The Private Pilot Checkride: What Is It About?

Before we delve deeper into learning to fly, let us first talk about the private pilot checkride. This is sort of the final test that one has to pass and succeed in order to be issued a private pilot license.

The FAA mandates that every pilot is able to show his proficiency in the general aviation industry through the checkride. This exam involves two parts: a  written exam, and the actual flight itself. The checkride is facilitated by an examiner that has been duly accredited by the FAA. This person is authorized to look into a pilot’s skills and has the final say in whether or not one is good and safe enough to be awarded a certificate to operate as a private pilot.

Hence, you can expect the private pilot checkride to grill you on any topic that you have touched through in your 40 hours of flight training with your certified flight instructor. The difficult part here is that the topic or procedure that you will be told to demonstrate to the examiner will be random; you will have no idea beforehand what you will be facing, making the preparation daunting and difficult. Every student pilot fears or is anxious about the private pilot checkride, and that is understandable.

While the test preparation may be difficult for every aspiring aviatior, it is not impossible! What you really need is a good resource, the help of which you can facilitate a good test preparation. There are plenty of resources in the Internet, most of which you can download for free or have to buy a price. Buying a reviewer would certainly be worth the price, since these books are meant to condition your mind to memorizing or recalling previous lessons that you may have stuffed into the back of your head.

With your resource at hand, all you have to do now is engage in a thorough private pilot test prep. Diligently study your lessons and you’ll be fine when you take your checkride.  Take some breaks every now and then – to prevent your head from cramming – but always keep up with your review. 

Learning to Fly An Airplane: Becoming a Student Pilot

In our previous blog, we talked about how one’s desire to become a pilot begins by the desire and what are the things that could stop one from becoming a private pilot like he wanted to. In this post, we shall talk about how one could start taking the steps to becoming an aviator and that is to become a student pilot.

Finding a CFI

First off, you should find a flight school that you could go to. Like mentioned before, you could choose to go to aviation college but it could be very expensive for you to do so. Not unless you could find yourself some grants, you might be better off going to a Part 61 instruction. To do that, you need to first find yourself a certified flight instructor. Doing so should be easy, you just need to find one that you can work with and can work with you full time. Be sure to ask for some referrals and do some interviews.

Getting a Medical

A Level 3 medical is what private pilot requirements compel every student to have. This serves as one’s student pilot license, and is needed before on can start private pilot flight lessons. Now don’t think about going to your regular physician; the FAA only authorized certain doctors to issue these medicals. These are accredited physicians, which are sometimes called aviation medical examiners. This shouldn’t be a problem; most of these AMEs are willing to work with you about your medical history and get you cleared to start your flight training.

With your level 3 medical, you are now on your way to becoming a private pilot. You are now licensed to begin flight training with your CFI! This is where you really start to learn to fly. Take note that you have to pass a private pilot checkride at the end of your training, and before that private pilot requirements state that you have to log in at least 40 hours before your instructor endorses you for the exam.

Thinking About Learning to Fly?

Is learning to fly one of your dreams in life? Are you one of those people that have once laid down on the grass and watched those airplanes fly by from the nearby airfield?

They say dreams are free, but putting them to life could be expensive. That may be true for aviation, however, costs is not a reason to stop yourself from fulfilling that life-long dream. It may set you back some, but the enjoyment you’d get from flying an airplane would certainly be worth the price you paid in exchange for the knowledge. Don’t be a cynic who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing; when it comes to learning to fly, nothing beats the value of being able to take a plane up in the air when you want to.

Of course, there are ways that you can cut back on the costs of your flight training. There are two ways that you could become a private pilot (since all pilots start with being one), and these are the Part 141 and Part 61 flight trainings. Of the two, Part 141 is more expensive since it is an academic approach to private pilot flight training. If you’re already cash-strapped, you should avoid this route not unless you can get yourself some scholarship grants, which will greatly help in lowering flight school costs for you.

Part 61, on the other hand, is much more flexible and thus you can even cut back further from your training expenses. What you should do then is to fly more often, and study a lot so you can get to your certificate faster and lower the amount of money you spend in total for your flight training.

So, are you thinking about learning to fly? Don’t let doubts cloud your dreams. Get in touch with a certified flight instructor in your area and find out how you can become a private pilot and become a member of general aviation.