Newbie here -- just wanted to say hello

kimberlyanne546 said:
Tyler,

This is great. I was up to 1 - 5 flights PER WEEK and didn't solo until 40 hours (it might have been 39 or 41 or something, I forgot already).

Once you get your cert you'll forget all about how many hours this or that took you. I already have and it took me 90 hours to get to the checkride....

Keep posting about your training, it helps hundreds of pilots on this site going through their own training.

Kimberly
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Thanks for sharing, that Kimberly and Tyler. Sounds like I'm in good company. I have been trying to do 3 lessons a week, and I stuck to that even while I was waiting on my school to get me scheduled for the pre-solo check ride. (So my pre-solo hours ticked up in the meantime.) I haven't done the official tally yet, but it had to be right at about 30 hrs when I finally solo'd. I don't really care, as every one of those hours was valuable to my learning, but with some of the stories I've heard ... I have felt the need to qualify/justify the number of pre-solo hours. I'm gonna stop doing that. :P
 
Re: one chapter ends and another begins...

tylerdurden4543 said:
Well, I finally did it -- yesterday I received my temporary airman certificate and as so often has been pointed out here: my license to learn.

Here are the final numbers for my PPL:

  • 27 months, 5 days from start to finish
  • 77 total flying hours (12 PIC and 65 dual)
  • nearly 200 take-offs and landings
  • I lost track but somewhere close to $15k in instruction and rental cost
  • All while getting married, starting a new job, starting and progressing through part-time grad school, having shoulder surgery and welcoming our first child -- sometimes life gets in the way!
My biggest takeaway is that the extended period of time really weighs on how much you remember ground school information for your oral (I took my written 12 months ago). If you fly continuously throughout, however, you can still keep a pretty good command of the airplane.


Thanks to all on this board for their support and I'll start a new thread when my wife let's me begin instrument training:thumbsup:
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Awesome! Congrats!! thanks for the walkthrough of the journey in this thread!
 
Of course -- I can't wait to put it to use. Whether life will let me do so is anyone's guess.

My first thing is to get the wife up with my instructor for a couple hours of orientation time so that she knows what everything does in case something happens to me.

Once she's comfortable with that, thinking a short overnight from KCDW to K1B1 (50 minute flight) for a wedding in September. Then maybe to KAUG (2.5 hours flight...) to see friends in Maine with a stop at KIJD to see some other friends (and use the bathroom). There's always Cape Cod and Long Island for shorter trips. We'll be traveling with a 7 month old, so we'll have to see how she handles it.

The whole reason I got my PPL was to be able to fly from NYC to our family's house in Door County, Wisconsin (3D2). It's an all day affair commercially but only 621 NM door-to-door. Seems pretty complicated flying through Canada and probably not all that comfortable in a 172N. Is there a place on POA where folks can get tips on flights plans? I assume it wouldn't be in the training forum.
 
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