Somewhere there is someone just like you who recently became a Pilot. Although the average student pilot is 32 years old, anyone 16 years old or older can learn to fly an airplane. People from every occupation and every geographic location in the nation are pilots.
There are three basic requirements for learning to fly powered airplanes in the United States.
You can apply for a student pilot certificate if you are at least 16 years old. When you're 17, you can apply for a private pilot certificate. There is no maximum age limit because it's health and not age that determines a person's ability to fly well.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires everyone who wants to be a pilot to pass a routine medical exam every two years. This requirement ensures that pilots do not have medical problems that could interfere with their ability to fly safely. Allowances are made for many physical limitations. For example, glasses and contact lenses are perfectly acceptable. The physical exam can be obtained anytime from one of many FAA-designated physicians. If you're planning to learn to fly, it's advisable to complete the physical exam early in your flight training to assure you qualify.
As with any other skills you master, flying is learned step by step by step. It's a fascinating experience. But it's not particularly difficult. It can be learned by practically anyone who is willing to invest some time and effort.
Pilot training has two aspects: ground training and flight training. Ground training takes place on the ground. It covers flight rules and regulations, flight planning, navigation, radio procedures, and weather. In the next phase, flight training, you learn how to fly by actually controlling the airplane yourself. Under the supervision of a certified flight instructor, you learn how to take off, land and fly cross country (from your home airport and then back again).
Millions of people have learned to fly. By the time you're ready for your private pilot certificate, you'll be secure in the knowledge that you're a safe and competent pilot
No. Perhaps the most important element in successfully learning to fly is desire. Once you're ready to invest your time and effort in learning to fly, then it's time to take the first steps.
There are several types of flight-training schools across the country. Choosing the right one for you depends on your specific needs and reasons for learning to fly. Most flight training programs use a mixture of audiovisuals, textbooks, and workbooks designed for ground training. You may receive your ground instruction from your certified flight instructor (CFI) individually or as part of a ground training class. Certified flight instructors have been specially trained and examined by the federal government to ensure that all of your training is the safest and most effective possible.
The flight training itself is conducted with you personal certified flight instructor. You'll probably learn to fly in an airplane that was developed for student pilots. Such planes are designed to provide the best possible flight training environment.
Many people learn to fly through a local Fixed-Base Operator (FBO) or through a local flying club that offers flight training. FBOs are general aviation air terminals-they work like gas stations for small aircraft. A flying club is a group of individuals who own aircraft and rent them to members. They usually offer flight instruction and other flying-related activities to their members. FBOs and flying clubs offering flight training are listed in the yellow pages of the telephone directory under aircraft schools.
Each year more vocational and technical schools, colleges and universities are offering aviation programs that include flight training. If you're seeking a career in aviation, you may want to consider learning to fly at these schools.
Deciding to learn to fly is obviously the first step and often the most difficult one. Before you make the big decision to take flying lessons, you may want to experience flying in a small airplane. Once you've viewed your community from the perspective of a general aviation aircraft and felt the sensation of flight, you'll know whether piloting is for you.
To arrange for a flight in a small plane, contact AFI via e-mail ( Info@FlyAFI.com ) or via-phone at 714-773-0741. AFI services the local and transient aircraft. We provide flight training, rent aircraft, provide fuel services, and sell Pilot Supplies. We offer introductory flights at reasonable rates.
Most people receive their private pilots certificate after about 55 hours of flight time, including time spent with an instructor aboard (dual time) and time spent flying alone (solo time). Training will includes some night flying, some instrument flying (flying solely by reference to the airplane's instruments), and some cross-country flying. The minimum time required by federal regulation is 35 or 40 hours of flight time, depending on the type of school you attend.
You can fly in the early morning, during the day, or on weekends. Scheduling your flying is up to you and your instructor.
How long it takes to accumulate flight time is largely up to you and your instructor. Usually two or three hours flying per week is a good learning rate, with more hours during weeks when cross-country flights are made. Statistics indicate that the average student pilot completes the requirements for a private pilot certificate in four to six months. Depending on the schedule and number of hours spent flying, some people will complete it sooner and others will take longer
A world of great adventure, general aviation maximizes your vacation and recreation time and stretches you intellectually, emotionally, and geographically as few activities can. A pilot certificate and an airplane give the freedom and flexibility to go when and wherever you want,make accessible what would otherwise be out of reach, and elevate traveling to exhilarating heights. With some 13,000 airports in the United States, there's a place to land near just about any vacation destination you can imagine. Like no other mode of transportation, airplanes can provide the incomparable perspectives of flying above snow-covered mountains, great forests, and open beaches and heading home at sunset or at night over the jeweled necklaces of city lights below.
No test is required for a student pilot certificate. But before a private license is issued, you must pass two tests. One is a written FAA examination-largely a practical exam on flying rules and regulations. You'll also have to work out the details of a hypothetical flight for this exam. But don't worry; you'll have done it all before in planning the cross-country flights you made as part of your training program.
Following this exam is a practical examination of your flying ability. Here you take a designated FAA examiner for a checkride to demonstrate your ability to maneuver the airplane safely and confidently. You'll have practiced the maneuvers many times before, and your flight instructor will have prepared you thoroughly.
Flight training costs vary. Fuel prices, maintenance, and insurance costs are but a few of the variables. You can expect to pay between $7,000 and $10,000 for a good private-pilot flight-training program. Many schools offer finance packages that allow low monthly payments spread over several years.
Compared to the costs of training in other business skills, becoming a licensed private pilot is a good value. Prorated over a lifetime, it's probably one of the best bargains you'll ever find. The cost of becoming a pilot is a solid investment in your future.
General aviation airplanes are built to rigid federal specifications, and they are constantly checked and rechecked to make sure they are mechanically and structurally safe. People who fly are safety conscious. As the pilot-in-command of an airplane, you're also in command of most variables that affect flying safely. Safety is the most important word in the general aviation vocabulary.
Your flight instructor will emphasize training your to operate the airplane safely. Flying as pilot-in-command of an airplane puts you in charge. A well-built and well-maintained airplane in the hands of a competent, prudent, and well-trained pilots makes flying safer than many other forms of transportation.
An aircraft engine is a piece of finely built machinery that is designed to keep running. If the improbable should happen, however, you won't fall out of the sky! Your airplane descends slowly in a glide. You'll simply do what your instructor will have had you practice during your lessons: select the nearest safe landing site and land there without power.
At AFI, the cost of insurance coverage is automatically covered with your rental rate. This coverage becomes active upon the students/rental pilots signature on the rental agreement (a list of rules that you must abide by when operating an AFI aircraft). This coverage ensures up to $1,000,000 for bodily injury (each person, each occurrence) and $2,000,000 for aircraft or property. In the case of accidentall aircraft hull damage, the student/rental pilot will be responsible for a $1,000.00 deductable.
If you plan on flying to Catalina, at Night, or at High altitude airports like Big Bear you will need to receive prior flight training with a Certified Flight Instructor before being allowed to travel to these airports alone or with passengers. The primary reason for this checkout is for Insurance Purposes. AFI offers a great deal of Insurance to every student and Rental Pilot that trains or rents with our company. In return, to minimize undesirable incidents at airports such as these which can be slightly tricky to takeoff and land at, we ask that you first take a "test flight" to the destination with a Flight Instructor. This keeps our insurance rates down and in turn allows us to offer training at a lower hourly rate for aircraft. Another advantage to these checkout requirements is AFI's desire to go ABOVE AND BEYOND the BASICS of flight training. When flying alone or with passengers, you can rest assured that you have received the proper training to effectivley handle any situation that can arise during flight.
Not a all! Of course, owning your own general aviation airplane will give you complete freedom to set your own schedule. You'll have a pride of ownership like nothing you've known before. But many pilots don't own their own planes. Often pilots belong to flying clubs-groups who pool their money to buy and share an airplane. If you are interested in purchasing an aircraft, AFI can help you with that as well. For aircraft purchase inquiries, please contact Bill Griggs, Sr. at BillGriggs@FlyAFI.com or at 714-773-0741.
Other pilots rent airplanes. Rental fees are based on an hourly rate for actual flying time.
You'll never be quite the same person you were before. You'll have access to a whole new world of personal freedom. You'll think of travel in terms of hours, not miles. You'll know what it means to make your own schedules, go your own way, far above the crowds, the congestion, the hassle, and the annoyances of ordinary transportation.
You'll find a new sense of personal fulfillment in your ever-growing flying skills. You'll push the old boundaries of your life forward and you'll have the opportunity to plan, seek, and find new experiences that will enrich your life in countless ways. You'll gain greater self-reliance and confidence.
Through you own initiative and effort, you'll be a master of our 20th century's most distinctive and rewarding art - flying.