You wouldn't get very far on a flight
without pilots: They are the people who put all that sophisticated equipment to work. On commercial airlines, there are always
at least two pilots, and on many flights, there are three.
All airline pilots have had extensive training and flying experience, often as part of military service. The road from the first training
flight to the airline cockpit is a long and difficult one, but for many pilots, this is the only way to go. To learn more
about this career path, one should be aware of the intricacies in piloting.
On an airliner, the pilot in command is called the captain. The captain, who
generally sits on the left side of the cockpit, is ultimately responsible for everything that happens on the flight. This
includes making major command decisions, leading the crew team, managing emergencies and handling particularly troublesome
passengers. The captain also flies the plane for much of the trip, but generally trades off with the first officer at some
point.
The first officer, the second in command, sits on the right side of the cockpit. He or she has all of the
same controls as the captain, and has had the same level of training.
The primary reason for having two pilots
on every flight is safety. Obviously, if something happens to the captain, a plane must have another pilot who can step in.
Additionally, the first officer provides a second opinion on piloting decisions, keeping pilot error to a minimum.
Most airliners built before 1980 have a cockpit position for a flight engineer, also called the second officer. Typically,
flight engineers are fully trained pilots, but on an ordinary trip, they don't fly the plane. Instead, they monitor the
airplane's instruments and calculate figures such as ideal takeoff and landing speed, power settings and fuel management.
In newer airliners, most of this work is done by computerized systems, eliminating the need for the flight-engineer position.
In the future, it will be phased out entirely.
Flying an airplane is fun. Getting paid to do it is even better.
For some people, it's the perfect job: an office that travels, a view that's constantly changing and challenges that
are exhilarating. It has been said that a pilot's job is hours of boredom punctuated with seconds of sheer terror. This
is perhaps hyperbole, but sometimes not all that far from the truth.
A person who takes a multimillion dollar
machine, casually flies it off the ground and then safely returns it, fascinates people. They wonder what it's like to
be responsible for hundreds of lives or goods worth millions. When passengers peek inside a cockpit, they are amazed. They
stare at the multitude of dials and ask incredulously, "Do you really know what they all do?"
Pilots
are the focal point and end operator in a huge team of highly trained professionals. They are the movie stars of the air transportation
show, because they are the most visible people to the public, while most of the other team members remain "behind the
scenes." But movie stars rarely die or cause others to die because of an on-the-job mistake. All pilots run that risk.
Piloting is a serious business.
Since I started flying, I noticed that flight schools were not completely straight forward with the students.
I was also a victim. Since that time I have grown into a Career Flight Instructor and we even a flight school owner. I owned
and operated 5 airplanes and have had many flight instructors working for me.
One thing I always tried to do was
be straight forward with students, telling them exactly what they were going to spend. Also to make sure they understand if
they don’t stick with their training, the more it is going to cost.
The first thing you want to make sure
you do is commit to getting your private pilot license. Many people will start learning to fly and then run out of money because
a flight school wasn’t quite truthful about what it was going to cost. Another scenario is the student will let everything
get in their way when learning to fly. In short many people won’t get their license because they don’t plan.
The first thing you want to do is plan. Would you just start building a new house without a plan? Probably not. So
why do so many people just start taking flying lesson without a budget or plan?
So I will familiarize you with
some terminology that you will need to know and start you going thru this entire process.
When you start looking
around you will find a few things that are in the cost estimates of all the flight schools.
Dual Instruction: This
is also known as flight instruction received. This is the time you are up in the airplane with your flight instructor. In
the case of dual instruction the cost will include both the airplane and instructor.
Solo Time/Aircraft Rental:
This is the time you will be renting the aircraft that is charged on a per hour basis like the dual instruction:
Flight Instructor: This is the charge per hour for the flight instructor.
There are some different ways that
a flight school will word their cost estimates. One school may have DUAL INSTRUCTION in an estimate and another school
may have Aircraft Rental and Flight Instructor.
I will give you some sample prices below:
Flight Instructor
Rate: $50.00 Per Hour Aircraft Rental Rate: $96.00 Per Hour
Examples of a brief cost estimate from a flight
school may look like this:
Another Flight School May have a cost estimate that looks like this:
20 Hours Dual
Flight Instruction $2,920.00 20 Hours of Solo Flight $1,920.00 Total $4,840.00
In a lot of cases this
will be it. Some schools do try and make this a little more realistic. But in general they all will stay very competitive.
Since flying is very expensive they like to keep their cost estimates as low as possible to get the students.
You
have to remember this is just pure business. So you may want to call it a scam or you may not want to call it that. I call
it just telling the customer what they want to hear.
Now the FAA only requires 20 hours of dual instruction and
10 hours of solo for the private pilot license but there is still a minimum of 40 so you have to get them somewhere. I just
put them under the solo hours.
Most of the schools will be honest about it if you start asking the right questions.
You have to remember that there is a lot of competition in this industry and there aren't enough students to keep every
flight schools planes flying 100 hours per month. Bottom line is they need to keep the planes flying or they go out of business.
You will want to remember that the national average for private pilots is 65 hours. Most private pilot syllabuses
are between 45 and 55 hours. There are to many things that need to get covered. If you want to be a safe pilot you should
plan on over 30 hours of dual instruction.
With that said, you have just added another $2000 on to the above cost
estimate. Remember this will also depend on the aircraft rental rates and the flight instructor rates. So you are already
somewhere around $6,800 and you haven't included any books, materials, medical expenses, flight test fees and any other
costs you may have.
I have a made up a free detailed report on the cost of learning to fly. You can download it
using the link below: Learning To Fly, What it Will Cost You Username: freeuser Password: 88888888
The first thing you want to do before you start learning to fly
is PLAN. I tell all of my students to plan on at least $7,500. You may want to add a little to that estimate since people
learn at different speeds.
Once you start, don’t let anything get in your way. This is the best way to keep
the cost down for a private pilot license. Remember that learning to fly is not like driving. You will need to be proficient
in all the maneuvers and be a safe confident pilot. The quicker you can get it done, the better.
