Two questions....

[Fast8945]

first of all, the weather was so nice today, i decided to go to the local airport. Well..that wet my appetite even more and i made a decision that i need to start flight lessons-

first question:
Is it better to get some hours here and there where i can afford it?

And second:

Is it better to get all my hours at once when i save enough money?

Thanks for your help.

Also, My goal is to have my college degree and PPL in 4 years.

 

[pilotmentornet]

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[350DRIVER]

Alot of this depends on your personal preferences and finances since their are different options that you have available to you. I suggest to my students (primary) that they fly once a week and if they can swing it then two hours per week would be better atleast in the early stages of training. I have had a few students that could only fly once every two weeks due to work/school and other conflicts and the "rust" really wasn't evident due to the time that they hit the books/sim. If you choose to buy block time and/or join a flying club you will save some money however this will depend on your finances.

4 years to obtain a PPL in my opinion is much too long and would indicate very little flying in that time frame, I would suggest that you shorten that time atleast in half. If I was in your position I would aim for a PPL in one year however that is just my opinion. The more time that you can devote to the books the "smoother" your training will be.

The more time you are able to fly in the early stages the better off you will be however nothing is written in stone and once again alot depends on your personal preferences.

G O O D L U C K 2 Y O U

3 5 0

 

[TXCAP4228]

The best way to learn

You have correctly identified to the two ways you could go:

1) Take a "flying lesson" every once in a whil until you can "finnish up". Usually this might mean one or two 1 hour lessons per month. You will find almost immediately that this is not really a flying lesson at all since you spend 90 percent of your time in the air going over the last lesson - this is, however, a great way to make money disappear into thin air with little or no gain.

2) Save up your money and then go do your training all at once.

People who try method one wind up spending more money, taking more time and not learning as well. Lots of people in this category never finnish.

People in category two, who really commit to learning and decide to wait until they can do it all in one shot, generally learn better (the lessons tend to congeal better when they are not seperated by weeks or months at a time) and are also far more likely to actually complete their certificate. You also save a lot of money this way.

This is a hard choice. If you're serious about learning, buy the Jep textbook and read it cover to cover. Then, go start your lessons when you will be able to do it all at once.

Hope this helps! Good luck and stick with it!

 

[Whoosh!]

If you can do it in a way where you take a lesson at least once or twice every two weeks you should be fine. It usually works out best for most people when lessons are more frequent than not since learning to fly is a "building block" technique. In other words, the foundation of knowledge you gained in the previous lesson is necessary for the lesson you will engage in next. Good luck and have fun!!

 

[bobbysamd]

Learning to Fly

You need to set aside two blocks:

(1) A block of money; and

(2) A block of time.

Good flight training requires momentum. Continuity promotes momentum, so, therefore, a major killer to learning to fly is starting and stopping. Most people start and stop because they run out of money and/or are too busy. See if you can learn how to fly when you are not busy with other things enough money to pay for it.

Weather and maintenance are other major killers to flight training. There isn't much you can do about weather. Maybe that's why schools in Florida are so successful because the weather is favorable most of the time. You can do a little about maintenance delays if you select a training provider that has well-maintained aircraft and enough of them.

One final killer to flight training is not coordinating completion of your written exam (knowledge test) with your flying. So many people learn to fly in unstructured programs and get close to finishing before taking the written. Then, they have to stop flying to take the written. I was one of them. I studied and took the written, and found that the things I was doing while flying suddenly made more sense. Try to find a situation where blocks of ground learning are in step with the appropriate blocks of flying. They help each other. Otherwise, get your written test out of the way before you start flying. I recommend some kind of formal ground school for the best learning experience.

If all goes well, or at least fairly well, and you apply yourself, there is no reason why you can't get your Private in a couple of months, flying three times a week.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your training.