Let's say a student pilot who has about 15 hours left to go can no longer afford to fly on a weekly basis, would flying bi-weekly be enough to maintain some skills or would it better to just stop and pick it up at a higher frequency when able?
I don't think I've ever flown more than every two weeks for ANY rating, and I'm a CFI in more than one category now.
I wouldn't tell them to stop based on that.
I did write the post in the 3rd person, but the student is me. I started my PPL many years ago but had to stop in 2008 when I was laid off due to the recession. I started back again this year and it took a while just to get to the solo phase. I was putting everything on my credit cards. Now I have two credit cards that are nearly maxed out and I have to choose between continuing to ruin my credit or stop flying and spend a bunch of money in the future getting back to where I am now. I'm still looking for full-time work, and what I make is just enough to pay the bills and fly once in a while.
My goal is to apply for ANG/AFRES/USCG, so I'd be happy with a PPL for now.
Let's say a student pilot who has about 15 hours left to go can no longer afford to fly on a weekly basis, would flying bi-weekly be enough to maintain some skills or would it better to just stop and pick it up at a higher frequency when able?
Are you seriously saying that when you were working on your instrument rating that you only flew once every two weeks?! And this was enough to get you ready for a check ride?
Two different questions there. Here's my input on both:
1. Flying every other week is inefficient, but some students do OK with it, others stagnate or go backwards. It is very situation dependent, thus the true answer is "it depends".
2. Haven't pulled this out of the dust bunny pile in ages, but here you go: http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/stevecs-accumulated-loan-rant-posts.27591/
I did write the post in the 3rd person, but the student is me. I started my PPL many years ago but had to stop in 2008 when I was laid off due to the recession. I started back again this year and it took a while just to get to the solo phase. I was putting everything on my credit cards. Now I have two credit cards that are nearly maxed out and I have to choose between continuing to ruin my credit or stop flying and spend a bunch of money in the future getting back to where I am now. I'm still looking for full-time work, and what I make is just enough to pay the bills and fly once in a while.
My goal is to apply for ANG/AFRES/USCG, so I'd be happy with a PPL for now.
I don't think I've ever flown more than every two weeks for ANY rating, and I'm a CFI in more than one category now.
I wouldn't tell them to stop based on that.