Thanks for the advice!

That, my friend, is a lot of questions! And a lot of them are dependent on factors such as where you live, what equipment is available at your flight school, etc. I'll try to help you out with some general info:

Definetely a good idea to take the first class medical as the first thing. Why bother with spending that kind of money on training that you'll never get to use because you find out afterwards that you have something that will never allow you to fly?

Regarding your PPL, if you're looking for a package deal where ground school, books, flight time, instructor time, etc. is all included, from what I've seen you're looking at around $10,000. Maybe more, maybe less. You can definetely do it for less if you're willing to put the time and effort into it. I think when all was said and done, my PPL cost about $7500, flight time/ground school/books/checkride included. I had mine in just over 50 hours in a random mix of C152s, C172s, and a Piper Warrior. Minimum flight time for a PPL is 40 hours, but remember, that's MINIMUM. Not too many students are ready for their checkrides at the 40 hour mark.

There are a lot of flight schools that will take you in and get you your PPL all the way up through your CFI/CFII/MEI certificates in ridiculous time periods like 90 days. Those programs run in the upwards of $50,000-$60,000. That's a lot of money, and a lot of information to absorb in a time period that short. But it works for some people.

If you're serious about becoming a professional pilot, and want to start that by becoming a CFI, you can count on needing your PPL, then your instrument rating, your CPL (commercial pilots license), and then moving on to your CFIs. And if you want to be an MEI, throw in your ME rating somewhere as well. I did my PPL first, followed that with my instrument, and then went on to my CPL. With that road, when I got to my multi engine add on, I was able to take my multi engine commercial instrument checkride all at once, rather than taking two or three additional checkrides and having to pay an examiner for them.

There are requirements for each license and rating that you want to obtain, most having to do with certain numbers of hours required in different types of flight (night flight, cross countries, etc). For your PPL, these are what you will have to have met in order to qualify to take your checkride:
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be at least 17 years of age
have a current FAA third-class medical certificate
log at least 40 hours of flight
have at least 20 hours of flight with an instructor
have at least 10 hours of solo flight
pass the FAA Private Pilot Airmen Knowledge written test
pass a FAA Private Pilot flight exam

Requirements regulating the licensing of private pilots are established by the Federal Aviation Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation and set forth in Federal Aviation Regulation, Part 61.

Sec. 61.109 Airplane Rating: Aeronautical Experience

An applicant for a private pilot certificate with an airplane rating must have had at least a total of 40 hours of flight instruction and solo time which must include the following:

(a) Twenty hours of flight instruction from an authorized flight instructor, including at least--

Three hours of cross country;
Three hours of instrument flight training;
Three hours at night, including 10 takeoffs and landings for applicants seeking night flying privileges; and
Three hours in airplanes in preparation for the private pilot flight test within 60 days prior to that test.
An applicant who does not meet the night flying requirement in paragraph (a) of this section is issued a private pilot certificate bearing the limitation "Night flying prohibited." This limitation may be removed if the holder of the certificate shows that he has met the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section.

(b) Ten hours of solo flight time, including at least:

Five hours of cross-country flights, each flight with a landing at a point more than 50 nautical miles from the original departure point. One flight must be of at least 150 nautical miles with landings at a minimum of three points, one of which is at least 50 nautical miles from the original departure point.
Three solo takeoffs and landings to a full stop at an airport with an operating control tower.
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In a nutshell, there are no definitive answers as to how long it will take you, how many hours it will take you, etc. It all depends on you, how hard you work, how much you study, and how well you are able to absorb the information that will be thrown at you. I can tell you from experience that it's a lot of hard work, it's a little bit of easy work, and a TON of fun. The rewards are well worth the efforts, no doubt about it.

Thanks for the Advice

I'm right down the 10 from you. I learned to fly out of KCCB and KPOC, and my first long cross country was to KBLH with a stop at KPSP.



An MEI is a Multi-Engine Instructor. A CFII is an instrument flight instructor. A CFI is a flight instructor.



You are going to need your PPL, your instrument rating, your CPL, your multi-engine rating, and your CFI certificate(s). If you want to instruct instrument students, you need your CFII, and if you want to instruct multi engines, you will need your MEI. I don't know if you can do all of those on the same checkride or not.



You do not need your ATP to be an airline pilot. ATPs require 1500 hours of flight time though, so hopefully you'll have a job before you get to that point. Otherwise you're going to be a long time CFI, or paying for a whole lot of flight time. I do not know if your flight school will offer the ATP certificate, but you have a while to worry about where you're going to get that anyway. I wouldn't sweat it too much at this point.

Thanks for the advice!

BM - You sound a little too eager! I'm not trying to piss on your chips, but how about writing down all your questions and then doing the following:

1. Have a look at the FAA's website. For a government website it commendably very transparent and contains a lot of the information you are looking for.
2. Try getting the information off the internet from site from training organisations and other suppliers sites.
3. Start writing the answers in you book and then start visiting flight training organisations and start asking for their answers. Compare all of these answers and then select where you are going to spend your money.

As for loans, deferring for 12 months may be a good idea, but how will you eventually repay the loan? Please don't say from your income as a pilot. You MUST have a Plan B ready for repayments which does not involve flying. Reason, when you start flying, just look at the instructors' cars from your flight school. If they are like the cars driven by their counterparts throughout the world, when criminals break into them, they normally leave money on the seat. And it's not normally found for months because of the wreckage from fast food wrappers etc. These guys are not wealthy but they will share information as to how they did it for a very reasonable price - like a beer on the way home!

Best of luck,

PM

BM, the PPL packages sound pretty good. It's interesting that they include the headset, kneeboard, and flashlight. What it doesn't mention is what happens if you aren't ready for the checkride at the 50 hours that you've paid for. You might want to find out about hourly rates just in case it takes a tad longer than that.

And remember, you still have examiners fees for the checkride to add to that. And other things. But the examiners fees will be the big one, they run between $300-500 these days.

Thanks for the advice!

The written exams ARE included in the packages that you see on the flight schools website. But remember, you have three tests to take. You have your written, your oral, and your flight exam. It's the oral and flight exam that you'll be paying for on top of the cost of the flight school.

As far as the ACP course, yes. It looks like that will get you where you want to be. With that, in four or five months, you will be a single and multi engine commercial instrument pilot, with your CFI, CFII, and MEIs.

I went to a similar accelerated flight school for my multi commercial instrument add on, and from what I learned, when you go through the big programs with a lot of those places, they sometimes offer jobs as CFIs once you've completed their CFI training. That's not to say that this one definetely will, just saying that a lot of them do.

If they have a full simulator, and not something like a PCATD, the time in there is pretty valuable. Those things are hard to fly at first, because they lack the actual feel of an airplane, but it helps to sharpen your scan, especially when you're on the instruments. They're a fantastic way to familiarize yourself with the airplane (provided that the sim is the same layout or a similar layout to the actual airplane that you are flying) without wasting precious hours in the actual cockpit. It looks like you'd get unlimited time in the sim, which is good.

I'll tell you one more thing about heavily accelerated programs like the one that you are interested in. They're designed to get you trained fast. They'll teach you what you need to know to pass your checkrides. They'll make you a pilot. It will be up to you to become a good pilot. Getting licenses and ratings is not just about passing a checkride. It's about being safe, being responsible, and being the best that you can be, especially because you want to be an airline pilot. You want to carry hundreds of people in a flying, pressurized tube. So act accordingly, and be prepared to put the extra time and effort in, in order to seperate yourself from the others.

Thanks for the advice!

Unfortunately, the sim time can not be logged as actual flight time. It can go in your log book, but it goes in under a sim category for training purposes. For instance, there is a certain number of PCATD or simulator hours that can be used towards your time under the hood for your instrument rating. 15 hours, I believe. But for total time, no.

Basically, the ACP package offered at the Palm Springs flight school is the only one that offers the CFI/CFII/MEIs with it. That is everything that you will need as far as licensing and ratings go. Your ATP will come later, hopefully at the expense of someone else (an airline). The others are just fine, and both the multi-engine packages will do just fine. The professional pilot package plan offers only single engine time, and you're going to need that multi engine time to get hired anywhere. Generally, 100 hours is considered minimum. And that's exactly what they're offering.

But without the CFI/CFII/MEI licenses, you're left on your own for building the rest of your hours. The instructor licenses give you the ability to get a job that will get you those hours that you'll need in order to get hired somewhere.

As far as questions to ask the flight school go... ask them whatever you need to know. Tell them your goals, let them explain to you what they can do for you. Make sure you find out what happens to hours not needed for training. Some schools will try to steal those from you. If you buy a package deal, those hours are bought and paid for, you need to make certain that you get every single last one of them. Ask them about checkrides and examiners fees. Make sure the use of the plane is included for the checkride, and not an extra fee. Ask anything and everything that comes to mind, and be prepared with paper and pen to take notes so you're not left wondering later if you forget.

And as far as your last question goes, by the regulations, in order for two pilots to log PIC time in the same aircraft, one has to be under the hood (simulated instrument) as the other acts as a safety pilot. Flying with me won't do you any good at all until you're multi-engine rated, because you can't log flight time in an type of aircraft that you're not rated for. But once you're rated, if you're looking for someone to share time with, hit me with a PM. Two pilots paying for an hour is better than one pilot paying for an hour!

Cessnapilot - you are a true gent!

PM

Heh, thanks. It wasn't too long ago that I had the exact same questions when I was starting, thank God that Ranger was always around to push me in the right direction.

It doesn't hurt that it's been one heck of a slooooooow week at work...

Thanks for the advice!

It can be confusing if you're flying three different aircraft interchangably, especially if one's a Cessna, one's a Piper, and one's a Beech, or some such combination. With each different aircraft comes a different set of responsibilities and a different set of knowledge that you'll need to have at least mostly committed to memory. But I don't think you'll need to worry too much about that, because the way that they have the program set up, it sounds like it's tiered, and you'll be taking it one plane at a time. And even if you don't, it's not that difficult, and not something to get worked up or worried over.




That would be 60 hours solo. You need certain amounts of time in a cockpit alone to qualify for each license and rating. They need to know that you're comfortable up there by yourself, and not competely reliant on the instructor sitting next to you.

Of course, they want their instructors up there with you, because it helps assure that their planes stay safe, and the bulk amount of hours that they receive when teaching students in these programs is one of the perks that the flight schools use to attract the CFIs to the job. They're not millionaires, those CFIs. Those extra flight hours have to make up for the pay. Hopefully.



Being under the hood means that the manipulator of the controls has a view limiting device on (usually a hood, or a pair of fogged glasses, often called "foggles") so that they can not see outside of the aircraft. This is done to simulate instrument conditions. The other pilot in the aircraft would not be "posing as an instructor", but acting as a safety pilot. There are certain factors that qualify you as a safety pilot, but they're pretty lenient. Something along the lines of currency in category and class. I know there are others, but I'm not awake enough this morning to recall...



Nah, nothing to be scared of. It's fun. A LOT of fun. Heck, if you're not going to go out and enjoy it, is it really worth all of the time, effort, and cash that you're going to put out for it?

Thanks for the Advice!