Re: Any private pilots here?

Posted by Centex Farmall on August 10, 2014 at 21:00:11 from (72.105.162.148):

In Reply to: Any private pilots here? posted by picassomcp on August 10, 2014 at 18:23:51:

Having gone from where you are to airliners I will throw in my 2 cents.

First of all no way to "justify" owning the thing. You just have one for fun. After all, it's only money! And we print more and more every day.

It is completely true that you will have a baseline cost even if you don't fly. What will really burn you is if something big breaks or an AD comes out. Consider going "halves" if you know someone else who is in your same situation. Go to the local airport on the weekend and talk to other GA owners. People love to talk about their planes and will be able to tell you what it's costing them in fixed and variable costs.

Two ways to go on school: Part 141 or Part 61. Part 61 is you go to your local airport and scare up an instructor. Part 141 is a school with a curriculum that is blessed by the FAA. The FAA's blessing allows students ( in theory) to get their ratings with fewer flight hours. The reality is that it will be about the same either way.

Any of them should have an "Introductory flight" of about a half hour or so. You should get to handle the controls and so on. If not they're a bunch of clowns.

Beware of any instructor or school who is bragging or making noise about how they can train you in less hours than the "other guy"!!!

You want an instructor who will train you until you are _proficient_ so you won't go out and kill yourself. Training is not the place to save money.

Flight instruction is one on one so if you it turns out that you don't mesh with the first one you try by all means switch to another instructor. You want to minimize stress and maximize your learning per dollar.

Don't be afraid to go with the instructor fresh out of school. They've just gone through the whole wringer and all the knowledge is fresh on their mind. One with a year under their belt and a couple of sign offs should be ok to try.

10K is not out of line start to finish. 50 to 60 flight hours is about average for a private license. That's total so some of that will be solo time. Take that times whatever the rental cost of the plane and roughly 40 hours of instruction and prep.

As mentioned, the "light sport" might be a good fit for you and possibly cheaper. That came out after I was done with instructing. Less requirements but a few restrictions.

I'm partial to Cessna. I like the visibility of the high wing, the shade you get sometimes and the ventilation (you can open the windows on a hot day). Also because a stabilator is a crude, sloppy device.

Keep in mind that the simpler the airplane the cheaper. Less parts = less stuff to break.

Flying can be very relaxing and you can actually do some traveling with it. Hey, it's not like you're buying a boat or a horse. An airplane will hold its value.

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