PIREP My total cost for PPL 2018/2019

texasclouds

texasclouds

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Mark
I tallied up my expenses to see where I stood, and decided to share them with y'all. My check ride was cancelled today due to weather, and I do have the check ride expenses to add. That fee is $600 plus plane rental at $129.99 - $8 club discount per hour, plus they probably are going to charge me to have the CFI there/available $40/hr. Just south of $10,000, which is close to what my flight school estimated ($9650). See attached PDF file for details. I didn't know about the club discount until about 80% through the program. That would have paid it self off by now and started saving money. Its been fun, but I'm ready to finally take my friends/family for a ride! March 1 new date!
 

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Good luck on the check ride.
 
I was just (barely) north of $10k with bose a20, ipad and the $700 "dpes gotta eat" fee. Took my ppl ride may 2018 at 55 hours tt.

Good luck!
 
Cici said:
I was just (barely) north of $10k with bose a20, ipad and the $700 "dpes gotta eat" fee. Took my ppl ride may 2018 at 55 hours tt.

Good luck!
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A bose and an iPad is nearly 2 grand most people wouldn’t consider part of training costs.
 
Friend of mine wanted to get his PPL in the Chicago suburbs. I told him it would likely be around $10k. He goes down to the FBO at PWK and they’re quoting him like $25k! Insane!
 
Salty said:
A bose and an iPad is nearly 2 grand most people wouldn’t consider part of training costs.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but i wouldn't have bought them if it wasnt for flying. Slap it in what ever category and account for it however you like. If we're pilots talking to other pilots about "total cost" to get ppl (see title of thread) or if we're giving our wives training only numbers, we still have money going out the door.
 
If budget is an issue, you probably shouldn’t buy a $1k headset... I flew with passive david Clark’s for my first 10 years!
 
I have a running tally of all my flights, just because I like numbers even when they're bad... That said, I'm looking forward to logging lots of flights where I get paid. It'll be interesting to see at what point I break even...
 
My costs were around 8.5k, not counting the Lightspeed Zulu I bought as a gift for myself after getting the license... :)
Costs included DPE fees, club fees, rentals and CFI fees.
 
What are DPEs charging nowadays? My PPL was $300, IR was $400 and multi was either 4 or 500 starting 9 years ago.
 
Getting my certificate kept me out of the casino's for quite a while, so I'm guessing I made a few thousand.
 
Why would they charge you for the CFI being there?
 
Salty said:
A bose and an iPad is nearly 2 grand most people wouldn’t consider part of training costs.
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I suspect that is why he mentioned them as included items in his total.
 
Landing Fees said:
Why would they charge you for the CFI being there?
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Test location is at a different airport from the school. My CFI wanted to there in case he was needed for any clarification or corrections. I assume dude wants to get paid for working. I don't mind paying dude for said work.
 
dans2992 said:
I’m saying that you don’t NEED to spend $1k on a headset. There are cheaper options if you are trying to keep costs low.
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I know, I was just kidding, I started cheap, moved up to DC passives, now have bose a20s, wish I had spent the money up front.
 
texasclouds said:
Test location is at a different airport from the school. My CFI wanted to there in case he was needed for any clarification or corrections. I assume dude wants to get paid for working. I don't mind paying dude for said work.
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Does the CFI not have confidence that you meet the requirements or that his endorsements are correct? Or is this school policy?

Short of insurance requirements in a multi I can't think of a reason I'd want to sit at an airport and wait for a student to pass a checkride.
 
mondtster said:
Does the CFI not have confidence that you meet the requirements or that his endorsements are correct? Or is this school policy?

Short of insurance requirements in a multi I can't think of a reason I'd want to sit at an airport and wait for a student to pass a checkride.
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I'd probably want to. But the fact that I wanted to doesn't necessarily mean I should charge for it.
 
JOhnH said:
I'd probably want to. But the fact that I wanted to doesn't necessarily mean I should charge for it.
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Yeah, I'd feel dirty about charging a student while I sat at the airport for half a day playing with my phone or watching TV.

It would be a slightly different story if I had to be there with the multi or if it was school policy though. Even then I don't think I'd feel good about charging my full hourly rate.
 
I spent $3065 dollars on flight time (including exam fee) to get my PPL and another $500 on misc testing materials and stuff.

1990.
 
texasclouds said:
I tallied up my expenses to see where I stood, and decided to share them with y'all. My check ride was cancelled today due to weather, and I do have the check ride expenses to add. That fee is $600 plus plane rental at $129.99 - $8 club discount per hour, plus they probably are going to charge me to have the CFI there/available $40/hr. Just south of $10,000, which is close to what my flight school estimated ($9650). See attached PDF file for details. I didn't know about the club discount until about 80% through the program. That would have paid it self off by now and started saving money. Its been fun, but I'm ready to finally take my friends/family for a ride! March 1 new date!
Click to expand...

Congratulations on reaching this milestone, it won't be long now.

That's an impressively low number of hours to be ready for your checkride.
 
mondtster said:
Does the CFI not have confidence that you meet the requirements or that his endorsements are correct? Or is this school policy?

Short of insurance requirements in a multi I can't think of a reason I'd want to sit at an airport and wait for a student to pass a checkride.
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I have sat at the airport many times while a student took a check ride, not only because I encouraged them to bring donuts ;) but I have never billed a single minute to be there for that support.
 
Landing Fees said:
I have sat at the airport many times while a student took a check ride, not only because I encouraged them to bring donuts ;) but I have never billed a single minute to be there for that support.
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Same here. Except when I had a serious conflict, I have gone with my student to their check-rides. I've never charged a dime for it, of for any remedial training and sign-offs.
 
A
DFH65 said:
I spent $3065 dollars on flight time (including exam fee) to get my PPL and another $500 on misc testing materials and stuff.

1990.
Click to expand...
I was a shade over $4k in 1991.
 
dans2992 said:
If budget is an issue, you probably shouldn’t buy a $1k headset... I flew with passive david Clark’s for my first 10 years!
Click to expand...

Back in ye olde days, we relied on the cabin speaker. Of course, many of us don't hear so well anymore.

I have to think a nice headset is less expensive than hearing aids. (I don't need hearing aids, at least not yet.)
 
I don’t think ANR is required to avoid hearing loss.
 
I hate to say how much my PPL cost. I was paying $5.00 per hour wet for a C-150 and $5.00 per hour for the CFI.

I had 40 hours when I soloed and 80 hours by the time I finished. Including the checkride, it was under $1,000.00.

That was a private, University affiliated flying club and we owned our own airplanes.

Once I soloed, I finished all my cross countries and checkride within three weeks.

Of course, it was 1978...
 
texasclouds said:
That fee is $600 plus plane rental at $129.99 - $8 club discount per hour, plus they probably are going to charge me to have the CFI there/available $40/hr
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I think my PPL was $200 in 1995. Flew from Spearfish, SD to Rapid City, SD for my check ride. Check ride was 1.7hrs, called my CFI after I passed.

I think I was at $4500 with check ride in 1995. 3 states and 8 CFI's, I worked 4 months at a time at different job locations around the country at the time. 60hrs total for PPL, a lot of well lets see what you have learned flights...:rolleyes:
 
FormerHangie said:
Back in ye olde days, we relied on the cabin speaker. Of course, many of us don't hear so well anymore.
Click to expand...

My first instructor was a guy in his 70's, and he flew for years using microphones and speakers. That dude was spitting distance from being deaf.
 
DFH65 said:
I spent $3065 dollars on flight time (including exam fee) to get my PPL and another $500 on misc testing materials and stuff.

1990.
Click to expand...

This represents exactly 60 hours which included the 1 hour checkride. I had completed the requirements in 40, felt ready at about 50 but ended up flying another 10 waiting for the test.

As I recall without looking I think the 172 was $43 or $47 depending on which one you flew and the instructor was 15.


So in 1978 it was $1000
In 1990 it was $3000
In 2019 it is $10,000

Interesting.
 
I spent about $3500 for my private in 2017. I had 50 hrs total (20.1 dual) and $400 for the DPE.

Of course it helped that I could just borrow Dad's Cherokee instead of renting and just had to pay for gas, oil, CFI, and help out with the mx costs.
 
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