Aero Club of PA

Learn to fly in four easy steps

OK, there are a lot of little steps in between, but you'll find out about those soon enough. The point is, it's not as hard as you think.

First, a few facts:

• Your goal: A Private Pilot license.
• What you can do once you've got it: In a nutshell, fly a single-engine, propeller-driven aircraft, with passengers, in conditions where you can see the ground (or, at night, the lights).
• How much does it cost: Around $6,000 if you fly pretty regularly, more if you don't. Costs in rural areas tend be less than urban flight schools.
• How long does it take: Between six months and one year for most people, again depending on how often you can fly. Note that the cost, above, is spread out over this period. It is actually possible to do it in a much shorter period of time with a two to three week accelerated course, but we won't cover that here.

Now, the details

The important thing to remember about the whole process of learning to fly is that it's much easier than you think. If you can drive a car, do high school math, and you don't have any major phobias, you can learn to fly an airplane for fun. Many pilots will tell you that they thought about learning to fly for years, but didn't follow up on it because they didn't know how much it would cost, how much time it would take, or how to get started. Here are the steps to help you get going...

Step 1: Take a first flight

• Cost: About $125 for a one-hour intro, depending on the flight school.
• Time required: An hour or two, depending on how far you live from the airport.

Go to your local flight school (if you don't know where that is, AOPA has a list of them) and take a ride with an instructor. This may seem like putting action before planning, but if you think you're interested in flying, the first thing you need is to get a taste of it. This will either hook you for life or quickly let you know you'd rather stay on the ground, thank you.

Step 2: Go home and talk it over with your spouse

• Cost: $50-$100, less if you're a gourmet cook, more if he or she likes expensive restaurants.
• Time required: Depends on spouse.

I know, this seems a little ridiculous, but when you start learning to fly you are undertaking something most normal people think is dangerous and expensive. Your job here is to a) do enough reading to convince yourself that flying is both safe and not that expensive, b) convince your spouse that these things are true, and c) gently break to him or her that you're going to be spending clear Saturdays at the airport for the rest of your life. Caveat: If your spouse is completely unresponsive to the above, you may be stuck since you have now given yourself the flying bug in step 1. That's the way the Cessna bounces...

Step 3: Choose an instructor and buy the books

• Cost: $250 for books and materials; About $125 per flight with instructor.
• Time required: 2 hours per test ride.

This may be the most important step of the whole process. You need to make two decisions here: a) How formal do you want your flight training to be, and b) Is this particular instructor right for me? As for a) some schools follow a fixed sequence of lessons dictated by the FAA, while others follow their own curriculum. As far as b) goes, the most common method for choosing an instructor is walking up to an airport desk and saying "Are you a flight instructor?" If you want to be more scientific about it, consider whether your prospective instructor is reasonably patient, competent, and often around the airport. Nothing is more frustrating than blocking out time to fly, only to find your instructor is unavailable.

Step 4: Fly regularly

• Cost: $125 per lesson
• Time required: 2 hours per lesson, plus commuting time.

It is impossible to overstress the importance of getting in the airplane as often as possible. (Be sure to remind your significant other of this when your frequent airport visits come up as a topic of conversation.) Seriously, the more often you fly, the less time you need to spend to get whatever rating you're working on. Plus, unless you live in southern California, you never know when the weather is going to ground you for three weekends running. Some tips for making sure you get in the airplane as often as possible:

• Always schedule your next lesson before you leave the airport. Most good flight instructors will make sure you do this.
• In the summer, fly before or after work.

This concludes the four easy steps. For information on exactly what it costs, see the section below. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has lots more information about all aspects of flying, including a detailed description of the learn-to-fly process.

What it costs to get a private pilot license

These figures are average and will vary from school to school.

Altogether:

• Cessna 150/152 rental, 1 hour (includes fuel, etc.): $80
• Flight instructor, 1 hour: $40
• Realistic number of hours with instructor: 30
• Realistic number of hours without instructor: 30
• Total cost: $6,000

Per month, flying about every week:

• Approximate number of months: 8
• Monthly cost: $750

Per month, flying about every other week:

• Approximate number of months: 16
• Monthly cost: $375

* The Pilot Shop is run by JoePilot.com. Please direct questions about orders to the contacts listed on that site.

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