# The death of General Aviation **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 2, 2014, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-general-aviation/703327 "2014-11-02T06:30:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-general-aviation/703327/61 "2014-11-17T22:54:38Z")
> [@Yeticus\_Rex](#): > > Just found this thread last Thursday when **Asterion** told me about it during our last Doper Poker session. > > I am in the earliest of stages of inquiring about getting a Private Pilot’s License, and I have visited my local Muni Airport (only 3 miles from my house!) out in the SoCal Mojave Desert, and I met the instructor last Saturday and got the rundown on the requirements and costs…roughly about $7k which includes everything. Ground school starts in February (or maybe in March if the instructor has anticipated knee surgery at the beginning of the year). I asked what can I do in the meantime, and she steered me towards this book… “The Complete Private Pilot” by Bob Gardner ([http://www.sportys.com/PilotShop/product/9909/?utm\_medium=cpc&utm\_campaign=Brand&adpos=1o1&creative=53001792262&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CIHott\_WgsICFcaCfgoduJIASA](http://www.sportys.com/PilotShop/product/9909/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand&adpos=1o1&creative=53001792262&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CIHott_WgsICFcaCfgoduJIASA)). > > Any other things I should be looking at or doing before ground school? I will take an introductory flight with the instructor before and spend an hour or two discussing and answering questions. Good for you but the arrangement the instructor is suggesting is fairly unusual these days. Most people taking private lessons don’t take a dedicated ground school before they start flying. They just start flying, study on their own and have ground lessons as needed with their instructor on days that aren’t suitable for flying. There usually isn’t a specified start date either, especially one months out in the future. There are so few students these days that most instructors are thrilled to take a new one as soon as they show up (sometimes starting lessons that day if the student is up for it). I don’t know how you feel about a more rigid and inflexible schedule that you are being offered but it is far from normal and other nearby airports or instructors will probably have more flexibility. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-general-aviation/703327/62 "2014-11-18T00:29:22Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Most people taking private lessons don’t take a dedicated ground school before they start flying. They just start flying, study on their own and have ground lessons as needed with their instructor on days that aren’t suitable for flying. must be a regional thing. Everybody I know took a dedicated ground school. You take the exam at the end of the course and you’re done with it. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-general-aviation/703327/63 "2014-11-18T01:00:56Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > must be a regional thing. Everybody I know took a dedicated ground school. You take the exam at the end of the course and you’re done with it. I think it is more of an age thing but I could be wrong. Dedicated ground schools certainly exist in places but they are much less common than they were decades ago. There is no requirement that a prospective student pilot complete any sort of ground school before they hop in a plane and take the controls (that is why the instructor is there with the dual controls and a commanding voice that tells you when to keep your hands and feet to yourself). Many students even takeoff and land mostly unassisted during their first lesson (I did) and that is the real point. It is mostly a preference and style thing but one that is leaning towards the ‘learning by doing’ model of flying first and getting a deeper academic understanding immediately afterwards rather than treating it like an academic engineering degree. I suppose there may be some people that don’t know the difference between an air speed indicator and a speedometer but I don’t think that applies to most people that take flying lessons these days. Most have had a passion for aviation long before they build up the will and the money to take the lessons. I already knew all of the major instruments in an academic way before I ever sat in a cockpit. Here is a very short article that summarizes the current viewpoints on the different approaches. [http://blog.aopa.org/flighttraining/?p=2206](http://blog.aopa.org/flighttraining/?p=2206) ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-general-aviation/703327/64 "2014-11-18T04:43:25Z")
Hey Shagnasty and Magiver, I will respond to your posts over on the [General Aviation Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17908003#post17908003) so I don’t derail this thread any further…my initial inquiry is at post #450. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-death-of-general-aviation/703327.md?page=3)