Minimum age for flying?

Stormflyer

Stormflyer

New Member
I noticed that newly registered user Alex_B is taking his first lesson soon. From the "Algebra" thread it sounds like he is in 8th or 9th grade. I thought that since the minimum age for getting a PPL is 17, someone might start their flight training at age 16, maybe 15, but it sounds like Alex_B could be even younger than that! Also, I thought I saw that Citationkid says he has logged time in a jet, but he is still not old enough to get his license. Is there no minimum age for flying, unlike for driving? Or is there just a minimum age for soloing? How does it work? I can imagine a 6-year-old flying an airplane.
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Not saying that I would take a lesson quite yet, but this is interesting...
 
No age requirement to go up with an instructor, fly the plane and log the time.

16 - to solo

17 - license

18 - commercial
 
Iain is right. 16 to solo a powered aircraft. 17 to get your PPL. 18 to get your commercial. No additional age requirements to get your CFI. No minimum age to log time or fly with a CFI, at least in the USA.

For sailplanes, like I said before, it's 14 to solo and 16 to get your private glider license.

For FAR part 103 ultralights, there are no age requirements.

I've taken kids up on Young Eagles flights who were like, probably 8. I try to give every kid a chance to "steer" the plane in flight. Many don't want to. I've let a few of the older, sharper, braver, ones try to land with me talking them through it. I always wind up "helping" them, at the end, but it's a pretty impressive thing for them to get to talk about in school the next day.

Citationkid has some connections where he gets to fly along in everything from jets to taildraggers. In many of the aircraft types, if he's with a CFI, he could log it.
 
I've been flying planes since I was 10. Granted the hours didn't count until I got my medical (which doubles as your student license), but nonetheless I still got to do all the flight functions up until landing. I'm still a relatively small guy (5ft 7in), but for a long time I had to use a cushion just to see over the instrument panel, so don't let age/height hold ya back.

If you want, Im sure many flight schools in your area would be happy to take you up on a introductory sort of flight. Some schools will even teach you everything you need to know, however, you will still have to wait until you are 16 to get the medical.
 
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I thought that since the minimum age for getting a PPL is 17, someone might start their flight training at age 16, maybe 15, but it sounds like Alex_B could be even younger than that! Also, I thought I saw that Citationkid says he has logged time in a jet, but he is still not old enough to get his license. Is there no minimum age for flying, unlike for driving? Or is there just a minimum age for soloing? How does it work? I can imagine a 6-year-old flying an airplane.

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There is no age minimum for flying (acctually controling the airplane), as long as there is a liscensed pilot in the cockpit.

IIRC there was a 7 year old girl who was going to be the youngest pilot to fly coast to coast. She was flying with an instructor, and her dad was in the back seat. Tragicly they crashed and all died after taking off in a snowstorm.

I belive that Ckid's mom is rated to fly the citation single pilot, so he can sit in the copilots seat and fly all he wants.


You can begine your flight training anytime you want.

The min age for soloing gliders is 14.

Private pilots liscense in gliders at 16.

Solo in powerd airplanes at 16. (twins too, belive it or not
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Private liscense in powered airplanes at 17.

Comercial liscense at 18.

A&P liscense at 18.

CFI at 18

ATP liscense at 18.



I highly encourage you young guys to pursue gliders untill you are 16. You can solo sooner, and it will make you a better pilot.
 
You also might consider going into the military and trying for the flight program. You could serve your country, get a great education (possibly at the USAFA or USNA), and save a ton of money (and not just on your car insurance
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) all at the same time. Something to think about.
 
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IIRC there was a 7 year old girl who was going to be the youngest pilot to fly coast to coast. She was flying with an instructor, and her dad was in the back seat. Tragicly they crashed and all died after taking off in a snowstorm.


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If you want more information on this tragically stupid waste of lives, Google Jessica Dubroff.
 
There was a 7 year old girl who was going to be the youngest pilot to fly coast to coast. She was flying with an instructor, and her dad was in the back seat. Tragicly they crashed and all died after taking off in a snowstorm.
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Wow, thats horrible!
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My instructor at Cooly advised that the earliest age he would recommend someone to start flying would be 15.
 
"Granted the hours didn't count until I got my medical (which doubles as your student license)"

So, are you saying you have to have a medical and student certificate to log training time? Do you have a reference for that?
 
My father in law is an avionics engineer and he has logged about 20 hours of jet time, most of which is also actual instrument. He has never actually sat in the pilot's seat of an aircraft in flight. How'd he log the hours you ask? Instuctor was on board. How'd he log it as actual instrument you ask? Autopilot was in use. Its an instrument right? Aircraft was controlled solely by reference to an instrument.
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My father in law is an avionics engineer and he has logged about 20 hours of jet time, most of which is also actual instrument. He has never actually sat in the pilot's seat of an aircraft in flight. How'd he log the hours you ask? Instuctor was on board. How'd he log it as actual instrument you ask? Autopilot was in use. Its an instrument right? Aircraft was controlled solely by reference to an instrument.
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That sounds interesting. To work as an avionics engineer what do you need, an eletronic or software engineering degree?
 
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"Granted the hours didn't count until I got my medical (which doubles as your student license)"

So, are you saying you have to have a medical and student certificate to log training time? Do you have a reference for that?

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No you dont have to have a medical to log training time you just have to have a medical to solo!

Without a medical you can log dual recieved. My 4 year old daughter has 3 hours in her log book I am hoping to solo her on her 16th b-day.
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I don't think you can start too young.. I began messin with Flight simulator when I was 8 and took my first flight lesson when I was 12. Of course it is a waste of money to log and pay for a bunch of dual until you are old enough to solo (16). However, If you are able to be around aviation at a young age its only going to make it easier to learn the concepts when you are old enough to get the ratings.
 
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I don't think you can start too young.. I began messin with Flight simulator when I was 8 and took my first flight lesson when I was 12. Of course it is a waste of money to log and pay for a bunch of dual until you are old enough to solo (16). However, If you are able to be around aviation at a young age its only going to make it easier to learn the concepts when you are old enough to get the ratings.

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I also think its a waste of money to start at a young age I think the best thing to do is get a job at a local flight school/maitenence facility either washing airplanes or cleaning mechanics tools and sweeping the floors.

You can absorb a bunch of knowledge about aviation and might even make a buck or two.

If your real lucky you can hitch a ride on some ferry flights with instructors and build a little time.

I knew a young kid who built about 30 hours doing this he even started landing all by himself and never paid a dime. Way to hustle kid wish I would have thought of it.
 
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That sounds interesting. To work as an avionics engineer what do you need, an eletronic or software engineering degree?

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Actually he got an associates degree in televiosion/radio repair and he got a job doing avionics installation. Then he went back and got a bachelors in plain old mathematics. That combined with the electronics experience allowed him to move into the engineering side of the business. I immagine if you wanted to do that the best path would be electronics/electrical engineering.
 
I've got to second DE727UPS recommendation of flying gliders. I started training at 15 to solo at 16 yada yada yada. Later I got a sailplane rating. It is hard to overstate how much learning to fly gliders adds to your basic flying skills. In an ideal world everyone would learn to fly gliders then powered planes.
 
I started flying when I was 13 and was able to get my private and instrument the same month I turned seventeen, with about 190 hours total time. I was part 61, so every solo x-c I took for the fifty hours required had to be signed off by a CFI. I got my multi shortly thereafter, and just recently picked up my commercial certificate (I'm 21 now). Today, I have about 500 hours, only 15 of which are multi-engine. I am currently saving money for my commercial rotor add-on, and fly about 3-5 hours a month to keep "proficient."

In retrospect, I think starting so young spoiled flying for me, turning me away from an airline career. A moderate portion of my flying became "old hat." In essence, I burned out.

For ME, I think this was a good thing, as I had a lot of time to experience flying a lot first-hand, realizing the downsides to a professional flying career (I've had the chance to speak to MANY pilots over the past eight years), which allowed me to make the decision that I didn't want to be a full-time airline pilot. I still remain interested in special mission flying (law enforcement, air ambulance, some corporate departments, etc.), but am more attracted to the idea of small aircraft ownership and maybe flying part-time.

So, I don't know what to tell you. I have a great passion for flying, but not enough to deal with what some of our veteran pro's on the board deal with on a daily basis. I strongly believe that I was able to come to this conclusion by flying so much, starting at a relatively young age. When people find out how much experience I have, they are very surprised to hear that I do not have professional aspirations. I used to feel bad, question my own ambitions, but I am certain that I made the right choice for ME.


THAT BEING SAID, you need to have a good deal of money to do what I did. I was very fortunate to have a father that financially supported my training, but it was probably a very fiscally unsound method.

J.
 
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