Learning to Fly – Structuring your lesson and study plan to save time, effort and money

If you’ve had a test flight and are determined to learn to fly, then you’re probably eager to get started right away, but before you get started on this project, spend a little time planning a syllabus. Earning a private pilot license is a rewarding experience in many ways, but it will take time, effort, and money. You can save on all three if you have a structured training plan.

Unless you’re retired or lucky enough not to have to work for a living, your job will take up most of your time. You may be free and free from fantasies or in a relationship and you will have to take into account the time you spend with your partner and your home and other responsibilities.

Learning to fly is like learning any other skill; it requires practice and diligent study. So the first question to ask yourself is how much free time you have to devote to your studies. Ideally, you should have at least one flying lesson per week, but you’ll also need time to study books, CDs, and other materials. Two lessons a week would be preferable, but it would be difficult to organize more if you work full time. If you are not working, of course you can book lessons whenever you want. However, you should also distribute the lessons and add basic studies in the program, as they are an essential component that complements the practical lessons.

A flight lesson consists of a pre-flight briefing where your instructor will explain the purpose of the lesson and the desired outcome, and a post-flight briefing where your instructor will review the lesson. Add to that the time spent traveling to and from the airfield and a one hour flying lesson can easily take three hours. There will be days when you will have two lessons back to back, and later in the course you will take longer flights across the country, so the time factor will increase.

The point to remember is that one or two flying lessons and the accompanying ground school studies can easily take eight hours per week when you start your lessons. Your enthusiasm will be high, so it will be hours that you will enjoy, but you may need to explain to your partner that you need to make this commitment to achieve the goal. Dips in training and practice continuity will eventually cost you more time, effort, and money as you recover when training resumes.

The weather will have a great influence on the continuity of your practice. If you live in the UK, you will be very familiar with the unpredictable weather. Even summer cannot be relied on to provide ideal conditions for lessons and if your chosen airfield has grass runways, days may be lost in the winter when the ground is flooded. Please note that three of your weekend classes may be canceled due to adverse weather conditions. If you only fly on weekends and a lesson is cancelled, it could take two weeks between your lessons. How much will you remember from one lesson to the next?

Your choice of airfield may involve weighing the pros and cons of each. If you live near a grass airfield but there is another with a hard runway within a reasonable distance, it would be better to travel to the field further away to take advantage of the reliable runway and other perks like the busier control tower. A busier tower will mean more radio calls and that’s never a bad thing. R/T (Radio Telephony), that is, talking on the radio, is often a psychological block for some student pilots. The fear of saying the wrong thing and appearing ignorant has caused many students to be anxious about using the radio. The only way to overcome this is to build confidence through practice and knowledge. The more you use the radio, the better you will feel about it.

So, assuming you’ve allocated blocks of hours each week that you can commit to learning to fly, then your training should keep up a healthy pace and you’ll soon be marveling at the new skills and knowledge you’ve gained. You will also save money because continued practice and study will reduce the number of flight hours it will take you to reach the standard required for practical tests at the end of the course. Once you’ve bought your study materials, it costs no more to study for an hour than it does for ten, but being in the air costs a lot of money for every minute of fuel burned. You want to be good enough to be a competent certified pilot, but you don’t want to spend more money than necessary.

Flight schools often advertise a price for a course of lessons that will take you from beginner to someone who has flown all the required hours in the license curriculum, but these figures are based on the minimum number of hours in the curriculum and most students will exceed this figure for a variety of reasons. So, budget higher than the ad price, as it is unlikely that you will be ready for final exams in the minimum amount of time. Save time, effort, and money by sticking to your schedule and maintaining a pace of practicing and learning that will eventually reward you with your pilot’s wings.