it all up and you can see were the expenses are coming from. I break everything down in the following manner:

Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost

Private Pilot License Pre-Solo Pilot Training Cost

Private Pilot License Post- Solo Pilot Training Cost

Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost

Private Pilot License Total Cost

Each one of these areas has a cost. It is easier to understand when you have everything broken down in front of you. Planning for the Private Pilot License is the most important thing you can do.

Hope To See You In The Sky

Airfreddy

Airfreddy's Private Pilot License Manual

Airfreddy's Private Pilot License Course

Airfreddy's Private Pilot Stories

Airfreddy's Flight Training Site