How can I become a pilot?
September 14, 2011 9:46 AM   Subscribe

I have a in-law that flies his own plane with his wife to every family event (we all live apart). I'd like to do this as well. I doubt he owns the plane. That being said, what do I have to do to be able to do this myself? I'd like to know what education/certifications I need, cost involved, and then the options for using/leasing/renting a plane for vacation travel for me and my wife.
posted by joshuamcginnis to Travel & Transportation (17 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Although this doesn't answer all your questions the folks I know who fly are all part of groups that own a plane and take turns flying it. Yes, it sounds like a vacation timeshare but given the cost of purchase and maintenance it makes sense. Perhaps check around your local airport's bulletin board to see if any groups are looking for new members.
posted by tommasz at 9:52 AM on September 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: All you would need for this is a Private Pilot certificate or Sport Pilot license. The Sport Pilot is more restrictive but requires less instruction and therefore less cost. If you're regularly traveling more than 50 miles or so than I'd go with the Private certificate.

Private Pilot training is a minimum of 40 hours flight time with a Certified Flight Instructor, as well as some amount of ground training. Look at some of the small airports in your area, there should be flight schools that can accommodate you. Training is something you can essentially do full-time (getting a license in a month or so) or you can do it more like any other hobby lesson, once a week or every other week. Getting the license requires passing three exams - written, oral, and practical. Oral and practical are usually lumped together and taken at the same time.

Beyond Private Pilot, some folks choose to continue and get an Instrument rating, which allows you to fly in poor weather. I would definitely advocate for this, as the extra training will make you a safer pilot. It's another 40 hours in the plane plus ground training.

Aircraft ownership or rental come in many flavors, depending on how much you want to spend. The flight school you join (assuming you go this route and not private instruction from a CFI with an airplane) will usually rent their aircraft out to individuals. Cost to rent depends on the complexity/newness of the aircraft, but is billed by the "engine hour" in tenths. What that means is that the clock runs only while the engine runs, and you get billed in six-minute increments. So to take a plane for a weekend jaunt to the Vacation Home my only cost you two or three hours of plane time. There's usually a minimum billed amount if you take a plane for a full day (the standard I've seen is 3 hours per day). The school you rent from may require you to perform periodic currency training over and above what's required by the FAA, and they may also require you to maintain renter's insurance (which is usually pretty cheap).

If you have the coin, you might consider a "lease-back" deal with the school, which is a way for the school to maintain a modern fleet and for you to save some money on owning a plane. Basically, you buy a new(-ish) airplane from the school, and they lease it from you. You're responsible for most of the maintenance costs, but you also get to take the airplane for free whenever you want.

Costs are... well, costly. I think a Private license will put you out about $8,000 right now, depending on where you live and how long you take to get it. Double that for an Instrument rating. Renting an airplane will again depend on what you're renting and where you live, but figure around $120-$150 per hour for a Cessna 172 in decent shape with good avionics. Rentals are usually "wet", which means they include fuel.

If you have other questions, you can drop me a line.
posted by backseatpilot at 9:59 AM on September 14, 2011 [7 favorites]


There's a good run-down of costs here from a private pilot.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 10:01 AM on September 14, 2011


To become a private pilot requires a minimum of 40 hours of training, plus a written exam and an in-flight exam administered by an FAA examiner. Some of those 40 hours will be dual (with an instructor) and others will be solo (by yourself). The exact proportion depends on how quickly you progress and how competent your instructor feels you are before you can solo. Instruction fees and rental rates for aircraft vary, but in my area (near Boston) you'd spend at least $100 per hour for the aircraft plus $50 per hour of instruction. Many people end up requiring more than the minimum 40 hours. I think a safe estimate around here might be in the range of $8,000-10,000 for the training to get your private pilot certificate. It might be cheaper in other parts of the country. With a private pilot certificate, you can fly pretty much anywhere in good weather with good visibility. If you want to be able to fly in instrument conditions (clouds, etc.) then you'll need an additional rating at additional expense.

Once you get your license, many clubs and flight schools that rent planes will require that you fly periodically (e.g., at least 1 hour every 90 days) to remain current with them. Otherwise you'll have to take a checkride with one of their instructors to regain your ability to rent from them. Also, while aircraft rental is billed based on the amount of time the engine is running, there is typically a minimum rate for extended trips (overnight, etc.) which could be something like 3 hours per day. There are other options, such as becoming a co-owner with other pilots, or leasing back your own plane to a flight school, or just outright owning your own plane.
posted by Nothlit at 10:04 AM on September 14, 2011


Oh, one other thing I forgot which may influence your decision: you are required to pass an FAA 3rd Class medical exam for your private license. If you're under 45 (I think?) you have to renew this every 5 years. The exam is performed by a Designated Medical Examiner, so it's not something you can just go to your GP for (unless he is one...). Cost is about $200. The exam includes eyesight (acuity and color blindness), hearing, cardiovascular health, and a urine test (that I think checks for diabetes? Not actually sure.), among other things. You also have to fill out a survey of your health history.

You may fail the medical and not be allowed to obtain a license! I believe some areas of concern would be pacemakers, seizure disorders, basically anything that might cause you to suddenly and catastrophically lose control of the aircraft. Also, if you can't distinguish markings in the aircraft or at the airport, or if you can't hear radio communications you may also fail the medical.

One of the motivations for the FAA establishing the Sport Pilot license a few years ago was for people who would otherwise fail the medical to still be able to fly.

In this Brave New World of terrorism concerns, the medical is also a way for the FAA to collect data about your physical characteristics (I was asked about scars and tattoos last time I got one, a few months ago).
posted by backseatpilot at 10:18 AM on September 14, 2011


Most flight schools charge by "Hobbs time", which is the time the engine is on. Clubs will often charge by tachometer time, which runs slower when the engine is idling - this can save a lot of money in early training, when there's a lot of landing practice which involves low power on approach and a lot of waiting on the ground to get airborne again.
Typically you'll need to train with a club instructor when going for the private rating, then after that you can work with anyone you like. Also the insurance policies on club planes usually protect the pilot better than standard rental policies do.
posted by ChuqD at 10:18 AM on September 14, 2011


You might want to keep in mind that general aviation (private piloting) is realllly risky compared to commercial flying.
posted by yarly at 10:25 AM on September 14, 2011


It can be a lot more rewarding as well.
posted by ChuqD at 10:27 AM on September 14, 2011


You probably have, believe it or not, a general aviation airport pretty close to you. The vast majority of these have flight schools. Give 'em a call.
posted by valkyryn at 10:47 AM on September 14, 2011


It's the cost that's going to be your issue, I suspect. Flying lessons aren't expensive because they're often given by folks who are primarily doing them to clock their own hours before they move on to other things. A smaller number are done by folks who just love flying & instructing but it's not really a very viable living because of the competition.

It's unfortunate, since it means that a lot of instruction is given by folks with not as many hours of flight time. Be fussy about your instructor choice. That's not to malign these folks - they all did what they needed to be qualified to instruct, but it's a buyer's market. What's really going to cost you is the plane & fuel rental.

If your in-law doesn't own the plane then he likely is in a flying club, where he owns a share of a corporation which owns the planes and handles the booking and maintenance. They tend to exist for a really long time - till some member does something stupid and drives them out of existence by running up insurance or maintenance costs - and the shares are bought and sold and the total number of members is limited by those shares. You've got to buy your share from someone who's decided to get out (or who has lost their license because they've failed their physical; the monetary demands mean there's a lot of older folks/retirees in the clubs) and then you'll have annual costs as well as the per-hour charge you'll pay for using the plane.

If the club is run the way they run the one my father is in then members can reserve the plane for shorter time blocks as much as they like, paying for their own fuel and also paying into a fund based on per-hour use to offset certain expenses. Overnight/multi-day reservations are limited to a certain number of days per year and usually need to be carved out with greater advanced notice.

In the long run you should do this because you love to fly. Financially it doesn't make a lot of sense over commercial aviation, though certainly getting to avoid TSA is a big draw. By all means, go take a trial lesson. GA flying is wonderful fun and a great hobby if you love it enough to devote the time and money to it. But it's not a 1 to 1 substitute for commercial flying.
posted by phearlez at 11:02 AM on September 14, 2011


Everyone here has already covered the costs. One additional convenience factor to think about is weather. Small aircraft don't generally fly in inclement weather (and you wouldn't even be qualified to do so without your instrument rating, which would add expense and time to training).

So if you have bad weather the day before your trip, well, too bad -- time to get out the car. As a reference, I have family members who try fly their plane to visit me a few times a year, and I'd estimate they end up driving instead about half of the time. (The pilot in question has an instrument rating, too.) This also makes longer cross-country trips hard to plan.

Short version: flying is awesome as a hobby. But it's not as practical as you might think as a way to travel cross-country.
posted by pie ninja at 2:30 PM on September 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


Yarly:
"You might want to keep in mind that general aviation (private piloting) is realllly risky compared to commercial flying."

From Yarly's link:
General aviation includes all noncommercial flights, such as emergency medical services, sightseeing, flight training, traffic reporting, aerial surveys, search and rescue, crop dusting and firefighting, as well as recreational and business use. General aviation aircraft range from small private airplanes and business jets to helicopters, hot-air balloons and gliders.


The kind of flying you do, and the way you approach the business of flying, has a lot to do with the risk involved. YMMV, but I owned a 1946 Cessna 140 for 37 years and never had any kinda pucker.
posted by drhydro at 3:39 PM on September 14, 2011


When you're considering the costs of getting a pilot's license, it might be worth actually buying a plane with one or two other people. You can buy a small plane for $20K or less - compare that, split a couple ways, to the hourly cost of renting the plane. Probably you'd want to take a couple lessons first to make sure that flying is something you want to stick with.
posted by bendy at 10:03 PM on September 14, 2011


You may fail the medical and not be allowed to obtain a license!

A little more detail (US FAA specific):
1. you don't need a medical cert for "Sport Pilot" privileges; having a drivers' license is considered adequate health.
2. However, if you were denied on your last FAA medical application, option no. 1 is no longer available.

"Sport Pilot" privileges mean you can only fly small (< 600 kg or 1320 lbs.) two-seaters, and only during daytime. (If you want to fly at night, or in weather, then you must be at least a Private Pilot, and a medical is required.)

In other words, if you think you might fail the medical exam, do not make the attempt. In particular look at the list of diagnoses and medications that the FAA considers disqualifying.

There is also Option #3: no medical is required to fly a glider or motorglider. You can fly gliders even if failed your last medical.

posted by phliar at 4:59 PM on September 15, 2011


But it's not as practical as you might think as a way to travel cross-country.

This of course depends on your definition of "practical". I think it's perfectly practical to take a week to travel coast-to-coast, especially when that week consists of the most amazing views of constantly changing scenery from a low enough height that you can actually see stuff. It's other people who have the ridiculous notion that it's acceptable to be pawed and probed by surly officials to visit Grandma's -- just because you want to get there in a day.

As the old saw goes: Time to spare, go by air. (And another: If God had meant Man to fly, He'd have given him more money.)
posted by phliar at 5:11 PM on September 15, 2011


Response by poster: Thank you everyone.

On Sunday, I will be taking my first private pilot flight at Hanscom Air Space. It will be a 2 hour flight in a Piper PA-28 Warrior and I'll get a chance to see if it something I want to actively pursue.
posted by joshuamcginnis at 10:40 AM on September 16, 2011


I'd also recommend trying a high-wing plane like a Cessna 172. They're more forgiving on landing for inexperienced pilots. A few bad landings in a PA-28 might put you off. Cessnas practically land themselves.
posted by dougrayrankin at 10:54 AM on September 22, 2011


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