ColbyS

Hello,
Well friday was my birthday and my boss gave me the day off. I am active duty military stationed down at Fort Hood, TX. So I had a lesson scheduled for Sunday at noon, but I decided to drive down to georgetown muncipal airport and check the facility out before my first lesson. After arriving the guy at the front desk tells me that I can walk around and check it out. I told him I wanted someone to talk to so I can get any kind of information he could offer. I was then introduced to Darren, he had a student on the way but made time for me.
He showed me around and we talked for a bit. Well then Darren was told his student just called and cancelled. Darren asked me if I wished to take a lesson right then and there, I couldnt resist.

So pretty much did all the checks, got up in the air, practiced straight and level, climbs, descents, and turns. He said I was doing great so he introduced me to Slow Speed flight, after that we headed back to land. I bought the jeppesen private pilot kit before departing the school.

Everyone tells me that I should take 2-3 lessons a week but my wallet can not handle that type of cash. I can only afford one lesson a week. What are your thoughts on that?

Well thats it for now.

AbortAbortAbort

Well welcome to flying first of all.

3+ lessons a week are ideal in my experience. The primary reason is when you're not flying too often, you tend to lose proficiency in the maneuvers, so you spend more time practicing previous stuff with each lesson, which leaves less time for new material, which equals more lessons, thus flight, thus cost in the end.

Cubdriver

Colby, welcome to APC. We have active flight training forums here and quite a few certified instructors (CFIs) frequent these forums.

I think you rushed into your first flight lesson a little and maybe should not have bought the Jepesson flight kit without thinking about your desires a little bit deeper. It sounds like your first lesson was organized and professional as far as it went, on the day you flew. However, I wish you would take week off and think about what you want out of flying before you commit the kind of resources needed to obtain a private pilot certificate. You are looking at 7-8 thousand dollars and 30 to 50 flights to finish. Flying is wonderful no doubt about that- but it is also very expensive, and most people drop out after only a few lessons.

Personally I hope you continue. Let us know how it goes.

JBird

I was in your exact position, but at Fort Polk a few years ago. Due to my work schedule, I could only get in the air about once a week. That combined with blocks of time off for weather, field problems and girl friend resulted in about an 18 month flash to bang on getting my PPL. It was frustrating, but since it was a hobby, I didn't mind too much. Plus my instructor was a walking history lesson (served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam) so I enjoyed spending time with him and meeting people at the airport. I think if you are fairly physically coordinated, you should be ok. It might sound a little goofy, but I used to "chair fly" which is to close my eyes and visualize a flight, moving my hands as I would in the plane...I think it prevented me from loosing some of the skills I'd gained from the previous lesson. Also, you might look into the recreational pilot certificate. I don't know all the limitations, but it will allow you to fly solo after about half the hours thus eliminating the instructor fees. Ensure you go to AOPA and sign up with them, its a six month free subscription to Flight Training Magazine which is a great resource. Lastly, I'd tell you not to buy new training products or equipment unless you have to. Scour eBay, this forum and others. I've never purchased anything brand new from ground school disks to a headset. A lot of people have a lot of no longer used stuff in thier closet or garage and if you ask, they will likely sell it to you. Pilots are an honest bunch and I have never been ripped off doing so.

Once you do get your ticket, you can be reimbursed for TDY trips you fly and also there are some military flight clubs out there that are much better on the wallet than renting on the economy. Leavenworth and Fort Meade are the only two Army ones I know of in CONUS, but the AF and Navy have a few out there.

Anway, enjoy your flying and enjoy the training process.

captain152

Colby,
First of all welcome to aviation
I agree with Abort... You should try to get in the air at least twice a week if not 3 times when you're starting out. There's a lot of stuff to cover and the key is repetition and frequency so it stays fresh. I know it's very expensive (explains why all of us have loans out the wazoo) but if this is something you want to pursue as a career, it's worth the investment. If you're simply getting your license to have fun during your spare time it's a different story.
I fly for a regional airline and am a current CFI so if you have any questions feel free to PM me.
Welcome to flying and APC!

ColbyS

Well guys. You have very valid points. Well one goal is to eventually own a plane. Maybe 10 years from now but it’s a goal. I totally understand that I should go more than once a week. I wouldn’t mind opening a loan but would that just be an unsecure loan for say 10 grand? Right now I have my bills calculated for $800 per month towards flying lessons.

I am paying $118/hr. for plane and $37 for instructor.
I suppose once the dual is done i can speed things up. And after I pay this one credit card off that will give me an extra lesson or two per month.

Ever since I was 17 I have been fascinated with flight. Always curious how high the planes were that flew over me and what it would be like.
I have four years left in the Army and I'm deciding if commercial would be a choice or not. I am currently 27 years old and well I have so many options and it’s nice to get some advice from those 'old timers'.

That Jeppsen kit that I bought has a lot of useful information in it... Almost too much. hahah I suppose you can say I jumped right into all of this but I guess time will only tell. Just looking for some friends, help and advice in my journey.

Thank you.

Twin Wasp

Hey Colby,

I soloed at Georgetown before you were born! Well, you've covered everything in that first lesson. You went up and down, turned left and right, and flew at different airspeeds. NOW it's a matter of precision and learning how to put those actions together to get the plane where you want it when you want it there. As you saw, there's a whole lot going on. The whole idea of doing two or three lessons a week is to build proficiency and a sort of mental and physical muscle memory. Don't know your MOS is but you know how the Army trains the basic stuff - do it, do it again, do it over, do it till you get it right, and then do it some more. Same thing in flying. You'll notice I didn't say anything about flying straight and level in the basic skill set. Flying in Texas the air is going to be moving 98% of the time. You're constantly drifting up or down a bit or off course some. What you're going to have to do is build your own "autopilot." It's not as hard as it sounds, you do it already in 2D driving down I35. It just takes practice. Then your brain can think about, "Well, we're flying up to Waco, we can't fly over Ft. Hood, it's marked on the map. So we have to be over by I35. Hey, we're up 3500 feet but Waco is only 500 above sea level so I'm going to have to start down. O yeah, Waco has a control tower I have to talk to." The whole time your autopilot says "We're going 010 degrees and holding 3500 feet."

So you can only fly once a week. The regs say you need 40 hours to get a PVT. That doesn't happen. I think the average student has their checkride at 55-57 hours. You'll probably be higher. There will be times when you start doing cross country lessions you'll rack up 3+ hours in a day. That'll be towards the end of your training but it's not going to always be an hour and a half lessons.

Enjoy, it's fun.

ColbyS

Hey twin,

Well I am a wheeled mechanic in this wonderful Army. I totally understand the muscle memory and mental memory. Even on my first lesson I spoke about that when sooner or later I will be able to feel the slightest g forces, and do my rechecks on my instruments without even thinking about it. You're right, there is a lot going on when you first start. Well I sat down and figured some bills up last night and well I have $1600 to spend. Then after that its one lesson a week until I can get to the solo part. It sucks and I wish I could do more per week. Maybe I could request a loan from the bank, but would that be a smart choice for something thats for fun. I wish I could find someone in my area that wouldn't mind spending some time with me once i get to solo.. I remember someone saying they had a great deal with a CFI and the student only had to pay for an hour of airplane time each month for the guy. Who knows, maybe I can run across someone who can help me out. But in the mean time I can only work with what I have.

Today I was supposed to have a lesson. I woke up and looked outside and the skies were overcast. I googled the airport weather and visibility was 5 miles. After getting dressed, I hoped in my car. Dialed the flight schools number and asked if i would still be flying.. They said no.. Kinda disappointing and I guess thats another factor I need to consider. Well I guess its time to play on the flight simulator a little and read some stuff in these books.
Happy Flying.

ColbyS

So here is a schedule that I have came up with so far.

Lesson Dates:
March 17,18,19
March 26
April 2,3
April 9,10
April 16,17
April 23,24
April 30, May 1

This should put me at roughly 15 hours dual time. After these dates I will only be able to financially fly once a week. What do y'all think?

Cubdriver

Not accounting for efficiency gains, the time curve to obtain a PPL looks something like this (lessons = 1.5 hours). In terms of efficiency it is hard to develop an equation without any data, but you can assume the total number of hours to go down owing to saturation effects. In that case, you would predict the total number of hours required to be less.