Age 15 Student Pilots

PHXAvi8tor

PHXAvi8tor

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PHXAvi8tor
In my first 30 days of flight instructing, I've run into two 15-year-olds who are anxious to begin flight training.

OK. No problem. Get em started. They can solo on their 16th birthday, or thereafter, according to the regs.

Now, I will risk putting my foot in mouth here because I am exhausted after a 10-hour day today of flight instructing and haven't cracked open the FAR/AIM. But, one of the kids said he showed up at an AME's office and was turned away due to age, and told not to come back until he turns 16. So, how in the world is it that we are training 15-year-olds and then letting them solo on Day 1 of their 16th birthday???
 
Get the medical the day of their sixteenth. Personally I won't accept any students that are less than 16-1/2. Because I really probably couldn't stand to be in the cockpit with someone that young for 2 years.
 
PHXAvi8tor said:
In my first 30 days of flight instructing, I've run into two 15-year-olds who are anxious to begin flight training.

OK. No problem. Get em started. They can solo on their 16th birthday, or thereafter, according to the regs.

Now, I will risk putting my foot in mouth here because I am exhausted after a 10-hour day today of flight instructing and haven't cracked open the FAR/AIM. But, one of the kids said he showed up at an AME's office and was turned away due to age, and told not to come back until he turns 16. So, how in the world is it that we are training 15-year-olds and then letting them solo on Day 1 of their 16th birthday???
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Bruce will chime in with the exact wording, but the AME has the authority to place a valid date on the student pilot cetificate. IOW, what the student requested is perfectly possible.
 
PHXAvi8tor said:
In my first 30 days of flight instructing, I've run into two 15-year-olds who are anxious to begin flight training.

OK. No problem. Get em started. They can solo on their 16th birthday, or thereafter, according to the regs.

Now, I will risk putting my foot in mouth here because I am exhausted after a 10-hour day today of flight instructing and haven't cracked open the FAR/AIM. But, one of the kids said he showed up at an AME's office and was turned away due to age, and told not to come back until he turns 16. So, how in the world is it that we are training 15-year-olds and then letting them solo on Day 1 of their 16th birthday???
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I didn't run into any problems at the AME's office last October when I got my medical at 15 & 11 months.

I asked Bruce about it before I got the medical and he said that the AME will issue the medical with a valid date on it: "Not valid until 11/20/06" (my sixteenth birthday) and that does it. There's no FAR that says ya can't; I certainly did it.

Regards,
Jason
Solo-on-16th-birthday-student
 
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One of my current students started at age 15 and got a "not valid until" medical as well. He went in for the exam a few weeks before his 16th birthday and had the medical dated for his birthday.

He was ready to solo on his 16th birthday last year but the wind had other plans. That didn't stop us from doing a dual lesson, during which his parents, other relatives, and friends cleared out the hangar and set up a big surprise party. He was totally surprised to see about 25 friends and relatives waiting to greet him when we taxied in. The best part was that the winds died down later in the day and he got to solo on his 16th birthday after all. B)

He turns 17 tomorrow and has very little left to do before his checkride.

What worked for us was training every week or two for a while in summer 2005, then once a month throughout 2006, and going back to once every week or two lately. We did the math to spread lessons out until he turned 17, and it has worked well.
 
EdFred said:
Get the medical the day of their sixteenth. Personally I won't accept any students that are less than 16-1/2. Because I really probably couldn't stand to be in the cockpit with someone that young for 2 years.
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Why not? They probably will listen to exactly what you say and do it. They'll learn quick and most likely be less work than an adult. You aren't going to have many disrespectful teenagers going through flight training.
 
Great! Thanks. I'm bringing back this one 15-year-old kid. He's been drifting aimlessly, picking up a lesson here and there from different instructors, without following a syllabus. All because he thought he had to wait until 16 to do anything serious.

He turns 16 in May, so I'm going to get him going in a regular training program now.
 
PHXAvi8tor said:
Great! Thanks. I'm bringing back this one 15-year-old kid. He's been drifting aimlessly, picking up a lesson here and there from different instructors, without following a syllabus. All because he thought he had to wait until 16 to do anything serious.

He turns 16 in May, so I'm going to get him going in a regular training program now.
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Good Job PHX! - And is prop. just looking for a mentor!
Go get em hooked!
 
PHXAvi8tor said:
In my first 30 days of flight instructing, I've run into two 15-year-olds who are anxious to begin flight training.

OK. No problem. Get em started. They can solo on their 16th birthday, or thereafter, according to the regs.

Now, I will risk putting my foot in mouth here because I am exhausted after a 10-hour day today of flight instructing and haven't cracked open the FAR/AIM. But, one of the kids said he showed up at an AME's office and was turned away due to age, and told not to come back until he turns 16. So, how in the world is it that we are training 15-year-olds and then letting them solo on Day 1 of their 16th birthday???
Click to expand...

Cool, sounds like you're busy flying. Don't sweat it, it'll all get worked out before their 16th birthday. The doc will give them a "not valid till" medical shortly before their b-day, no need to have one prior. Fly em so hard that they're too broke to afford booze or dope and they qualify for a commercial on their 18th.
 
jesse said:
Why not? They probably will listen to exactly what you say and do it. They'll learn quick and most likely be less work than an adult. You aren't going to have many disrespectful teenagers going through flight training.
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I should probably clarify that it's based on all the non flying 15 year olds I know. Then again, I don't know if I could stand training anyone for two years. :no:
 
The couple that putchased my C150 bought it for their 16 yo son. He started lessons, soloed at 16 and is now ready for his check ride.
 
Dean said:
The couple that putchased my C150 bought it for their 16 yo son. He started lessons, soloed at 16 and is now ready for his check ride.
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Sigh, I wish my parents would've bought me a plane. I had to scrounge to buy my own car. lol.
 
PHXAvi8tor said:
All because he thought he had to wait until 16 to do anything serious.

He turns 16 in May, so I'm going to get him going in a regular training program now.
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He doesn't need the medical to start training, just to solo. Tell him to wait for the medical till he is a little closer to 16, otherwise he is just wasting time on the medical. It's good for three years from the time it was done, not the time it becomes valid. And the student license part of it is only good for two years. Start his training now, get the medical at 15 years 11 months, solo at 16, license at 17, then he doesnt' have to mess with getting a student license renewal.

Barb(AME)
 
It took me a while to convince my parents flying is what I really wanted to do so I had somewhat of a late start. I passed my checkride 10 days before I turned 19. I think I could have handled gliding much younger, not sure about flying.
 
Tristar said:
It took me a while to convince my parents flying is what I really wanted to do so I had somewhat of a late start. I passed my checkride 10 days before I turned 19. I think I could have handled gliding much younger, not sure about flying.
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You call that a late start?

*smacks Jesse upside the head*

Oh that had nothing to do with "late start", I just like abusing Jesse... ;)
 
Chuck don't steel my job!

Well yea but I'm still jealous of the stories about flying before driving and soloing on my 16th. Heck I had to convince my mom to let me take a ride in the local sight seeing cessna floatplane on my 15th birthday. Now after I have my certificate, she's enthusiastic about it and loves flying with me. She even works at the local FBO in florida so understands my "aviation talk" now. You forget that too talking to people. They're like "whats a cessna?" "Ailerons? do they fly space ships?" Or my favorite, "where can I buy propwash or flightline?"
 
I started lessons when I was 17 as I didn't see a point in doing it before that. I was working full time and it took every penny I had and eight months to complete it. I found it interesting how, as a minor, I was able to do all my flight training including my check ride without ever mentioning it to my parents. No signatures ever required and no questions ever asked.

As a minor I rented a brand new C172SP and flew several cross countries with it. But I wasn't allowed to rent a movie from the video store....Or get a copy of my drivers license If I lost it.
 
Ed Guthrie said:
Bruce will chime in with the exact wording, but the AME has the authority to place a valid date on the student pilot cetificate. IOW, what the student requested is perfectly possible.
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Within 30 days prior to the 16th birthday, the student goes into the AME office for a third class. He emerges with a medical certificate that is limited thus: "Not valid until xx/xx/2007" which is the student's birthdate :) Just like Jason.
 
jesse said:
I started lessons when I was 17 as I didn't see a point in doing it before that. I was working full time and it took every penny I had and eight months to complete it. I found it interesting how, as a minor, I was able to do all my flight training including my check ride without ever mentioning it to my parents. No signatures ever required and no questions ever asked.

As a minor I rented a brand new C172SP and flew several cross countries with it. But I wasn't allowed to rent a movie from the video store....Or get a copy of my drivers license If I lost it.
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Heck we still can't rent rental cars!
 
I'm taking drivers ed. now so I can eventually get my drivers license (to drive my wallet to the airport of course) and I never would have imagined how complicated they make it. I spent 2 hours on Saturday morning learning about the traffic signals and other signage on the road, what a joke.
 
jesse said:
I started lessons when I was 17 as I didn't see a point in doing it before that. I was working full time and it took every penny I had and eight months to complete it. I found it interesting how, as a minor, I was able to do all my flight training including my check ride without ever mentioning it to my parents. No signatures ever required and no questions ever asked.

As a minor I rented a brand new C172SP and flew several cross countries with it. But I wasn't allowed to rent a movie from the video store....Or get a copy of my drivers license If I lost it.
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You still can't rent a car either. :p One of these days...one of these days heh.

My friend flew for Mesa and he was like...let me get this straight...I fly a jet for the airline and I can't rent a car?!?!?!?!?!? :dunno:
 
Tristar said:
It took me a while to convince my parents flying is what I really wanted to do so I had somewhat of a late start. I passed my checkride 10 days before I turned 19. I think I could have handled gliding much younger, not sure about flying.
Click to expand...

I think I could have handled gliding much younger, not sure about flying.

Golly, does this mean that "Gliding" is not flying?? OR, is flying is not gliding ??
I started glider training at 13 and soloed one month after my 14th birthday (as did my son, who, much like Jessie, had TONS of stick time, from when he was big enough to reach the "stick")
Way back when I was doing Primary, my new students either had or got a medical BEFOR I flew with em. No need spending all that money and time to find out they had a heart murmur ( or something else that was disquailfing) as did my number 3 son.

"Keep the pelit in the GREEN"
 
I love a good thread regurgitation..... what if they are a few months or more from turning 16 and there is some concern they might have a disqualifying condition? Now that is probably a silly question since they can still consult with an AME before they get their medical but would be nice to do it all at once.
 
Tristar said:
... I think I could have handled gliding much younger, not sure about flying.
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Shock! And here I thought I was flying when I was in the glider.

Actually, I don't really understand the fact that students can solo a glider before a powered aircraft. I learned both in parallel, and soloed the Cessna long before the Schweizer.

Powered aircraft have a lot more little lights and things that go "bing", but kids are pretty good with that sort of thing. To solo, you only need to be able to land most of the time and recognize when you've pooched it and go around to try again. In a glider, you have to land every single time, even when somebody taxi's out in front of you or you hit a downdraft on short final, or whatever. There is a huge amount of judgement involved, even though gliders are 'simpler'. Kids are better with complicated gadgetry than they are with judgement.
 
jesse said:
I started lessons when I was 17 as I didn't see a point in doing it before that. I was working full time and it took every penny I had and eight months to complete it. I found it interesting how, as a minor, I was able to do all my flight training including my check ride without ever mentioning it to my parents. No signatures ever required and no questions ever asked.

As a minor I rented a brand new C172SP and flew several cross countries with it. But I wasn't allowed to rent a movie from the video store....Or get a copy of my drivers license If I lost it.
Click to expand...

Huh. I had to get a hold harmless signed by my parents before I even took a discovery flight. And my parents were on my insurance. Now, those were either company or personal decisions.

I found it funny that I was denied a line boy job at 17, because I couldn't "handle fuel". So I can fly the thing but can't fuel it? ;)

Here's an interesting view to starting young. Will any of us young pilots get caught passed out at a party? Or get caught with a baggie of MJ? I won't even GO to a party in fear that something could come up on my medical, much less get hammered. I want my kids to want to learn to fly at a young age..it'll keep them out of trouble if anything!
 
Tristar said:
Heck we still can't rent rental cars!
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I'll likely be a Captain in a 74 seat turbo-prop before I'll be technically old enough to rent a car. :yes::rofl:

I didn't start my PPL until my sophomore year of college (I would'a been 19 at the time), but I've met a lot of younger pilots since then and they all seem just as determined and focused, if not more so, than I was at the time. Take Tony...he was what, 12 when he started flying? :rofl::rofl::rofl:


Sorry Tony, you had to see that coming when there's a thread about young pilots. *cowering behind a car*
 
skyflyer8 said:
One of my current students started at age 15...<snip>...he got to solo on his 16th birthday after all. B) <snip> He turns 17 tomorrow and has very little left to do before his checkride.<snip>
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O/T but I'm taking advantage of the thread revival... Chris got his private pilot certificate on November 26 after 2 1/2 years of hard work, and he'll be going to Fox Valley Technical College in fall 2008 to pursue an aviation degree. :)
 
Teller - I actually didnt start flying until shortly after my 17th birthday. many others here, like Jason Herman, have accomplished much more than me at younger ages.
 
cwyckham said:
Actually, I don't really understand the fact that students can solo a glider before a powered aircraft. I learned both in parallel, and soloed the Cessna long before the Schweizer.
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Powered aircraft are a much more dangerous vehicle to the general public.

It has nothing to do with the ease or difficulty of the control of that vehicle.

...powered aircraft could be a Bonanza or a Baron or a DC-3, or a ....
 
At the risk of getting boo'd out of the forums for being a stupid CFI last fall, here's an update: My 15-year-old turned 16 (of course). He had to put training on hold due to finances, but he's still doing one lesson at a time. He's up to solo stage -- ready to solo. But, ran out of money. Wow, if there were only a way to get him a scholarship. I never saw a kid so dedicated to flying!
 
thats great Ben, and its good to see you back.
 
Good Deal, Ben.

Maybe later this year, I'll make it out there to see ya.
 
PHXAvi8tor said:
At the risk of getting boo'd out of the forums for being a stupid CFI last fall, here's an update: My 15-year-old turned 16 (of course). He had to put training on hold due to finances, but he's still doing one lesson at a time. He's up to solo stage -- ready to solo. But, ran out of money. Wow, if there were only a way to get him a scholarship. I never saw a kid so dedicated to flying!
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Lots of CAP cadets get free flight training, but they have to prove their devotion and dedication by considerable service first. It may not be too late to get in on this, but it will probably be a few years before he reaps the benefits.
 
Ron Levy said:
Lots of CAP cadets get free flight training, but they have to prove their devotion and dedication by considerable service first. It may not be too late to get in on this, but it will probably be a few years before he reaps the benefits.
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Very good suggestion. I often refer my youngest students to this program. This kid's older brother took the suggestion, at least. But, like you said, he's working hard at earning his flight time.

Last time I saw him, he was carrying a telephone pole with eight other guys past the flight school on a morning drill. Both are good kids. Both seem to have different approaches to their flight training.
:)
 
PHXAvi8tor said:
Very good suggestion. I often refer my youngest students to this program. This kid's older brother took the suggestion, at least. But, like you said, he's working hard at earning his flight time.

Last time I saw him, he was carrying a telephone pole with eight other guys past the flight school on a morning drill. Both are good kids. Both seem to have different approaches to their flight training.
:)
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Hey Bud, long time no see.:) Were those guys carrying a telephone pole because it needed to be moved for a practical purpose, or were they carrying it around as part nof a bootcamp style drill? If it's just a drill, that's just too far, one sip and a kid has a permanengt disc injury to their back or neck, and I don't see where CAP comes with medical and disability benefits. That was one of the problems I saw with CAP when I attended a meeting or two, just too many Walter Mittys thinking they were John Wayne in The High and Mighty. Coast Guard Auxillary has much the same problem, people who need a rank and a uniform. I taught a boat handling class for a floatilla of them once, it was bad, it was a three day on the water course, and I couldn't get a thing taught because some "Commander" demanded to teach protocol at the same time I was trying to teach them how not to cause damage. Lunch time day two, I just left.
 
Henning said:
Hey Bud, long time no see.:) Were those guys carrying a telephone pole because it needed to be moved for a practical purpose, or were they carrying it around as part nof a bootcamp style drill? If it's just a drill, that's just too far, one sip and a kid has a permanengt disc injury to their back or neck, and I don't see where CAP comes with medical and disability benefits. That was one of the problems I saw with CAP when I attended a meeting or two, just too many Walter Mittys thinking they were John Wayne in The High and Mighty. Coast Guard Auxillary has much the same problem, people who need a rank and a uniform. I taught a boat handling class for a floatilla of them once, it was bad, it was a three day on the water course, and I couldn't get a thing taught because some "Commander" demanded to teach protocol at the same time I was trying to teach them how not to cause damage. Lunch time day two, I just left.
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They were definitely drilling. Haven't seen them do that procedure in months. So, maybe a parent said something to the big shots!

Yeah, I gotta find a way to help this 16-year-old get his flight training. I cut him breaks every chance I can -- like not charging him full time on the ground sessions, or offering him observer rides in the back of the 172s, with other students, etc. He's looking for a job that pays a bit more per hour so he can earn enough to cover the lessons, yet still finish high school. Tough place to be. I was a busboy at his age, working nights, to pay for my two lessons a week. Hard work, but he can do it!
 
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