Minimum time for training

[JCBigler]

I'm curious what you guys think is the minimum amount of time that you can spend training each month and still progress?

 

To not have to take out any loans for my flight training I'm going to try to do the pay as you go route. But I may only be able to afford a couple hours of training per month. That would mean it would take two years or more to get my flight training in. Is just a couple hours a month too little?

[Goldy]

I'm curious what you guys think is the minimum amount of time that you can spend training each month and still progress?

 

To not have to take out any loans for my flight training I'm going to try to do the pay as you go route. But I may only be able to afford a couple hours of training per month. That would mean it would take two years or more to get my flight training in. Is just a couple hours a month too little?

 

Don't waste your money. Start putting aside your flying money now, and when you have 8-10K saved, then you start.

 

Fly at least 2X a week to progress. Everybody is different, everyone will have some slightly different advice, but everyone will tell you not to fly once or twice a month...you will be re-learning all the time.

 

Meanwhile, start studying for your private. Buy an FAR/AIM book of rules. Check out a million websites out there that help you understand helicopters, See if your local college has aviation courses. Have fun ! Good luck.

 

Goldy

[kodoz]

but everyone will tell you not to fly once or twice a month...you will be re-learning all the time.

 

Yep, 2x per month and you won't even be getting back to where you were at the end of your last lesson. Study your ground until you have enough saved to fly a bunch, then wrap up a rating all at once.

[r22butters]

Ditto!

 

If I were you, I would save until I could fly once, maybe even twice, a day, five days a week. That way you can knock out that Private within two months (and not waste a ton of money taking those two steps back at the beginning of each lesson).

 

Believe me, going just a few days without flying makes a HUGE difference, in the beginning!

 

If you want something to do now, start studying for the written. Once passed its good for two years.

[Trans Lift]

I did my Private over a year when I was back in Ireland in 2005. I lived three hours from the school so I went over when I could because I was working too. Th biggest gap I had in my Private was 4 months between flights.

For the JAA private there are 4 written exams. I went to a groundschool and then knocked those out. I did my Private with 47 hours.

It is certainly not the most efficient way to go but it can be done!

[ADRidge]

I'll echo what everyone else has said. Save your money. Flying twice a month will do nothing but deplete your bank account. Especially when you're first learning how to fly, you really need to fly once a day (three times a week, minimum).

[diverturnedpilot]

I was stationed in Guam when I decided to pursue helicopters. I did the "King" VHS tapes(no DVD yet) and took the written at a local testing center. In the meantime the CFI I was going to use moved off island so I was in a pinch...a passed written and no aircraft to use. I found a flight school(via the newly invented internet) near where I had a place to stay in the states...I took 30 days leave, got a hop to the states, flew every day and went from 0 hours to Private Cert. in 19 days. Moral of the story is save up and do all you can at once! Muscle memory is everything!