How long did it take to get your PPL?

WOW, failed because his X-countries were done before completing hood work. They should fire that DPE.
 
NordicDave said:
For the OP... People like to brag they did it at or close to the minimum required time, and they are the next Chuck Yeager or Maverick & Goose.

It's when YOU are ready that matters. My CFI said I was ready before I thought I was ready, and few more with him to learn. Beyond the basics we flew through Class B several times and landed a few times in Class C airports, and performed some high density altitude work as examples. The extra training helped a lot with my checkride which went smoothly.

There's high & low time students who are a nightmare, and high & low time students who are brilliant flyers. Take the time you need to be safe and proficient. Budget for 75 hours now a days. The requirements have gotten more stringent with the new ACS protocol.
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The real question is how many hours before you really were competent rather than just "unlikely to kill someone"? For me it was about 100-150.
 
Getting your ticket doesn't mean squat, no matter how long or short it took. That first 100 or so hours after cert will be the most risky. Use those hours wisely and try not to make many stupid decisions, and try not to make those more than once. And continue to train and learn, by reading, during BFRs or by pursuing additional ratings or certificates.

We had an unfortunate incident at our airport where a freshly certificated pilot managed to stall, spin and crash an apparently mechanically sound and perfectly flyable aircraft after a likely encounter with carb icing. Those first 100 hours...
 
We had an unfortunate incident at our airport where a CFI stalled, nearly spun, and crashed a 172 on a runway. Fortunately, he and student both walked away from it.

Be careful.
 
Salty said:
The real question is how many hours before you really were competent rather than just "unlikely to kill someone"? For me it was about 100-150.
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I'd agree with you there...probably 150 hours was when I stopped making frequent and / or silly mistakes.
 
4 months
Summer of 1998 (a glorious summer indeed)
About 55 hours.
 
tawood said:
I'd agree with you there...probably 150 hours was when I stopped making frequent and / or silly mistakes.
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YES, I’m at 165 hours, I’m golden!

To answer the question, it took me 143 hours to get my PPL.

WAIT, 150 hours after getting ones PPL or total time?
 
chemgeek said:
Getting your ticket doesn't mean squat, no matter how long or short it took. That first 100 or so hours after cert will be the most risky. Use those hours wisely and try not to make many stupid decisions, and try not to make those more than once. And continue to train and learn, by reading, during BFRs or by pursuing additional ratings or certificates.

We had an unfortunate incident at our airport where a freshly certificated pilot managed to stall, spin and crash an apparently mechanically sound and perfectly flyable aircraft after a likely encounter with carb icing. Those first 100 hours...
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I agree. While I got mine back in the days you could get it quickly. I didn’t start taking ppl to real places for at least another 40-50 hours on top of that. I was mostly into taking a person local sight seeing or a loop around the pattern. I also continued taking lessons... worked on complex and high performance sign offs. In the beginning I’d actually make a trial run of a xc flight solo before I’d take passengers just to be prepared for something unusual. This was preGPS days do so getting lost a bit was a reality.
 
I’m often asked by students, how long should it take to get their PPL? I tell them that their CFI doesn’t really have an hour target - instead it’s a capability target. When they’re ready to operate an aircraft as a Private Pilot, they’ll be endorsed.

Everyone is different, and the biggest factor in that is how much time can they invest in learning to fly. Flying a plane isn’t hard. But you do have to develop some new skills and knowledge. The average student that can fly 2 or 3 times a week will be ready for their checkride much earlier than the average student that goes 2 or 3 weeks between lessons.

For me, I had a job with shift work at the time, and I was able to work my schedule into a lot of flying opportunities. I definitely benefited from that.
 
1. 85.5. I included a lot of XC time in my primary, as I could expense it. I also took a 1 week and 3 week vacation in the middle. Santa Ana winds also delayed my solo time a few times, as did the airplane needing a 100 hour that took like 10 days.

2) 4 months.

3) This year.
 
1. 57 hours
2. 3 years (Started on 14th birthday, PPL checkride on 17th birthday)
3. 2004
 
106 hours, I did a lot of solo "practice" at the end.
1 year 6 months - I stopped twice for 3 months/4 months for work travel. I figure without that, I was probably around 65 hours.
2011
 
easik said:
Hey guys, working on a video release to discuss more on cost and time it takes to get a private pilot license. So I wanted to know how long it takes the average student pilot to earn their PPL. Please share:

1. How many total Hours it took
2. How much Time (in months or years)
3. What year did you acquire your license

Thanks!
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1. 40.something. I got it as soon as I cracked the magical number. I think I had 42 hours after my checkride.
2. Two years (we don't fly much in winter).
3. 2012

And to the guys who are apologizing for taking 100+ hours, you've got the same ticket I do. It doesn't make a dime's bit of difference how long it took you. You earned it and you should be proud of yourself.
 
First lesson, Feb 26, 1989, passed checkride, October 13, 1989 67.3 hours. I remember many cancelled lessons due to weather.
 
1. 40.7
2. 13 months to the day. First 7.1 hours took 5 months as CFI kept cancelling lessons. I took 3 months off due to work.
3. July 2015
 
mryan75 said:
1. 40.something. I got it as soon as I cracked the magical number. I think I had 42 hours after my checkride.
2. Two years (we don't fly much in winter).
3. 2012
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NordicDave said:
Testing has become more rigid in the past 18 months. San Jose & Fresno FSDO's for example have fired all DPE's except for 2 in each district, and they are on the new regiment. A student at my airport failed his Checkride because his log book said he finished his X-countries BEFORE he finished his instrument work. He was made to go back and redo his X-countries before retest.

They are trying to hire more DPE's.
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What says they have to be done in a particular order? I've never heard of that.
 
66.3 hours
22 months (over 6 months off during the year of the hurricanes...)
April 2006
 
1. 130 hours
2. July 2016 - April 2018 = 1 year 9 months
3. April 2018
Took 2 lessons per week. At about hour 90 CFI said I'm off to law school but don't worry, you are ready...
Switched school, new CFI made me realize that the fact you can fly doesn't mean you can pass a CR. NONE of my maneuvers were within standards!
Took 40 more hours with new CFI to be CR ready.

I don't care about how long it took!! I care about how badly I was milked by previous CFI :mad:... I am well over 30 grand in this.
All the materials I read - prior to starting training - about costs promised a 10-15K budget... :(
 
60 or so hours, 11 months, 1982.
 
1978,,,
995$, + 25$ discovery flight.
3 months,
7.2 hours to solo,,, 40 hours total to go for the final.
fly over for the final, and fly back with my PPL at 42 hours...

My regret,,, writing only 1 line in the log book for each flight,, to make the book last??.....
I used Only 2! pages from discovery flight,,, to PPL !
wish I had written down sooo much more....... memories..
 
robert lomax said:
1978,,,
995$, + 25$ discovery flight.
3 months,
7.2 hours to solo,,, 40 hours total to go for the final.
fly over for the final, and fly back with my PPL at 42 hours...

My regret,,, writing only 1 line in the log book for each flight,, to make the book last??.....
I used Only 2! pages from discovery flight,,, to PPL !
wish I had written down sooo much more....... memories..
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That looks like about $24 an hour. I came up with about $18. Plane was $10, CFI was $6 and there was the Monthly club fee. I guessed it was $25 a month. Were you using Hobbs or Tach time for the Plane.
 
40.2 hours, 41.4 hrs ticket on hand.
6 months, paid up front
 
45hrs, 1996. Went every day weather & schedules allowed between 6/1 and 7/25. Flew for about 20 more hours then went dormant for 20 years with family, kids, etc. Started back up about 2 years ago and bought a 152 last month. Flying couple days a week again and loving every minute of it....except my DG decided to stop working about 2 hours ago....ugh
 
If you count all my flight time until my PPL, I finished in 88.5. But I started in 2003 and finished in 2016. If you only count my time from the restart (Feb 2016 to Oct 2016), I did it in 51 hours, which included a 4 hour extra solo XC just for fun. My restart took longer than expected due to weather and my CFI taking a job with the FAA. I had to finish up with a part time instructor.
 
53 hours
30 days, including written (Accelerated flight training)
Both IFR and Commercial about a year later
 
271 hrs.
10 years.
2014

Sounds a little slow, but I flew only twice in the first six years. In the remaining years I got Sport Pilot, Tailwheel, EMT, ACRO, and flew coast to coast a couple times.
 
23 years, 130 hours. I started and stopped more times than I can count.
 
42 hours over six months in 1988-89. It was a college course and included the ground school so that helped a ton.
 
...failed his Checkride because his log book said he finished his X-countries BEFORE he finished his instrument work.
mryan75 said:
What says they have to be done in a particular order? I've never heard of that.
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Another student was failed for not securing his aircraft to the examiner's satisfaction after check ride. It's crazy out here in central Ca.
 
NordicDave said:
...failed his Checkride because his log book said he finished his X-countries BEFORE he finished his instrument work.

Another student was failed for not securing his aircraft to the examiner's satisfaction after check ride. It's crazy out here in central Ca.
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That must've been the most effed up retest ever.

"Here, see, it's now tied down" "Good. That'll be $550 in cash thank you very much. Here's your temp cert."
 
I'm gonna take the 5th :)

Well it felt like 14,212.3 hours spread across 2 months of one summer and 19 months of one winter. It was -8F during the checkride, I remember that really well!
 
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