BFR Anything Else? Commercial Worth It?

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DVSKY

Filing Flight Plan
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DVSKY
Doing IFR after I finish I was thinking about doing Commercial just for the skills and practice. However, I never intend to fly for hire or anything. I run numerous businesses so flying for hire would never be feasible. Is it worth it to do Commercial or should I do something else to sharpen my skills? If so what? Can only do so many touch and goes etc.

Also if I happen to not fly for 2 years can I still do BFR or will I need to fly some before that? I was reading the regs and it doesn't specify. It just seems you do BFR after two years and you are good, but I read some posts online about some hours needed before BFR. I dont think ill ever go 2 years straight without flying, but curious about this anyway.

Thanks.
 
well, can you legally fly after 24 calendar months without a flight review? then that answers that question......

commercial, that's a big "meh". if you want the challenge of another checkride/cert, go for it. if not you won't be missing much.
 
eman1200 said:
well, can you legally fly after 24 calendar months without a flight review? then that answers that question......
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I dont think the question was clear, it was can you go 24 Months straight without any flying and do BFR. Or do you need to have at least a few hours of flying time. Asked another way can you never fly at all and just keep doing BFR every 24 months to keep license current.
 
DVSKY said:
I dont think the question was clear, it was can you go 24 Months straight without any flying and do BFR. Or do you need to have at least a few hours of flying time. Asked another way can you never fly at all and just keep doing BFR every 24 months to keep license current.
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Only if you demonstrate to the CFI that you still have the skills and knowledge.
 
A Good pilot is always learning, so only real downside to getting your Commercial is the time and expense of doing so.
It also turns out a lot of pilots actually like the structure and learning as much as they do the actual flying.
Once finishing your Instrument is one of the best times to get your commercial as you about as on top of your game as you can be at that point. But the commercial will go back and teach you how to fly visually again and better. You can start applying a lot of things you learned about flying on instruments to your visual flying.
Also you never know what might come up. You might suddenly find you have the opportunity to occasionally fly right seat in a PC12. Or want to ferry a buddies Bonanza across the country for them. Commercial rating makes doing so a lot more feasible.

Brian
 
DVSKY said:
can you go 24 Months straight without any flying and do BFR.
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I went 30 years pretty much without flying and then did a flight review.
It took more than the minimum one hour in the air to get back to an acceptable level of competency, but that should be no surprise....
 
There's likely an insurance discount for an instrument rating, commercial, not so much. What could be a downside to having a commercial without "needing" one is the FAA will quite likely hold you to a higher standard should you ever run afoul of them. What might result in a stern talking to and a 709 ride for some infraction by a private pilot could easily result in a suspension or worse should a commercial pilot do the same.
 
Witmo said:
There's likely an insurance discount for an instrument rating, commercial, not so much. What could be a downside to having a commercial without "needing" one is the FAA will quite likely hold you to a higher standard should you ever run afoul of them. What might result in a stern talking to and a 709 ride for some infraction by a private pilot could easily result in a suspension or worse should a commercial pilot do the same.
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To Quote what I heard an FAA inspector Say today "Each incident will be evaluated on it's own merits"
I don't think a Commercial Certificate by itself affects how the FAA responds to a situation.

Brian
 
DVSKY said:
I dont think the question was clear, it was can you go 24 Months straight without any flying and do BFR. Or do you need to have at least a few hours of flying time. Asked another way can you never fly at all and just keep doing BFR every 24 months to keep license current.
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Yes, you can do that. There is no restriction as to how much you need to fly in between nor when to have review. It could be sooner than 24 months. Or much later.
 
The Flight Review is to reestablish your ability to fly. You do one, you are legal to fly for 2 years. If you stop flying for an extended time, you just have to do a new one to reestablish your legality.

that said, if it’s been a while, an instructor might not sign you off immediately if they don’t think you’re safe.
 
If you’ve got access to an affordable plane already and just want to fly, the commercial stuff is actually fun IMO. There are worse ways to burn holes in the sky.

But if you are worried about the cost, don’t bother unless you plan to use it.
 
I'm working my commercial now. The motivation is two fold: 1) Flying to a higher standard, 2) I'm planning to continue through seaplane single and multi and glider. If I do the commercial now I can get commercial versions of all those as I get them, no extra check rides required.

I too, never plan to fly for money. Just the satisfaction of completing these.

That said, if all you want to do is sharpen your skills, there's nothing that says you can't get an instructor and learn the commercial maneuvers without ever doing the written and ride.

John
 
There aren't really any tangible(other than skills) benefits from commercial rating unless you are planning on using it(which could be a future benefit of course). And I say that as someone who did just that. I mostly did it because I needed an excuse to fly at the time. A goal helped. You get no discounts on anything. There is also a potential negative that comes along with it(besides spending time and money): you potentially give FAA a much bigger stick if you screw up somewhere.
 
Commercial will help on insurance.

Every year, the market gets tighter - especially because you are aging. InsCos are getting more and more critical of older pilots. 70 is the new 80, one might say. Having a Comm Single or Multi ALWAYS looks better (i.e. more desirable) to an underwriter. A stitch in time saves nine.
 
Also I believe if you are going to exercise Commercial you need second class medical....?
 
brcase said:
To Quote what I heard an FAA inspector Say today "Each incident will be evaluated on it's own merits"
I don't think a Commercial Certificate by itself affects how the FAA responds to a situation.

Brian
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I agree that each incident will be evaluated on its own merits but I also believe (and have seen accident reports) that the FAA is less tolerant of mistakes if they are made by a commercial pilot who is allowed to charge the traveling public for his professional services. Being a professional pilot brings with it a professional standard of conduct higher than that expected of an amateur.
 
Witmo said:
I agree that each incident will be evaluated on its own merits but I also believe (and have seen accident reports) that the FAA is less tolerant of mistakes if they are made by a commercial pilot who is allowed to charge the traveling public for his professional services. Being a professional pilot brings with it a professional standard of conduct higher than that expected of an amateur.
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I can’t find it now, but someone did post the FAA document reference that says the FAA considers certificate level when determining violations and/or penalties.
 
To whom much is given, much will be expected. It’s up to all of us individually to decide if it’s worth it or not.
 
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