Learning To Fly

Can we take a break and talk about other fun aviation stuff?
Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to fly. In fact I really wanted to fly professionally; for a living. I was a young man (about 21), when I finally started to earn enough coin to support flying lessons. I was flying with my instructor one fine day, and he was pointing out nearby air traffic, some of which I could not discern. I had my eyes examined and discovered I needed a pretty good prescription. At that time, such a prescription effectively put an end to a military or professional flying career. I purposed that I’d stay in aviation as a career, but would come back later and get my pilot’s license. Now in my forties, I’ve done just that!

So what about the costs? Expect to spend about five thousand on the lessons, and a few hundred bucks on miscellaneous items like a headset, textbooks, an aviation calculator, learning CDs, and the like. Then there’s the time investment. To satisfy the FAA requirements, expect no less than 40 hours in the cockpit, and many hours in the books. What’s nice, is that nearly all local flight schools will work at your pace and budget. 

As an FAA A&P, Maintenance DAR, and Avionics geek, I though I could breeze through the ground school text book learning… NOT! For ground school, to pass the FAA written test I had to sit down to some gratuitous, old fashioned classroom and textbook learning. The learning has really expanded my knowledge base and appreciation of the aviation field.

In any given flight school, there’ll be a number of flight instructors. Pick one carefully. They all must teach the same information, but as is human nature, they have different personalities. Remember, you’re the customer. Don’t be afraid to try a different instructor, occasionally. 

Why fly? First, I think it’s quite therapeutic. When you’re in the cockpit, you must take your mind off of everything else (including work) and concentrate on the task at hand. Second, it has always bugged me that there’s a certain segment in the aviation field that think unless you’re a pilot that you’re not an “insider.” Have you noticed that in nearly any movie dealing with aviation, the pilots get all the glory? WELL, EXCUUSSE ME! Not one of those pilots can take off unless there’s hundreds of professional support people making it happen, folks like you, but hey, I’ve digressed and am in danger of pontificating (don’t get me started). Third, flying is just plain fun! Fewer things give a better sense of accomplishment than a just-completed flight. 

In future blogs I hope to share my experiences, mistakes, and challenges in while learning to fly.