Efficient way to CPL

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Chris172

Filing Flight Plan
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Chris172
This is a great forum and I have been here a while now.
I started my training in 2007 and took a long break and got my PPL (ASEL) (88hrs) in 2014 but I have not flown after that.
Main reason being cost and family etc commitments.
I have a full-time job but flying has been my passion and want to get back in it and if possible work towards ATP.

There are no 152s around flight schools here, so I was thinking of getting checked-out on a 172 and do my flight-review.
Then build hours towards the 50 hrs XCountry flights.

Question - I have around 11 hrs of solo when working on my PPL, so can that be counted towards 11hrs of PIC?
If so, I have a remaining 239 hrs to meet the CPL requirements. Is that correct?
1696038920503.png
Would it be better to get the Commercial and then get the Instrument Rating,
as this way I will be more fresh and/or proficient with Instrument flying?
 
I think it would be best to get the instrument rating and then the commercial rating. There is not much use for the commercial rating without instruments... maybe crop dusting, but that's a high risk job.
 
Most efficient is to start instrument using some of it to count down the 50XC hrs for instrument and some of it to double dip for 61.129 TAA and instrument training requirements.

Use the other XC PIC necessary for instrument to fly XCs to far away places.
 
Also, knock out your 61.129 long XC, night VFR, and night takeoffs and landings and the CSEL training reqts with a CFI before you hit 250TT.

Remember, all your post-PPL hrs with an instructor count as PIC time and solo does mean solo.
 
The most efficient way to get to the commercial is doing the instrument first. The commercial requires 10 hours of specific instrument training that you can obtain doing the instrument rating. Some of the commercial XC requirements you can obtain will doing the instrument. All the the instrument hours apply to the 250 for the commercial.

All it takes in money, time and commitment.
 
TCABM said:
Also, knock out your 61.129 long XC, night VFR, and night takeoffs and landings and the CSEL training reqts with a CFI before you hit 250TT.

Remember, all your post-PPL hrs with an instructor count as PIC time and solo does mean solo.
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You are referring to this right? -
1696079466749.png
 
Thank you all, so the suggestion is to work towards Instrument which requires 50 hrs cross country and I can get some X countries done and do the training in parallel for Instrument. So if I go for a instrument-lesson which is a X-country, can I count this towards my instrument time -dual received and part of the 50hr cross-country with PIC?
 
If you can swing it....get a time builder plane like a Cherokee with a WAAS GPS. Use that for your instrument and put several hours a week on that. In a year you could have enough to begin your CPL. Once you have the requirements....sell the plane.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
If you can swing it....get a time builder plane like a Cherokee with a WAAS GPS. Use that for your instrument and put several hours a week on that. In a year you could have enough to begin your CPL. Once you have the requirements....sell the plane.
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Sounds like a great idea but don't have the $$ to do this. Going to do my best to finish this while working a full-time like I got my PPL.
 
Chris172 said:
Thank you all, so the suggestion is to work towards Instrument which requires 50 hrs cross country and I can get some X countries done and do the training in parallel for Instrument. So if I go for an instrument-lesson which is a X-country, can I count this towards my instrument time -dual received and part of the 50hr cross-country with PIC?
Click to expand...
Yes
 
Chris172 said:
Thank you all, so the suggestion is to work towards Instrument which requires 50 hrs cross country and I can get some X countries done and do the training in parallel for Instrument. So if I go for a instrument-lesson which is a X-country, can I count this towards my instrument time -dual received and part of the 50hr cross-country with PIC?
Click to expand...

As answered above, yes.
 
Thank you all. Also is there anything wrong in working towards Commercial ASEL in a flying club vs part 61 school?
If I look towards working as a pilot later for part-135 or 121, would it matter how I got my certificates on the resume?
I had some great instructors when I worked on my PPL at a 61 school, but now if I get a commercial at a flying club with a good CFI (member in the club), would it look bad? BTW - I met some great instructors at this flying club close to home with a 172 and thinking about it. It is just that the flying club is all new to me but looks like a great group of Airmen.
 
Your flying club instructor IS part 61, so no, won’t look bad. It not being 141 really doesn’t matter either.

Having a good instructor/student relationship is VERY important. So do what works best for you.
 
Thank you Sir! yes I had some great instructors at a part-61 during my PPL course.
 
Chris172 said:
Thank you all. Also is there anything wrong in working towards Commercial ASEL in a flying club vs part 61 school?
If I look towards working as a pilot later for part-135 or 121, would it matter how I got my certificates on the resume?
I had some great instructors when I worked on my PPL at a 61 school, but now if I get a commercial at a flying club with a good CFI (member in the club), would it look bad? BTW - I met some great instructors at this flying club close to home with a 172 and thinking about it. It is just that the flying club is all new to me but looks like a great group of Airmen.
Click to expand...
I recommend the club. I joined a club for affordable fun personal flying. Make time as well for non-training flights to keep the spark alive. Decided to make a career change and started to do some of my training for the commercial with my CFI buddy in the club, especially the XC and solo requirements, night takeoffs and landings, etc. But I work full-time and have a part time job on the side and went to a school to finish my commercial training because coordinating time for training was more reliable, complex/TAA requirement, and all the maintenance logs are usually tee'd up nicely for a checkride.
 
Plan is to work on the ASEL(Commercial) (c-172) and get it at the club. As there is no multi-engine at the club, can I go to another school later and get a multi-engine inst (MEI)add-on with the CFI from the club? Also when working on the multi-engine add on , do I need to again do the 300nm X-country?
 
Chris172 said:
Plan is to work on the ASEL(Commercial) (c-172) and get it at the club. As there is no multi-engine at the club, can I go to another school later and get a multi-engine inst (MEI)add-on with the CFI from the club? Also when working on the multi-engine add on , do I need to again do the 300nm X-country?
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I doubt a flight school will let you fly their multi with an outside CFI/MEI. Even multi time building places will sit their MEI in the plane as a safety pilot.
Adding the multi class to your commercial certificate you don't have minimum training time requirement. You don't have to rehash the commercial training you did for the single. There is no written exam either.
 
There is a reason that most people progress through ratings in this order:
1. Private ASEL
2. Add IRA rating
3. Commercial ASEL
4. Add AMEL rating

This path maximizes using hours for each rating toward the next, minimizes the number of check rides to get commercial and instrument privileges in both single and multiengine planes, and minimizes the number of expensive multiengine hours you need to accrue to get there.

Alternative paths exist but, unless you already have some peculiar pattern of time building behind you, they will probably lead to wasted time or money. Not that time flying or money spent flying can qualify as wasted, of course.

Along the way, make sure your instrument instructor signs off at some point that you have complied with the instrument training required for the commercial license, log all your time accurately including PIC, solo, cross-country, and night, and try to hit some of the smaller requirements for the commercial license as opportunities arise (such as the 10 night takeoffs and landings at an airport with an operating control tower, the long solo cross-country, and the dual day and night cross-countries).
 
I would say do your IR and Commercial ASEL with the club, if you go that route.

For the AMEL and MEI, just hit one of the schools for a week. And no, you do not need to repeat all those things. Notice, the regs only require them in an Airplane, not a specific CLASS of Airplane.

You could also do things add your Glider or ASES or RH ratings and they count, and a fun way to add some hours.
 
iamtheari said:
There is a reason that most people progress through ratings in this order:
1. Private ASEL
2. Add IRA rating
3. Commercial ASEL
4. Add AMEL rating

This path maximizes using hours for each rating toward the next, minimizes the number of check rides to get commercial and instrument privileges in both single and multiengine planes, and minimizes the number of expensive multiengine hours you need to accrue to get there.

Alternative paths exist but, unless you already have some peculiar pattern of time building behind you, they will probably lead to wasted time or money. Not that time flying or money spent flying can qualify as wasted, of course.

Along the way, make sure your instrument instructor signs off at some point that you have complied with the instrument training required for the commercial license, log all your time accurately including PIC, solo, cross-country, and night, and try to hit some of the smaller requirements for the commercial license as opportunities arise (such as the 10 night takeoffs and landings at an airport with an operating control tower, the long solo cross-country, and the dual day and night cross-countries).
Click to expand...
I wanted to exactly this but my concern was If I do the instrument and commercial on the 172, the Certificate would say -
CSEL (Instrument - Single Engine) and then I would have to repeat instrument training again for a multi because the instruments would obviously different on a multi?
Also if I am looking to get to the airline or part 135 , an instrument on a 172 is not valuable as any airline/company would want to see the MEI?
If I decide to stay as a private-pilot, yes the instrument is the way to go.
1. Private ASEL
2. Add IRA rating
3. Commercial ASEL
4. Add AMEL rating
5 -->Will I not need to do Instrument training and a checkride for a piper aztec or any multi-engine aircraft?
 
Pinecone said:
I would say do your IR and Commercial ASEL with the club, if you go that route.

For the AMEL and MEI, just hit one of the schools for a week. And no, you do not need to repeat all those things. Notice, the regs only require them in an Airplane, not a specific CLASS of Airplane.

You could also do things add your Glider or ASES or RH ratings and they count, and a fun way to add some hours.
Click to expand...

For the instrument requirements, where is it in the regs for part 61?
1697747839215.png

Unable to locate it.
 
Chris172 said:
I wanted to exactly this but my concern was If I do the instrument and commercial on the 172, the Certificate would say -
CSEL (Instrument - Single Engine) and then I would have to repeat instrument training again for a multi because the instruments would obviously different on a multi?
Also if I am looking to get to the airline or part 135 , an instrument on a 172 is not valuable as any airline/company would want to see the MEI?
If I decide to stay as a private-pilot, yes the instrument is the way to go.
1. Private ASEL
2. Add IRA rating
3. Commercial ASEL
4. Add AMEL rating
5 -->Will I not need to do Instrument training and a checkride for a piper aztec or any multi-engine aircraft?
Click to expand...
The instrument rating is for all airplanes, unless you have ASEL and AMEL ratings and then take the IRA check ride in a single, in which case I think you are restricted to IFR in singles. But if you have ASEL and IRA, your AMEL check ride will include instrument maneuvers. If you take the check rides in the order I mentioned, your certificate will read:

COMMERCIAL PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE AND MULTIENGINE LAND; INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE
 
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