You Can Afford To Be A Pilot

By Timothy O'Connor

The purpose of this book is not to teach ground school or flight training, but is intended to teach the reader how to shop for these services and, once purchased, how to keep them affordable, efficient and useful. Certifed FAA Instructor Timothy O’Connor uses his twenty years of experience with technical subjects and adult training to bring flying to people on a middle-income budget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Timothy O'Connor
• Release date: Nov 24, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452453361

Timothy O'Connor

20 years of experience in advanced computer networking and security planning and implementation.10 years of experience training (CNI, MCT, CTT+)5 Years experience as Director of MIS in a medium sized marketing company.8 Years of experience working in the reseller channel.FAA Advanced Ground InstructorCommercial Rotorcraft PilotFAA Rotorcraft Flight InstructorVice President and BOD member of the Popular Rotorcraft Association.Published Cover or Feature Articles in:Rotorcraft, EAA Sport Pilot, Light Sport Aircraft, Powered Sport FlyingPublished Articles and or Photos in:Homebuilt Rotorocraft, others..

Book preview

You Can Afford To Be A Pilot

A guide on how to become a pilot and fly for fun on a middle-income budget

Published By: Timothy O'Connor at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

First Edition

Copyright © 2010 Timothy O’Connor

Thanks to:

Scott Biser, Frank Black, Dave Buchanan, Dana Colvin, Gary Collins, Terry Eland, Gary Goldsberry, Greg Gremminger, Rick Markle, Steve McGowen, Ron Menzie, Ed Newbold, Connie O’Connor, Paul Plack, Joe Smith, Michael Solano, Emerson Stewart III

Table of Contents:

Foreward by Paul Plack

Introduction

Preface

Chapter 1 How Much Does it Cost to Become a Pilot?

Chapter 2 Choosing Aircraft Types and Engines

Chapter 3 Choosing Sport Pilot Categories

Chapter 4 Getting Started

Chapter 5 The Exams

Chapter 6 Maximizing Training Time

Chapter 7 Buying a Used Aircraft

Chapter 8 Keeping Your Aircraft Affordable

Chapter 9 Keeping Flying Affordable

Chapter 10 Keeping Flying Legal

Chapter 11 Final Thoughts

Appendix A – Sport Pilot Requirements

Appendix B – Recommended Materials

Appendix C – Acronyms and definitions

Appendix D – Photos

Appendix E – Casual Sale Example Letter

About the author

Foreward

The dream of flight may be one of the truly universal aspirations of mankind. Nearly everyone will admit to envying birds at least once. Some of us are immediately hooked, and devote years to the pursuit of a career in aviation. This universal dream has long been a major recruiting tool for armed forces, which has traditionally offered a subsidized path to flight training. Others find a way to fund training for aviation careers through university programs. Still others defer the dream until after the demands of career and family lessen.

For those of us in that last group, entering aviation can seem daunting. Friends and family, the media, or even the practical side of your own nature will paint personal flying as a selfish indulgence. And yet, we all have friends who have spent more time and resources on summer homes, boats, motorcycles, photography or ham radio than it takes to fly. The fact is flying can be done by people of middle-class means, and Tim and Connie O'Connor are proof beyond dispute - they've both learned to fly and acquired their own aircraft, and done it within the same household budget.

Earning my own FAA Private Pilot certificate in my late forties has been the most personally-empowering thing I've done in my life. I stumbled a few times, and I spent more than I should have, in part for the lack of the kind of knowledge you'll find in this book. Walking into an airport without clear goals, with no background in the process, vernacular or options will frustrate many who finally make the move to satisfy this dream. If you have a friend whose experience can save you some of the missteps, your odds of a positive outcome are much better.

Whether or not you know Tim personally as I do, the honest direction in the pages ahead will put you on the path to your goal. You may learn of aircraft options you never knew existed, one of which may turn out to be perfect for your needs. As a career instructor in technical subjects, the owner and pilot of an experimental aircraft, and a personal aviation advocate who's learned from the experiences of many others, Tim is highly qualified to offer the guidance he's prepared for you here.

Reading this book feels very much like getting friendly advice. Tim offers not only help with financial considerations, but tips on oft-overlooked considerations such as shopping for the right instruction, and even study techniques specific to the written and practical tests which lie ahead. If you're serious about reaching your dream on a budget, you've come to the right place.

I'll see you at the airport!

-Paul Plack

Introduction

Since the 1980s the population of pilots in the U.S. has been steadily declining.

Many people and organizations have been pondering the cause of the pilot population decline, but as of this writing, no one has coughed up the money to do real surveys and market studies to determine the causes.

According to figures discussed at the 2010 Future of Flight Training session at AirVenture, 70% of students that sign up for flight training quit before becoming certified. Since there is no reliable way to gather information about students taking lessons from smaller flight schools and independent instructors this number could be higher or lower, but is likely to be realistic for the entire sport.

Possible contributing causes could be the negative and wildly inaccurate media coverage aviation typically receives, the proliferation of flight instructors that are only teaching so they can build hours towards an airline job, the popularity of video games and flight simulators, the high cost of buying and owning an aircraft, the high cost of getting a pilot’s license and poor attention to student pilots and their issues from aviation organizations known as alphabet groups (AOPA, EAA, PRA and others).

The largest barrier in my pursuit to become a certified pilot was finances.

Apparently, one of the few things that the general public has managed to learn about aviation is that it is expensive. Unfortunately, the rich man’s sport label gets applied not only to professional aviation but also the recreational aspects of General Aviation (GA), Experimental Aircraft (homebuilders) and Sport Pilots (light sport aviation).

When I tell people I am a pilot, the first thing they often say is you must not have any kids. I assume they are telling me that they think I have a large pool of disposable income. Depending on your definition of a large pool this statement can be accurate or completely wrong.

I am going to argue that if you can afford what many people consider middle class hobbies you can afford to not only learn to fly an aircraft but also to own one. I believe that if you have the means to afford hobbies involving: a sports car, a vintage automobile or truck, a customized large displacement motorcycle, an RV camper, a horse, or a boat, you have the means to be an aircraft owner and pilot.

Like many of these pursuits you will have to learn new skills and will need to be willing to dedicate enough time and motivation to follow through until you reach a basic level of mastery.

The advantages and unique insights that I hope to give you come from my twenty years of experience teaching technical subjects such as advanced computer security and computer network engineering to adults. As I have pursued my initial research into flying and then flight and ground training I have scrutinized the process from the viewpoint of a professional adult educator and Certified Technical Trainer (CTT).

Speaking of which, let’s get started!

Preface

The purpose of this book is not to teach ground school or flight training, but is instead intended to teach the reader how to shop for these services and, once purchased, how to keep them affordable, efficient and useful. Author Timothy O’Connor uses his twenty years of experience with technical subjects and adult training to bring modern scientific theories of education, learning retention methods and sound real world practices together for the first time for the student pilot.

Unlike any other book or publication, You Can Afford to be a Pilot takes the reader on a complete tour of the pilot training and certification process from the perspectives of the instructor, examiner and student from the point of initial interest through becoming a fully certified pilot.

As you go through this book, you will find many aviation acronyms and aviation terms. Some will be defined on first use or in the paragraph in which they are used, but for readability, a complete list of all acronyms and definition of many aviation terms can be found in the appendix.

The electronic version of this book, which you are now reading, has been formatted without page numbers and without hard page breaks for use on electronic book readers. If any links to web pages in this book fail please check the publisher’s web page for updates. Later editions of this book will be available as paperback versions through a print-on-demand service and in an audio book format.

The contents of this book have been written entirely on an Apple iPad using Pages software and edited on a PC using MS Word.

This book is not a free or public domain work so please respect the hard work of the author and publishers by not passing on this electronic book to others, and please do recommend purchasing this book to others who may have interest.

Chapter 1 How Much Does it Cost to Become a Pilot?

It is not hard to learn to fly, especially if you have confidence in yourself and a desire to achieve reasonable goals on your journey to become a certified pilot.

In order to determine how much it will cost to become a pilot you must answer the question: What kind of pilot do I want to be?

At the time of this writing the common initial choices are:

Ultralight Pilot

Sport Pilot

Recreational Pilot

Private Pilot

The good news is that much of the training time and expense that goes into becoming an ultralight pilot can count towards the acquisition of a Sport Pilot license and likewise from Sport Pilot to Recreational license and so on to Private pilot and more advanced ratings still.

I guess we should rephrase the question and ask Where do you want to START in becoming a pilot?

Some consideration must be given to what kind of aircraft you want to fly and how you plan to use it, because different aircraft may require different certificates, and each certificate has unique privileges and restrictions.

Ultralight (UL) pilots do not require a pilot's license to operate their aircraft. Ultralight pilots are required to follow highly restrictive rules on what aircraft they can fly. Ultralight aircraft are only