Frequently Asked Questions
What is this all about?
I am learning how to fly an airplane, and I thought it would be fun to
write about my experiences.
Why do you want to learn to
fly?
First, I think it will be fun. Second, I like living in South Florida,
but you are far away from the rest of the nation. It is a five hour
drive from my house just to get out of the state (in the quickest
direction). This would be a way to get around a little faster. Plus,
did I mention it would be fun?
How
much will this cost?
The plane rental
is $75/hr wet, and the instructor costs $35/hr. For
dual instruction (with instructor), each hour in the plane will be
$110. At least 30 hours will be dual instruction. When I fly alone (at
least 10 hours), I will only have to rent the plane. I figure I will
average about $100/hr total. Although it only takes 40 hours minimum to
get certified, I am budgeting for 50 hours. The total cost should be
around $6,000. I'll try to remember to update this once I get my
license.
How are you paying
for this?
I would like to say that I am paying cash as I go, but that is not the
case. My research says that flying two or three times a week is the
quickest way to learn. If you spread it out more than that, you spend a
lot of time re-learning stuff you already did. That means it takes more
hours, and that costs more. In order to be able to fly a schedule
something like that, I will have to finance the costs. I am going
through a company called Pilot
Finance. The interest rate is OK, something like a good
credit card rate. They finance it over five years, but I plan on paying
it off in a year or less.
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