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You
haven't seen a tree until you've Learn To Fly I want to fly... How do I get started? Few things in life offer such a combination of reaching for new personal frontiers and mastering new skills--all while experiencing the thrill of flight. Aviation training consists of flight and ground lessons, but you will quickly see that they merge into a cohesive whole, each facilitating the other. The subjects you will have to study and the flight experience you will have to acquire before being able to take your final flight examination for your private pilot certificate are set forth in the Federal Aviation Regulations. Costs Costs for such items as aircraft rentals and hourly instructions vary widely. Plan on investing approximately $8000-$9000 (pay as you go, financing plans, or credit cards accepted) in becoming a private pilot, including outlays for ground school, supplies, and test fees. Requirements Essentially, you have to be 16 years old to solo and at least 17 to receive a private pilot certificate. You must also pass a basic physical examination. At some time during your training, before you take your final flight exam, you must score 70 percent or better on the 60-question multiple-choice private pilot written test administered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA offers a combined medical certificate and student pilot certificate; to solo, you must have it, but you can start your training without it. How Much Will I Fly? To earn a private pilot certificate, you will fly a minimum of 40 hours in training, including at least 10 hours of solo flight time. These are minimum figures. In reality, most students have somewhere in the vicinity of 50 to 60 hours at the completion of their training. Early flight lessons usually run about an hour and are dedicated to familiarizing you with basic aircraft control. Next, you will explore the airplane's handling in other realms of flight such as the slow-speed range (which a pilot experiences in every flight, during takeoff runs and landing approaches) and at steeper angles of bank (an airplane in banked, i.e. a wing is lowered, to make a turn; the steeper the bank angle, the quicker the rate of turn). Once a trainee is familiar with these basic ideas and has mastered them in the airplane, it is on to practicing takeoffs and landings and airport traffic pattern operations, where all of the skills recently learned come into play.
Usually after several hours of practice the student's landings take on a consistently acceptable quality. When these skills are mastered the first solo flight is not far behind. Now that you are soloing in the local area, dual flights with your instructor will enter a new phase: point-to-point flying in the air traffic control system, known as "cross-country" training when the flight exceeds 50 nautical miles. With your instructor, you will begin to plan and fly across counties in preparation for doing at least five hours of cross-country solo flying enroute to earning your private pilot ticket. Night flying is also included in your training. It consists of three hours of flight time with 10 takeoffs and landings. As you close in on the required flight-time minimums for each of the various required flight operations, it is time to focus on your upcoming flight examination, which is a combined oral and flight test. During the "test prep" phase, you will put the pieces all together. Armed with a written recommendation from your flight instructor, next comes your flight test, or "check ride," as pilots call it, during which you demonstrate your knowledge and skill to an FAA examiner. At the end of it all, with the flight test behind you and the newly issued temporary pilot certificate in your pocket, you can look back on a rewarding experience and ahead to a lifetime of enjoyment in the skies.
Topeka-Billard Manhattan |
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