[usmcveteran]

Another forum member on here just had to show some interest in them which caused me to give it serious thought and now I want one lol.

Does anyone on here have their private pilots certificate or sport pilot certificate?

Cost wise I am thinking of just getting my sport pilot certificate because I figure its cheaper and I will only probably really fly during the day and in good weather anyways.

Also anyone have any suggestions on reasonably priced kit or already made light sport aircraft? preferably experimental class.

lastly am I crazy for wanting to fly and get a small plane lol?

 

[meketrefe]

The itch got itchier I see. LOL!

 

[usmcveteran]

Yes it has lol. I am sure I am going to end up knowing pretty much everything there is to know on this subject within the next year or so because of you lol! Who knows maybe I will have to see if I can atleast find a place to take me up and let me pilot a plane in the air a little bit to take the edge off or something lol.

 

[Guest]

I've been a private pilot for years.
You might as well get your private pilot certificate because there's little difference in training costs between it and the sport pilot ticket.
You'll need your medical certificate to be a student pilot anyway.
Budget around $8,000 and dedicate six months of your spare time and you shold be good to go.
In upstate New York weather will be your biggest "delayer" of training but the flip side is navigation around here is a sinch.
You can go to the Rochester Air Center on Scottsville Road or drive down to Canandaigua and see Roger or Mike at M&S Air Service.

Light sport aircraft are not much less expensive to run than the heavier alternatives.
Light sport aircraft will be limited by wind contitions on days when other aircraft can fly.
Light sport aircraft are rarely found for rent.

If you can keep your medical you might as well fly the more typical stuff like Skyhawks and Pipers and whatnot.

If what you mean is Ultralight aircraft then that's a whole other matter and I wish you good luck with that.

 

[usmcveteran]

From what I have read which may or may not be true a sport pilot certificate is half the cost to get as a private pilot certificate. Also you don't need medical cert just a drivers license. Now I am not sure about being a student like you said. From what I have seen online cost wise a private pilot certificate will cost around 10,500 and a sport pilot one is around 5,500 total cost.

I figure I will study and learn all I can over the winter before getting real training in the spring time when its warmer out and when weather will hopefully be nicer so I dont have to worry about the delays you are talking about.

As far as cost I have found a 2 seater Kit that includes engine for around $30,000 and if I spend maybe $5,000 more I could even get floats for it .

From what I have seen also is a lot of the sport aircraft are only rated for certain cross winds. The one I am looking at now can handle 20mph cross winds.

Dont get me wrong I would love to be private pilot and fly the heavier planes but its the overall cost I am thinking about.

I am trying to find something small enough to not have to store it in a hanger and something I can build to do my own maintenance to save cost there. I also am thinking about taking 16 hour course to do the yearly check myself.

So money wise I think the LSA is the best option for me atleast so I dont throw away money renting and as time and money allows I could always get the private pilot certificate and rent bigger planes.

Any other suggestions or comments on my thought process would be greatly appreciated. I have also thought about going to the Rochester Air center as you said and trying out their simulator. I dont think they do the training though to get certified for light sport aircraft, I think they just do the 2 types of private pilot.

Edit: even though this is not ideal for what I would want it offers enough compared to the others I would like that are around 100K http://www.quadcitychallenger.com/

 

[gizmo]

Your not alone, I’ve thought about this for years, but time and money have been my limiting factor. I’ve considered everything from hang gliders, ultra lights, experimental, and sport. I was drooling over an abandoned plane sitting in the field across from my in-laws. Keep saying I’m going to stop in at the local flying club one of the mornings they do a fly in breakfast, but I’m usually serving breakfast to guests at the B&B. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Guest]

What makes an airplane fly?










wait for it..........













MONEY!

 

[Phlyan Pan]

I've had my private certificate for 9 years. KMussack is right, there really isn't that much cost difference. Especially if you can't find a LSA to rent. Your cost estimates I'm sure are based on the minimum required hours, which almost nobody hits. You'll get your certificate when your instructor thinks you're ready.

If you've got $30k to buy a LSA kit, just go spend $15-$18k on a Cessna 150 and get your license. If you do your homework you can sell it for what you paid or maybe even a tad more when you're done, and you'll have your certificate.

Once you have your private, you can fly LSA and not need a medical as long as you're flying a qualified LSA. Most of the guys in the club that I'm in fly Piper Cubs or Aeronca Champs/Chiefs. The majority have their private certificates but don't get medicals.

 

[PY-Tactical]

Check out the Penn Yan Flying Club. A bargain for instruction and plane rental. Worth the drive down from Rachacha.

http://www.pennyanflyingclub.com/

 

[Guest]

.... The one I am looking at now can handle 20mph cross winds.....

..... I have also thought about going to the Rochester Air center as you said and trying out their simulator. I dont think they do the training though to get certified for light sport aircraft, I think they just do the 2 types of private pilot......

Now I'm not trying to show off or "pick-nits" but I'm a little doubtful of the claim to 20 MPH max crosswind component on any LSA.

The Maximum Demonstrated Crosswind Component of a Cessna 172 weighing 2,200 pounds is 15 knots (13-MPH). Claiming 20-mph for an aircraft weighing 1,000-pounds less is tough for me to swallow.

Don't waste your time and money on a simulator ride pay the money and get an instructor to take you for an hour-long introduction. Buy a log book at the desk so you can log that hour......it counts.

 

[Phlyan Pan]

Now I'm not trying to show off or "pick-nits" but I'm a little doubtful of the claim to 20 MPH max crosswind component on any LSA.

Also, just because the demonstrated crosswind is 20mph, doesn't mean you're going to be able to do anything close to that.

If crosswind component is a primary factor in determining what airplane you want to fly recreationally....you have a different definition of recreationally than I do and you really need to reevaluate your priorities.

 

[Guest]

Again, please don’t misinterpret my motive here; until you’ve done a gusty cross wind landing or two you have no appreciation for the pucker-factor involved.

I’ve taken off on business trips where from the moment I rotated I dreaded having to land because of the wind conditions.

Recreationally I won’t fly unless that wind-sock has wrinkles in it or is straight down the runway.

If I arrive and the wind-sock looks like it’s on Viagra and pointed across the runway I’ll go with a no-flap landing once. If I have to do a go-around I’ll find another runway with better wind.

High wind conditions (>20kts.) can make taxi operations sketchy and you have to watch your aileron positions or you can risk a “ground incursion”.

This is where carrier pilots have it good; they always land into the wind.

 

[usmcveteran]

Thanks for all the input. Thats why I brought it up here. Last thing I want to do is later have a "doh" moment lol. You guys have brought up a lot of great points.

As far as crosswinds, yea even if lets say the claims are true about 20 mph crosswind I wouldnt fly with that. I plan on being a fair weather flier. I have the microsoft flight simulator x that I use on full realism minus the fact I dont have pedals for it and its really tough doing cross wind landings and I usually have to do a bunch of go arounds and either crash or land off the runway. Thats typically with a lower winged jet aircraft. But with a high winged cessna skyhawk or caravan with out a big crosswind its easy pickings to do land and do dead stick landings.

I understand just because its super easy in that simulator doesn't mean it will be easy in real life and real life conditions can change quickly but I think in good weather it would be a lot of fun.

I see your point now after looking up the cessna 150. They are relatively cheap and the cost savings pays for the rest of the training for private certificate.

Thanks guys again for bringing up some really good points. Do you guys have any other tips or suggestions of things you wish you had known when you started getting trained?

 

[meketrefe]

As someone mentioned above money is what lifts the airplanes and also powers fast boats and racing cars.
I think that the club in Penn Yan looks like a must do visit.

 

[usmcveteran]

I am going to look that club up tonight I think. I know they also have a club at the rochester airport too I think.

 

[Phlyan Pan]

Do your training all at once. Make sure you have the money first and do it all at once. If you have to take a 2 month break it will set you back 5-10 hours of training in terms of performance.

Try multiple instructors. I've had 5 different instructors. Some were better than others at teaching different things. And one in particular wasn't worth a spitwad. So find one that works for you in terms of personality, scheduling, and teaching style. You'll know you've got the right one when you almost never have scheduling conflicts and you feel totally comfortable with him/her in the air even when you make a boneheaded mistake. Don't be afraid to move on or try a couple of hours with someone else if you're having trouble with something.

I started out in a tailwheel airplane and I'm glad I did. A lot of people have a different opinion on this, but I'm really glad I did it the way I did. Moving from a tailwheel into a tri-gear is no big deal. The opposite is not true. It was probably harder to learn in the first 10 hours or so but I really didn't know any better at the time.

I also started on grass...same comment as the above. I'm glad I did. I can put a piper cherokee into a 1800 ft grass strip and it doesn't even seem like something special to me. I know other guys who have only ever flown off of pavement and they get super nervous about going near grass and won't try anything under 3000ft.

I did most of my flying from uncontrolled fields nowhere near ATC (air traffic control). This is one that I wish I did more of. I get a bit nervous when it comes to flying in controlled airspace. But I know other pilots who started off at a controlled airport and think nothing of transiting controlled space or using flight following.

Marry someone rich. Super rich if possible. Rich with rich parents who are in poor health is even better. Seriously.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Ask more questions if you've got em. I love talking flying.

 

[usmcveteran]

Yea the tail wheels can be a little intimidating I would imagine. You dont want to push forward on the stick to realize you dont have landing gear in the front lol.

I dont know if I will want to drive a tail dragger in general. Do you still think I should do some training in one? I do like the grass idea though.

That is also a good point about flying with ATC. I think I would probably like to start out without being near it then once I get everything else down try to train with ATC so I just have to worry about learning that aspect.

Ultimately I would also like to do water take off and landings. Do I need to get certified for that on top of regular license?

 

[bockerSV]

This is something I've wanted to do for a while now. Cost is an obvious factor here haha but I'm young yet and I WILL learn to fly. I think I'm going to get my skydiving license first though, a bit cheaper at least in the long run and I happen to have a huge hard on for jumping out of planes at the moment.

 

[scsica]

Listen to pink Floyd "Learning to Fly" over and over and again. Then you'll be good to go.

 

[usmcveteran]

I think my plan for now is to read as much as I can about flying and aviation to knock out most of the knowledge now in the winter. That way if I can stick to that then I will go for training in the late spring and should be able to focus more on the flying aspect and less on learning the book stuff.

I do have a couple questions though.

1. Where do I go to get medical cert, at what stage do I need it, and how much does it cost? I do not have insurance and go to V.A.

2. I can at this point devote 2 days a week to training. can I choose how many hours to do each day for example 4 hours of flying to speed things up? Should I do more or less then that a day?

3. So you guys were right (obviously) about overall costs so if I wanted to rent a plane for a couple days to fly somewhere how does that typically work? I know a lot of places charge by the hour around here while plane is moving. do I pay my hours that way or are there different fees for multiday use?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.