Flight training

[ssuwan]

Yes. You’ll need one to fly for the airlines. Better make sure you can hold one before spending $50K on all your ratings.

Thanks for the tip. Just made the appointment.

If you go the local club/flight school route MAKE SURE they have AT LEAST TWO aircraft for training. I've done 141 and 61 programs and both are good for different reasons BUT, airplanes BREAK. Come to think of it, I've never flown one in which everything worked.

Waiting for that one (or even two airplanes at busier local schools) to get necessary repairs will either give you fits or force you to become the most patient person in the world. Most likely costing you some extra money or delayed checkrides, at the very least.

No longer needing a complex for your commercial, save the ten hours required, is going to save A LOT of students A LOT of headaches.

Death to Cessna single engine retractables.

I think the club that I'm doing this with has quite a bit of airplane. Hopefully booking the plane won't be too hard. So do you mind telling me a bit about what you like and dislike about each programs(61/141)?

 

[AA34]

Death to Cessna single engine retractables.

How’s that? Don’t you think schools will continue to need them to provide the 10 complex you mentioned? I can see them not getting used as much though after that initial complex time.

 

[86BravoPapa]

How’s that? Don’t you think schools will continue to need them to provide the 10 complex you mentioned? I can see them not getting used as much though after that initial complex time.

How's what? Yeah, some place will need them; Pipers seem to be much more commo/available then Cessna single engine retractables.

 

[Rosstafari]

I'm currently in the ATP ACPP. I don't have a lot to add to what's already been said - including taking longer since I'm up in the PNW - but if you have any questions for a second career person who's doing it right now, let me know and I'll do my best to help.

 

[srn121]

A big thing to be aware of is weather too and how it will impact your training schedule. Depending on where you live a lot of your flights will turn into just ground as the weather's not good enough to fly so it will probably take longer than you plan. Also this time of year with all the heat the air won't often be all that smooth due to the thermals which may make you a bit sick at first, also it may make it tougher to hold your altitude on maneuvers, although DPEs are supposed to take thermals into consideration during check rides so don't beat yourself up if things seem tougher than they should be.

One more thing to note about instructors is that in aviation things are a bit backwards and not every instructor should be instructing. Instructing in the US is largely a means to an end as a time builder and sometimes there will be people that have no business teaching holding that position. It's tricky being a new pilot and knowing whether the instructor's good or not as you don't have any experience to reference so talk to other pilots if you have any issues. I got lucky with most of mine, but I had one who was a jackass and who eventually got fired. The guy's career had stalled for a long time because of the way he treated people and the reputation he developed, but I wonder if he discouraged any pilots enough that he was training to give up entirely. I think the PPL pass rate is something like 1 in 20 people that start it will finish it, but I may be mistaken and I think a lot of it's financial, but I've always felt a lot was due to the instructors too.

 

[AA34]

How's what? Yeah, some place will need them; Pipers seem to be much more commo/available then Cessna single engine retractables.

Just not sure how you can say the change will be the death of Cessna single retract when they are still needed.

 

[86BravoPapa]

Just not sure how you can say the change will be the death of Cessna single retract when they are still needed.

I didn't mean to say the change will be the death. I'm just not a fan of Cessnas gear system for their singles....highly unreliable even in my limited experience with them. Fixed gear Cessnas; great aircraft.

 

[Nihon_Ni]

You may start flight training only to find out you don't like it, or it's not what you thought it would be. Or you may find out it's better than sex! (Which it is!) This forum is full of guys who got their ticket(s) then moved on to other things and stopped flying -- some of those guys came back to aviation, and some never will. There's a thousand reasons why that happens, but the point is, why would you fully commit to a single track where it only works out if everything falls into line as you expect at this moment? (How many things in your restaurant journey have turned out exactly the way you expected on day 1?) I read a magazine article last week that said only 20% of student pilots become private pilots. Some of that is because some people take more than 24 months to complete their training and need a second student license, but I suspect that's a small percentage. As a CFI I can tell you from personal experience that there's a tremendous drop out rate among student pilots. Many people start flying and realize it isn't what they thought it was.

ATP is a great route for some folks, but it's all in. Not everyone graduates from ATP, and I know plenty of people who did graduate from ATP who will never progress beyond CFI at a county airport.

By joining the club you retain your freedom of choice should things turn out differently than you expect, for better or worse. Once you get some experience in flight training, you can always switch to ATP if you're ready to go all it. Last I knew, they still had a program to take you from PPL to hero too.

 

[mshunter]

I did the career change at the same age. It's a hard road to hoe, but worth in IMO. If you do decide to switch, you need to commit to it 100 percent, especially if you finance it. It's expensive.

And before you do commit, go get a few hours under your belt. Take a few lessons first.