Flight training - by immersion!
Obtaining a Private Pilot Certificate today is estimated by AOPA as requiring 4 months and ≈$7,000.
(Flying 2-3 times a week; less frequently = more time, more $$.)
I was working on my private pilot certificate while I was at Fifth US Army Data Processing Service Center, Presidio of San Francisco, CA, (circa 1966+).
At first I joined the (click →) Hamilton AFB Flying Club.
Although it certainly was interesting doing basic flight training on an active Air Force Base and sharing the single 8000' Rwy 12/30 with the Air Defense Command's 78th Fighter Wing and their McDonnell F-101A Voodoos and Convair F-106A Delta Darts(!), coordinating my duty schedule, an aircraft (C-150) and a flight instructor turned out to be a frustrating exercise.
In frustration, I finally moved my flight training a bit further north to Petaluma Sky Ranch Airport, with a single paved 2,200' runway Rwy 11/29 now (click →) Petaluma Municipal Airport (O69) (the runway has since grown to 3602'), and I switched from those silly Cessna "box kites" (sorry, they always felt like that to me) to a "real aircraft", any of several Piper Cherokee 180s. Doing one's basic flight training at such a smaller venue rather than at a major hub can yield a definite savings, with less expensive time spent on other distractions and overhead.
I undertook a fairly intensive flight training plan, scheduling a 1-hour session (aircraft & flight instructor) each Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon. I lived on that airport on weekends! It would have been even more effective if I could have scheduled more frequent mid-week sessions as well, but that didn't fit my duty schedule.
I spent the down time on those days reviewing the previous hour of flight instruction and studying the related "ground school materials" in order to get the most benefit out of each following session. Ditto before each Saturday morning session. That and soaking up the airport/aviation environment and "lingo".
Note, this is not trivial.
Had I scheduled less frequent flight training sessions (say once a month) I would have had to spend far too much of each session reviewing the previous hour's instruction, which could have easily doubled the number of hours of flight instruction, and doubled the cost, as was happening at HAFB.
I no longer have the numbers handy, but I'd guess it cost something short of $4000 to get that Private Pilot License the way I did it. Figuring for inflation over 50 years, that would be $22,000 - $28,000 in 2017 dollars by various estimates. (That seems more realistic to me than AOPA's $7,000.00 estimate.) "Your mileage may vary."
Another "full immersion flight training plan" might be through enrollment in the likes of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). (Prescott, AZ!, Daytona Beach, FL!) Very thorough, immersive, but mucho mo' 'spensive.
The lesson: Don't play at your flight instruction, get intensive, do it like you mean it, or it'll eat your wallet alive.
Fortunately my flight instructor also gave considerable emphasis to instruction in Instrument (IFR) flight. I spent a generous amount of time "under the hood" flying solely by reference to the instruments, while he would attempt several disorientation tactics. Although I never went on to obtain an IFR rating, I learned enough to ensure that I could operate in IFR conditions in an emergency, should I unexpectedly find myself therein.
That must have worked. On my cross-country flights, after getting my Private Pilot Certificate, I made it a practice to always ask ATC for a handoff to FAA'S VFR Flight Following Service, then stay with them for the duration of my flight. My primary reason, beyond the other benefits of that service was to keep me on my game. If I knew my flight was painting a clearly identifiable track on ATC's radar, while I was in radio contact with the controller, it was a bit more motivation to "keep it on rails" in the center of the airway and not wander about.
Incidentally, while at Michigan Tech (ca. 1958-1964), one of my roommates was the president of the Michigan Tech Flying Club, and he often was willing to accommodate a volunteer passenger on local flights around da UP. (Thanks, Howard!)
I also spent exceeding many long hours at nights studying like a good college student. … Studying? Hah! No — hanging around at the FAA Flight Service Station then located at the Houghton County Airport (CMX), hanging out with the on duty Flight Service Specialist, and learning any and everything I could about Aviation Weather, Air Traffic Communications phraseology, and anything else I could.
On one of several occasions I joined a white haired grandmotherly GS9 civilian employee at the Fifth US Army Data Processing Service Center on a flight in her V-tailed Bonanza(!) from Oakland International (OAK) to Rogue Valley International - Medford Airport, OR (MFR) for no better reason than that it was a nice day to go flying. But that trip (at a cruise altitude of 14,000' or higher) passing Mount Shasta (14,179 ft.) presented an opportunity to personally learn what signs/symptoms of hypoxia that I might experience, by deliberately removing my oxygen mask and continuing my "cockpit duties", estimating checkpoints for the remainder of the trip. My first symptom was the utter mental confusion and puzzlement experienced while simply trying to read/interpret the outside air temperature gauge! And later observing the slight blue tinge at the fingernails. Okay, experiment over, back on the oxy!
I also had an opportunity to experience a Bárány chair at Luke AFB in Phoenix, which is used to demonstrate spatial disorientation effects, proving that the vestibular system is not to be trusted in flight. That pretty firmly reinforces the fact that pilots should instead rely on their flight instruments!
(I have included much of the above to emphasize the benefits of learning by "full immersion in aviation", FWIW.)
Obtaining a Private Pilot Certificate today is estimated by AOPA as requiring 4 months and ≈$7,000.
(Flying 2-3 times a week; less frequently = more time, more $$.)
I was working on my private pilot certificate while I was at Fifth US Army Data Processing Service Center, Presidio of San Francisco, CA, (circa 1966+).
At first I joined the (click →) Hamilton AFB Flying Club.
Although it certainly was interesting doing basic flight training on an active Air Force Base and sharing the single 8000' Rwy 12/30 with the Air Defense Command's 78th Fighter Wing and their McDonnell F-101A Voodoos and Convair F-106A Delta Darts(!), coordinating my duty schedule, an aircraft (C-150) and a flight instructor turned out to be a frustrating exercise.
In frustration, I finally moved my flight training a bit further north to Petaluma Sky Ranch Airport, with a single paved 2,200' runway Rwy 11/29 now (click →) Petaluma Municipal Airport (O69) (the runway has since grown to 3602'), and I switched from those silly Cessna "box kites" (sorry, they always felt like that to me) to a "real aircraft", any of several Piper Cherokee 180s. Doing one's basic flight training at such a smaller venue rather than at a major hub can yield a definite savings, with less expensive time spent on other distractions and overhead.
I undertook a fairly intensive flight training plan, scheduling a 1-hour session (aircraft & flight instructor) each Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon. I lived on that airport on weekends! It would have been even more effective if I could have scheduled more frequent mid-week sessions as well, but that didn't fit my duty schedule.
I spent the down time on those days reviewing the previous hour of flight instruction and studying the related "ground school materials" in order to get the most benefit out of each following session. Ditto before each Saturday morning session. That and soaking up the airport/aviation environment and "lingo".
Note, this is not trivial.
Had I scheduled less frequent flight training sessions (say once a month) I would have had to spend far too much of each session reviewing the previous hour's instruction, which could have easily doubled the number of hours of flight instruction, and doubled the cost, as was happening at HAFB.
I no longer have the numbers handy, but I'd guess it cost something short of $4000 to get that Private Pilot License the way I did it. Figuring for inflation over 50 years, that would be $22,000 - $28,000 in 2017 dollars by various estimates. (That seems more realistic to me than AOPA's $7,000.00 estimate.) "Your mileage may vary."
Another "full immersion flight training plan" might be through enrollment in the likes of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). (Prescott, AZ!, Daytona Beach, FL!) Very thorough, immersive, but mucho mo' 'spensive.
The lesson: Don't play at your flight instruction, get intensive, do it like you mean it, or it'll eat your wallet alive.
Fortunately my flight instructor also gave considerable emphasis to instruction in Instrument (IFR) flight. I spent a generous amount of time "under the hood" flying solely by reference to the instruments, while he would attempt several disorientation tactics. Although I never went on to obtain an IFR rating, I learned enough to ensure that I could operate in IFR conditions in an emergency, should I unexpectedly find myself therein.
That must have worked. On my cross-country flights, after getting my Private Pilot Certificate, I made it a practice to always ask ATC for a handoff to FAA'S VFR Flight Following Service, then stay with them for the duration of my flight. My primary reason, beyond the other benefits of that service was to keep me on my game. If I knew my flight was painting a clearly identifiable track on ATC's radar, while I was in radio contact with the controller, it was a bit more motivation to "keep it on rails" in the center of the airway and not wander about.
Incidentally, while at Michigan Tech (ca. 1958-1964), one of my roommates was the president of the Michigan Tech Flying Club, and he often was willing to accommodate a volunteer passenger on local flights around da UP. (Thanks, Howard!)
I also spent exceeding many long hours at nights studying like a good college student. … Studying? Hah! No — hanging around at the FAA Flight Service Station then located at the Houghton County Airport (CMX), hanging out with the on duty Flight Service Specialist, and learning any and everything I could about Aviation Weather, Air Traffic Communications phraseology, and anything else I could.
On one of several occasions I joined a white haired grandmotherly GS9 civilian employee at the Fifth US Army Data Processing Service Center on a flight in her V-tailed Bonanza(!) from Oakland International (OAK) to Rogue Valley International - Medford Airport, OR (MFR) for no better reason than that it was a nice day to go flying. But that trip (at a cruise altitude of 14,000' or higher) passing Mount Shasta (14,179 ft.) presented an opportunity to personally learn what signs/symptoms of hypoxia that I might experience, by deliberately removing my oxygen mask and continuing my "cockpit duties", estimating checkpoints for the remainder of the trip. My first symptom was the utter mental confusion and puzzlement experienced while simply trying to read/interpret the outside air temperature gauge! And later observing the slight blue tinge at the fingernails. Okay, experiment over, back on the oxy!
I also had an opportunity to experience a Bárány chair at Luke AFB in Phoenix, which is used to demonstrate spatial disorientation effects, proving that the vestibular system is not to be trusted in flight. That pretty firmly reinforces the fact that pilots should instead rely on their flight instruments!
(I have included much of the above to emphasize the benefits of learning by "full immersion in aviation", FWIW.)
Last edited:
indecisiveness