Accumulated flight hours

[martymayes]

Bill, it was in a bunch of 172's. I went to Sporty'-Cincinnati Aviation on Nov.4th and hit it hard from sunrise to sunset and finished it on the 15th and was driving back home that evening. An excellent flint school and a great group of people.

Outstanding! Glad you found something that worked for you.

[Infidel]

Infidel, really congratulations! We read so many stories on this website and others, where someone says they want to be a pilot if they only had more money or more time or they lived in a better place or didn't have work or school, lot's of other reasons, valid or not. And almost as sad is the stories of people who go take a few lessons, and either quit or let the FBO or CFI drag it on and on. It is really great to hear of someone who went for and got it.
Just curious, do you think you got top knowledge or was it so concentrated that some of it is not retained? I know so many times a student will come to a flight school and end up taking maybe one lesson every week or two and moving pretty slowly. I know that in business and industry, that is not the way learning is done. If IBM needs to send a team to a foreign country, they aren't going to take one language lesson every 10 days or so, they are likely to get in a concentrated program. My Air Force training as a mechanic and my business training as a stock broker, were both pretty much every week day.
I think the basic training as a private pilot, or these days as a sport pilot or a glider pilot, are some of the most fun and interesting of all the flying that I have done in 35 years as a pilot. It is all new and cool. Too many people find it stressful or make it that way, and it should be an enjoyable process, both daily as you go along and as you reach the goal. The closest I have done to a concentred training was going to Flightsafety in Vero Beach for instrument. I have also done some concentrated weekend formation clinics that were a lot of fun and good learning, but that is not the same as a rating in the FAA way.

So what's next? Two good things about learning in a 172: 1st. They are safe for the average student and 2nd. Most every plane you fly after that is going to be more exciting.

And yes I hear they have some "flinty" types at Sportys who can sharpen a student.

You can put anything you want in your log book, I have one for hang gliders, and I have recorded some dual flight time in twins and a jet, etc, because I was the one doing the flying. But when you apply for a flight rating, then you must use only the hours that qualify for that rating.

Thank you Bill. I committed to the accelerated training because I'm one of those guys that easily goes adrift and loses focus of the big picture. I started my training back in 1999 in my fathers 172 and my instructor signed me off to solo at 11 hours. Was I ready to solo? Heck no and when I think back to that day, I'm suprised I survived. (Grin) I've been flying ever since though and over the years have immersed myself in ground school training and pretty much review it all and repeat the process every year or so. Mainly, in the crappy winter months when our runway is covered in snow.

I'd recommend an accelerated training course for someone that has some hours and experience under their belt and are having a hard time completing their goal. Sporty's and Hal Sheevers were great! They allowed me to park and camp in my RV in the parking lot and even gave me a key to the building for after hours. The main thing I needed when I went was some hours with a CFI, my X-country flights, night X-Country and landings. Prior to going, I had 200+ hours in various makes of aircraft. RV's, Mooney Ovation, 172, 182, and a slew of LSA's. So getting it done in the time frame I was there wasn't that hard for me. I think the toughest thing was acclimating myself to using a control yoke again instead of a stick.

The next thing on my list is a tail wheel endorsement, then instrument. (Sorry if there's a bunch of typos. Typing on this Ipad is a pain in the rear!)