typical time frame to get a PPL?

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muleywannabe

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I start this Saturday, and it has me thinking about how long generally has it taken folks to get their PPL.

I am in no hurry what so ever but always curious because I like to set personal goals for myself, I would like to at least do one lesson a week until the days get longer and then do two a week. Generally, how long has it taken folks in the past? a year, 6 months, 2 years? I am sure my wife is anxious to know when I will have weekends free again, haha.
 
muleywannabe said:
I start this Saturday, and it has me thinking about how long generally has it taken folks to get their PPL.

I am in no hurry what so ever but always curious because I like to set personal goals for myself, I would like to at least do one lesson a week until the days get longer and then do two a week. Generally, how long has it taken folks in the past? a year, 6 months, 2 years? I am sure my wife is anxious to know when I will have weekends free again, haha.
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10 months. Usually flew two mornings a week, but took a couple months off in the middle. 65 hours
 
Started mid-march, had my check ride on June 30th.

Would have been sooner but wound up having to change instructors right at the end.

I started out flying twice a week, and was flying almost every day the last two weeks.

-Dan
 
There is really no typical time and there are too many variables. It's hard to tell. It really depends on how fast you can learn the material, weather, how often you fly, how much money you have, how often you can schedule the plane, how often your CFI is available, etc. If you want to do one lesson per week, you are looking at around 2 hours of flight time. The minimum is 40 hrs to get the PPL but you probably need around 60-70. If weather cooperates and you understand everything and nail each lesson you can get your PPL (if you fly 1 lesson per week) in either 20 to 35 weeks, if all goes well
 
jordane93 said:
There is really no typical time and there are too many variables. It's hard to tell. It really depends on how fast you can learn the material, weather, how often you fly, how much money you have, how often you can schedule the plane, how often your CFI is available, etc. If you want to do one lesson per week, you are looking at around 2 hours of flight time. The minimum is 40 hrs to get the PPL but you probably need around 60-70. If weather cooperates and you understand everything and nail each lesson you can get your PPL (if you fly 1 lesson per week) in either 20 to 35 weeks, if all goes well
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Weather is the killer if you can only fly on weekends!:mad2::mad2: There may be times when you spend your work week looking outside at perfect training weather, only to be grounded on Sat & Sun. I just broke 80hrs last week and am waiting to book the checkride...just not trying to schedule one when the wind is gusting to 25kts across the rwy (I hate NY in January:mad::mad::mad::mad:).
 
muleywannabe said:
I start this Saturday, and it has me thinking about how long generally has it taken folks to get their PPL.

I am in no hurry what so ever but always curious because I like to set personal goals for myself, I would like to at least do one lesson a week until the days get longer and then do two a week. Generally, how long has it taken folks in the past? a year, 6 months, 2 years? I am sure my wife is anxious to know when I will have weekends free again, haha.
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I would encourage you to set task based goals, not time based. Time has a tendency to encourage unsafe decisions, like flying into questionable weather.

There is a HUGE variation in time, and no one -- not even you or your instructor -- can possibly know all the variables before you even start.

Once a week isn't really enough. You'll likely be relearning stuff you did the previous time. I'd suggest 2-3 times. Not that it's impossible -- it isn't, but it's a disadvantage.
 
Getting your knowledge test completed helps alot. Once you get finished with your second supervised solo the training goes pretty fast and I find the hold for my folks is that they don't get their written done. So, be proactive with your studying too.
 
MAKG1 said:
I would encourage you to set task based goals, not time based. Time has a tendency to encourage unsafe decisions, like flying into questionable weather.
......Once a week isn't really enough. You'll likely be relearning stuff you did the previous time. I'd suggest 2-3 times. Not that it's impossible -- it isn't, but it's a disadvantage.
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:yeahthat: +1....Knowing what I know now.....
 
muleywannabe said:
I start this Saturday, and it has me thinking about how long generally has it taken folks to get their PPL.

I am in no hurry what so ever but always curious because I like to set personal goals for myself, I would like to at least do one lesson a week until the days get longer and then do two a week. Generally, how long has it taken folks in the past? a year, 6 months, 2 years? I am sure my wife is anxious to know when I will have weekends free again, haha.
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Typical for whom? For people with the money and determination to get it done, 2-3 months for people with a job, 3-4 weeks for people who are doing nothing else, living flying and at the flight school all day every day & studying at night. If one is sharp, the weather cooperative, and the school good, probably get it done in 2 weeks.

As for others, what usually determines how fast they get it done is how much discretionary income they have and are willing to put towards flying, or how much unallocated time they have to put towards training and study. 6 months to 2 years (or never/ multiple decade intervention) seems to be oft reported.

For reference I was done with PP in 3 months having 2 days a week I could dedicate to flying with no monetary restrictions. I could also study some while at work and did on all my off periods, starting my check ride with exactly 40 hrs; this was typical where I trained to have people with this level of dedication and means or greater (they were full time flight students whereas I had a job 5 days a week).
 
I ask this question a lot. My current flight school usually takes 55-80 hours.

I know that is a wide range but at least you can crunch some numbers.

I was thrown off guard by the FAA's "40 hours" and had to borrow money because it took me twice that.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I ask this question a lot. My current flight school usually takes 55-80 hours.

I know that is a wide range but at least you can crunch some numbers.

I was thrown off guard by the FAA's "40 hours" and had to borrow money because it took me twice that.
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And your experience was typical, though you didn't believe it at the time.

Add in nasty traffic and distant practice areas (i.e., urban environments) and it's not hard to see it getting over 100 hours for some people.
 
jordane93 said:
There is really no typical time and there are too many variables. It's hard to tell. It really depends on how fast you can learn the material, weather, how often you fly, how much money you have, how often you can schedule the plane, how often your CFI is available, etc. If you want to do one lesson per week, you are looking at around 2 hours of flight time. The minimum is 40 hrs to get the PPL but you probably need around 60-70. If weather cooperates and you understand everything and nail each lesson you can get your PPL (if you fly 1 lesson per week) in either 20 to 35 weeks, if all goes well
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This is closer to reality than any of the comments "I solo'd in X hours and checkride at Y hours". Everyone is different. Four variables that control everything - your schedule, CFI schedule, airplane schedule and weather.
 
murphey said:
This is closer to reality than any of the comments "I solo'd in X hours and checkride at Y hours". Everyone is different. Four variables that control everything - your schedule, CFI schedule, airplane schedule and weather.
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That's why if you want to meet a schedule it's important to choose a school that has multiple airplanes and instructors so when you are ready to fly, there is a plane and CFI available. In the process of my PPL I flew with every instructor and in every plane except the Seneca and 421; 150/2s, 172s/RG, 182, & PA-28s. I flew at least 2 flights each day I had available that weather would allow.
 
Great info guys, thank you. My schedule at work is relatively relaxed for the most part, my CFI is free to teach and fly on thursday, friday and saturdays. So weather depending, I will probably start scheduling thursday late afternoons and saturday mornings. Unfortunately, we never have calm days here in kansas or oklahoma...always wind blowing some direction and weather is always changing.
 
Yup, that will cost you some time, but a strong steady wind isn't as hard as you might think. It's gusts that can get "interesting."

Short field landings are really easy in a 20 knot headwind. :)
 
It has taken me close to 4 months to get 14 hours, mainly due to winter weather. At this rate it will take me about a year to get my PPL. Hoping that the weather eventually gets better, and once the xc stats stretching out the hours.
 
Appreciate the discussion as I am wondering the same thing...
 
I was fortunate (back in 1987) - scheduling with my CFI and the FBO went so well and the weather was extremely cooperative. My first lesson was 4/24/87 and passed the checkride 10/10/87 (iirc). I flew as many as 14 times in a month.

Bottomline is: It is not a race. The guy who passed in 40 hours and 3 months and the guy who takes 2 years and 100 hours are both pilots with the same privileges.
 
Noone can give you an exact number. Magic 8 ball says 6-7 months if you fly twice/week.

muleywannabe said:
I start this Saturday, and it has me thinking about how long generally has it taken folks to get their PPL.

I am in no hurry what so ever but always curious because I like to set personal goals for myself, I would like to at least do one lesson a week until the days get longer and then do two a week. Generally, how long has it taken folks in the past? a year, 6 months, 2 years? I am sure my wife is anxious to know when I will have weekends free again, haha.
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It took me 8 months and I thought I was flying at a pretty good clip. But then, you'll have spots like I did where it took 3 weeks to do a solo between my work schedule and weather cooperating. I bought into my own plane and was down a month for our annual. I'd travel for work most of the week and get home and WANT to fly...have some gorgeous weather...but I'd been gone all week and had stuff to do at home and 3 kids to tend to...and give my wife a break. Then, when I could fly - the weather sucked...and I was out another week waiting for a good day.

Life gets in the way. I probably could have shaved a month off of it - I flew about 10 more hours than I needed - since I had my own plane I did more practice area/pattern work and did 1 more XC than I needed on the logbook. I flew to my checkride with 64 hours in the books.

I think around 70 is probably average but as others mentioned there's no way to guarantee what your tally will come to. It's all based on your flying/learning ability and how often you can fly. Generally speaking, the more frequently you fly - the faster the license will come.

Good luck!
 
I know people that got it done in 2 months, and I know some that took a year. It all depends on how much you fly, and how hard you prepare for those flights.
 
I did it in just under a year and about a hundred hours.
But most people are not quick learners like me so it may take longer :rolleyes:


Truth: Once signed off to solo, I sort of quit training and flew solo for about 60 hours for fun. That was a big mistake. Great for getting comfirtable in the plane, building confidence, getting over thermals, etc. But my overall quality of flying suffered.
 
April 13 - Aug 2 for me...flew 2-3 days per week generally, with a few breaks in between for weather/being out of town.

I'd highly recommend flying as often as possible...makes a difference.
 
They say the average is 62 hours. If you fly 2-3 times per week consistently, and get your knowledge test out of the way pronto, it will take less time than if you prolong it. But, here is the disclaimer, everyone learns at a different speed. Like someone said, its not a race.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I did it in just under a year and about a hundred hours.
But most people are not quick learners like me so it may take longer :rolleyes:


Truth: Once signed off to solo, I sort of quit training and flew solo for about 60 hours for fun. That was a big mistake. Great for getting comfirtable in the plane, building confidence, getting over thermals, etc. But my overall quality of flying suffered.
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I did only the minimum solo. To save money. So I was quite excited when I got my certificate because I still had so much to learn. Lucky for me, more than half of all my passengers (I rarely fly alone) have been pilots - and very experienced pilots at that. Some with thousands of hours. I continue to learn every day, and, though I only got my cert in 2011 - I am leaps and bounds from where I was on that day. Granted, the day of your checkride you are safest and most current; but life has taught me a LOT of things you just can't learn in a "planned" training environment.
 
8 months for me from start to cert, although like others have said that's not much of an indication since you have weather delays, scheduling issues, etc...and you finish when you finish.
 
I started mid Jan 2013 with the intention of 1 flight every other week. I couldn't stand to wait that long between flights and began to go 1/wk when I could. I have about 44 hours now with 4 of those being solo practice. I have one more dual hour left before the check ride is scheduled. I actually think I did better with a little time between flights. I have a habit of extensively thinking about about my previous flight and critiquing every part of it which may have helped. In the past I played a lot of computer simulator which allowed me to become very familiar with some of the procedures. I think the biggest help was my experience with flying radio controlled airplanes. I could inherently understand how the plane was going to respond to control inputs and various attitudes. That, and read stick and rudder.
 
On the other end of the spectrum, I did mine in 16 days.
Would NOT recommend that to anyone.
 
Weather was my biggest hurdle, I started in Sept and took my check ride the following June at 46 hours.
 
I started in February flying on weekends. I had two extended breaks (8-10 weeks each) because of airplane issues. I finished in December with 48.something hours.

For reference, at our school, I saw everything from mid 40's to almost 100 hrs at checkride. Everyone is different and you will get there when you do.
 
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