Flying is (Unfortunately) Expensive

A plane is expensive to maintain to regulations, inspect often, rent airport space, insure for instruction, and so much more.

Let's examine realistic and reasonable rental rates and ways to minimize excess cost.

Cost-concious pilots will recognize

• A realistic cost is essential for financial planning.
• Many flight schools often quote the bare minimum cost assuming optimistic (minimum required) flight hours (leaving you with thousands of dollars in unexpected bills).
• Instructor turnover will cost you. (Unfairly to you)
• Regular and frequent lessons will ensure you move forward -- these skills decay fast
• Studying before and after every lesson will SAVE YOU SO MUCH MONEY.
• Chair flying is the best use of your time
• You don't need fancy avionics or new planes to learn to fly
• You don't need all that"pilot stuff".
• Find only necessary reference material.

Realistic Cost

Regular and Frequent Lessons

• Two (even three) lessons per week is recommended for maximum efficiency (and memory).
• You must complete the required studying, rehearsal, and homework between each lesson to make this effective.
• You can do less frequent lessons, but you need to study and rehearse even more.
• Every flight hour commits actions and checklists to "muscle memory." Big training pauses cause you to stutter and stumble through checklists and maneuvers.
• You need to make sure your CFI can meet you on your schedule to support this (or find a different CFI). He/she works for you, and bending/minimizing flight hours because of your CFI's schedule is not how this relationship should unfold.

Studying and Chair Flying

Your discipline to study and rehearse before EACH flight will save you so much time and money (excellent link from Jason Miller, CFI and author of The Finer Points).

Studying ALL the pre-flight knowledge required by the syllabus on your own makes you prepared and efficient in the next lesson. Imagine asking your CFI to clarify some of the difficult material you learned instead of being taught on the ground by your CFI, nodding along the lesson, and realizing two weeks later you didn’t actually understand it.

CHAIR FLYING (Dry Time). Buy/make a poster of your training aircraft cockpit (doesnt have to be exact, most type cockpits are close enough to make this effective). Sit in a room by yourself with the checklists, close the door, and run through all aspects of the upcoming (or weak areas from last) flight. This can be

• Engine start
• Pre-taxi checklist
• Engine Runup
• Takeoff "flow" and checklist
• Climbout to traffic pattern departure
• Circuits in the pattern
• Pre/post maneuver checklists & setup with clearing turns
• Post-landing "flow" and checklist

When you can efficiently start the engine, perform the post-start actions, tune ground control or CTAF, review the taxi chart, begin taxiing, perform a pre-takeoff and takeoff flow with no interruption or mental pause for forgotten actions, you save 10-15 minutes per flight (at a lot of money per hour). And it’s completely free. Your flight school should also let you do this IN THE AIRCRAFT when it is not being rented.

I still do this. During a recent advanced aircraft checkout, I studied the books and rehearsed everything mentally. Then after the lesson, I wrote down all my weak areas (too fast in the pattern at the power setting, slow to get gear down, etc) and mentally rehearsed it more. You don’t want to pay an instructor and airplane hobbs meter to repeat mistakes you’ve made and can work out on your own by preparation.

Ground Instruction

Studying the syllabus and material before each lesson is FREE GROUND INSTRUCTION. By putting the onus of learning the reference material on you with guidance and clarification from your CFI, you are saving a lot of billable instruction time.

Instructor Turnover

You want a good instructor that stays with you to the end.

• Each new instructor sets you back time and money (NOT FAIR). The new instructor will ask you to fly to "get a sense" of where you're at (repeat lesson), have different techniques, tips, standards, etc.
• You can't afford and don't want this!
• Unfortunately, both stable (long-term) and good instructors can be a challenge to find.
• Ask your CFI (or school) if your instructor will be availble for the 6-12 months required for a license.
• Many instructors are "building time" to get the airline transport certificate and go to the regional jets as soon as they can regardless of your training status.
• A CFI close to reaching her required hours or entering an "interview window" may leave without notice

INTERVIEW YOUR CFI BEFORE INSTRUCTION — you are hiring him/her.

Planes and Avionics

Don’t pay for more than you need: Find a school that has the required aircraft and not more.

Many schools offer new planes, glass cockpits, and integrated autopilots you don’t use.

• Private Pilot Recommendation

• Cessna 152 or "older" Cessna 172 (or similar Piper Cherokee models, etc) with "steam gauges."
• Learn to fly looking out the window using the "Lindbergh reference"
• Develop fantastic stick and rudder skills
• You can learn automation, glass cockpits & "magenta line" management, complex aircraft, etc after you get your private pilot certificate

• Instrument Rating

• This is a personal choice, but you don't need an autopilot or glass cockpit.
• I DO recommend an IFR-certified GPS. It is just too prevalent in today's departure, enroute and approach network (and VORs are OOC all the time).
• I DO recommend an EFB with GPS input for instrument training and flying.
• This is where you start to fly very procedurally, so integrating glass cockpits and autopilots is excellent if you will continue to use those items in the future.
• If you will be flying aircraft in the future with steam gauges and minimal (no) automation, paying extra for it during the instrument training phase may not be cost-beneficial.

• Commerical Pilot

• Use a basic stick-and-rudder machine without automation. You are demonstrating your mastery of stick and rudder skills during this checkride.
• You need to get your technically advanced or complex (minimum 10 hours) time prior to the checkride, but not to hone your commerical maneuvers and skills while paying for an instructor.

What Should An Aircraft Cost

• This is a loaded question that depends on so many things.
• If you want to get an idea of all the required expenses of even a small "beater" airplane, check out this article from Flying Magazine Airplane Operating Costs.
• Flight schools have even more massive expenses (student pilot insurance costs and additional 100 hour and 50 hour maintenace).

In Monterey, CA (a high cost of living area), I'm paying:

Some notes about these prices, which are more than fair:

• Each pilot must have their own insurance before solo (~$500/year). This keeps the hourly cost much lower
• These aircraft are circa 1968-1981. Older aircraft (generally) keep costs down.
• These aircraft do not have autopilots or glass cockpits. They are GREAT for primary (and instrument) instruction.
• This flight school has an excellent maintenance team that keeps the aircraft very airworthy.

I could go up the street to a school with new, fancy planes, but it is over double for the aircraft for the same recordable hours of flying.

"Pilot Stuff"

You don't need much. Pilot shops and schools will show you "cool" stuff you don't need!

What you really need:

• Headphones.
• Many flight schools rent or provide students free for use during instruction
• You DONT NEED noise cancelling head phones (I still dont have them)
• I recommend a used pair of decent headphones until you truly commit to long-term flying.
• Current sectional chart
• "Memo" or "statement"-size notepad & clipboard with pen
• A free flight planning website or app
• Flight computer/plotting instruments: should be available at your flight school or with your CFI.

Should I get an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) ipad/Foreflight?

EFBs are incredible and powerful.

You dont need it until late in training or advanced instruction.

Free online systems and Leidos flight service online let you flight plan with real weather and print NavLogs for each flight.

Some instructors may let you borrow their ADS-B/GPS device during solo flights or checkrides for safety purposes if you fly with an EFB

Reference Material

You can learn all the required material from completely free references. All of the knowledge and testable material is available on the FAA’s reference material.

This may suit you (if you’re good at independent study with dry texts). But, it definitely is not right for everyone.

Many commerical handbooks and pilot training resources are available in print, electronic and video formats (often all together as a bundle). Some of these are truly amazing.

This is about you finding the best match for you to learn the complex and lengthy material required. What I’d recommend is completely based on your learning style.

Your flight school likely has many of these references and the school’s CFIs probalby have access to all the major online programs. You can ask them for recommendations or samples to find which suits you best.