Private Pilot License (PPL) questions

[jango220]

There are a bunch of fellow Purdue guys on the forum, but I didn't go through the Professional Flight program there. If you want more specifics on that program, try asking in the ROTC forum. However, I did do my flight training at the local FBO there. Biggest difference is that while it is cheaper to do the pay-as-you-go route through a FBO, taking it as a class will guarantee that you get your ratings in a semester, instead of the months/years that it would take doing it part-time. If you have any more Purdue-specific questions, hit the ROTC forum, and if you still have further questions, shoot me a PM and I'll ask some of my friends.

Also, Purdue is buying a couple new Embraer Phenom 100s, and supposedly the plan is to have every student in the Professional Flight program get some no-kidding jet time before graduation.

Edited July 12, 2010 by jango220

[HiFlyer]

Do you by any chance have experience getting flight training during high school (not summer, but while school is in session)? I couldnt do it before the summer ends because of certain financial situations we have right now, but I could probably do it during school. Keep in mind I also work a job 16 hours a week, and thats during school.

A couple of thoughts. First, consistency is important in training. If you're going more than three days between flights your progress will be visibly slower simply because you lose some of the "feel" you attained on the last sortie. Slower means more flights, which means more money. The optimum is probably three-five flights a week. By the way, too many isn't good either...it doesn't leave you time to absorb what you've learned and prepare for the next flight, especially with the pressures of school. Second, if your desire is to get in to UPT, excellent academics is probably more important that a PPL, so taking time for flying is a bad idea if the result is poorer performance in high school and college. You can't finish UPT if you can't get into the AF! Save your money and focus a summer sometime in the future on flying...it will be better and cheaper in most cases.

[gmwalk]

Pretty sure no FBO is going to let you do that. If they do, there will be min hr charges. Meaning, they'll let you go, but will charge you a min or 15 hrs of flight time or something like that...regardless of how much you actually fly. So, if you plan on actually flying 15 hrs worth, then it's worth it, but if not, take a car instead.

It really depends on the FBO and the relationship you have with them. Most places I know charge a minimum of 4 hrs/day when you have the plane overnight. I FBO I frequently rent from has let me take a plane overnight and just charged me on the hobbs time. I usually rent one the less popular rental planes. One weekend, I picked up the plane on Friday afternoon with plans to bring it back around noon on Saturday. Well the weather turned horrible during the night and I had to wait until Sunday afternoon before I could fly out. The plane wasn't IFR equipped (and I wasn't IR rated at the time). But the FBO only charged me hobbs time. Again, different FBOs have different policies, but you really need to build a good relationship with the FBOs.

[Whitman]

Do you by any chance have experience getting flight training during high school (not summer, but while school is in session)? I couldnt do it before the summer ends because of certain financial situations we have right now, but I could probably do it during school. Keep in mind I also work a job 16 hours a week, and thats during school.

I was in a simliar situation when I started my PPL. I was just about to start my senior year of h.s. and didn't have much money so I could only afford 1 flight lesson a week. Usually flew Sunday afternoons after church, which worked out great because I worked at Chick-fil-a and always had the day off. Between work, football season, and taking some time off from breaking my left hand in the season opener, I finished 50 wks later with 41.5hrs of flying time.

With that said, the more continuity you can get the better. Just fly as often as possible and stay motivated and eager and you will do well. Good luck!

Edited July 13, 2010 by Whitman

[Gravedigger]

I don't know if it would be an option for you, but I talked my HS into letting me do a work study program to work on my PPL/hang out at the FBO. I got to leave school 2 hours early everyday to go fly. It worked out quite nicely. If you have some sort of work study/COOP program, you should go talk to them.