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Some of the information may be close and others are pretty far off. There are a lot of factors that will determine what a Private Pilot License (Certificate) will cost you. The first things you want to think about are:
1: Airplane Price Per Hour
2: Flight Instructor Price Per Hour
Depending on where you are in the country these rates can be dramatically different. These two rates will be the most important factors however, there are other factors that can dramatically increase your cost. I will give you some examples of things you want to look at.
1: The Flight School Itself: You need to poke your nose around the community and see what is going on. You will want to ask people who recently got their Private Pilot License and ask them how much it cost and how many hours they ended up having.
In many cases you will see much more than the flashy clean flight school. I know of many Flashy High Dollar Flight Schools that once you get out into the aviation community, you will want nothing to do with them. You may find many of the people you talk to ending up with an excessive amount of hours and may have had up to six instructors. I know this first hand since many of those students come to me half way through their training. This is one reason I always tell people to take some time and research and come up with a plan first.
There are on the other hand many flight schools that are concerned about their students and are willing to work with students to get them licensed in a cost effective manner. You just have to find them.
2: The Flight Instructor: If your instructor is not a good teacher your chances of getting your private pilot license in a cost effective manner get slimmer. You need to look into this. Other factors that have to do with the flight instructor is their aviation game-plan. If they are a good flight instructor that cares about his/her students you can plan with them and get things done in a cost and time effective manner. If you have an instructor that is just trying to get to the magic hiring number for an airline, your flight training will be compromised and you can plan on spending a lot more money.
3:Books and materials: In most cases you can get home study courses for about $200 or so. Some schools will require you get their $500 DVD packages. I have always told students to do what is best for them. All of the courses out there cover the same material taken from the official FAA publications. The material that is used for your practical test is the FAA publications.
4:Examiner Fees: This part most flight schools don't even mention at all. Once again depending on where you are in the world, this price can vary a lot. One part of the country you may find a private pilot flight test for $200 but in others like here in phoenix it will around $400.
A few of these factors put together can make the difference between a happy safe confident Private Pilot and a frustrated student pilot. If you are on a tight budget and have been saving for a long time, these factors will make a difference.
Planning this out is the most important thing you can do. In order to pass the Private Pilot License flight test you need to be proficient. Depending on the rates, instructor, and Flight School You Choose, $8,000-$9,000 is a realistic budget and finishing at 45-50 hours is realistic.
The Planning process is the most important part. There are many delays that can happen, weather, maintenance and people getting sick.
For Explaining this I break the Private Pilot License Cost down into four parts. I do this so you can understand each phase of training. Then we will add it all up and you can see were the expenses are coming from. I have published an article on each one of the areas. I break everything down in the following manner:
Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost
Private Pilot License Pre-Solo Pilot Training Cost
Private Pilot License Post- Solo Pilot Training Cost
Private Pilot License Flight Test Preparation Cost
Private Pilot License Total Cost
Each one of these areas has a cost. It is easier to understand when you have everything broken down in front of you. Planning for the Private Pilot License is the most important thing you can do.
Hope to See You In The Sky
Airfreddy
40 Hours Total
20 Hours Dual Instruction
10 Hours Solo
Now in other places you may see some added information
3 Hours Instrument
3 Hours Night
5 Hours Solo Cross Country
Now this is correct and the FAA regulations for the private pilot license do state this. The things that are missed are all of the area's of operation within these requirements. Many times the student doesn't realize what is exactly required, this can add up to more flights if something is missed by the flight instructor. The worst case scenario is this is picked up by the pilot examiner on flight test day.
If you have read over my Private Pilot License Cost articles you can see that I break the cost down the same way. This is because you have to realize that there are a lot of subject areas that need to be DOCUMENTED. If they are not documented in your logbook you are not qualified for your flight test.
I can't tell you how many stories I have heard from examiner friends of mine about this. It happens all the time on flight test day. In many cases the flight instructor is nowhere to be found and the student has to reschedule the flight test. This happens so often that I made some special sections in my book called ( Keeping Your Instructor In Check )
So I will point them out to you so you can double check your instructor. Once in a while a student of mine will remind me of something, even after 20 years of doing this Better a week before the flight test than on you Private Pilot Flight Test Day.
The above requirements for the Private Pilot License are the Minimum Requirements. Within these requirements are a lot of subject areas and individual training requirements.
In addition to the Aeronautical Experience Requirements ( Flight Time) There are Aeronautical Knowledge Requirements. Most people just look at this is the FAA written Test. You have to realize that once again your instructor has to DOCUMENT each of the subject areas. The FAA is starting to get very tough on this. If these subject areas aren't documented on flight test day, the examiner walks out. Hopefully your instructor is somewhere to be found but if he/ she isn't, then you will have to reschedule your flight test.
I will outline all of these Private Pilot License Requirements for you and try to make it as simple as possible. So like my cost estimates I will break everything down into the following:
Private Pilot License, Pre-Solo Training Requirements
Private Pilot License, Post-Solo Training Requirements
Private Pilot License Requirements
I have written different articles for each area.
The reason I do this is so you can get an idea of what you are required to do at each stage of your training and then what is required for you to take your flight test. There are a lot of things to learn so my advice is to plan this process out before you spend a dime flying.
Hope to See You In The Sky
Airfreddy