My first post: 10/10/16 Greetings and salutations! I am getting close to starting training. My mission will include transcontinental XC for seeing family, lite backcountry, lots of $100 burgers and Mercy flights. I'd like to take the quickest route through IFR certification. I've saved some good money. I can schedule 3 to 4 hops/week indefinitely. Wx here is generally not a problem. Cheap tie-down rate at local field. I'm mechanically savvy, owner maintenance doesn't scare me. I have 20+ hours in gliders. I will take the written prior to starting flight training. I've read the info on buying a plane, pa28/c152, the saving money and scheduling benefits (I've got great credit for loan). I've also read about the pros of joining a local flying club (cfi's included) here in L.A. How would you spend the money for the best results (fun/fulfillment/low stress/shortest time), longest dollar value, most options at the completion of the ifr training? Thanks!
Assuming you can find one this is most likely your best use of money. 30K isn't going very far in buying an airplane much less that + training. But with a club with a variety of airplanes, you can get PP, IR and even more for your 30K. And have some better traveling machines available when you're ready to do some of those XC. John
Find a flying club. Use 10K to get your PPL over a few months Use $10K to rack up 80-100 hours VFR flying experience in rentals/club planes Use $10K to do an accelerated or traditional IFR program.
Maybe he meant buy "AXE" since he is considering being crammed in a 152 with a CFI through IFR cert...
It's a musician's term, in some circles, for an instrument, especially a workhorse. It's not far off the mark here, if a bit unfamiliar to the community.
Fair enough, but you still have the limitations of a single aircraft. With a club you can use a trainer for training, get a complex endorsement for a more capable traveling machine and even get a tailwheel endorsement if a more classic aircraft is your bent. Even a multi rating. Also, with a single aircraft, when it's down for maintenance (and it will be) you're stuck. John
You training outcome is most greatly dependent on your CFI. Finding a good CFI you mesh with, and one who has real world experience is the single largest factor in your flight training, I'd ask around and see who gets the most recommends from pilots.
God help me.... Do you have vacation time? Call this guy http://14daypilot.com $15k and you'll have a ppl in 14 days - according to his advertising. Then find a club, block lease, or something to get you to ~30hrs cross country. Then go back to them for the 10day IFR. Can't be too much more than $15k
I'm always fascinated when I read these posts about how fast and cheaply one can get from point A to point B (PPL, IFR, etc). I understand to some degree because it wasn't that long ago that I was a student pilot myself. I guess I just looked at it a little differently. I established a rough budget that I considered to be ongoing with no real end point in sight. I enjoyed my training. I flew a lot more hours than necessary before my check ride because I was actually enjoying the flying. I understand everyone is on a budget to some degree but if your budget is extremely tight then I would not be buying a plane... ever. My flying hobby makes a membership at the country club and playing golf seem CHEAP.
I've heard numerous guitar players call their guitar an ax and even heard one sax play call their sax an ax but I have never heard it used for anything else besides an actual ax and certainly never an airplane. So it is far off the mark.
Lmao! McDonalds can also whip you up "dinner" in under 2 minutes and for less than 10 bucks, personally, I'll be investing my time for that New Zealand rack of lamb to get off the wood fire BBQ.
Yes I have seen Ax for Aircraft, like Wx for weather, Tx for transponder. You knew what I meant so it worked.
Hmm, I had no idea what you meant, so I guess it did NOT work. Don't you love proving something with antedotal evidence?
35 years in aviation and that is the very first time that I have seen ax used for aircraft. Tx is for transmit not transponder. However if you really like to use the letter x, transponder can be xpndr. But hey, whatever blows your skirt up.
Never seen Ax as aircraft. 30k could get you pvt and Inst pretty close at a GOOD school with you putting in the effort to study and own your training. 30k will be gone very quick buying a plane. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This guy(http://www.blueridgesportflight.com/) will do it for $8k in 14 days with lodging out the door price. He assumes you have self studied and are ready to pass the written when you show up. (I am not affiliated and have no first hand knowledge of this outfit). I thought it seemed like a good deal and he seems to have success. $8750 more for IR.
Ok "Ax" doesn't work for Aircraft, swear I saw it somewhere. Tx is transmit. Look at that, my first post and already learning. Thanks to those who got past my glaring ignorance and actually answered the original question. I was leaning toward the club but you know, finding an instructor you like can be tough. And scheduling.
YES There is a huge difference between being trained to pass a test, especially at schools who send lots of folks to the same DPE, and people who learned how to fly from instructors who have real world knowledge and put the time in to get the student to the level of a pilot they would trust their own family with for a X/C across the country. How many of these quick happy meal style PPL programs actually have the student land on a grass/dirt/beach runway? Have the student get some IMC time in Heavy crosswind ops (beyond max demo) to proficiency Tailwind ops (yeah, it happens in the real world) Spins MVFR and SVFR ops I could go on.
Absolutely! and I'm not suggesting that it didn't. It changed because the check ride opened up the new opportunities - Pax / trips / etc. My point is simply that I think people should put some thought into budgeting to and beyond the check ride. I see so much energy put into getting to that check ride... My flying expenditures have risen over time. Post check ride I've used my ticket to actually do stuff. It wasn't a bucket list item where I passed the check ride and put flying on the back burner to do something else. Just saying, think of flying as an ongoing expense not a rush to get to and end point. Kinda like that saying about life being about the journey, not the finish line.
I completely value training. That's why I did so much sailplane flying. I do however wanna get to the "other stuff" after the certification, using it for good, family, charity, exploration, etcetera. The doorway to a richer life.
