There are literally a little over 300 million adults in the United States, and two-thirds of them have a driver’s license. Yet, a little of 600,000 or less than one in 500 of them are licensed by the FAA to fly a plane. So the next time you see a movie where the pilots have all passed out or are dead from poisonous gas and the stewardess or a fellow passenger flies the plane, don’t believe it.
Learning to fly a plane isn’t rocket science,
but it’s not exactly something people can pick up in 20 minutes of instruction
either. So what’s involved.
Step one – becoming a student pilot
In the first step, you go to a flight school
with a certified FAA flight instructor and enroll. Candidates can be younger
than 17, but to become licensed, 17 is the minimum age.
Candidates must prove they are minimally fluent
in English since English is the universally recognized language for air traffic
control.
Step two – learning the theory and practicing
flying
Step two requires a minimum of 35 hours of
flight training, but according to the FAA, most people require 65 hours. And
those are the flight hours.
In addition to flying in the airplane, a great
deal of time is spent learning the theory of flight, the parts of an airplane,
how lift, thrust, weight, and drag interact, radio protocols, safety regs,
weather forecasting, collision, and turbulence avoidance, emergency techniques
and procedures, flight maneuvers, and many more.
For every hour in an actual airplane, students
typically spend four or more hours hitting the books, although not literally.
In the old days, students struggled through personal training manuals.
Nowadays, most of the ground instruction takes place with online aviation training. And some flight schools, often supplement actual hours of flight
with Cessna-type flight simulators.
Step three – Flying
You also need to get an FAA medical
certification that you are safe physically to fly, but once you have this and
the training material locked in, it’s time to actually learn how to fly.
A typical flight course may see candidates
spending 40 hours or so of dual, instructor-guided flying, followed by 10 to 20
hours of solo flying.
Step four – testing and licensing
Once an instructor feels a candidate is ready
and candidates flight logs ae checked off, students go for an actual written
test that covers everything they learned. There is both a written test, which
you have 2.5 hours to complete, as well as a practical test.
Expect to pay just under $100 for the written
exam, and between $300 and $400 for you check-ride.
During the check-ride, the examiner will fire a
number of oral questions at you, then expect you to perform administrative
tasks such as completing engine, airframe, and propeller maintenance logs. You
will also be grilled heavily on oral questions.
After that, you have about an hours flight in
the air with the examiner.
The vast majority of people who have gone
through the process recommend, first grilling your instructor on every maneuver
you will need to go through, then pay for another certified examiner to take
you through the paces in a practice check-ride.
Finally, if all goes well, you’ll get your
private pilot’s license, although there will be certain restrictions. For
example, you can’t set yourself up as a private pilot for hire without
undergoing and obtaining, other, more complicated and involved ratings.
But keep your head up and remember that 600,000
others have undergone and passed the same requirements you are expected to hop
through.
