How did you get your pilot's license?

[Jon]

When I got my private pilot's license, I decided that self-directed study was best suited for me. To me, learning what I needed to know in relation to the practical training with my flight instructor motivated me to learn. I saved lots of money by not going to formal ground school or purchasing the course books for it and had more money to buy flying time. I found The FAA Airplane Flying Handbook and Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge fully met my needs. I aced the oral and computer tests.

How did you get your training? What do you recommend? How much did/should it cost?

[Hugo Waigand]

I made my license twice.... once in Germany 1995 and then again here in California 2007. Reason was that initially my FAA license was tied to my German License which expires every other year and the folks at the FAA counterpart in Germany have a vested interest to get as many Private Pilots out of the skies as possible it seems.
They are bureaucrats and idiots (often goes together) on top of it. So after the first time renewing my license and 4 registered letters and 200$ in fees and postage I simply let my license expire.

In Germany I got my license in a flying club. We had our own instructors who took care of the ground school and you have to buy certain material anyway. All in all I paid about 15000 Marks which translated in those day to about 10000 Dollars. One major expense was the stupid landing fee that the folks here are talking about.
This added 10 Marks per landing and about 2500 Marks in total to my license.
This is the best way to get unsafe pilots since you try to get around with as few landings as possible.

With 10$ per Gallon 100LL currently flying becomes a real challenge and the privilege of the richer people, which is exactly the reputation of this sport in Europe.

For my license here I had to learn that many procedural things work much differently.
The training was due to 250 accumulated hours focused on the checkride requirements and I studied myself with material from here and a GLEIM set of CDs that I had running in my car on my way to work. Written and oral weren't a problem and my checkride was with 25 minutes rather short. The terror started afterwards due to my former FAA certificate tied to my German license (doesn't happen that often obviously....). The FAA rejected the examiners paperwork three times and after a trip to the FSDO in Van Nuys I finally got my plastic card 9 days before my temporary permit from the checkride expired.

I've bought a Cherokee for my training and enjoy it regularly. Training in my own plane (almost impossible and unpayable in Germany) has proven for me to be the better way to go. In my checkride I was accustomed to the plane and the instruments and could focus at the tasks at hand. The PTS is so much better that being delivered to the mercy of a jerk who doesn't like to fly and is just looking to find something to fail you. My first examiner in Germany failed me because I did not point out the right out of a cluster of four possible castles in a 5 mile radius from 4000 feet AGL. My power-off stall ended with the sound of the buzzer and him pushing in the throttle, since "he got very easily airsick" and my steep turns were asked of me at 25 degrees for the same reason.

With my second examiner I had more luck. He was a retired airline pilot (one of the few non government employed examiners in Germany). After a short flight to an airport using visual references and the map only (that made more sense than castles) he showed me a few things, since the checkride had to last a certain amount of time.

My examiner at Lancaster was a great guy, retired aviation professional and enthusiast owning a bunch of aircraft himself.

I'm an american citizen since 2006 and since people bitten by the flying bug usually never "get really over it" I decided the same year to go for my american certificate and I never regretted it.

Hugo

[Jeffrey Synk]

Jon,

You are so right. I talked about this in one of my blog entries,

http://flycrj.com/2008/09/23/how-to-become-an-airline-pilot.

There are so many ways to become a pilot that you really have to find what works for you personally and financially. I originally did my Private through an FBO but then when I switched careers and had money and the GI Bill, I decided to go through FlightSafety Academy. Very expensive! Good program but very expensive.

A former student and very good friend though went the LONG route through an FBO and it took him years. Mind you, he had a job and family commitments but he is now an ATP and CFI but it took him probably 5 years.

Would I do it that way again, probably not, but also in hindsight, I started in July and was done with my Commercial Single- and Multi-engine with Instrument by December so it was worth it.

You are right about the Flying Handbook and Aeronautical Knowledge. It is pretty much all there until you get into some advanced stuff.

Jeff
Almost the Speed of Sound

[Harry Boyer]

I kind of followed your way of thinking with the not usual ground school route. I purchased the Jeppesen Guided Flight Discovery book and took the written for my ground instructor's license first. I know that is unusual but I was starting up an aviation class for my technology class in a public high school in north central Pennsylvania and wanted the instruction I was going to be giving to be applicable and be able to sign for my students to take the FAA written. Then I worked toward my private SEL. Jeppesen has an excellent text which is always available on ebay for a good price. I would still suggest hooking up with an instructor while I was studying to get some info on how the theory applies in many situations.

[Marty R. Milette]

I started pilot training in 1979 and got to the point where I had just completed my second solo cross-country -- but the military then posted me to a place where there were no flight schools and I was never able to finish. Fast-forward to 2008 when I finally had enough time, money and motivation to complete the training. Went to HarvsAir in Canada and within 6 weeks had completed PPL and night rating.

I never had ambitions to become a commercial pilot, but as retirement fast approaches, I wanted to work towards my flight instructor certifications. Am now in Europe and have started into the JAA PPL and IMC ratings. Hope to have that completed in a couple of months. Next year, will hopefully be off to Florida to complete US PPL Conversion (from Canadian) and then move on to Multi and Instrument ratings for the USA and Canada.

My dream of becoming a flight instructor is still probably a couple of years away -- mostly because I still have to keep my 'day job' and plod away at it as best I can. However, if you keep the dream alive and keep making steps towards it -- eventually, you can achieve anything you put your mind to.