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United States24701 Posts
For those of you following my blog (feel free to skim my recent blog history, linked from the bar above), I'm in the home stretch of completing my private pilot license. I've been training in a Cessna 152 (and the 150 when the 152s aren't available) and completed almost all of the prerequisites for the final checkride (like a road test for getting your driver's license). Here's a brief summary of what happened since my last blog, and what comes next.
I completed one more solo cross country flight. This was the 'big one' that all pilots remember years after earning their license. You take off from your home airport (in my case Manassas), land at another airport, take off again, land at yet another airport, take off again, and land back at your home airport. The total travel distance needs to be greater than 150 nautical miles (>278 km). With endorsement from the instructor, I flew to the two destinations I had previously visited in the earlier cross country flights: Charlottesville and Hanover (see previous blog). Although I was familiar with how to travel to/from each of those airports, I had not flown a line directly from one to the other. That stretch was nothing but boring farmland which is nice from a perspective of locating potential emergency landing fields, but not so nice from a perspective of identifying landmarks to ensure you are on course. In summary, I flew to Charlottesville, immediately took off, flew to Hanover, stopped to fuel the plane and take a bathroom break, then flew back to Manassas.
I did a few more flights working with the instructor on various skills that will be tested during the checkride. This past Sunday evening, my instructor and I took off from Manassas after dark, flew direct to Richmond International Airport, landed, and returned. This meets the FAA requirement for me to do one night cross country flight with the instructor of total distance greater than 100 nautical miles. Flying into a major airport in a big city is quite an experience! I learned something most non-pilots don't realize: When you are trying to locate an airport at night in the middle of a well-lit city, look for the large dark spot in the shape of the airport. Airports actually look dark compared to any half-way decent city. I totally couldn't see the airport until my instructor pointed it out to me -_-. It was by far the biggest airport I had ever landed at, and the only class C airport I will likely fly into for a while.
A few weeks ago I took the knowledge exam. It is 60 multiple choice questions on a variety of topics related to being a licensed pilot. It was pretty easy due to a fair amount of preparation on my part. I only have two more requirements to meet before the checkride: Another hour or so of simulated instrument time (blocking your view out the windshield so you rely on instruments instead) and 3 hours of dedicated preparation with an instructor for the checkride.
The checkride involves planning a cross country flight, reviewing it with the examiner, answering their many other questions as part of an oral board, and then demonstrating various skills in the plane such as stalls, radio communication, and navigation. I still don't feel quite ready to schedule the checkride but I'm very close. Hopefully my next blog will be describing how the checkride went and posting a picture of my shiny new license.
Also, I want to build this: https://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv9.htm
  
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Best of luck with the checkride. Learning to fly is pretty damn cool in my book!.
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That's one thing I was always curious about: I often hear pilots talking about finding stuff from the air, etc... Why don't you just use a GPS instead? Is it still not allowed for some reason?
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I've always have been interested from a pilots perspective (ex-air traffic controller) and when does a person such as yourself obtain a IFR certification? Is it once you obtain a certain amount of hours? Obtain the proper equipment? Also what if you favorite approach instrument to conduct a landing?
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United States24701 Posts
On September 08 2018 06:52 opisska wrote:
That's one thing I was always curious about: I often hear pilots talking about finding stuff from the air, etc... Why don't you just use a GPS instead? Is it still not allowed for some reason?
GPS is commonly used in general aviation aircraft. Many planes have GPS-based systems installed, and some folks also use portable devices as aids. The planes I've been training in do not have GPS devices, and an advantage of that is I don't need to fully understand the intricacies and be able to explain them to the examiner when I do my checkride (they are a bit more complicated than car GPS units typically). I've also been training, as part of my private pilot license program, to navigate without needing GPS. There's no reason why I can't use GPS down the road, but for now I'm learning the old-fashioned methods first. GPS and GPS devices can both fail so it's good not to be too dependent on it. Also, even with a GPS unit it can still be hard to see the airport at night if you are inexperienced at looking for airports at night in big cities!
On September 08 2018 07:47 HerbMon wrote:
I've always have been interested from a pilots perspective (ex-air traffic controller) and when does a person such as yourself obtain a IFR certification? Is it once you obtain a certain amount of hours? Obtain the proper equipment? Also what if you favorite approach instrument to conduct a landing?
Some folks earn their private and never bother to earn their instruments certificate. This significantly reduces their ability to fly on less than perfect weather days, and makes the pilot much less qualified to fly long distances at night or over water into islands, etc. Many pilots start working on their instruments shortly after finishing their private, like I plan to. It's even possible to work on both the PPL and instruments at the same time but I expect that is very rare. Regarding equipment, most flight schools have IFR capable planes, but I guess it's possible for someone to train for their PPL in their own plane and delay their IFR training until they get the plane upgraded with the correct instruments and properly inspected.
What do you mean by approach instrument? Currently, I only use visual approaches since I haven't started my instruments training yet. In terms of ground aids, I've only ever used PAPIs 99.9% of the time so that's really all I know.
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I've been working on my own PPL this summer as well. Long time coming, something I should have done much sooner. Good luck on your checkride, and if you continue into instrument and beyond!
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Oh thats cool! Im pretty jealous!
I have been ion the face about learning a few times (I have had two lessons) but I keep stopping thinking its a waste of money.
Its pretty expensive here in Scotland to get the initial license - never mind hiring a plane to fly or getting additional ratings - and if I wanted to fly abroad, it would be super expensive and most pilots seem to consider it risky to cross water in a single engined plane.
Sounds like you are almost there! Best of luck to you!!!!
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United States24701 Posts
On September 11 2018 05:38 MrShankly wrote:
Oh thats cool! Im pretty jealous!
I have been ion the face about learning a few times (I have had two lessons) but I keep stopping thinking its a waste of money.
Its pretty expensive here in Scotland to get the initial license - never mind hiring a plane to fly or getting additional ratings - and if I wanted to fly abroad, it would be super expensive and most pilots seem to consider it risky to cross water in a single engined plane.
Sounds like you are almost there! Best of luck to you!!!!
I think Scotland and Northern Ireland are close enough that you could cross safely in a single engine plane. If you are up at a decent altitude you can glide quite a few miles to the adjacent coastline in the event of a loss of engine power. Similarly, you could probably cross to the Europe mainland via Dover. I have not looked up any airspace restrictions though.... just looking at a map which shows how many miles of water you would need to cross.
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How much does this kinda stuff cost?
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United States24701 Posts
Typically between 5000 and 12000 dollars for a private pilot certificate, depending on where you do it, in what type of plane, how quickly you learn, etc
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On September 20 2018 03:05 micronesia wrote:
Typically between 5000 and 12000 dollars for a private pilot certificate, depending on where you do it, in what type of plane, how quickly you learn, etc
Okay I was expecting something crazy like that  . Is it just a hobby or are there other benefits to having a license?
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United States24701 Posts
Many people get the certificate just to fly as a hobby. Some seriously treat personal flying as a form of transportation for them and their friends/family. For others, it is the first step of a long path to getting a commercial license and some sort of flying job. In my case, it is mostly just a hobby for now. Next will be instruments training, once I finish this certificate.
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Cool, best of luck with your checkride
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EPT
