What's the $ burn rate while learning?

Sinistar said:
In the Twin Cities you are seeing 172 wet rentals over $150/hr. And CFI time of $65-$85/hr.
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Wow. That's significantly more than what I'm seeing around San Diego, at least for the plane. The only CFI time I've seen on a web site was $70.
 
Shawn said:
Yeah, but I am willing to bet because of those few extra dollars you are now 100% confident to go into any busy commercial airport in the country as well as on your game with ATC. Many pilots that fly outta Podunk are afraid to go into towered fields let alone a Charlie airport with Big Iron!
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Yep, no regrets that I learned at John Wayne, coming in alongside Southwest 737s and going over helos in the pattern. Every lap of the pattern was an adventure!

But, for the budget-conscious...

Funny thing is I've never had the desire to fly to a Class Charlie after my training, even though I know the drill quite well. Love them nontowereds and Class Ds, which most of the time are closer to my destination anyway.

Some of it depends on your end goal, too. For me, it's strictly day/night VFR, preferably on a CAVU day. If you're going the IFR route, a Class Charlie makes more sense.

The flip side is that some who train at towered fields are uncomfortable with nontowereds.
 
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BillW said:
Wow. That's significantly more than what I'm seeing around San Diego, at least for the plane. The only CFI time I've seen on a web site was $70.
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Flight school here in AL for their two 172s is $145, and $150 (has a 430)
 
BillW said:
Wow. That's significantly more than what I'm seeing around San Diego, at least for the plane. The only CFI time I've seen on a web site was $70.
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That's the price in SD for 172R with standard stacks. Cheaper for 172N with random avionics, etc. More for glass panel 172R.

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Sure, spreading it out takes longer and more hours, and that is likely to cause a change in CFIs, which also adds more hours because the new CFI will want to check the fundamentals again.

BUT adding more weeks or months may let you pay as you go provided you are earning an income, and your increased cost is merely the addition CFI hours because you'll have to rent the plane anyway.

Some of those hours will be solo hours so that's no additional expense.

You'll be flying while you're working on the PPL, and that's what you want to do anyway.
 
Burn rate? About 10 GPH... but seriously folks, it’s $200/hr PA-28 and CFI in the Bay Area, which is cheap. I figure I’ll get my PPL at around 75 hours or so, so what’s that? $15K?
 
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