FINALLY done for the summer! (1 Viewer)

[Philip_G]

did my last flight today for summer school. In a few days they'll get all the paperwork in line and submitted, and I'll have my CFI, finally.
anyone need flying lessons? I need a job now hehe

 

[Dave Poehlman]

You could probably find work carting HTF members around the country to look at each other's theaters.

 

[Philip_G]

I could! sadly the FAA won't allow that.. it falls under on demand or charter service, and has it's own set of regulations entirely, I've held a commercial license for about a year now anyway.. the only way I could do that would be if they supplied the plane and only paid me for my services, I could not supply the aircraft. You could try to make an end run around that and say it was a cross country lesson.. but the FAA would look at the intentions of the flight and throw you in jail (ok not jail, but they wouldn't be happy)

 

[Kolya]

anyone need flying lessons? I need a job now hehe

Actually I've been considering taking lessons.
Wish we lived in better proximity

 

[Philip_G]

what's modesto near?
I have a friend in the bay area I could reccomend..

 

[Trey Fletcher]

I've also been interested in taking lessons for quite some time now. Philip, what would I realistically expect to pay to earn my private pilots license? $5,000? $15,000? $25,000+? I'm talking single engine, daylight only, as I'm guessing that multi-engine, instrument rated, etc. would be quite a bit more. Thanks, TF

 

[Philip_G]

it depends on a lot of things! Primarily YOU
you need 40 hours of experience for your private, 20 dual, 10 solo, and some other misc time in there that falls under both, dual and solo cross country, dual night, instrument time etc. Most people run a tiny bit over 40, so 50 is probably a reasonable guestimate.
you need some books and supplies, about $300 worth (again, depending, some CFI's like certain books, some schools offer a group groundschool, some community colleges even offer ground school, look into it, it's a good deal usually!) you might need your own headset, you can go anywhere from 100 bucks to 1000 bucks on those, even if it's cheap I'd buy my own, using other people's headsets.. yuck. I'm a dave clark fan, I think I paid around $200 for mine and I've used it for over 5 years and 240 hours or so, well worth it to me. But, buy what fits YOUR head, not mine.
you need an FAA written exam, that's about 75 bucks (not so much written, they're computerized)
you need to take the practical exam, an examiner will probably charge 150-200 for his time (again, this depends on the location, a local CFI can give you more specific answers) They get paid up front, sometimes they like cash. You have to pay them regardless of passing or failing, if you fail you have to pay his fee for the second test, that sucks.
you need an FAA medical exam, figure about 75 bucks to the good dr.
so then we have to look at the flight time again, the airplane is going to cost you between say $50 and $75 depending on what you're flying. This is per hour, the clock starts with the engine and stops with the engine. maybe even more if it's a nice shiney new one. I did my private in a cessna 150 for about $45 an hour wet (including fuel, dry does not include fuel, avgas is like $3 a gallon I think, I honestly dunno cuz I don't buy any of it hehe) Up here at my university they get about 80$ an hour for brand new piper warriors, so it just depends on the local going rate and what's available.
a lot of your flight time is dual (with instructor along) and he has to eat, so you can figure in 30-35 dollars an hour for his time (he's lucky to get half of that, his employer keeps the rest )
so, under 5 grand is pretty reasonable, I think I spent about 3500 give or take for my private.
What can you do with it you ask?
lots, and not a lot at the same time. You're limited to single engine A/C, fixed gear, fixed pitch prop, 200 HP or under, you can get endorsements for the complex (gear, prop) or high performance (hp restriction) those are pretty easy, a few hours with a CFI and he signs you off, the multi engine you need training and a practical test.
You're limited to visual flight conditions, day OR night. you might find you want to go on and get your instrument training, I can't comment on the cost for that because I'm not a CFI-I yet, but instrument is probably 3k or so. Multi engine is a bit, because multi's are expensive to rent
ok back on track. The biggest thing IMO is BE PREPARED! for your lessons, for the cost, and to spend the time you need to study, it's not cheap, it's time consuming, and at times it's frustrating. But it's also very rewarding. Taking breaks because of financial problems, or not having time to study just drags things out and costs you more in the end. So be sure you're ready when you start.
also most flight schools offer cheap intro flights to get people hooked, it's like $35 I think www.beapilot.com hasa listing of them, contact one and go up for an hour, you might find you love it or hate it

 

[Philip_G]

I think I nailed down what you wanted to know (and then some probably) let me know if there's anything else you need, otherwise I think my AIM is in my profile. Feel free to drop me a line if you have ?'s.

 

[Kolya]

I have a friend in the bay area I could reccomend

Modesto is about 90 minutes directly east of the Bay Area.
Thanks for the detailed info above.
I need to finish my MCDBA cert before I can focus on flight training.

 

[Philip_G]

AH, 90 minutes is a bit of a drive. Oh well