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Thread: I am a flight 'virgin' no more!

  1. #51

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    I confess that at 68, studying takes a lot more concentration than I seem to recall it taking in my youth - and one needs more bio breaks - lol

  2. #52

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    If you can it good to fly along with the ground study. One big consideration is that you have a couple of months before winter weather may be a problem, especially if you have to travel to the airstrip. Book learning can teach a lot of things but there's no subsitrute for flying unless it was a specific simulator. And the best way to learn, is to fly often, say 2 times week.. if you can If you fly once every two weeks it takes longer and you may not be as good. Folks used to solo C150 or Piper 140, C172 in 10 or 12 hours when I was learing. Now some take 25 hours and I think stringing out the lessons is one reason, along with lack of competition among flight schools. Some CFIs claim it is due to more complex airspace etc, but that;s not logical because a student doesnt solo in complex airspace. A solo today, if the plane is the same, is just like it was for me, You take the 172 or whatever you have already done 40 landings in and fly it around the pattern at the same airport for 3 more landings. Then you move on to learning the next like cross country.
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 09-23-2017 at 12:48 PM.

  3. #53

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    My plan is for flight training lessons with my CFI 2-3 times a week. At the moment all my discretionary monies for this month went to buying that Discovery Flight two weeks ago and the Gleim Sport Pilot kit last week. I am anticipating a notable monthly boost once a prior long-term arrangement ends by Christmas. Then I can apply for financing flight training.

    Like most 'non-vital' recreational hobby endeavors, the devil is in the details and the details are all about money. Why oh why wasn't I born rich instead of so good lookin'? - LOL

    For now pursuing the home-study course and then taking AND PASSING the FAA Knowledge Test will have to suffice to fill my aviation desires. Fortunately there is more than enough reading material and youtube vids to keep my mind active in the interim. I did note that I qualify for a $10 discount off the $150 test fee by being an EAA member, which is nice.

  4. #54

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    If you could somehow get a part time job at the airport flight center/repair shop the lessons can be free. Was for me. (43 years ago).
    Some flight clubs have reduced rates.

  5. #55

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    I'm old and semi-retired - I'd get another part-time job to pay for my two addictions, eating daily and living indoors. But honestly NOT for a hobby.

  6. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Berson View Post
    If you could somehow get a part time job at the airport flight center/repair shop the lessons can be free. Was for me. (43 years ago).
    43 years ago aviation fuel was much, much cheaper than car gas.

    The days of leaning on the airport fence and hoping for a ride or gassing up planes in exchange for lessons, well, that's a pastoral Norman Rockwell image, not a current anything rooted in reality...unfortunately. And besides, there are no fences, just gates with coded entrances.

  7. #57

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    Deleted post
    Last edited by malexander; 09-26-2017 at 05:27 PM.

  8. #58

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    The flight school I'm going to use has two dandy Evektor Sports for Sport Pilot Training. The owner therefore has near a quarter of a million dollars invested in airplanes. They rent in 10 hr block for $105 per, which is actually pretty reasonable for this area and the CFI is $40 per. I have mentioned before that there are darn few LSA airplanes for training in this wilderness area called Metro Chicagoland. It therefore becomes a seller's market.

    And as always my standard disclaimer for life - Stuff doesn't cost too much, I just can't always afford it .

  9. #59

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    Randy, do you find my/our suggestions just "lip service" and prefer that we drop them and you do it on your own? Its your topic, I/we can do it however you want. And no, I dont know the number of the next lottery winner. Too bad you couldnt have put a tip jar on the tram with a sign For Flight Lessons, for all the good volunteer work you did and with a smile on your face no matter how many people asks for directions.

  10. #60

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    Not at all Bill, as a TOTAL newcomer to the actual pursuit of flight, I welcome and appreciate all suggestions. Perhaps I'm approaching the process backwards? Doing it from a practical standpoint, I'd have been better off waiting till all the money was in the bank before I even took a Discover Flight, and surely before I started a ground school program at home. But I'm too old to have 'patience' and a long-term view on life choices. Impulse, the fates and a lack of spending self-control brought me to this point, and they'll just have to carry me forward - lol

    I WILL pass the knowledge test in early October, and I WILL have started flight training by 2018, weather permitting..... Much sooner if that Lottery/Casino win thing comes thru -

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