Instrument, Commercial and CFI - Budget and timeframe?

[MarkH]

My current IT job is coming to and I find myself thinking about making a jump to full time pilot.

Realistically, I am looking for my next IT job, but I have not flown as much as I want to in the last 2 years.

As a PPL with 200 hours, how much time and money would I need to budget to get to CFI if I walked away from my IT work?

Ideally, I would find a club or school in the Southwest where I could park my RV nearby and fly every day. But, what is the DPE situation in the Southwest, how much time would I have to budget for scheduling? Are there any good suggestions for schools that have good DPE access?

 

[edessa]

I went to CRAFT in Charleston, SC for my IFR and commercial. Great place and I did both within 32 days including knowledge exams and flying 90 hours to meet the 250 hour requirement for the commercial. You have to be committed or you are just waisting your time. Prices are as advertised on their website. I used the Diamond DA-40NG. Worth it to me. No mixture and no prop control to worry about.
Other places are cheaper but I called around the country and they were the ones that answered all my questions.
They set up the DPE well in advance and they have several they work with in the area.
Working on my CFI locally. I had it scheduled with CRAFT but my employer, that has paid for all my training, could not let me go a third time for training.
Hope this helps.

 

[mandm]

I haven’t shared or made a PIREP about this yet but I just flew down to New Orleans to do my commercial single engine sea add-on at Southern Seaplane. Not only did they teach the FAA teaching items but they gave real world examples that really just stuck in my mind. I feel pretty comfortable about flying seaplanes solo if I decided to do so.

They were very well organized and the DPE is on-site. They have both sea and land airplanes and a multi-engine seaplane as well. Their prices include the DPE fees and are very reasonable. I would recommend contacting them with your goals, they will respond within a day and give you some options. I believe they are also a part 141 school.

Here’s their email:
lacey@southernseaplane.com

 

[Lndwarrior]

Jeez, are you Bryan??? (Just Plane Silly)

His story is somewhat similar to yours and going thru some of the same analysis.

Might want to check out the interview with him, posted today, on Taking Off (Youtube).

 

[MarkH]

Jeez, are you Bryan??? (Just Plane Silly)

His story is somewhat similar to yours and going thru some of the same analysis.

Might want to check out the interview with him, posted today, on Taking Off (Youtube).

We are different people, I'm not nearly as witty.

But IT is a surprisingly brutal industry, made both better and worse by the pandemic. There are a lot of people burnt out by the industry right now.

 

[Clip4]

My current IT job is coming to and I find myself thinking about making a jump to full time pilot.

Realistically, I am looking for my next IT job, but I have not flown as much as I want to in the last 2 years.

As a PPL with 200 hours, how much time and money would I need to budget to get to CFI if I walked away from my IT work?

Ideally, I would find a club or school in the Southwest where I could park my RV nearby and fly every day. But, what is the DPE situation in the Southwest, how much time would I have to budget for scheduling? Are there any good suggestions for schools that have good DPE access?

The flight school I work stopped taking new students in June and is not accepting any new students until at least 1/1/24. I suspect most of the good schools are in a similar situation. The not so good schools seem to have availability.

 

[mandm]

The flight school I work stopped taking new students in June and is not accepting any new students until at least 1/1/24. I suspect most of the good schools are in a similar situation. The not so good schools seem to have availability.

Not a fair statement in my opinion.

 

[Clip4]

Not a fair statement in my opinion.

Just an observation of the training situation in my geographic area. If you are satisfied flying poorly maintained / equipped airplanes with limited instructor availability, there are schools in my area that will take you.

With the current training boom I can’t imagine the situation is different in most urban areas.

 

[MarkH]

Just an observation of the training situation in my geographic area. If you are satisfied flying poorly maintained / equipped airplanes with limited instructor availability, there are schools in my area that will take you.

With the current training boom I can’t imagine the situation is different in most urban areas.

Curious, where are you seeing that? I've heard stories about difficulty scheduling with planes, CFIs and DPEs. But nothing about flight schools turning people away (not to say its not happening, I have been so caught up at work that I failed to notice that I lost currency).

 

[TCABM]

Figure 9 months and $100K for something like a pilot mill.

Admission Prerequisites for Airline Career Pilot Students/ ATP Flight School

Minimum admissions prerequisites and requirements for Airline Career Pilot Program students at ATP Flight School.

atpflightschool.com

If you can swing the San Diego area, Pacific Coast Flyers may be a good opportunity.

Pacific Coast Flyers - Home

Pacific Coast Flyers is a FAR Part 91 non-profit flying club providing access to quality flight training and aircraft rental at several San Diego Airports. We have a large, well equipped, and expertly maintained fleet and offer the best value for flight training and rental in San Diego...

www.pcflyers.org

I think @Tantalum is a member there and can talk about his experience.

 

[MarkH]

Figure 9 months and $100K for something like a pilot mill.

Admission Prerequisites for Airline Career Pilot Students/ ATP Flight School

Minimum admissions prerequisites and requirements for Airline Career Pilot Program students at ATP Flight School.

atpflightschool.com

If you can swing the San Diego area, Pacific Coast Flyers may be a good opportunity.

Pacific Coast Flyers - Home

Pacific Coast Flyers is a FAR Part 91 non-profit flying club providing access to quality flight training and aircraft rental at several San Diego Airports. We have a large, well equipped, and expertly maintained fleet and offer the best value for flight training and rental in San Diego...

www.pcflyers.org

I think @Tantalum is a member there and can talk about his experience.

PCF is a good club, I finished off my tailwheel endorsement in their Citabria. But even that short time in San Diego was expensive. I can't afford to stay in San Diego and pay for flight training.

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

I feel you. I am sitting here at my IT job waiting for the announcement that we are tango uniform.
We're closing the office I sit in on Nov 30. I will probably remain for a few months to do the post landing checklist.

If you are a coder, there are a lot of jobs but at the higher altitudes, not so much.

My instrument cost about half of what my Private cost and I think my Commercial was a couple grand.
Multi is proving to be exspensive. Getting out of IT is proving to be a big motivator. 24 years of problem solving while trying to teach executives how to tie their shoes has taken its toll.

Good Luck! I am sure you will get it done.

 

[Sierra_Hotel]

I haven’t shared or made a PIREP about this yet but I just flew down to New Orleans to do my commercial single engine sea add-on at Southern Seaplane. Not only did they teach the FAA teaching items but they gave real world examples that really just stuck in my mind. I feel pretty comfortable about flying seaplanes solo if I decided to do so.

They were very well organized and the DPE is on-site. They have both sea and land airplanes and a multi-engine seaplane as well. Their prices include the DPE fees and are very reasonable. I would recommend contacting them with your goals, they will respond within a day and give you some options. I believe they are also a part 141 school.

Here’s their email:
lacey@southernseaplane.com

Glad to hear it, heading down there next summer to knock out the single and multi combined program.

 

[Clip4]

Curious, where are you seeing that? I've heard stories about difficulty scheduling with planes, CFIs and DPEs. But nothing about flight schools turning people away (not to say its not happening, I have been so caught up at work that I failed to notice that I lost currency)

I am certain there are a lot flight schools only able to provide aircraft and instructors on a very limited basis taking new students and not turning anyone with money away. Do you want to train there? Integrity and being able to properly train students matter.

If you are running a real flight school, your aircraft have standardized equipment so the aircraft are seamlessly interchangeable between students. Adding aircraft mean retro fitting aircraft. You need addition APs to service the aircraft, which aren’t available, and more instructors and stage check pilots, which also are in short supply.

Sure, you go down to a local airport with crap rentals and CFIs who personal life comes first and still train in many locations, but the first rate programs are in high demand right now.

 

[RyanShort1]

Sure, you go down to a local airport with crap rentals and CFIs who personal life comes first and still train in many locations, but the first rate programs are in high demand right now.

A lot of "first rate" programs aircraft wise, have second rate rookies teaching that barely know what they don't know... IMO, that's not always a good tradeoff.

 

[MauleSkinner]

If you are running a real flight school, your aircraft have standardized equipment so the aircraft are seamlessly interchangeable between students.

Which is probably why we see so many pilots who operate by rote and can’t understand the hows and whys of transitioning to new equipment.

 

[TCABM]

…If you are running a real flight school…

You start in a tailwheel.

 

[MarkH]

24 years of problem solving while trying to teach executives how to tie their shoes has taken its toll.

I only have about 10 years in this so far, but I know that feeling.

The problem is, I don't hate working on computers, I hate the amount of work I have to do to do the work on computers.

 

[Tantalum]

Figure 9 months and $100K for something like a pilot mill.

Admission Prerequisites for Airline Career Pilot Students/ ATP Flight School

Minimum admissions prerequisites and requirements for Airline Career Pilot Program students at ATP Flight School.

atpflightschool.com

If you can swing the San Diego area, Pacific Coast Flyers may be a good opportunity.

Pacific Coast Flyers - Home

Pacific Coast Flyers is a FAR Part 91 non-profit flying club providing access to quality flight training and aircraft rental at several San Diego Airports. We have a large, well equipped, and expertly maintained fleet and offer the best value for flight training and rental in San Diego...

www.pcflyers.org

I think @Tantalum is a member there and can talk about his experience.

Close! I am at Plus One Flyers. We have about 100 airplanes give or take, good chill 'club' atmosphere, and about 200 or so CFI. The planes and the CFI are both in the club but 'rented' separately so you get a lot of freedom in who you want to fly with and what plane. I've enjoyed my time here and for $140/hr you can rent a nice 172 or PA28 with a solid panel.. we've got a glass Centurion and a couple twins, a few Cirri, plus a few others if you're looking for tailwheel, spins, etc. I'll stop there though before this turns into a non paid advertisement. But I will say that as much as I've wanted to own a plane having access to a club like this really makes it hard to justify the anguish of plane ownership (never mind the costs!)..!

 

[Gilbert Buettner]

I work at a flight training center that has three C-172s, one C-152 and one C-150. There are six instructors, however two of them are also doing trips in a couple of PC-12s and cutting back on instruction. We are having the best year in the company's history, creating quite a few new private pilots as well as some commercial, instrument and instructor pilots.

There doesn't seem to be a slowdown in GA here, and prices for used airplanes have been aggressive.

 

[Pinecone]

My local FBO had three C-172 2 years ago. They now have five, and looking to make it 6. Also an Arrow and a Citabria and a C-162 Sky Catcher for LSA. Not sure how many instructors, but a good number. Some are part time.

Not slow here.

 

[brcase]

Which is probably why we see so many pilots who operate by rote and can’t understand the hows and whys of transitioning to new equipment.

Exactly the complaint I am hearing from our local DPE's. They are doing CFI checkrides with applicants that have only flown 2 airplane types, Actually with the new TAA option they are seeing some that have never flown anything but a C-172.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

I only have about 10 years in this so far, but I know that feeling.

The problem is, I don't hate working on computers, I hate the amount of work I have to do to do the work on computers.

I agree and my opinion is that it is taking more work as we progress rather than less.
I feel IT work has become less efficient as it has evolved and there are too many outside entities with their process in the way of solving what used to be done simply.

Ever try to get amazon on the phone because you haven't answered all the questions correctly over the last 3 months and keep getting rejected by a robot when trying to get a developer account setup?
Its not worth it. 90% of what I manage now are 3rd party vendors with services that I have to rent to keep the business running. It's not saving a penny over building solution and owning it.

 

[brcase]

My current IT job is coming to and I find myself thinking about making a jump to full time pilot.

Realistically, I am looking for my next IT job, but I have not flown as much as I want to in the last 2 years.

As a PPL with 200 hours, how much time and money would I need to budget to get to CFI if I walked away from my IT work?

Ideally, I would find a club or school in the Southwest where I could park my RV nearby and fly every day. But, what is the DPE situation in the Southwest, how much time would I have to budget for scheduling? Are there any good suggestions for schools that have good DPE access?

To try to answer your questions... with my best guesses. Would love to hear how other people would adjust my estimates.
I assume you don't have any other rating beside PPL...
I also assume you have the 50hrs for cross country time required for the instrument rating, and no instrument training...

Figure the hourly cost for flight and ground training the muliply by the estimates below...
Time Frame, how fast can you study, and schedule lessons to meet the required hours...

for instrument training, then will probably be about 50 hrs of flight time and maybe 10-25 hrs for ground instruction depending on how well you self study and prepare for lessons.
Most people due almost all Dual, but you can save some money if you can arrange for a safety pilot for some of the flight time.

Commercial probably 10-20hrs flight training 5-15 hrs ground instruction...

CFI 10-20 hrs flight training, 20-50hrs of ground training.

And of course the cost and scheduling of DPE's generally I found DPE scheduling not to much of an issue in my area, it might take a couple weeks at most. I suspect good instructors don't have much trouble scheduling. Instructors with lower 1st time completion rates may have more trouble getting practical test scheduled. The complaints from DPE's I hear is applicants not showing up prepared, Doesn't meet the requirements, usually by trying to get by with minimum or less than minimum requirements, incomplete experience logging and/or endorsements, aircraft not suitable for the check ride, etc.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

 

[RyanShort1]

I agree and my opinion is that it is taking more work as we progress rather than less.
I feel IT work has become less efficient as it has evolved and there are too many outside entities with their process in the way of solving what used to be done simply.

Ever try to get amazon on the phone because you haven't answered all the questions correctly over the last 3 months and keep getting rejected by a robot when trying to get a developer account setup?
Its not worth it. 90% of what I manage now are 3rd party vendors with services that I have to rent to keep the business running. It's not saving a penny over building solution and owning it.

They were supposed to save us time and money. Nowadays, I feel like a cash transaction and a paper recording of it would actually save a TON of time and money.