I've always wanted to get my pilots license, anyone on here have theres? I know it takes quite awile and is very exspensive just wanted to see what others thought and is it worth it.

 

I'll have mine by Christmas. Been flying for a few years but because of the cost it's taken me a very long time. You're looking at around $5000-$6000. If you go in with all the money you could easily have it done in a couple months, provided you have a flexible work schedule.

 

Do you think its worth it $5000 (plus cost of a plane and fuel) to fly around for a few hours a month. Unless you have a plane in that case you probably can afford to fly around lol.

 

My coworker has a great story about his license. His father was a pilot and he insisted that his son get his license as a young man. He did all the classroom and logged his airtime with an instructor.

The last step was his solo.
He was to fly from PA down to MD using ground landmarks. He thought Three-Mile-Island looked cool and so he did a loop around it for a better view. He must have done a 1 and a quarter loop because he zeroed in on a watertower in the wrong direction.
To make matters worse, he had switched from one tank to another without realizing it and didn't have as much fuel as he thought he did.

He ended up landing while sputtering in another state, his dad never found out, he got his license, went to college and never flew again.

He tells it a lot better.
Talk about crapping your pants...

 

Well the 5k includes everything (plane rental, fuel, instructor, books, medicals, etc..) If it's something you'd enjoy then it's absolutely worth it. I plan on making a carreer out of flying, but even if I didn't I would still get a private so I can fly my friends and family around. The good thing about it is a private pilot's license never expires, and you can work on it at your own pace. Aside from flight reviews and medicals every 24 months, you really need to do nothing to maintain it.

 

The flight school next to mine lost a plane this past Saturday. Student pilot got in a midair collision with another plane, both went down in the Everglades and were killed. This same flight school lost a plane about 6 weeks ago carrying an instructor, student and the student's friend. The student and instructor were killed. Then about three months ago one of their students was on her first solo cross-country and got lost. Instead of calling ATC, she started text messaging her friends to see if they could help her. They couldn't. The plane ran out of fuel and she ditched it in a cane field. She lived, but the plane was totaled. This flight school only had like 9 planes to begin with, and they've lost 3 in the past year. Oh and this is the same school that trained some of the 9/11 highjackers.

If for any reason you're ever at Lantana Airport in West Palm, don't fly with Kemper Aviation.

 

I've thought about it a few times, but just find better ways to spend the money.

That's one thing I regret about not going to school before the military. My father is a retired military pilot and one day mentioned that if I had went to college first I could have been getting paid fairly good money to fly F-18s. And on that issue, I have to agree.

 

Just join the air force and u dont h ave to pay for it.

 

For somebody who just wants to fly recreationally, joining the military is really not an option. First he'd have to become an officer (OCS or a college degree), then flight training, then he'd be required to serve another couple years. There may be other ways around all that, but I don't know of them.

bowlergt, if you're serious about it, I would recommend taking a ground school course as well as some kind of course in aerodynamics. You're not required to take ground school, only required to know the material (they don't care how you learn it), but it's much better to have somebody teach it to you rather than try to learn it yourself. I go to schoool for aviation. I have had ground school, flight simulater classes, aero-meteorology, propulsion systems, and aerodynamics. If you're able to find a local college or airport where you can take an aviation-related aerodynamics course it will really explain a lot. If you can't find one you should buy and study this book That's what I use in my class and it is very helpful. A thorough knowledge of aerodynamics isn't really required to become a pilot, but it will give you a much better understanding of the physics of turns, climbs/descents, as well as a good understanding of how altitude, air pressure, temperature and humidity affect aircraft performance. Those will help you immensely, especially if you live in a high-altitude area.

 

Yeah i was just jokin. It is a 10 year commitment if they put u through flight school.