When is the best season for learning to fly?

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Travel360

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Travel360
I live in NJ, and our weather is quite frustrating. It's either raining, snowing, high winds, and low ceilings many times. A perfect day is rare here. I wish I could move to Arizona or Southern California and learn there. Seeing those weeks of straight sunshine and 4 kn winds out there is painful lol.
 
Yup. Southern California. Motorcycle Riding and Recreational Flying Paradise. Tax hell, but hey, ya gets what ya pay for.
 
There is significant value in learning in a "weather-rich" environment, because weather planning and decision making is an important pilot skill. Flying XC with an instructor (and later solo) and experiencing weather first hand will serve you well, as will learning how to cope with nasty crosswinds. That will help you get the most out of flying.
 
chemgeek said:
There is significant value in learning in a "weather-rich" environment, because weather planning and decision making is an important pilot skill. Flying XC with an instructor (and later solo) and experiencing weather first hand will serve you well, as will learning how to cope with nasty crosswinds. That will help you get the most out of flying.
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^^^^ THIS! I got my license in WV, October to May. Didn't fly much in Jan & Feb, but everything worked out well.

Multiseason experience is good, it lets you know what to expect when the instructor is no longer beside you . . .
 
I’m outside Chicago and started in January on days where density altitude was -3500 and the plane wouldn’t fully develop into a power off stall. It’s quite the experience flying now with 500 DA where the thing won’t climb worth a damn! I’m happy with the diversity in weather. On the down side most of February was a wash.
 
@TVProducer is a jersey boy and just finished his ppl in winter NJ. I’m from Pocono area. Have to find a cfi that you can have some more short term planning. Getting up early am before weather is Always a good plan.
 
Are you sure you can finish in the span of 1-2 seasons?
 
I agree that experience with a variety of weather is useful, but also think that it is helpful to start building your skills in generally benign conditions. Then transition to more challenging conditions. If you agree, then starting in May or late Sept/early Oct are, IMO, the best fits for NJ.

Typically the current weather pattern of rain followed by cold/blustery...repeat...diminishes by late April. It would give you May and early June to fly before the worst of the summer convection season. And even then, if you can train in the early AM, the weather should be good for consistent training into the summer.

Starting in the fall also usually provides good weather for several weeks. But, IMO, training in the winter is more challenging than in the summer. Cold, snow, and ice seem to have a more lasting effect on the schedule than convection and storms.
 
Late summer in Florida. I got to fly in every freakin weather condition except snow!

My low wind landings suck...seriously, I do better when I am fighting the thing all the way to touchdown cuz that is what I trained in!

Moral of the story...flying in perfect weather conditions will make you a great pilot...only when the weather is perfect if that is all you train in
 
March-May in MS. When you learn in 10-15kt winds, dodging thunderstorms you can handle anything later. It was great for learning Wx planning. My solo featured a 12kt wind 80 degrees off the nose.
 
Travel360 said:
I live in NJ, and our weather is quite frustrating. It's either raining, snowing, high winds, and low ceilings many times. A perfect day is rare here. I wish I could move to Arizona or Southern California and learn there. Seeing those weeks of straight sunshine and 4 kn winds out there is painful lol.
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I learned to fly on the coast in the Pacific NW, where I grew up. You don't need widespread VFR as a student. Low ceilings are routine for much of the year in the PNW. You just need your airport and a local training area to be VFR. Doesn't matter if the weather is crap in every other direction. On those days it was raining too hard at the airport to fly I did bookwork.

If you can, plan your training so you'll be doing your mandatory cross country flights in the statistically best weather months (on the NW coast that's August).

Get yer azz in gear and stop making excuses. If you really want to learn to fly you can do it.
 
I’ve heard several folks near me say they schedule 3 lessons a week hoping to have 2 . . .

I think you save the money or have the resources together and be consistent. Start and keep plowing through. If you’re flying 2-3x a week and get weathered out it won’t slow you much.

If you’re going 1 a week or every other week and miss a flight it takes forever.

Took me 2+ years and 140 hours to get my private. I was 19 when I got it and working part time to pay for lessons. My dad gave me $1,200 for my solo x-countries or I likely never would have finished. I think I had 146 instructors because I would call to schedule and hear “Steve took a job flying checks, but you can go up with Ron.” I didn’t know Ron was fresh out of school and I was his first student (couple of Ron’s in that 140 hrs). That was back in 1993 . . . $80/hr wet for the Cherokee 140.

If you can start with dedicated funds, I think learning in the airspace and weather you’ll live in is the way to go.
 
Any time between nov and early March in AR.... otherwise, it’s a washing machine from convection. But it does make you a better pilot.
 
Sept and Oct are magnificent months to fly here in central OH. But really anytime is good except the dead of winter IMO. I distinctly remember cancelling a lesson because the wings were heavily frosted and no sunshine to help. That was a great teaching moment I didn't have to pay for! Another time I got to help remove the frost (with sunshine to help). The wet towel was freezing cold - but we got to fly that day. Another lesson.
 
When I did my training in NJ I frequently had 1/3 flights cancelled each week due to weather. Fall was probably the best weather. Summer mornings can also be good, unless there’s fog. Summer afternoons get bumpy and/or rainy. I thought spring was usually pretty decent, but that was a number of years ago so my memory could be fading.

Where are you doing your training?

I’d recommend just planning for 30-50% of your flights to be canceled. On the plus side there’s good opportunities for IFR flying in NJ when you get to that stage.
 
Whichever season you have the most spare time and cash flow available simultaneously.
 
I live in south 'jersey and got my PPL 5 years ago. It took me exactly 1 year from August 12 to August 12. Scheduled to fly Saturday and Sunday each week which allowed for interruptions due to weather, scheduling conflicts and airplane maintenance. The one unexpected interruption was my instructor got a detached retina around Thanksgiving and was side lined until he was cleared to instruct again. Since the weather was getting cold and the holidays coming back to back we mutually agreed to wait until he was cleared to instruct to continue. Unfortunately his detached retina was taking longer than expected and he passed me off to another instructor mid-January. Between weather, scheduling and airplane maintenance I took my check ride one year from start on August 12th the following year. One note before expounding advice is getting a DPE (designated pilot examiner). 5 years ago I had a choice of 5 in my area. Now there are only 2 and they are almost always booked.

My advice is the following:

1) Have the money put away before starting your first lesson. Figure $10,000 to $12,000. I have seen many perspective pilots figuring on paying week to week and run out of money.

2) Learn what the medical involves and if you will have any issues blocking you from passing. Nothing worse than getting close to solo and finding out you have some condition you consider minor but the FAA views as a blocking issue.

3) Schedule for at least twice a week. More than that may not allow you time to absorb the previous lesson. Less than that may cause the last lesson to be refreshed on the next lesson burning time and money. This also will pad in lessons in case there is a gap due to personal scheduling conflicts, aircraft rental conflicts, airplane maintenance and weather.

4) Do your ground school in parallel with your flying. Then you can understand how the book learning is actually applied each flight lesson.

5) Have fun and relax! If it becomes an obsession and a must have goal you are trying too hard. As with most complex learning curves you will quickly learn in the beginning and then slip backwards and get discouraged before it picks up again. Enjoy being in the airplane and let the skills come to you in your time.

6) Establish a great partnership with your instructor. If the chemistry isn't there it is like having a bad marriage where each tolerates the other instead of working as a team towards a common goal.

7) Pick the lowest cost rental trainer plane that is available and best if the flight school has more than one of that type. For example more than one 152 or 172. Then if one is down for maintenance the other is available. Makes no sense burning extra rental money unless there is a compelling reason to do so. Transitioning to a 172 from a 152 after getting your PPL is only a matter of a check ride. Same transition from a Warrior to an Archer. Transitioning to a complex or high performance aircraft from your typical trainer is more stringent and I would recommend that type of transition more reasonable after building lots of hours.

I had an excellent and fun time getting my PPL with both my instructors and a really great DPE. Even after getting my PPL my instructors and other instructors at the flight school always had time for a question and passing on insightful tidbits.

Enjoy!
 
Learning to fly during Santa Ana wind season in Southern California will make you learn about how to land in crosswinds and with windshear real quick.
 
Regardless of season, late evening or early morning is usually best, as far as wind goes. 'Round these parts in summer, 3 and haze is considered CAVU.
 
Any season where you have excess capital in need of disposal!
 
I trained in North Texas and started in March 2018. Here are my 2 cents:

- Spring: I had several weather cancellations during spring. Sometimes, there would be no clouds but winds would be too much to go flying.
- Summer: Less cancellations, but cockpit would at 120F... :). Also a lot of turbulence. I tried to keep flights to the morning or evening. Not fun to do 1hr of hood work bouncing around...
- Fall: pretty stable, still hot in TX, but otherwise nice
- Winter: more low ceilings, but overall pretty stable. I didn't have many wx cancellations. You'll use the prime a lot and have fun preflighting at below 0... :)
 
Whichever season that you have the time and the money.
 
For the record, SoCal is not the holy grail. Sure it's better than most places, but you will get the marine layer often, Santa Ana winds, etc.

No place is perfect, and every location has it's unique challenges. As frustrating as it is getting canceled all the time, learning to fly in the same environment you intend to fly when you get your ticket is a good idea. Once you're a PP, there will be nobody there to cancel your flight, it's up to you to make weather decisions and things can get hairy pretty quickly if you don't have the experience.
 
To Travel360......where are you located in 'jersey?
 
Depends on where you are for the "right" season. In Arizona, winter is the best as you can fly any time of the day or the night. In the spring, the winds just keeps blowing so if you like to bounce around a lot... In the summer, the only time to fly is at or before the butt crack of dawn or at night. Any other time its just too hot and the thermals will kick your butt all day long.
 
N1120A said:
Learning to fly during Santa Ana wind season in Southern California will make you learn about how to land in crosswinds and with windshear real quick.
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Thanks for the post... Im new to this forum and found your post while researching getting my pilots license. My mom worked for united airlines and I always wanted to learn to fly. Are there any good links on where to start?
 
Late Fall to Early Spring. It'll be hard to finish in that timeframe if you don't have a lump sum set aside for flight training though.
 
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