Learn about becoming a private pilot

[Paul Hibbs]

Is the Flight Simulator not cutting it any more? When you see a plane fly over, do you wish you were up in it? Do you watch Top Gun over and over yearning to be catapulted off an aircraft carrier, go shoot down the enemy, come back to land on the ship and drive your motorcycle off into the sunset? If you answered any of these questions with a “yes”, it is time to make your dream a reality.

Passing the check ride with the FAA is everyone’s final goal in this process, but to achieve that goal does require a lot of time and unfortunately money. So what can be done to maximize the return on your investment? First and foremost, go to an Aviation medical examiner and get your medical certificate. This is required to get a pilots license, if you can’t get this, you can’t be a pilot. It is a basic
physical; don’t worry too much about this aspect, unless you have some serious health
issues.

A lot of local flight schools offer what’s called a “discovery flight.” This is where you get with a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) and get to go fly in an aircraft for a half hour or so. Typically you get to do a “pre-flight’ with them, and fly the aircraft, and when you are done, they usually go over what is entailed in the training process. I strongly recommend you do this. The cost is very small $50-$100. This makes a great birthday or Christmas gift.

I have found that doing the “discovery flight” does one of two things:

1. Reaffirms the individuals desire to become a pilot.
2. Confirms maybe being a pilot really isn’t for them.

Generally, a nearby airport will offer a few flight schools along with offering rental of aircraft. How do you determine what school and instructor is the right fit for you? Remember this will involve time and money, so try and choose wisely.

Here are some questions I might ask the flight school:

1. What is your safety record? (This should be the schools #1 concern)
2. Who handles your aircraft maintenance? (Make sure a reputable shop handles this and not a “shade tree mechanic”. Remember if you have a problem when you are flying, you can’t pull over to the side of the road)
3. Are the aircraft rented wet? (Meaning is the fuel included in the price)
4. How many aircraft does the school have? (Nothing is more frustrating than trying to go flying and the two aircraft the school has is rented all weekend, or if the only two aircraft are down for maintenance.)
5. What types of aircraft are on the flight line? (Do you want to fly a high wing, or a low wing? Are there a variety of aircraft that will allow you to do instrument work, or commercial training?
6. Are there package deals for ratings? (Sometimes if you put a deposit down, or open an account you can save some money.)
7. How many instructors are employed there? (If your instructor is sick, or gets hired by an airline, is there someone that will be able to take you on as a student? I have know someone personally that had 13 different instructors during his training because everyone was getting hired by the airlines.)

Now that you have a good idea about the flight school, what should you look for in an instructor? Remember this is a key step in getting the most efficient training. If you do not like the person for whatever reason, it will cost more in obtaining a new instructor because the new instructor needs to review what you have been taught already.

Here are some questions to ask an instructor:

1. What is your availability? (Make sure this matches when you are available to optimize your training)
2. Do you use a syllabus? (Make sure they have a plan for your training and are flexible enough to mold this around the way you learn.)
3. What is their pass rate for check rides? (You are getting the training to pass a check ride, not to fail one. Make sure the instructor has a good pass rate.)

There a lot of quality flight instructors at many flight schools. The airline industry is not hiring many pilots these days, so the instructors have been at the school for a while, and usually have a very impressive resume. You will commonly find Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, University of North Dakota, and Purdue University graduates instructing there, so the quality of instructors are great.

If there are not any near by flight schools, you can always try and find someone who has an aircraft and find a flight instructor. Just remember the structure of a flight school might not be there.

You might be saying to yourself right now, I don’t have the time to do the training; things at home and the office are so crazy right now. Another popular excuse I have heard is, "I don’t have the money to do it…flying is real expensive". I used to fit in all these categories, and I will share how I overcame my “why” and turned them into “why not.”

As with anything in life, we have to have goals and the internal drive to be as successful as possible. This is the same aptitude you need to have in order to obtain your private pilots license. With the aid of computers and software available for us today, the learning process has never been easier. Through the experiences of obtaining my pilots license up to getting instructor ratings, I try to follow the same checklist for making my dream become a reality.

Written by: Paul Hibbs

About the author:
Paul Hibbs is a graduate of Embry-Riddle and has over 10 years of flight experience. He maintains a rating of Certified Flight Instructor and CFII with a mulit-engine rating. For questions or comments please write Paul at, [e-mail]