Todays Cost of getting a PPL

Jay Honeck wrote:
I can tell you from personal experience, that leaving your jacket back at
the hotel and having to borrow one of the Blue Angels' flight jackets for a
Chamber of Commerce dinner worked damn well for me once. I can't remember
her name, but she was a "Miss somebody"
:-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

You dawg, Dudley!

And you were giving *me* crap about flying to Tulsa?



Better crap than crabs. G




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
I can tell you from personal experience, that leaving your jacket back at
the hotel and having to borrow one of the Blue Angels' flight jackets for
a
Chamber of Commerce dinner worked damn well for me once. I can't remember
her name, but she was a "Miss somebody"
:-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

You dawg, Dudley!

And you were giving *me* crap about flying to Tulsa?

Yeah, but you were supposed to be watching the front desk instead of swiping
Mary's turn to fly the airplane and sneaking off to Tulsa!!!!!!!
:-)))))))))))))))))))))))
Dudley

Andrew Sarangan wrote:
What are the rates and aircraft being used for training?

Actual cost is relative. A slightly better method is to benchmark
against an average professional middle-class salary. Although I do not
have any data to support this, I suspect the cost of a PP certificate
would be around 2 month's worth of earnings, and it probably remained
that way for several decades.


It is relative. I learned back in 1978 for right at $1050 with most of my
training in 152s and a little bit in 172s. At the time a nice car would have
probably cost about $8000 new. I ran into a guy who told me he learned how to
fly for about $600 back in the 60s, when a brand new Volkswagon Beetle could be
had for $1995.

Everything is relative.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
news
What you most likely forget is touch or feel. Back when you were a new
driver, did you ever go a week or maybe a month when you didn't get behind
the wheel? That was my situation in college - I didn't have a car, so I
could sometimes go for weeks or months between opportunities to drive.
When I did get back behind the wheel, it was obvious to me that my skills
had regressed and it took a couple of trips before I got "back in the
groove".

I can see how 'months' away from it could pose a problem, but not a week or
2, which is what '2 or 3 lessons a month' is.

Oz/Crash Lander

Jim Logajan wrote:
Mxsmanic wrote:
It seems that only about one in a thousand pilots are female.

Your claim is off by almost two orders of magnitude. You can find the
number of female pilots in the U.S. the same place you can find the total
number of pilots and the percentage that are instrument rated, another
question you asked less than a week ago.

If you had taken my advice then you would not now be posting incorrect
information. The correct information is easily found by going to the FAA's
web site and following the obvious links (i.e. clicking on the "Data and
Statistics" tab, and so on).

Since I knew where to look for the correct information and you didn't, are
you willing to concede that I am more intelligent and/or more experienced
than you and my advice be taken in the future?

Did you just make up your "one in a thousand" number? Where did you get
that number?
Whoa Jim, take it easy man. You come across all angry and frustrated,
man. Hey, chill out, go flying or something....

Mxsmanic wrote in
news
Judah writes:

But in the end, he couldn't justify it because the cost was more than he
could bear.

It's a rich man's hobby.

I don't think so. I'm not rich, neither are most of the people who I know
who are pilots. Some are, but most of the truly rich pilots that I know
don't fly themselves much, if at all. They can afford to hire someone else
to fly for them... Most of the truly rich people that I know don't have
Pilot certificates.

Someone who is so poor as to have no discretionary income whatsoever, and
can't afford anything but his own basic needs, may not be likely to learn
to fly, unless he is looking to become an Airline Pilot someday or has some
other justification.

In a major metro area (ie: NYC area) it costs about $12k to learn to fly.
There are financial programs in place that allow you to finance that over a
5 or 7 year term. If someone really wants to learn how to fly, there are
avenues to make it achievable even for those with modest incomes.

But by the same token, some people can't afford to spend $12k over 5 years
on a used car. Does that make driving a rich man's hobby as well? Some
people can't afford to take a $5,000 vacation to Disney World or the
Bahamas, either. Does that make vacationing a rich man's hobby?

You have claimed that your income level is extremely low. Can you afford a
$12,000 car? Can you afford a $5,000 vacation?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in
oups.com:

The time part is entirely up to you. I was a working dad, and I got up
at 0-dark-thirty every morning, drove 45 minutes one-way (in the
winter, in Wisconsin) to the airport where my CFI was based (not the
local airport), flew for an hour, and then drove in to work.

There were days when the weather would be pea-soup fog by the time I
got there, and we would have to scrub. There were other days where it
was crap where I was, but perfect at the airport, which was inland from
Lake Michigan quite a ways. And the cold was brutal.

It was hard -- sometimes very hard -- to find the time to do it,
between the demands of work and family, but I had a finite amount of
money and knew that if I didn't do it then, I'd probably never have the
chance again. I had spent 35 years on the ground, looking up, and it
was literally "now or never".

Which is why I encourage every young person I meet to learn to fly NOW,
damn the expense. Money is replaceable -- time is not. I now feel
that my first 35 years on this earth were wasted, wanting to fly but
not being able to find my way aloft. I've done my best to make up for
lost time in the interceding 12 years, but I can never, EVER buy those
35 years (well, okay, 18, after the minimum PPL age of 17) back.

I don't know how old you are, Manic, but if you want to fly don't wait.
The papers are full of young people in the obituaries every day.

OK. Now I gotta give you some s&*(^t

All this motivational speech stuff about walking uphill both ways to flight
school in 3' of snow to get your ticket. You had no time, no money, yada
yada yada.

But when it comes time to go fly 35 more hours to get your Instrument
Rating, all we hear is excuses...

What kind of example are you trying to set here!

john wrote:
Whoa Jim, take it easy man. You come across all angry and frustrated,
man. Hey, chill out, go flying or something....

I did? I wasn't angry or frustrated at all when I composed that response.
Looks like I need to improve my writing!

On Sun, 05 Nov 2006 02:22:44 GMT, john smith wrote:

After reading John's (BucFan) posting and the revelation that he spent
$12,500 to get his PPL, I have to wonder how representative this is?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if many people spend this kind of money
on their PPL, though most probably wouldn't admit it. I spent close to
$20k Canadian (about $13k US at the time) and had 90+ hours before my
checkride. I could afford it, so I took more solo flights than I
probably had to. This helped me build more confidence and experience. I
don't regret it at all.




randall g =%^) PPASEL+Night 1974 Cardinal RG
http://www.telemark.net/randallg
Lots of aerial photographs of British Columbia at:
http://www.telemark.net/randallg/photos.htm
Vancouver's famous Kat Kam: http://www.katkam.ca

Kyle Boatright wrote:
"Crash Lander" wrote in message
...
"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
news
One thing which helps is to accelerate your training. 90 hours over 2.5
years is 3 hours a month. It is hard to make much progress at that rate,
because you tend to forget things in that week or 10 days between
lessons.

People make this comment all the time, and I'm sorry, but I don't
necessarily agree with it. I'm not going for my PPL, rather, I'm going for
my R.A. certificate, which is our (Australia) equivalent of the US Sport
class. Due to budget and family constraints, I cannot fly more than once a
week, and only on weekends. Some weekends the weather is bad all weekend,
so I don't get to fly. I've got 4.9 hours total now, which I know isn't
much, but I started back in September, and can say that I haven't
experienced any lessons that have required me to 're-learn' anything
before progressing. My instructor says I'm progressing very well, and she
estimates I'll be solo in about another 4-5 hours at the rate I'm going.
With only 4.9 hours under my belt, in 2 months, I've got 16 landings and
18 take offs in the bag!
Whilst I agree, some people may forget things in the gap between classes,
I haven't, and don't believe that 'most' people would. Maybe I'm just some
'natural flyer' but I seriously doubt it.
Oz/Crash Lander

What you most likely forget is touch or feel. Back when you were a new
driver, did you ever go a week or maybe a month when you didn't get behind
the wheel? That was my situation in college - I didn't have a car, so I
could sometimes go for weeks or months between opportunities to drive. When
I did get back behind the wheel, it was obvious to me that my skills had
regressed and it took a couple of trips before I got "back in the groove".

The same thing applies to flying. You forget the subtle points and lose the
fine motor skills when you're away from it. If you're a new aviator, it
takes less time to lose "the touch". If you have more experience, it takes
longer before your touch diminishes, but I assure you, it does...

When you have 5 hours you haven't yet had the opportunity to have
learned the subtle points, nor develop much "touch" to lose.

The less you know and the less experience you have the less skills seem
to be necessary and the easier everything seems to be... since you
haven't yet broken the surface of knowledge or skill.
-----

- gpsman