You must be 16 or over and speak and read English fluently. Training requires fluency in English because it is the universal language used by all the world control towers and airports.

Do some research about flying lessons. Contact local aviation schools. Some local County airports have schools.

After finding a school that fits your needs and budget, enroll in the licensed flight training classes. flight school can cost around $6,000 for all the training including ground school and flight training.

As mentioned in my opening statement, a physical and medical certificate will be needed from a doctor that is qualified to perform an pilot physical. This will ensure you’re healthy enough to fly. If you don’t know where to go, the flight school should be able to help.
Ground school can take about 3 to 5 weeks.

After you have completed your ground school course work, you will need to sit for the FAA written test. The test is multiple choice. and you may need to find a test provider?
Flight training is next. 30-40 hours with an instructor. Your school should be able to provide access to a plane.

Perform a solo flight.

The final test is performed by an FFA certified examiner. the tester will ask you questions and go with on a flight to assess your skills. Once you pass the final test, you will be private pilot license holder with a visual flight rating (VFR) so you can fly a single engine aircraft at day or night in good visibility conditions.

Obtaining a private pilot license is hard but doable. Pick a good school, flight training is only as good as the teaching staff.

See Books & Stuff at my blog for more information on being a pilot…

Fly in Balance….

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40 Hours Total

20 Hours Dual Instruction

10 Hours Solo

Now in other places you may see some added information

3 Hours Instrument

3 Hours Night

5 Hours Solo Cross Country

Now this is correct and the FAA regulations for the private pilot license do state this. The things that are missed are all of the areas of operation within these requirements. Many times the student doesn’t realize what is exactly required, this can add up to more flights if something is missed by the flight instructor. The worst case scenario is this is picked up by the pilot examiner on flight test day.

If you have read over my Private Pilot License Cost section you can see that I break the cost down the same way. This is because you have to realize that there is a lot of subject areas that need to be DOCUMENTED. If they are not documented in your logbook you are not qualified for your flight test.

I can’t tell you how many stories I have heard from examiner friends of mine about this. It happens all the time on flight test day. In many cases the flight instructor is nowhere to be found and the student has to reschedule the flight test. This happens so often that I made some special sections in my book called ( Keeping Your Instructor In Check )

So I will point them out to you so you can double check your instructor. Once in a while a student of mine will remind me of something, even after 20 years of doing this. Better a week before the flight test than on you Private Pilot Flight Test Day.

The above requirements for the Private Pilot License are the Minimum Requirements. Within these requirements are a lot of subject areas.

In addition to the Aeronautical Experience Requirements ( Flight Time) There are Aeronautical Knowledge Requirements. Most people just look at this is the FAA written Test. You have to realize that once again your instructor has to DOCUMENT each of the subject areas. The FAA is starting to get very tough on this. If these subject areas are not documented on flight test day, the examiner walks out. Hopefully your instructor is somewhere to be found but if he/ she isn’t, then you will have to reschedule your flight test.

I will outline all of these Private Pilot License Requirements for you and try to make it as simple as possible. So like my cost estimates I will break everything down into:

Private Pilot License, Pre-Solo Training Requirements

Private Pilot License, Post-Solo Training Requirements

Private Pilot License Flight Test Requirements

Private Pilot Requirements

The reason I do this is so you can get an idea of what you are required to do at each stage of your training and then what is required for you to take your flight test. There are a lot of things to learn so my advice is to plan this process out before you spend a dime flying.

Hope to See You In The Sky

Airfreddy

About the Author: Frederick Longe has been flying since 1985. He has owned many airplanes and owned a flight school in Mesa, Arizona . He has logged over 9,000 Hours of flight instruction alone. In 1998 Longe was awarded one of the first Master CFI Designations in the country by the National Association Of Flight Instructors. Frederick Longe also has Two Degrees in Professional Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

You can find his book Airfreddy’s Guide on Learning to Fly at the link below:

Airfreddy’s Learn To Fly Book

1: Airplane Price Per Hour

2: Flight Instructor Price Per Hour

Depending on where you are in the country these rates can be dramatically different. These two rates will be the most important factors however, there are other factors that can dramatically increase your cost. I will give you some examples of things you want to look at.

1: The Flight School Itself: You need to poke your nose around the community and see what is going on. You will want to ask people who recently got their Private Pilot License and ask them how much it cost and how many hours they ended up having.

In many cases you will see much more than the flashy clean flight school. I know of many Flashy High Dollar Flight Schools that once you get out into the aviation community, you will want nothing to do with them. You may find many of the people you talk to ending up with an excessive amount of hours and may have had up to six instructors. I know this first hand since many of those students come to me half way through their training. This is one reason I always tell people to take some time and research and come up with a plan first.

There are on the other hand many flight schools that are concerned about their students and are willing to work with students to get them licensed in a cost effective manner. You just have to find them.

2: The Flight Instructor: If your instructor is not a good teacher your chances of getting your private pilot license in a cost effective manner get slimmer. You need to look into this. Other factors that have to do with the flight instructor is their aviation game-plan. If they are a good flight instructor that cares about his/her students you can plan with them and get things done in a cost and time effective manner. If you have an instructor that is just trying to get to the magic hiring number for an airline, your flight training will be compromised and you can plan on spending a lot more money.

3:Books and materials: In most cases you can get home study courses for about $200 or so. Some schools will require you get their $500 DVD packages. I have always told students to do what is best for them. All of the courses out there cover the same material taken from the official FAA publications. The material that is used for your practical test is the FAA publications.

4:Examiner Fees: This part most flight schools don’t even mention at all. Once again depending on where you are in the world, this price can vary a lot. One part of the country you may find a private pilot flight test for $200 but in others like here in phoenix it will around $400.

A few of these factors put together can make the difference between a happy safe confident Private Pilot and a frustrated student pilot. If you are on a tight budget and have been saving for a long time, these factors will make a difference.

Planning this out is the most important thing you can do. In order to pass the Private Pilot License flight test you need to be proficient. Depending on the rates, instructor, and Flight School You Choose, $8,000 – $9,000 is a realistic budget and finishing at 45-50 hours is realistic.

The Planning process is the most important part. There are many delays that can happen, weather, maintenance and people getting sick.

For Explaining this I break the Private Pilot License Cost down into four parts. I do this so you can understand each phase of training. Then we will add it all up and you can see were the expenses are coming from. I break everything down in the following manner:

-Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost
-Private Pilot License Pre-Solo Pilot Training Cost
-Private Pilot License Post- Solo Pilot Training Cost
-Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost

Private Pilot License Cost

Each one of these areas has a cost. It is easier to understand when you have everything broken down in front of you. Planning for the Private Pilot License is the most important thing you can do.

About the Author: Frederick Longe has been flying since 1985. He has owned many airplanes and owned a flight school in Mesa, Arizona . He has logged over 9,000 Hours of flight instruction alone. In 1998 Longe was awarded one of the first Master CFI Designations in the country by the National Association Of Flight Instructors. Frederick Longe also has Two Degrees in Professional Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

You can find his book Airfreddy’s Guide on Learning to Fly at the link below:

Airfreddy’s Private Pilot License Manual