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Waste to pay for private pilot's license?
- Thread starter Z4nd3R
- Start date
Are they not doing IFS anymore?
They are but if you already have your licence then you can petition to "skip" IFS but honestly it only saves you a month. You would still have to wait in processing for API.
So the question is whether to spend about $4k to fly around in a C172 or to get paid about $4k to fly around in a C172? Sounds like a real conundrum.
As someone who graduated flight school by the skin of my teeth, getting prior flight time would be the first thing I would do. In addition, if you wait until you get to PCola, you can get a good view of the course rules which can take some stress away as well.
I'd say getting through your solo would be helpful. Getting some time in a decent simulator doing IFR stuff would also be helpful. Knowing how to read the needles was EXTREMELY helpful to me in primary and advanced. I saw numerous people struggling with BIs (basic instrument maneuvers) and RIs (IFR stuff) and it all seemed easy to me. Most sims are free/cheap to use also. Just gotta cover the instructor's time. Mine used to just give me assignments to do in the sim (fly X route, hold, shoot an approach) and then come back to check my work on the computer haha. It was a good way to get some free/cheap instruction.
So, to directly answer your question, a PPL? IMHO, NO. Some time wiggling the sticks/yoke? YES. Knowing how to tune up a navaid and navigate/shoot an approach (and actually be confident/comfortable while doing it)? DEFINITELY.
So, to directly answer your question, a PPL? IMHO, NO. Some time wiggling the sticks/yoke? YES. Knowing how to tune up a navaid and navigate/shoot an approach (and actually be confident/comfortable while doing it)? DEFINITELY.
What do the speeds in a 172 look like vs a T-6 especially in the pattern? If I get selected I thought about getting 3-4 hours of time before I do IFS, but would it really make that much of a difference especially when you're only in the 172 for a couple of weeks and if the T-6 is a completely different animal?
120HP cessna at 80kts (give or take) compared to a 1200HP at 120kts. It's pretty different but the principles are still the same.
120kts? T-6 course rules are 250kts.
To the OP...I wouldn't sweat it. Even an entire PPL and 40 hours in a Cessna aren't going to prepare you for great success in flight school. Apples and oranges.
I'm a pilot..I can fly...and I never touched a plane before IFS.
Not at all. Typically the only appreciable difference we saw with prior flight time students was those with instrument experience. The prior flight time guys tended to do better in BIs/RIs but early on in contacts there wasn't as much of a performance increase from dudes who bombed around in Cessnas VFR (outside if being able to fly the plane w/in CTS on course rules etc).
ryan1234
Well-Known Member
If you actually enjoy aviation and flying, get involved with it. I'm not sure if it's still around, but there was a glider club near Pensacola that had a great group of people. Small airports are a pretty unique thing. You'll find a lot of people both civilian and prior military that have a passion for aviation and enjoy sharing that passion with others. Will it benefit you in flight school? Who knows... for some it may, and for others it may not.
Having said that, the beach in summer time Pensacola is pretty cool place. The plus side to wasting your money on a Private Pilot's Certificate is that you may not have any money to do something like.... use your commissioning loan to buy a Sammy's employee a car.
He said "especially in the pattern".