Stupid Questions about Naval Aviation (Part 3)

[mikeyw]

How many hours of flying should you have before showing up to flight school to do well? I watch Jake Zweig a lot, and a lot of people who land fighters already have a PPL and got instrument rating and have around 500 hours of flying

As someone who is in SpecWar, I’ve seen Jake Zweig and some of what he says is inaccurate. Take it with a grain of salt

 

[Randomranger900]

Do you have an extra $30K to spend on a PPL and Instrument rating?

I probably have around $10k to spare

 

[Brett327]

I probably have around $10k to spare

Save your money for something else.

 

[sevenhelmet]

I probably have around $10k to spare

Save your money for something else.

Agree with this- save your money and keep that financial head start on life. If you’re determined to do something right now, learning the concepts and definitions is free. 10-20 minutes of reading three times a week will make a big difference between “huh?” and “ooh yeah, I’ve read about this…”

Simulators aren’t necessarily bad, but it can quickly turn into a money pit with the “keeping with with Reddit or XYZ forum” mindset that so many hobbies have.

 

[Griz882]

Save your money for something else.

At the most maybe spend a few hundred dollars for a discovery ride and ask the pilot to do a spin or two just to get the feeling of it. Beyond that, you’ll be flying far more complex aircraft very quickly so it isn’t worth the PPL.

 

[Python]

Zero.

People have had personal flight time and license/s and fail out of flight school. Others with zero flight time and get through no issues.

You ought to start researching more on this forum...

You are correct that zero hours is a valid answer.

The trope that people with hours and licenses fail out of Navy flight school is tired. The vast majority of those with such a pedigree (beyond just a small number hours of just dicking around) have a very significant advantage. While *some* of those people have had issues or even attrite, they are certainly outliers. Your post should’ve phrased it in such a way to not be misleading.

That said, with $10K to spare, this individual should not spend it on gaining flight time. If @Randomranger900 had a license and wanted to get an instrument rating, then I would give a different answer. Getting the instrument is a much bigger leg up than just a PPL, since the T-6 is more powerful and complex airplane.