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KodiakRS posted:I don't know what rates are like these days but I'm guessing they have increased since then. Not specifically related to flight schools owned by airlines, but the rental rates around here (Southern California) are around $145/hr wet for a typical older 172/Cherokee, sometimes with a fuel surcharge. Instructors are $70-$80/hr. My DPE charged $1000 for my PPL, but I've heard of even higher prices closer to LA/Orange County.
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Oct 9, 2023 18:05
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Kwolok posted:With cost of living increases and inflation, would the cost to get a PPL be significantly higher now? I live near a small airport with a flight school. I would love to get my PPL, budgeting ~10k for it but I have no idea if that is a reasonable amount of money to expect anymore. I finished my PPL in September. I rent from a club that charges $70/hr dry, so call it ~$110 with fuel. My instructor was $65/hr, he's charging $70/hr for new students. I took a total of 65hrs including the Checkride. Here's a breakdown of my costs: 65hrs@$110/hr: $7,150 rental 52 hrs@$65/hr: $3,380 instructor $1,100 Checkride fee $550 used ANR headset $250 online ground school $150 written test fee $100 medical $350 ADS-B receiver ~$300 pilot supplies You'll likely also want an iPad and foreflight subscription, and renters insurance. Total for subscription and foreflight is ~$500/yr for me, with $10,000 hull coverage and $1M liability. I also pay a $100 annual club membership fee. Total: ~$13,500 plus annual costs. Your rental costs are likely to be higher per hour than mine (typically ~$140/hr in southern California) but you can reduce the total hours needed a lot by flying several times a week. I took 2 years to get mine and had to repeat instruction I had forgotten, which gets time consuming and expensive.
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Dec 4, 2023 21:21
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azflyboy posted:Be wary of any place that wants a bunch of money up front. These are all really good points. Block rates are pretty common in socal. Make sure you get along with your instructor, that your schedule matches well with theirs, and that their teaching style works with your learning style. It can be helpful (if you have the time and money) to try out a few instructors first before selecting one. At a minimum, interview them/ask them about their rates, schedules, recent pass rate, typical number of hours their students take to solo/cross-country/Checkride (with the understanding that everyone is different and learns at a different pace, so don't hold them to a specific number). Not meshing well with an instructor will cost you time, money, and commitment. It's also helpful to do your night flying in winter since you don't have to stay up so late before it gets dark. Since you're in San Diego be aware that the marine layer will probably cause scheduling issues from time to time. I did the ground school online and took my written before starting flight instruction, which I feel saved me some time since I was familiar with concepts before trying them in the plane. Walrusmaster fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Dec 5, 2023 |
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Dec 5, 2023 00:29
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Quote =/= edit 
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Dec 5, 2023 00:32
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Kwolok posted:Where would you recommend taking the online courses? I used Sporty's: https://www.sportys.com/learn-to-fly-course-private-pilot-test-prep-online-app-and-tv.html Other people have recommended King Schools: https://kingschools.com/private-pilot-certificate There's some other ones as well, but I don't have any experience with them. Salami Surgeon posted:The Jeppesen Private Pilot Syllabus is a different book though. Having a syllabus, any syllabus, is cool and good and you should probably think twice about any flight school that does not follow one. Good points!
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Dec 5, 2023 01:16
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Kwolok posted:What are you're all's opinions on the A20's vs Zulu3 vs One-X's? These are the three I am considering. The a30's are also out (the successor to the a20's). I used a set of refurbished lightspeed Sierras for my flight training and I like them a lot. They're not as nice looking as the Zulus but the ANR works great. The people suggesting to try them on if you can are giving good advice. Aircraft Spruce has a store where you can try them out in Corona if you don't mind a bit of a road trip. They'll also pick you up at Corona airport if you were to fly in. Sporty's also has a program where you can try headsets and exchange them if you want to try something different.
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Dec 8, 2023 14:54
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Kwolok posted:I acknowledge that their ANC isn't as good as Bose but they are still quite good. The comfort was great and they feel like they're built like a tank. Yeah the mic can't be swapped but I don't plan on being in the jumpseat at all so who cares? I find the ANC on the lightspeed Sierras works great. If you like the Zulus then go for it, it's a good product with a good reputation.
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Dec 9, 2023 03:31
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Nofeed posted:I moved to a 172 from a DA20 and I miss being able to see the threshold when turning from downwind to base, but I’m a stupid newbie, mind. Written test or Checkride?
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Dec 17, 2023 01:41
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Nofeed posted:Checkride! For my recent PPL Checkride, the big thing that helped me was filling out the flight plan on paper completely, not just a printout form foreflight. I did all the calcs with a chart and an e6b ahead of time (double checking with the foreflight numbers). There were several questions on the oral part that we didn't dive in to since I could just point to where I had already done the calculation. Otherwise the examiner would have wanted me to do it real-time (much more stressful with a DPE watching over your shoulder). For the flying portion, think before doing, say that you're correcting if you see a maneuver going a bit awry, make the dpe confident that you're flying the airplane, not the other way around. Also be like me and accidentally nail your short field landing after blowing it 5x in a row in practice. Walrusmaster fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Dec 18, 2023 |
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Dec 18, 2023 01:43
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I need to get some better friends, no one wants to go flying with me
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Dec 19, 2023 21:55
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Infinotize posted:I wear a disposable nitrile glove when I'm doing preflight so 100LL doesn't touch my skin when I'm sumping fuel or whatever. I've never seen anyone else do it. I do this too, and while fueling.
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Dec 25, 2023 03:37
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Infinotize posted:Fake answer, push lever receive FADEC I'm also a dumb fixed pitch pilot, but I assume there would be a table in the POH with power settings at various rpm/manifold pressure combinations.
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Feb 27, 2024 03:50
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dexter6 posted:The thing that made my landings go from poo poo to repeatable and adequate (assuming your pattern skills are good and you’re flying a stabilized final) was all in having a new instructor say something different to me. I concur, "look at the end of the runway" helped turn my crap landings into something that wouldn't make a passenger immediately swear off ever flying again. The other part was dropping the word "flare" from my vocabulary-every time I tried to flare I always pulled too hard and ballooned it. It's more of a consistent smooth change of attitude, not yanking on the yoke.
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Apr 16, 2024 05:00
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Wombot posted:Hell yeah! Now I feel short, I set the C172 seat 7 turns from the top
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Apr 17, 2024 13:35
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yellowD posted:I don't trust the cessna rails, so I want to hear a good click and push against the seat during preflight Oh, agreed 100%. I believe there's an AD on them too. The mechanic for my club plane is constantly checking them, but I always rock the seat back and forth hard to make sure it's locked in before I taxi, and again before I take off.
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Apr 17, 2024 21:57
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Kwolok posted:Flew under the hood for the first time. God drat it's crazy how your brain can just not understand it's orientation after a while. Just wait until you do recovery from unusual attitudes! I would close my eyes and try to follow the movements of the plane to predict what the attitude would be when the instructor handed it back over. I was wrong 100% of the time.
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May 12, 2024 15:50
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