by Jeramie Ritchie

Created on: January 24, 2007   Last Updated: March 25, 2007

This article will focus only on attaining an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Private Pilot's license.

The process of learning how to fly an airplane and getting a pilots license is a tough, but rewarding challenge. Virtually anyone can learn to do it. In fact, even many disabled persons have found the will and means to accomplish this dream. Most pilots will tell you, including myself, that even a monkey could be taught how to do it. (The problem the monkey has is one of attention span). Before you begin however, you should determine if you are ready for this challenge. Basically, there are three key ingredients involved in determining whether or not you should make the attempt.

The first one is money, the green stuff or moolah. Ask any seasoned pilot, "What makes an airplane fly?" and the response you will get is not a detailed discussion of the four forces acting on an aircraft (lift, thrust, drag, gravity). But rather, how much money are you willing to spend? Now, before I scare you off with ingredient #1, let me reassure you. The total cost of attaining a private pilots license will range, depending on aircraft rental fee and instructor fee, from $2500 to $5000. These numbers are based on an average total rental fee of $75 per hour. A quick check of my records reveals that I paid $2916.20 total. That's a nice chunk of change, but hardly out of reach. A person might be able to find a cheaper rate through a college program or by networking. Shopping around is definitely recommended.

The problem arises when a potential pilot tries to train piecemeal. Running out of money in the middle of your flying only sets you back, as larger and larger gaps occur between individual training sessions. A smarter idea is to plan financially in advance utilizing any of several options. Open a savings account and do not begin training until you have a majority, say 90%, of your projected costs. A personal loan could easily fund the training without putting you into too much debt. I wouldn't recommend it if you are heavily burdened with debt already though. Also, a college or university may have an aviation program and you can fund training by using student loans.

The second ingredient is time. How much time do you have to devote to your training? The private pilots license has the steepest learning curve and forms the basis for all other pilots' licenses. Again, don't begin training until you have a plan in place to account for how often you may fly. The mistake I most often

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