intro flight discovery flight

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love2fly14
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by love2fly14 »

5x5 wrote:
love2fly14 wrote:Big difference, when you are buying a car you are bound by a contract and just agreed to purchase or finance for xxxx amount $$$$...

Now, when we enroll with a school, we are not signing a contract stating that we are doing our PPL with them and paying 18K in advance...
We are just purchasing a block of 2hrs ....
Image
ok, you win. :D
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AirFrame
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by AirFrame »

ThisGuy wrote:Not sure of what school I would like to go to.
Tell us what area of the country you're in, and you'll probably get some great recommendations for schools and instructors right here. Look for the instructors with great senses of humour and who are there because they love flying and teaching. Don't look for one who's there to build time for his ATPL so he/she can move to the airlines.
Would doing a "intro" flight or discovery flight at eachschool be a waste of time and money?
Not completely. You'll get to go flying! Just remember that a 20-30 minute intro flight is pretty short, and the mission is different than going for a first lesson. The instructor who gets sent on your Intro Flight may not be the one who will be the best teacher.
Does the time spent count towards my total time?
It can. Bring a log book and a PTR and be clear up front that you want the flight to count. Honestly though, if the cost of an intro flight or two tacked on to the overall cost of a PPL makes it a financial issue, then flying may not be for you.
Can I get 1 hour of instruction at each school instead or how should I go about this?
That's certainly an option. Intro flights are really for people who haven't made the decision whether or not they want to learn to fly. It sounds like you have, so why not jump right in? Keep in mind you'll be repeating your first lesson at each school if you do this, but that's not a problem as it'll give you more experience starting out and hey, you'll get to go flying! :)
Looking to fly with a few different instructors or until I find one I feel will be suitable for me.
That's a great idea. And once you have that instructor, stick with him/her as long as possible. The more you change instructors, the longer it will take to get your license... Every time you switch you'll spend the next flight showing the new instructor how far along you are in your training, instead of progressing to the next lesson.

Every school has at least one excellent instructor, that every student wants to fly with. That's the one you want. Find out who it is, book him weeks in advance if necessary, and get started. :)
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mike123
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by mike123 »

Look for the instructors with great senses of humour
Are you looking for a flight instructor or for a stand-up comedian?
Every school has at least one excellent instructor, that every student wants to fly with.
Sometimes one student's best instructor is another student's worst instructor. It's hard to find an unbiased opinion.
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Shiny Side Up
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by Shiny Side Up »

That's a great idea. And once you have that instructor, stick with him/her as long as possible. The more you change instructors, the longer it will take to get your license...
But after you get your license, I would recommend trying lots of different instructors. Some will be good, some will be bad, that's the risk, but hopefully you'll learn something from each. Someone recently complained to me that this was frustrating since there was a lot of conflicting information, but that's the beauty of it. Take that information and sort through it yourself, some of it might not conflict as much as you thought, and some you'll maybe find is right out in left field, sometimes when you had previously thought was reasonable.

At the very least, most instructors have a forte in their knowledge. If you can get them for that specific thing sometimes they can be very helpful in spite of their other short falls. Learn to think critically, and don't take anyone's word for anything.
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Rookie50
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by Rookie50 »

Shiny Side Up wrote:
That's a great idea. And once you have that instructor, stick with him/her as long as possible. The more you change instructors, the longer it will take to get your license...
But after you get your license, I would recommend trying lots of different instructors. Some will be good, some will be bad, that's the risk, but hopefully you'll learn something from each. Someone recently complained to me that this was frustrating since there was a lot of conflicting information, but that's the beauty of it. Take that information and sort through it yourself, some of it might not conflict as much as you thought, and some you'll maybe find is right out in left field, sometimes when you had previously thought was reasonable.

At the very least, most instructors have a forte in their knowledge. If you can get them for that specific thing sometimes they can be very helpful in spite of their other short falls. Learn to think critically, and don't take anyone's word for anything.
I suppose that's the essence of becoming "pilot in command". That, IMO, takes awhile to fully develop, long after getting the fancy booklet. For me, that happened when I realized along the way, it's my butt up here, and neither ATC nor my CFI can save it if I mess up. So I better figure out how to think for myself.

I suspect too some never get there, either through a lack of aptitude or poor mentoring. Some quit, some never progress beyond flying around the patch, a few get in over their heads and die, regretfully, having not learned to say no.

Finding different instructors along the way that help you to develop that PIC mindset is invaluable.
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AirFrame
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by AirFrame »

mike123 wrote:
Look for the instructors with great senses of humour
Are you looking for a flight instructor or for a stand-up comedian?
Both. But I do want him to *sit* in the airplane. The best teachers i've had in school, university, and elsewhere have always been ones who knew how and when to crack a joke. The stick-up-their-*ss prudes were always horrifically bad teachers.
Every school has at least one excellent instructor, that every student wants to fly with.
Sometimes one student's best instructor is another student's worst instructor. It's hard to find an unbiased opinion.
That's very true... But if you ask around in any flying community, you'll always hear one name coming out on top. It won't be the right solution for everyone, but it will probably be a pretty good place to start.
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pianokeys
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by pianokeys »

It just hit me, I should have replied with this:

http://www.amazon.ca/Want-Pilot-Guidebo ... 097813091X
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by PilotDAR »

370H55V
is perfect for the cops to run your plate while your car is upside down on the side of the road.

To the OP, find an instructor you think you like. Ask them about themselves, and some of their flying experience. If they've had a job flying somewhere, or accomplished a number of multi province/state cross countries, go with them for a while and see how it goes. You did not buy the car, so you can change later....

If the instructor you're talking to is 400 hours total, only left the circuit a few times, they may teach you some basics well, but I recommend that the latter part of your training be with someone more worldly in a plane....
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ThisGuy
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by ThisGuy »

Private Pilot Licence
Minimum Flight Time: 45 hours (minimum requirement)
Dual Flying: 17 hours
Dual Flying Cross Country: 3 hours
Dual Flying Instrument Time: 5 hours
Solo Flying: 12 hours
Solo Flying Cross Country: 5 hours
APPROXIMATE COST: $7,850.00 for PPL

NIGHT RATING
Minimum Flight Time: 15 hours (including 5 additional hours of instrument training)
Dual Night Flying: 5 hours (2 hours cross country)
Solo Night Flying: 5 hours (to include 10 take-offs and landings)
APPROXIMATE COST: $2,900.00

VFR OTT rating
Minimum Flight Time: 15 hours
Dual Instrument Time: 15 hours ( with a qualified flying instructor)
* 5 hours can be obtained by a flight simulator
APPROXIMATE COST: $2,000.00

so minimum 12k to get started on my way to commercial!
Seems reasonable and is what I can currently afford.

I have searched online but just want to ask on here as well...
what are the prerequisites to earning a commercial pilot licence
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jump154
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by jump154 »

ThisGuy wrote:Private Pilot Licence
Minimum Flight Time: 45 hours (minimum requirement)
Dual Flying: 17 hours
Dual Flying Cross Country: 3 hours
Dual Flying Instrument Time: 5 hours
Solo Flying: 12 hours
Solo Flying Cross Country: 5 hours
APPROXIMATE COST: $7,850.00 for PPL

NIGHT RATING
Minimum Flight Time: 15 hours (including 5 additional hours of instrument training)
Dual Night Flying: 5 hours (2 hours cross country)
Solo Night Flying: 5 hours (to include 10 take-offs and landings)
APPROXIMATE COST: $2,900.00

VFR OTT rating
Minimum Flight Time: 15 hours
Dual Instrument Time: 15 hours ( with a qualified flying instructor)
* 5 hours can be obtained by a flight simulator
APPROXIMATE COST: $2,000.00

so minimum 12k to get started on my way to commercial!
Seems reasonable and is what I can currently afford.

I have searched online but just want to ask on here as well...
what are the prerequisites to earning a commercial pilot licence
Hopefully you will achieve this in minimum hours, but for budgeting purposes add some $ onto your estimate. Best case, you will have some cash left - but at least you will not run out of cash with only a few hours to go. Me - 5 years ago my PPL cost $12,000 -- but I did it over 2 years and had some layoffs, which cost me $$ in getting back to where I was.

Personally, I don't see much point in a VFR OTT if you are going commercial -- that will be covered anyway in your instrument rating (which I'm assuming you will so as well).

Prerequities for CPL.

#1 most important, you can achieve now, is get a CAT 1 Medical. Find out NOW, before you spend 1c that you are able to hold the license. You will need the medical anyway for PPL, assuming you are under 40 you can fly for 5 years as a PPL with a CAT 1 medical - and it might just save you a wad of cash.

Other requirements:

80 hours of ground school + CPAER

200 hours total
100 hours PIC
and 65 hrs commercial flight training, inc. 35 dual, 30 solo

Now - homework. Come back and tell us which part of the AIM this is listed in, and which CAR regulates this. You need to get used to looking this stuff up from the proper sources :)
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Big Pistons Forever
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by Big Pistons Forever »

I have never seen a PPL done with only 17 hours of dual. The only PPL's I have seen done in the minimum total time of 45 hrs were air cadets and all of them already had glider pilot licenses before they started. They also did a full time compressed course during the best weather months of the summer.

IMO a realistic minimum for a PPL is 30 hours dual 20 hours solo and that will require regular lessons and lots of work on your part. Budget for that and you should be OK and maybe even a little ahead.
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AirFrame
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Re: intro flight discovery flight

Post by AirFrame »

I thought the dual times were additive:

Dual Flying: 17 hours
Dual Flying Cross Country: 3 hours
Dual Flying Instrument Time: 5 hours

Total 25 hours. Ditto for solo, total 17 hours. That doesn't add to 45, so you will need either more dual to top up your skills, or more solo to polish them.
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