Finally getting started: North Texas Flight Schools & plan?

Rob,

If your really serious about getting into aviation? You should purchase a partnership or plane yourself. You can get a nice 172 and do your private, instrument and commercial and recover a higher percentage of your investment when you sell your plane or share. Used airplane loans are fairly reasoanable and you can get 20 year terms to assist in your cash flow and fixed costs.

This is what I did many years ago via a Cessna 150 and turbo Mooney.

Having a private pilots license without an instrument rating is pretty limited.
Almost worthless IMO.

The national average for a PPL is much higher than 45 hours. I am pretty sure they will not guarantee a PPL in 45 hours? I owned a FBO and flight school oince upon a time out of Orange County Airport and I never had a student get a PPL in 45 hours.

Drop me a line if you wish and I will give you some more info via telephone.

Congrats on taking the leap.

Paul

 

Rob:

I started flying about 4 years ago, in a rented 152 at a small airport with a neighbor of mine who has his CFII. Took me forever to get my private license (but I didn't start lessions until I was over 60 which has been a real challenge). I bought into a Piper Archer with my son about a year ago. The main advantage of owing my own plane is that for the most part I can fly when I want to instead of scheduling around rental times.

I'm now working on my IFR rating which is an even bigger challenge (and probably more fun) than my private. I think what has made the biggest difference is that I have one instructor and she does flight training full time -- no other side job to distract her. And, she's not just trying to gain hours so that she can do something else. She is a career flight instructor.

Last year I flew just under 100 hours and felt like that was a nice balance. I have progressed a lot on my IFR rating and I'm still enjoying flying.

The other intangible for me is that I have had lots of flights with IFR pilots (from the right seat) which has given me a lot of exposure to their flying. So, even though I logged 100 hours flight time last year, I was probably flying with someone else another 50 hours or so.

I strongly recommend that you get a lot of ground school out of the way before you start flying. I did ground school and flight training at the same time for my private but finished ground school and passed my FAA IFR exam before doing my flight training. It really helped to have the ground out of the way.

In terms of training, I also recommend DVD training - my son has the videotapes but I find it very time consuming to find things on the videotapes. With DVD's, I can just go to the menu and find what I want very quickly.

No doubt someone here will disagree with my recommendations but that is what these forums are all about -- as many opinions as there are people.

Ed, Kansas City (a previous sponsor of your f car)

 

In addition to the posts I made about airplane ownership/purchase, I thought I'd address a couple of your questions.

3A: The books written by the late Kershner, are probably the best ever written. He had the nack for explaining things so elegantly that they immediately make sense.

3B: I recommend waiting until you have about 10-12 hours in the air before you start a ground school. By then, many of the terms and concepts make more sense and and will complement rather than confuse. The reverse is also true when you get into the aircraft.

3C: The number of hours a week is totally up to you and your particular learning styles and progress. On the one hand, the longer between flights, the longer it may take to "review" past skills where they haven't become automatic yet. On the other hand, learning to fly is like drinking from a fire hose. You need to strike a balance between the stresses of too much too fast and too little too long. Probably about 3-4 hours a week leaves enough time to digest the day's learning. At first, a 1 hour (in the air) lesson is quite enough for most folks. Once you have begun to feel comfortable, 2 hour lessons will be enough to focus on the skills you'll need. Any more may become either too repetative and boring or too diverse and stressful. I know how anxious you are, Go slow. It'll pay big dividends.

3E: I recommend AGAINST getting the instrument rating right away. While I may not agree with some of the other comments, I will agree that the instrument rating is an important step in becoming a proficient and safe pilot.
Although the FAA lowered the flight hours to get the instrument rating some years ago, I think that this was a mistake. When I completed my private, my instructor REFUSED to start me on my instrument work right away and said, rather. "You've worked your ass off and did well. Now go out and enjoy yourself. Come back in another 150 to 200 hours. I'll be here."

Good advice. The experience you will get by flying as PIC will prepare you for doing the instrument work. Instrument training is intense and difficult... for good reason. It is serious business. If you are still "learning" about flying and honing those basic skills, instrument work WILL be overwhelming. Once comfortable getting into your plane to go somewhere as you would in your car (with a proper preflight, of course), you're ready to take up the instrument challange. I't'll be the best thing you'll do in your flight training and will reward you with knowing the sense of accomploshment of flying with precision whether VFR or IFR.

Misc: As to ownership, partnership is like a marriage. You need to know your partners so "intimately" that difference of opinion, scheduling conflicts, maintenance, upgrades, etc. won't put you at each others throats. A word to the wise.

Keep us informed as to your progress.

Planeflyr

 

At least he's using a good headset.

Planeflyr

 

Well at least the guy has the important things protected

 

Rob. I love that picture. U think I can get my license dressed like that? Seems very comfortable.

 

Hi Rob I put a post up on one of my blogs here it is

http://learntoflyairplane.blogspot.com/2006/02/learn-to-fly-what-will-it-cost-you.html

I broke it down pretty good. That does seem pretty close just take the hours I put there and change the instructor rate and the AC rate and you should have a pretty good idea.

Find out what you have to pay if you go over the 45 hours. I have my students home study and I spend about 10 hours on the ground with them.

Just make sure you comit to it and get it done don't let anything get in your way. I was telling someone just the other night I could probably go thru my database over 20 years (IF I STILL HAD IT ALL) and come up with about 150 people that started and never finished.

Once you have your certificate it is good for the rest of your life

Out here I am telling people to plan on $7,000 to $8,000 Once you are done.

Airfreddy