Private Pilot License
Basic Information about the Private Pilot License
This information is from the 1990s and is outdated. Inflation, fuel costs, aircraft costs, changes in Government rules, the economic situation, and other factors can alter the information below. It is presented as a basic guide, and readers are encouraged to find a flight school and get updated, current information.
How long will it take me to get my private license?
It really depends on how often a person can take lessons. Some students finish in less than six months by flying once a week, but others take years to finish. One thing to consider is that the results of a written test are valid for 2 years. After that, if a person hasn't earned the license, he or she has to take the written again. If a person has kept up with a reading program, it won't be difficult to retake the test.
How much will it cost me to get a private license?
Single-engine planes used for training cost around $95 per hour while the engine is running. This charge covers everything - insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc. Instructors are usually paid separately. Their charges can be $30 to $50 an hour. Make sure you understand what their charges are before your take a lesson.
Note that in the "Experience requirements" listed on the following pages, a pilot needs 20 hours dual (with an instructor). So, 20 hours x $200 per hour = $4,000 for the minimum dual time required.
10 hours of solo time is also required, costing approximately $100 per hour for the plane. So, 10 hours x $100 per hour = $1000. Also, another 10 hours of flight time is needed to reach the overall requirement of 40 hours, so another 10 hours x $100 per hour = $1000, if we assume that it will
be all solo and no dual.
Minimum cost for dual and solo is $4,000 + $1000 + $1000 = $6,000. However a big caveat here is that these are the absolute minimums. Most pilots exceed 50 hours (10 hours or more than the minimum). As I mentioned above, the frequency of flying can affect the cost because the person who goes for weeks without a lesson will need a few extra minutes to come up to speed.
Besides flying dual with the instructor and solo by myself, you mentioned that I have to take a written test. What is it all about?
The written test consists of 70 questions, and a person must score 70% to pass. Written tests are given by most of the same companies that have computer-based testing for other certifications such as Novel, Microsoft, police force members, etc. Both Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (formerly Jeffco Airport) and Centennial airport have locations to take the written test.
When should I take the written test?
It can be taken any time, but some instructions recommend that a person take it mid-way into the flying portion because just flying the plane gives the person a lot of the concepts that help answer test questions. Because the written test is good for 2 years, waiting a little gives a student that much more time to finish the flying part within the two-year test-validity window. There are persons who have passed the written and have never sat in a small plane.
Someone told me there is a booklet that has all of the questions and the answers and the explanations of the answers! Is this true?
It is true. The booklet has all 800 questions that the FAA can ask on the written test. This booklet can really help a person understand what will be asked and what kind of answers the FAA is looking for on the test. It is excellent study material. There are students who read this book twice then took the written test and passed.
What ways can be used to pass the written test?
- As mentioned above, there have been students who read the booklet containing the questions and answers twice and passed.
- Some students read several books, and then passed the test.
- Many students prefer to take a 6 or 8 week ground school class before taking the test.
- Some students opt to take fast, weekend ground school. However, to make this work, a student needs a good background because in two days,
Saturday and Sunday, the information is like drinking from a fire hose. It really helps if a person has already learned the basics.
What should I expect the format of the flying instruction to be?
Because people learn at different rates and in different ways, most instructors tailor the instruction to meet the student's needs. Below is a general outline:
- Getting used to controlling the plane, maintaining altitude, and doing gentle turns, climbs, glides, and descents.
- Learning to land the plane. This is both challenging and fun!
- Students learn to enter stalls and to recover from them (not scary at all), emergency procedures, for instance, if the engine quits, what should be done.
In addition, maneuvers such as turns around a point are practiced.
- After a person gets good at landing the plane, he or she will want to fly the plane and practice by themselves. It is
at this point that if both you and the instructor agree, you get to do your first solo flight, often consisting of two touch and goes and a full stop
landing, by yourself, while the instructor watches.
- After the first solo, the students gets signed off to solo, but a flight instructor will usually alternate dual and solo flights.
- Following solo flight, the student receives dual instruction in cross-country flights to practice getting from one place to another. Cross-country flight
is really fun. The first cross-country flights are short.
- There will be some solo cross country flights you'll make after you and the instructor have already made them at least once so that it will be almost boring
for you to go by yourself. Also, the student flies a night cross country, which is dual.
I have heard about the first solo flight. How many hours will I have when this happens?
It depends on the student's progress and how fast the student wants to progress. Normally, it happens around 20 or 25 hours. However, there have been students who soloed in under 15 hours. But the number of hours you have when you solo is not a point for boasting. It has taken some famous pilots, like
Manfred Von Richtoffen, many, many more hours to solo.
What happens when I've done all the dual cross country flights and I've done all the solo cross country flights?
The instructor will spend several hours with you reviewing everything you've learned in preparation for the flight test. Then you fly with an examiner.
What if I don't pass the flight test?
No big deal. The examiner will tell your instructor what you need to work on, and after you have practiced those items with your instructor, you can take
the test again, only for those items.
It sounds like the FAA and everyone associated with aviation is interested in me getting my license. Why?
Because there has been a severe reduction in student starts due to many factors including 9/11, the economy, fuel costs, etc. If there aren't any new pilots, the FAA, the flight schools, and everyone else in aviation suffers. We need pilots! Also, people who know more about general aviation are more likely to want it to stay around.
OK, so now you've told me about getting the private license. It doesn't sound all that difficult. In fact, it sounds like flying is a lot of fun, would look nice on my resume, would be an additional point of conversation at parties, and cause non-fliers to look up to me a little bit more. True?
Yes, I think so.
Experience requirements to earn Private Pilot Certificate.
(Source: Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR), Part 61)
(a) For an airplane single-engine rating.
40 hours of flight time that includes at least
20 hours of flight training from an authorized instructor and
10 hours of solo flight training in the areas of operation [see below], and the training must include at least --
3 hours of cross-country flight training in a single-engine airplane;
3 hours of night flight training in a single-engine airplane that includes --
One cross-country flight of over 100 nautical miles total distance; and
10 takeoffs and 10 landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport.
3 hours of flight training in a single-engine airplane on the control and maneuvering of an airplane solely by reference to instruments, including straight and level flight,
constant airspeed climbs and descents, turns to a heading, recovery from unusual flight attitudes, radio communications, and the use of navigation systems/facilities
and radar services appropriate to instrument flight;
3 hours of flight training in preparation for the practical test in a single-engine airplane, which must have been performed within 60 days preceding the date of the test;
and
10 hours of solo flight time in a single-engine airplane, consisting of at least --
5 hours of solo cross-country time;
One solo cross-country flight of at least 150 nautical miles total distance, with full-stop landings at a minimum of three points, and one segment of the flight consisting
of a straight-line distance of at least 50 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations; and
Three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport with an operating control tower.
Flight proficiency.
(a) General. A person who applies for a private pilot certificate must receive and log ground and flight training from an authorized instructor on the areas of operation
of this section that apply to the aircraft category and class rating sought.
(b) Areas of operation. (1) For an airplane category rating with a single-engine class rating:
(i) Preflight preparation; [flight planning the route on the chart, checking weather, fuel requirements, airports, emergency procedure planning, etc.]
(ii) Preflight procedures; [examining the airplane to ensure that it is ready for flight; checking yourself to make sure that you feel ready for flight]
(iii) Airport and seaplane base operations;
(iv) Takeoffs, landings, and go-arounds;
(v) Performance maneuvers; [turns, climbs, glides, straight and level flight]
(vi) Ground reference maneuvers; [turns around a point, etc.]
(vii) Navigation; [how not to get lost - using 3 navigation techniques: pilotage (reference to the ground & the chart), dead-reckoning (flying x heading for y minutes),
instrument (by reference to instruments)]
(viii) Slow flight and stalls;
(ix) Basic instrument maneuvers;
(x) Emergency operations;
(xi) Night operations, except as provided in 61.110 of this part; and
(xii) Post flight procedures. [Taxiing to the ramp, shutting the engine down, securing the interior of the aircraft, tying the airplane down on the ramp, turning keys and log sheet into the flying club, updating your log book.]