Can I Do My PPL In A Complex Aircraft?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CK
  • Start date Start date
That is a great way of putting it ERAU....I didnt want to really say much about this topic, but I flew with my grandfather since I was less than 2 years old. That doesnt mean I went into my training thinking I knew more than anyone else, could handle a bigger aircraft, or was a better pilot. I just learned what was presented to me in the order my instructor wanted me to do it, and took my checkride.

In the end Im undoubtedly sure that my lifetime aviation experience has made a difference in my training compared to someone who just started flying at 21 or 30 years old, but I didnt let that become a conscious thought in my mind. That is an unsafe attitude to have as far as Im concerned.

CitationKid, if you want my opinion I say if you have to buy an aircraft, just buy a nice 172. You want to buy a nice one to make it easier to sell when you are done with it, but dont go overboard. Im sure you have lots of aviation experience, but put that all off to the side and let the instructor teach you from ground up. Let that aviation experience you have now be supplemental in the learning process, but dont try to start out farther along than what you really are.

One last thing, there was this kid I grew up with who was the son of an airport owner one county over from ours. He took his PPL checkride on his 16th birthday and the examiner failed him because he thought he knew everything. The kid could fly like no other, and had alot of natural piloting abilities, but his attitude put the examiner off.

Im not saying you are like this, but its just something to think about. Go in with the right, safe attitude and your abilities will speak for themselves to both your instructor and examiner.
 
I don't know anything about the insurance thing so won't even go there.

That said, I can see no reason that learning to fly in a complex A/C would be any different than a "simple" A/C.

Lets face it, it don't take an Einsten to figure out how to raise and lower the gear. Nor should it take a whole lot of smarts to roll the prop pitch in or out. As far as the cowl flaps, leave them open or closed and forget them. The only time I even think about them is when I look at the oil temp.

Once the initial [getting used to] 1 or 2 extra actions is complete, it's just as easy to fly an R G as it is anything else.

I think, and do not wish to start a fight here, that most people are stating opinions based on what they went through. Not on what is doable.

If your Mom gets an R G and gives you the nessary instruction GO FOR IT.
 
I had a student similar to the one Iowa mentions ... he was a naturally very gifted aviator, but his attitude sucked, he skimped on the book work, and didn't always care about following the rules. There were times I wanted to shoot him.

CK, heed Iowa's advice well. Getting the opportunity to ride along on the jet is great, but when it comes to the PPL, that experience is about as useful as tits on a boar hog (to use a Southernism). Approach your learning from the ground up, with the right attitude, and you'll do well. If you want a bigger/faster airplane one day, great ... buy something simple now (Cherokee, 172, etc.), get your PPL, then upgrade to a 182 or a retractable airplane later. Once you get an instrument rating and a couple hundred hours of PIC time, insurance companies will look on you much more favorably in a complex or high performance airplane, regardless of your age.

FL270
 
Yeah seriously, why not do it? If it's available to you and money isn't an issue, do it! If you learn in a 172RG, flying a 'normal' 172 will be easy.
 
We're not buying an airplane for me to just learn in. If that was the case I'd get a Katana. My mom wants somthing to travel in but some thing I can also learn to fly in. So I thought a Cutlass RG would be a compramise. As of now there are no airplanes for me to solo in with in a 2 hour drive, so it's the 172RG or the Navajo
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She may not get an airplane at all. Only time will tell.
 
When we are all doing something we always get some sort of pressure, whether we know it or not. Sounds like you should forget about the pressure of trying to compromise or any other pressure (peer, etc.) and just do what you gotta do to get that PPL.
Learn in a fixed and just upgrade or whatever, you will be glad in the end.
 
[ QUOTE ]
If that was the case I'd get a Katana. My mom wants somthing to travel in but some thing I can also learn to fly in.

[/ QUOTE ]

= Katana DA 40

Its all about comprimise.
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CitiationKid, I would teach you a PPL in a 172RG anytime. Your enthusiasm would be enough for me to take instructing back up. The only difference in your training would be that it would take you a little more time before I'd send you solo just so I could make really sure you put the gear down. The only other difference is the constant speed prop, and you sound smart enough to be able to handle that easily. If you can work it out with the insurance I say go for it.

As far as you having 260 hours, I think it's great that your getting to fly those airplanes...it took me almost two thousands hours before I got to fly a jet. Yeah, a jet is quite a bit different then a 172...but same idea, yoke makes it go up and down and throttles make it go faster and slower. However, while your experience in jets is cool, I think you'll find it won't transfer that readily to the 172. Just have a good attitude about it, and try not to go around the FBO talking too much about your get time. To some people, as you've seen online, it sounds like your bragging and they get pretty jealous of anyone that seems to have an advantage over them.

Good Luck.
 
I would love to do it like most people and go to a flight school and have an instructor, but there are no good flight schools around where I live. I have to drive 2 hours to get to a decent flight school.

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Yeah, you want to stay away from Dover. I hear their instructors dump bodies out of airplanes.

The problem with insurance isn't your hours or your age. It's that you're an UNLICENSED pilot. Insurance companies don't like student pilots. Especially student pilots flying retractable gear airplanes.
 
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