So tell me about getting a private pilot license.

As mentioned elsewhere, I recently took a brief flight on a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor, and enjoyed the heck out of it. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I may have gotten The Bug. I’m seriously considering heading back out to OSU airport to start working on getting my certificate. (Probably not until next spring, though, as I’ll be busy this fall and winter means the bar exam, grr.)

I know there’ve been threads on this, but the ones Google gave me were all pretty old. So, pilots, tell me about it. How expensive is this going to be? What should I expect? Also, a specific question–I saw somewhere that, at least at some point in time, SSRIs were a DQ on the physical exam. Is this no longer the case? I take Lexapro, if it matters.

I see you live in New York City, so expect it would be very expensive there.

You can go out to Westchester airport and get lessons there at reasonable prices. There are plenty of other small airports in the area also. It was at least 20 years ago that I checked the prices from a place at Westchester, but they were competitive then. A friend of mine went further north up into Putnam and Duchess counties and found only a slight drop in prices.

I didn’t choose to get the training because I couldn’t dedicate the time. That’s often a big factor. You have to do it within a reasonable time frame or you’ll lose the skills you develop in training. You’ll need ground school also, but it isn’t too hard. I helped my friend through that without any specific training in that myself.

I don’t know the current medical requirements, but I understand they’ve become more stringent over time, at least in actual practice.

Whoops! Public profile is a bit out of date; I’m in Columbus now. I know the airports that are handy–as I mentioned, OSU airport is quite convenient to me (about a twenty minute drive).

Shouldn’t you be more concerned about finding a decent bagel than flying lessons?

The cost varies depending on location, the type of plane you train in and how many flight hours you take to complete it (40 is the legal minimum but most people take 60 - 80 hours spread over a few months to a year) but people don’t usually like that answer. Let’s just say it will cost about $10,000 in general and that is a decent average today all costs included. It may cost more if you spread it out over time and require more hours because you get rusty between lessons.

Here is the FAA policy on SSRI’s. It is still restrictive but not prohibitive as it once was.

http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/medical_certification/specialissuance/antidepressants/

You could also consider a Sport Pilot license. Those require no medical exam and as few as 20 hours of flight time so they are cheaper to get. You just need a driver’s license to satisfy the medical component and SSRI’s are not prohibited. The catch is that you are limited to flying smaller, two-seat planes that are certified in the light sport category. There are a lot of those being built now but they still aren’t that common in some areas. Even Piper Cubs and Cessna 150’s are too heavy to qualify as light sport planes but there are some cool designs out there that can do almost anything other small planes can do except have a really long range or carry more than one passenger.

There is a gotcha if you decide to go this route because of the SSRI issue. Do not take the 3rd Class Medical exam at all if you really just want a Sport Pilot license. If you fail it, it disqualifies you from both the Private Pilot and Sport Pilot license even though you don’t need a 3rd class medical at all to have a Sport Pilot license. It is a strange rule but one to be aware of.

Is that the policy applicable to all classes of pilots? It seems to be written toward commercial pilots. Technically, not that it would mater for purposes of the certificate, I wasn’t prescribed SSRIs for depression as such, but rather for some anxiety issues I was having. That said, they have certainly improved my mood a great deal, and it’s quite possible I had undiagnosed depression.

As to the sport pilot license: I’m interested potentially, as, at the end of the day, it’s not like I plan on carrying a bunch of passengers or flying long distances anyway–this is just a “joy of flight” thing. While it’d be nice to be able to just fly over to, say, Pittsburgh rather than driving, it’s not like I’ll be able to do so anyway, given the cost of renting a plane. But in some of the other threads that I saw, it seemed that the uptake was rather slow, and that the planes were indeed thin on the ground, so to speak, due to insurance issues. Has this changed? Also, I don’t think OSU Airport has any available. Not sure about the other GA airport around here.

Another possibility: Gliders. I sorta peeked at this a little bit when I was back in New York, but all that any of the websites I found seemed interested in talking about were competitions. I’m not saying I wouldn’t maybe like to do a competition, but it’s not what I’m primarily motivated by, and if the entire community of people is into nothing but, it may harsh my mellow. Thoughts?

It is for all pilot medical certificates from 3rd to 1st Class (Private Pilot to Air Transport Pilot). Here is the rule in more detail:

You could just not disclose it to the medical examiner. It isn’t like they can test for it or find out on their own but, given your user name, I figured you would want to know the actual rule.

The Light Sport category is growing fairly quickly because it is the only way that many people can afford to fly at all and there are a lot of new Light Sport planes being produced. They are still fairly uncommon at any given airport however because the category and license are still only a few years old. Sport Pilot instruction is available in Ohio in many places but I am not sure about the proximity to you.

Here is the list of Sport Pilot instructors within each state:

Interesting–we do have a couple of instructors in the Columbus area. Still, there’s the problem of an actual plane to fly. I guess I can talk to them. I like what I see in the light sport category–they look like The Type Of Plane I’d Like To Fly, more or less. And the pricetag actually puts them in the realm of something that I could actually imagine owning at some point.

Any thoughts on gliders?

My experience was about 30 years ago – I attained the private pilot single engine VFR license. The advice about not waiting too long between lessons is very accurate. If I had to wait more than a week between them I lost most of the benefit of the previous lesson. If I could have gone every day I would have gotten the knack much sooner.

I absolutely loved it, although it was very difficult, and I am a fairly intelligent person. There is a LOT of technical knowledge required, and a lot of attention to tiny details, and that’s just for the written portion.

I went to a small local airport (Kupper, near Manville, for those familiar with central New Jersey).

It is not by any means cheap. You have to pay for the plane rental, the instructor’s time, and for fuel.

I started with a Cessna 2-seater; they were the cheapest available, and for the basics it was fine to start with.

Thoughts on gliders:

You don’t have to compete at all. Lots of people fly gliders solely for fun

It’s flying just as much as any other type of flying. In fact, some people maintain is makes you a better pilot. You will certainly be a lot less anxious about power failures in powered planes once you get used to flying with “gravity” rather than gasoline. Frequently, you need only to pay for the tow and a low fee if you’re renting the glider, so as your skill improves so does your time aloft and the less it costs per minute for flight.

Back to powered flying:

I got my private license before sport pilot was an option. I don’t regret it, but there were a bunch of things I wouldn’t have bothered to do, and wouldn’t have had to pay for, if it weren’t for private pilot requirements. I prefer to flying during the day in good to excellent weather and don’t feel a need for long trips or bringing a horde with me. Sport pilot would have been entirely adequate for my flying, and if I get sufficient income to get back into aviation I am seriously considering sticking to Sport and Gliders but they’re fun. (Not that other forms of flying aren’t fun, and some of the more challenging ones are fun in the same way that pushing yourself to achieve something difficult is fun overall even if not-so-fun in spots).

Yes, the choice of planes is somewhat limited at this time, especially if you aren’t up to building from a kit. Even so, quite a few aircraft I flew in my 10 active years would have qualified as Sport.

However, if you have no flying experience don’t expect to finish it in 20 hours. It’s possible, but it doesn’t always happen. Budget for 30-40 to make sure you have adequate funding. If you don’t need it all, well, now you have money to fly on!

Interesting. It sounds like sport pilot may be the way to go, if there are planes to fly. I’d certainly consider kit-building, but first step would be to have a place to do so. I don’t think my apartment complex would look kindly on me building an aeroplane in the parking lot. (Though it isn’t technically against the rules…)

Another question: When I was looking at the sport pilot stuff earlier today, I noticed that it said the “light sport” class included a number of other aircraft, including gyroplanes, hot air balloons, and gliders. Is glider a “freebie” with sport pilot? (Not to mention the other stuff–while a hot air balloon would terrify me, a gyro would be neat.)

I think gliders are a special category and they have their own license. I know you can solo in those at a younger age than you can for a plane (or even a car) for example. I have never flown one but they are supposed to be a shit-ton of fun. The licenses aren’t a perfect top-down hierarchy. There is the general license (Sport, Private, Commercial, and Air Transport) and then there are category and type ratings. The general licenses take the most time by far but you still have to be checked out by an instructor for a few hours before you can move between categories and types. A 747 pilot can’t just go to a general aviation airport and rent a Cessna 172 for example if he doesn’t have current experience with it.

For record, have been working on my Private Pilot’s license for well over ten years and have about 50 hours total real time and several thousand on my simulator yet I have never soloed even though I have been offered that many times. I realized that the flying lessons themselves are my hobby and there is no other point to it. I am willing to pay an instructor to serve as the copilot as long as I get to do what I want to do in general because that is only a rather small percentage of the overall cost and well worth the piece of mind. It does them a favor too because most of them are just doing it to log hours of their own to get an airline job or sometimes just because they like it so much.

I want an a license to fly by myself someday and maybe own my own plane but I may switch over to a Sport Pilot license because that would achieve all my goals and a Private license is overkill for anything that I would realistically want to do. Like you, I just want to buzz around within a reasonable radius of home. If I can find an instructor with one of the nicer Light Sport planes I have seen in the magazines, I would jump on that in a second but I haven’t found one yet

I would suggest that even if you don’t decide to do anything now, just get a subscription to Plane and Pilot magazine. It is cheap on www.magazines.com among other places. They have articles every month that cover these types of considerations.

No freebies in flying, sorry. :stuck_out_tongue:

For Sport, you decide what type of aircraft you want your license to be for. If you want a glider Sport Pilot you study in gliders. If you wanted powered fixed wing you study in fixed wing. If you want a gyro Sport you study in a gyro. When you’re done you can fly within the limits and privileges of Sport Pilot in the machine you are certified capable of flying.

Afterward, you can then study in a different type of machine to add to your license. For example, if you start in gliders you earn a Sport Pilot - Glider, then say you take lessons in a gyrocopter. After passing the requisite tests you will then be Sport Pilot - Glider, rotorcraft/gyro (not sure of the exact wording there] Aside from money and time, there is no reason a person couldn’t be a Sport Pilot certified in SEL, Rotorcraft, Glider, Weightshift, and Lighter than Air.

As another example, currently I am a Private Pilot SEL with a tailwheel sign off (which means I can fly single engine fixed wing land aircraft, as opposed to water capable aircraft) with additional training so I can fly “taildragger airplanes”. I could, in theory, now add a Glider rating, and/or a Sport weightshift rating to my license. The latter would mean that although I am a Private Pilot, since my weightshift craft training is only up to Sport standards I’d be limited to flying them under Sport rules, even if I could fly much heavier and faster fixed wing aircraft.

Yes, it can become a bit complex. The important thing is that earning a license isn’t an end, you can continue to add on to your skills and privileges. Earning those “extras” will cost you time, money, and some additional testing, of course, which is the major limiting factors for most people. The good news is that whatever you’ve been certified in before counts, so if you are taking, say, an additional glider rating to go with your SEL it doesn’t take as many hours (usually) as if you started from scratch.

Got it. I did pick up a Plane & Pilot subscription on Kindle. Somewhat tangential now: What the heck is weightshift?

Gliding can be a gas. Most glider ports offer rides and introductory lessons. Check it out.

Soaring Society of America might be a good place to start.

I first learned about gliding from an article in the February 1967 (IIRC) issue of National Geographic, available in finer stores wherever stacks of old NatGeo magazines are sold.

Once upon a time (circa 1975) I took gliding lessons, up to and including about 10 hours of solo. Then I got distracted by other interests and never got back to it :smack:

ETA: To this day, I still have my “I’d rather be soaring” license plate frame on my car.

Glider pilots keep it up longer!

You need to research your medical past to see if it would interfere with getting a 3rd class. That may determine the level you can take it too.

If you live in CMH then there are plenty of airports around with flight schools. I would recommend a couple of things.
-Take a college class for your written. A structured class with a good (real) instructor is worth the money.
-Learn to fly in tricycle geared planes. They are more forgiving and you’ll spend less time learning to land. If you want to learn to fly a tail dragger then avoid cubs unless they have wing tanks. Otherwise you’ll be flying from the back seat due to weight and balance issues.
-fly 2 to 3 times a week or you will be throwing money away relearning everything you forgot.
-look into flying clubs that have instructors. You might be able to buy your way into cheaper plane rental.