Once a pilot adds an instrument rating, they’re legal to fly an ILS in blowing snow all the way to 200-foot minimums with an 1,800 RVR. But few of us would actually attempt such a demanding task with only our training and perhaps a bit of experience in actual conditions under our belt. I’ll call those folks “pilots with an instrument rating,” differentiating them from someone with more experience who would confidently undertake that operation. I’ll call that person an “instrument pilot.”

So, if your goal is to gain high levels of proficiency, experience, and comfort to ultimately grow from being a pilot with an instrument rating into an instrument pilot, how can you do that? I’m glad you asked because that’s just what we’re going to cover here.

Why Do It?

Why might you want to do this? It’s a lot of work, will take time, and generally involves nontrivial expense. What’s to be gained? Everybody’s answer will be somewhat different, but I can help you find yours.

Perhaps the most important question is, “Why did you get the instrument rating in the first place?” Maybe you did it to meet career aspirations. Or possibly you did it just to improve the utility of your basic private certificate, allowing you to go when the weather had been keeping you on the ground as a VFR pilot. 

In both of those cases, I’ll—perhaps argumentatively—encourage you to be the best pilot you can be. As a professional, your clients will certainly expect and deserve that. You should be able to competently complete any flight that’s both legal and safe for the aircraft. If you can’t, well, reread the previous sentence.

• READ MORE: How to Meet Instrument Rating Requirements

But what if it’s just you trying to go visit a friend? Don’t you deserve the same level of competence and confidence in the management of your flight and control of your airplane? It’s common during those personal flights to bring along a friend or family member. They deserve the same level of consideration as any paying passenger, so you owe it to yourself and your passengers to, again, be the best pilot you can be.

On top of all that, there’s a certain degree of pride involved. How would you feel after that ILS at the destination if your needles were bouncing from peg to peg, and you somehow managed to luck out enough to see the runway as the needles passed through the center? Compare that with the satisfaction, and yes, the pride, in sliding down the approach with needles that barely migrated off the center circle. Challenge yourself to always do better, and you’ll rarely find yourself performing poorly. But if you do, you’ll almost certainly know exactly why, and you’ll resolve to recognize the same situation next time and surely use that recognition and anticipation to perform better.

What’s the Difference?

I’ve talked about pilots with an instrument rating versus instrument pilots, but what’s the difference? Defining “instrument pilot” is a bit easier, so I’ll start there. Note that all this is a distinction of my own creation, so if you talk with others about it, you might get that thousand-mile stare until you explain.

An instrument pilot is one who has had enough training, enough experience, and most critically maintains enough proficiency that they can handle most anything that a given flight might be expected to throw at them. That doesn’t mean comfortably flying your Cessna 182 into an area of moderate icing. But it does mean that the pilot is both comfortable and competent to handle an inadvertent encounter with more significant weather than on the day of the check ride. 

• READ MORE: Instrument Rating Can Expand Your Travel Horizons

That weather might include ice, moderate turbulence, significant gusty crosswinds, and, yes, lower visibility and ceilings than forecast—possibly all at the same time. Naturally, these conditions will produce a greater concentration and focus on the job at hand by the pilot, but they shouldn’t bring so significant a ramping of anxiety that performance or judgment suffers.

On the other hand, a pilot with an instrument rating is a newbie. But by newbie I don’t mean that the instrument check ride was recent enough that legal currency hasn’t yet lapsed. I mean that the pilot doesn’t have much (or any) experience with a broad enough range of weather and atmospheric conditions to remain mostly calm and focused in handling that. This pilot likely still views anything worse than basic VMC as a reason to reexamine the go/no-go decision and might (or should) have personal minimums not much lower than 1,000-3.

Your Path Via the Right Seat 

Say you recently aced your instrument-rating check ride. Or perhaps you’ve long had the rating but never really had both the opportunity and confidence to “get your nose wet” much more than in benign conditions. Regardless of your starting point, how do you get to be a confident, competent instrument pilot? 

Like many things in aviation, the answer to that question is “it depends” and has multiple paths. 

Say your ultimate goal is employment as a pilot. It doesn’t matter whether you want to end up at the airlines, freight pilot, charter pilot, or even personal or corporate pilot. Work hard to build your experience to the point where you can get that first job beyond a CFI at the local flight school. 

Your short-term goal should be to fly in the right seat in a two-pilot operation, so possibly the entry-level freight or medical transport jobs might not be the best choice. 

Having that experienced captain next to you will serve multiple purposes. First, it will allow you to experience more varied conditions than you might feel comfortable tackling on your own, especially at first. Also, while your captains might not be CFIs, you’ll receive a lot of instruction. Many captains in this environment understand your need for experience and further education and happily provide it. Others might not want that role, leaving you to provide your own education through quiet observation.

• READ MORE: Instrument Rating: Why Are You Waiting?

Either way, flying with someone who’s both more experienced and has ultimate responsibility for the outcome of the flight is a wonderful way to learn. You should be as cautious and as methodical as you would be if you were solo, but ultimately it will be the captain who evaluates the conditions and assures the safe outcome. This allows you to learn the safe capabilities and limits of that operation in those conditions. You get to see what can be done and how to do it.

This route also will expose you to multiple captains, each with a different style. I remember vividly when I went through upgrade training at an airline, a member of management came into our class on the first day and asked us to reflect on our time in the right seat and try to identify the best captain we had flown with. After we considered that, he then asked us to think back over the same experiences and identify the worst captain we had flown with.

Everyone in the class had the same reaction. We were unable to identify a single-best captain. Instead, multiple captains were identified, each with some different traits that made us think of them. But everyone was instantly able to identify the single-worst captain with whom we had flown. 

As the class discussed, the manager then simply told us to determine the traits in the best captains that we wished to emulate and exactly what made that one person the worst captain and vow to never do any of those things we disliked.

If you’ve got your CFI or CFII, do as much advanced instruction as you can. Lacking a CFI, go around to all the pilots you can find and offer to fly with them as a safety pilot. Doing either of these won’t be as beneficial as flying with some 10,000-hour captain, but it’s still valuable experience to aid in your growth as an instrument pilot.

Learn from the Left Seat

But what if you don’t want to become a professional pilot and just want to be the best possible private pilot you can with the tools you have? There are a lot of paths you might choose, and I’ve got some recommendations that you can find your own variations along.

First, you must fly as often as possible. Every time you fly as pilot in command (PIC), fly IFR. I don’t mean 20-30 hours a year. I mean 10 hours or more a month, usually just about every week. This allows you to continue building on your experience rather than the ever-so-common two steps forward, one back. Even if the weather is “severe clear,” fly in the system to gain more experience and comfort within it. Rarely accept a visual approach at the destination. Fly an approach, even if it’s in VMC without a view-limiting device. If you can take a safety pilot, fly under the hood.

Don’t be afraid to tackle increasingly challenging weather conditions. Sure, if you just got your instrument ticket, you want to be very careful. But as you gradually gain more experience, put it to use. If you have a trip planned and the weather forecast stretches your comfort, that’s good. I often say that you can’t expand your comfort zone from within it. If the operation stretches your comfort more than you’re willing, find an instructor with plenty of experience and ask them to accompany you.

Watch for those marginal VMC and benign IMC days and go out to the airport and fly a few approaches on your own. As you do that more often, you’ll gain more comfort with those conditions.

I’m a strong believer in the value of simulators. I’m not going into a long discussion of sims, but here are a few basic points: If you can afford it, fly an approved sim, a Basic or Advanced Aviation Training Device (BATD/AATD). The difference to you at this point is largely irrelevant, so pick what’s available. Also, to the greatest extent possible, find something that simulates as closely as possible the aircraft you fly, both from an aerodynamic perspective as well as the panel. 

One of the lowest-cost approved simulators I know comes from Gleim Aviation. It’s a BATD that emulates a Cessna 172 SP with your choice of analog six-pack instruments or a Garmin G1000. If this is sufficiently close to what you fly, it’s an excellent choice for only $8,500.

If what you fly isn’t readily emulated with an approved simulator (which is common), you can build your own. My personal belief is that a sim that isn’t approved but closely emulates your aircraft is superior to an approved sim that isn’t close. That’s my thinking, but others disagree. 

My reasoning is simple. This is my example, but it applies broadly across the entire GA fleet. I fly a Cessna 340. Nobody makes an ATD for a C-340. The closest is usually a Beech Baron, but Precision Flight Controls can emulate a 414. Then, my airplane has full EFIS—there’s not a round dial on the panel. ATDs for any type might offer a G1000, but the retrofit stuff in my airplane is far different from a G1000. So to emulate my aircraft, I need to build the sim myself, and that won’t be approved for logging time. I’m OK with that. If I need to log some instrument time, I’ll go rent an approved sim for a few hours or get the time in my own airplane under the hood with a safety pilot a few times a year.

Once you’ve got access to a sim, fly it regularly, always in low-IMC. Fly approach after approach. Some weeks you’ll just fly approaches, repositioning yourself to the IAF and going in from there. Other weeks, practice with failures. On other sessions try doing a full flight from departure to destination. 

As you fly the sim more, add precipitation, ice, gusty winds, etc. In other words, build the severity of the weather until you can handle most anything. 

Then after completing one of these paths, you too will be an instrument pilot.

But There’s a Risk

Not long after I retired from 121 flying, I fell out of currency and needed the ol’ six-in-six to regain it. I hopped into an AATD and flew the requisite approaches, holds, etc., using raw data with no autopilot or flight director. The instructor was impressed. I was too, as I had never flown that sim before.

I figured it was all my experience as an instrument pilot. After all, that level of proficiency doesn’t leave you too quickly—or so I thought. Then a couple years later, repeat. Um, my performance was dismal, even with the flight director. What happened?

Well, instrument flight skills are highly perishable. If you’ve spent years comfortably flying as a proficient instrument pilot, well, reread that previous sentence. Once you no longer fly that often, you will lose those skills you worked so hard to gain. Trust me, it’s only through constant exercise that you can retain them.

So here’s my warning: Once you gain the competence and proficiency that you seek, you’ve got to continue working to maintain it. If you don’t keep flying at nearly that frequency, you risk reverting to just another pilot with an instrument rating. Although you might not have to start over to regain instrument-pilot status, you will have to work at it. You invested too much to get there in the first place, so don’t allow that proficiency to lapse.

This feature first appeared in the Summer 2024 Ultimate Issue print edition.

The post Ultimate Issue: Instrument Rating vs. Instrument Pilot appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

To take advantage of the so-called pilot shortage, many schools and independent instructors have adopted the check-the-box style of instruction, and when the applicant has completed the tasks listed in FAR 61.109 and passed their knowledge test, they are sent to the designated pilot examiner (DPE) for their check ride. According to examiners across the country, there is a trend of only half of the applicants passing the check ride on the first try—despite having logged the experience, they don’t know the material. And there are others who don’t meet the experience requirements for the certificate, which is often found during a review of the applicant’s logbook and should have been caught much earlier.

I am not a DPE, but for several years I have been a check pilot providing mock check rides for applicants at the request of their CFIs.

The culture of many flight schools and some independent instructors is “train them quickly.” As such, many applicants go into their check rides with minimum experience and abilities because they were trained by an instructor with minimum experience and abilities. This can lead to blind spots and soft spots in the applicant’s skills and knowledge. FLYING offers a few tips to help you avoid this.

Use a Syllabus

Preparation for a successful check ride begins with the use of a syllabus. It provides guidance and a clear path to certification as each lesson has competition standards. You know when you have done well if you meet these standards. Required in a Part 141 environment, highly recommended in Part 61, have it with you for all lessons be they in the air, in the classroom, or AATD.

If your instructor wasn’t trained using a syllabus, they may be reluctant to use one. Insist on it.

When a Part 61 learner says, “I think my instructor is using one,” it makes me want to cry out like someone just blew up Alderaan. If you haven’t seen it, or if you don’t have a copy of it during the lesson, you’re not using one.

• READ MORE: Is a Medical Certificate Required for a Private Pilot Check Ride?

Use the ACS from Day One

Utilize the private pilot airman certification standards (ACS) from the get-go. These are the minimum standards the applicant must meet in order to achieve their certificate. To put it into perspective, meeting the metrics of the ACS is like getting a “C” in a class. C grades may still result in a degree, but strive to do better.

For example, if the ACS states that during takeoff the applicant will “maintain V_X/V_Y as appropriate +10/-5 knots to a safe maneuvering attitude,” focus on nailing the airspeed. Every time. If the POH says V_X is 67 knots, fly at 67 knots.

While it is unlikely that you will meet the ACS metrics the first time you fly a maneuver or demonstrate knowledge, it is much easier to train to the metric rather than trying to clean up a sloppy performance later. Sadly, many private pilot applicants are told they don’t “need the ACS yet” when they begin their training. Establishing a criteria for what are acceptable standards from the first lesson can help both the learner and CFI stay on track and keep the learner engaged in the process.

CFIs: Remember many learners drop out of training because they don’t know what is expected of them or if they are doing it right. The ACS, coupled with the syllabus, answers these questions.

Aim High

The four levels of learning are rote, understanding, application, and correlation. Aim for correlation, and understand the what, why, and when of a topic. So, for example, if you are asked to provide a scenario when V_X is appropriate, be able to answer the when and the why, such as “short field takeoff technique is appropriate when there is an obstacle off the departure end of the runway.”

Application, correlation, and understanding are critical when it comes to aircraft systems. You can tell when an applicant is responding by rote, such as if the pilot of a fuel-injected aircraft suggests that an uncommanded loss of engine power they experienced in flight is probably because of “carburetor” icing.

• READ MORE: Use Study Guides for a Better Check Ride Experience

Update Your Logbook

There’s a running joke at flight schools that you know when some is getting ready for a check ride because they are playing catch-up, totaling their logbook. Doing this in a rush is when mistakes happen. It is much better to total up page by page, checking the math twice before you commit it to ink.

All instruction received should be logged, per FAR 61.51: flying, AATD, and ground. It’s all valuable. Periodically go through your logbook, noting your experience acquired and the requirements for private pilot certification as stated in FAR 61.109.

Double-check that you both have the experience and that it is properly logged, as incorrectly logged experience can nullify a check ride before it begins.

For example, logging “night flight” on a line means the applicant flew at night. The night requirement for the private pilot candidate is more than “three hours of night.” There is also a cross-country and 10 takeoffs and landings with the caveat that the landings must be full stop. Make sure your logbook reflects this.

Your instructor is responsible for making sure you have all the endorsements necessary for the check ride. The examiner will look for the TSA endorsement, first solo, initial cross-country, subsequent solo endorsements, additional cross-country flights, satisfactory aeronautical knowledge, additional training in areas found deficient on the knowledge test, three hours of check ride prep within two calendar months in preparation for the practical test, and flight proficiency for the practical test.

A list of the endorsements and appropriate language can be found in Advisory Circular 61-65. Although your logbook may have preprinted endorsements, the savvy CFIs will refer to the language in the AC and defer to it.

Make sure your solo endorsement is current as well.

Prep for the Knowledge Test

The minimum passing score is 70—but the better you do on the test, the easier the check ride can be.

When the examiner receives your application (filed electronically with the help of your instructor), they review your knowledge test score to develop a plan of action for the check ride. A wrong answer is considered an “area found deficient,” and that is often where the oral exam begins.

The test codes are found in the ACS, so you should know where your soft spots are.

You may have only missed one question in the area— like aircraft performance—but your CFI should drill you on it, as the DPE will be using your knowledge exam results to tailor the check ride.

Use Your Reference Material

While there is an awful lot of information for a pilot to remember, one of the most important skills you can have is knowing where to look up something to verify the information. The VFR sectional has a legend, so you don’t have to guess at what kind of airspace that is. Chapter 3 in the AIM has details on dimensions of airspace, cloud clearances, and visibility.

Whether electronic or paper, there are certain things you want tabbed to make it easier to find— for example, in the FAR/AIM Part 1 definitions, 61.109, aeronautical experience required for a private pilot, Chapters 3 and 7 of the AIM (Airspace and Meteorology), etc.

A good pilot knows how to use these resources to look up the information and takes the initiative to do this. If you cannot or will not do this, flying is not for you.

Verify the Aircraft Paperwork

Before a check ride can happen, the applicant and DPE must go through the aircraft maintenance logbook to make sure it meets the airworthiness requirements. Sadly, the check ride is often the first time some applicants have seen the logbooks for the aircraft.

Avoid this situation by sitting down with your CFI and going through the logbooks to verify the aircraft is airworthy, using the acronym AAV1ATE as your guide (ADs complied with, annual inspections, VOR every 30 days, 100-hour, altimeter/pitot static system every 24 calendar months, transponder every 24 calendar months, ELT check). Before your check ride, find the

most recent inspections and put a Post-it note on them so you can easily find them to show the examiner.

Make sure the aircraft’s dispatch paperwork, such as the weight and balance sheet, is up to date.

Study Multiple Nav Modes

The flying portion of the check ride has the applicant flying a preplanned cross-country flight. The examiner will supply the destination. You will fly one, perhaps two legs of it, but fill out the navlog completely, including estimated time to top of climb, runway distance required, radio frequencies, etc.

If the aircraft has a GPS, know how to program it—and, more importantly, how to fly if the GPS—or ForeFlight if using your iPad—“fails.” And it likely will, as the examiner will fail them during the flight to see if you can navigate by pilotage and ded reckoning. Be sure you can. Be able to read a VFR sectional.

Have a current sectional and chart supplement. If you have a dated version of the FAR/AIM in hard copy (paper), have an electronic version at your fingertips so you can look something up if needed. The printed version goes out of date quickly, which is why many pilots prefer the e-version.

Take a Mock Ride

Insist on a mock check ride with an instructor you don’t usually fly with—preferably one with a lot of experience with the DPE you will be testing with. They probably have a stack of debriefs from their learners containing questions the DPE asked in the past. These are called gouges, and while they are helpful, don’t bother to memorize them as each DPE will create a plan of action individualized to the applicant.

The best pilots go into their check rides overprepared and come out the other side with a smile on their face and a certificate in their pocket.

This column first appeared in the March 2024/Issue 946 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Passing Your Private Pilot Check Ride Requires the Right Preparation appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Looking back now, it dawns on me that most of what I know today did not come from the normal, required syllabus training but from life experiences, along with an occasional hair-raising event, one of which I can finally share.

Like many pilots, most of my private pilot training took place in a two-place Cessna. My CFI actually weighed a morbidly obese 350 pounds and was in his upper 60s. Were we always overloaded upon takeoff? No, because being a hard-working, skinny, 25-year-old, I carried maybe 120 pounds. My first solo, however, gave me a startling surprise, though, when the Cessna 150 trainer shot up so rapidly…I had just shedded 350 pounds and struggled to acquire the new, lighter “feel.”

Transitioning from a lighter to a heavier single is a process we learn largely on our own without much training. Check rides are a helpful measure of safety and highly recommended. The larger the aircraft, the heavier the controls, and while often more stable, it is always different. Moving up to more advanced aircraft enhances our joy of flying. Plus, the heavier the airplane, the more sophisticated it often is. Constant-speed prop, retractable gear, etc. Even more challenging are those “category/class” transitions (seaplane, twin-engine, etc.) that take us to the next level.

By the time I had accrued some 140 total flight hours, a friend mentioned that his wife and her sister were returning home from a trip back east. It was late June. To save them the expense of a night’s lodging in Dallas, I agreed to fly to Love Field (KDAL) and fly them back to the now long-abandoned Butterfield Trail Airport just north of Abilene. I had never met the two passengers-to-be, but Phil, a nonpilot, was a fit, lean, future Navy sailor who spoke often of his active wife and sister-in-law. I was ready to log some additional quality time in my flying club’s Cessna Skyhawk 172 (N3707R).

At this point, I had been checked out in the club’s Cessna 182 Skylane and its mighty 210 Centurion, but I didn’t see the need for a larger, more expensive option. Now I was in for a gut-wrenching surprise. My lack of experience caused me to select an aircraft unsuitable for the flight.

The flight to KDAL with Phil was pleasant and uneventful, and I anticipated the return flight would be equally smooth. Love Field was Dallas’ primary airport in 1967, and there was no delay entering its airspace and getting taxi clearance to the general aviation area. We did not wait long at the GA terminal for our passengers to arrive.

What I felt when first meeting Tillie and her sister, Emma, was a sense of astonished shock. These women were not obese. They were, well…ladies of significant size. And they each had a fairly large, old-style heavy suitcase. I’m sure I silently gasped when I realized suddenly that our little Skyhawk was destined to be dramatically overweight. Overweight, that is, if we could even fit them into the rear seats with their bags. We were going to be massively overloaded and probably out of balance. Should I tell my passengers, “No, I’m sorry. We cannot do this”? Should I warn them of the risk?

As a weight/balance experiment with satchels of bowling balls, I had once safely “test-flown” a friend’s Skylane while being perhaps several hundred pounds over the maximum takeoff weight. Perhaps somehow by having completed this ill-advised and unauthorized experiment, it validated my faulty decision to proceed.

Even if we could shoehorn the passengers and baggage in, I knew we might have to abort. The Skyhawk baggage area was about 90 pounds maximum, but the space was too small to accommodate a large suitcase. We discovered that we could partially squeeze one into this minuscule space, thereby sacrificing a good deal of headroom. The other bag would just have to ride on their laps. Very uncomfortable, but it was only for an hour and a half. At this point, I was just concerned whether we could get airborne.

The weather briefing confirmed widely scattered showers with hot, very humid conditions, and calm winds. Not helpful conditions, to be sure, with high density altitude in effect.

• READ MORE: A Wing and a Prayer

I taxied to Runway 18, 8,000 feet in length, as I recall. The tower said, “Cleared for takeoff. Right turnout approved.” We started our takeoff roll. And we rolled. I was ready to abort if necessary. We kept rolling.

Not expecting to use more than about 4,000 feet, but already passing that halfway point, I became aware that we might not be airborne anytime soon. But lots of pavement still remained. Finally, though, our speed was sufficient and we lifted off, albeit very slowly. But what is this? We weren’t climbing! If anything, we were just mushing along. And we’re running out of runway!

Clearing the fence and crossing Mockingbird Lane, we couldn’t have been more than 50 feet above passing buildings. Any additional problem at this height could have been catastrophic.

Some 20 minutes later, we were level at 6,500 feet msl. Reaching the cooler altitude made things easier. My passengers were silent but likely aware that we had just been given a free pass by the powers that be. We were grateful for our good fortune.

But the day was summed up with some valuable lessons subtly delivered and taken to heart. First, I learned to never assume your passengers will weigh the average standard of 170 pounds, as it was then. Don’t be reticent about asking their weight and baggage sizes. Second, know your aircraft’s capacities. It might be helpful someday to know your storage area dimensions. Finally, and perhaps most redundantly, always be prepared to cancel your plans, even if that means unhappy passengers and a bruised ego and wallet.

This column first appeared in the September 2023/Issue 941 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Weight, Weight, Don’t Tell Me appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Flight instructors hear this question often. The answer is, as long as you can pass the third-class medical exam, it is doable. There is no maximum age limit for private pilots. However, there is one for airline pilots. The mandatory retirement age for airline pilots as of December 4 is 65. It doesn’t matter if you can still hold a Class 1 medical certificate, you are still healthy enough to hike the Pacific Coast Trail every other year, or you are frequently mistaken for the sibling of your 40-something-year-old child, age 65 is the cutoff.

But there are other professional aviation opportunities, such as on-demand charter operations, that allow their pilots to continue to fly as long as they can still perform and hold the appropriate medical certificate. Mostly, it comes down to whether you have the skills and  experience required to get these jobs. Of late, there have been more pilots who have held commercial certificates for years looking to make a career change—from the cubicle farm to the cockpit.

Aviation and a Second Career

I have heard from several over-40, second-career pilot trainees who suggest they have been met with age bias at some flight schools. They walk in, meet the instructors, explain what they want to do, note they have the money to do it and already have most of the hours and a medical certificate, and explain how often they wish to fly (at least twice a week if not more) to reach their goal—the coveted 1,500 hours or whatever the hiring minimums are for where they want to work.

• READ MORE: The Search for Multiengine Time

Sometimes the instructor says they will look at the schedule, and call back, and then…crickets. Often the instructor doesn’t call because they are too busy with pilots already enrolled in the training programs created by the airlines. Unless you have that contract in your hand, your name goes to the bottom of the callback sheet.

Fortunately, there are some flight schools—especially those created by veterans—that have a “no person left behind” mindset. They pride themselves on good client management skills and making sure all their potential customers are heard. If you find one such place, and have a good experience, please spread the word.

Waiting for that callback is particularly painful to the pilots who were on track for or had careers at the airlines in the early 2000s, and when the post-9/11 travel market tanked and they had families to support, they opted for careers outside of aviation. Or perhaps they did make it to the right seat of an airliner, then the airline dissolved, making them look for a different way to support their family.

Either way, you need to get back in the cockpit. You may find having your aviation career move forward is very much like lining up kittens for a photo shoot—you have one in position, and the others are scrambling all over. You may have the money set aside to add the necessary certificate, but you don’t have the ability to take a few weeks off work, or you have the time off work, but the finances are tricky. If you want to use an accelerated program, look for one with a designated pilot examiner (DPE) on staff and find out how long you can expect to have to wait for the check ride.

You may have to relearn airspace, along with ADS-B requirements, and changes to the equipment requirements for commercial pilots. And here is a big one: You no longer have to use a complex aircraft, as a technically advanced aircraft can be used—check the FARs for details.

If building hours means getting the dust off your CFI certificate, make sure you review the current regulations, as it is likely things have changed. For example, the CFI is now required to verify the pilot applicant’s citizenship and place a TSA endorsement into the learner’s logbook.

Also, in most cases, in addition to having an aviation medical certificate made of paper, the trainee pilot is also required to have a student pilot certificate made of plastic. They must apply for it using the Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application (IACRA) on the computer, and it is easiest when the instructor is face to face with the applicant, as there is a lot of verification of information and the CFI needs to sign the application.

It has been my observation that the aviation career 2.0 candidates are the ones that work very hard to achieve their goals. If the candidate is becoming an instructor, or reactivating their instructor privileges, this dedication is often positively modeled for their learners, who themselves develop a great sense of accomplishment as they gain skills and knowledge—and hopefully share it with future pilots.

The post Age Is Just a Number When It Comes to Flight Training appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

However, with a private pilot’s license, there are still a few ways to make some money for your aviator services. Let’s take a closer look.

What Is a Private Pilot License (PPL)?

Internationally referred to as a Private Pilot’s License, this type of license is commonly called a Private Pilot Certificate in the U.S. A PPL is a document that proves a pilot has met all of the FAA requirements to operate an aircraft in visual flight conditions without an instructor present.

These requirements are as follows:

• Must be 17 years old
• Must be able to read, speak, write, and understand English (the international aviation language)
• Obtain a third-class medical certificate
• Perform basic math relative to flight
• Get an endorsement from an instructor to take the written exam
• Pass the FAA written exam
• Log 40 hours of flight time
• Complete a check-ride flight with an FAA examiner

For many, the private pilot certificate is just a step towards being a commercial pilot, but it does give pilots legal permission to do more than just fly themselves around. 

How Does a Private Pilot License Work?

A private pilot’s license gives an individual the legal right to operate any aircraft they are qualified to fly. There are additional qualifications, known as ratings, that allow private pilots to do things like fly at night or operate larger aircraft, but even with all the ratings in the world, a PPL is still more-or-less a hobbyist licensure. 

PPL holders may carry passengers, but not in a “for hire” setting, and not in any aircraft they are not rated to operate. 

Can a Private Pilot Charge for Passengers?

Private pilots are allowed to carry the maximum number of passengers a given aircraft is rated for, but they are not allowed to charge those passengers any rates that result in the pilot landing with more money in their pocket than when he or she took off. 

Pilots can, however, charge passengers what’s formally called a “pro rata share” of the flight costs, including fuel, aircraft rental, and any fees from the airports they use. It must be an even split, meaning the most a pilot can charge a passenger for these expenses is the same amount he or she will be spending on the same expenses. 

5 Jobs You Can Get With a Private Pilot License

So, the easy answer to the question, “Can you get paid to fly with a PPL?” is no, but you can still make money off of the knowledge and abilities you’ve gained while being a private pilot. Here are a few examples! 

Instructor

Ground school is one of the first steps in becoming a private pilot, and PPL holders are qualified to teach ground school if they are 18 years old and pass examinations on instructing and aeronautical knowledge. PPL holders are qualified to teach those individuals looking to attain their sport licenses, recreation licenses, or fellow PPLs. 

If a PPL holder has an additional rating such as IFR (instrument flight rules), they may also instruct PPL ground courses related to the ratings they hold. PPL holders can not give flight training. 

Sales

There are more than 200,000 general aviation aircraft in the U.S., and aircraft tend to stay in operation much longer than their automobile counterparts. All you need to sell these aircraft is a PPL, a high school diploma, and a minimum of 200 flight hours. As with any sales job, a deep knowledge of the aircraft you’ll be selling would certainly help, but a PPL proves that you have a solid baseline knowledge of aviation. 

Tow Gliders

Gliders are non-powered aircraft that must be towed in order to become airborne. With additional qualifications, PPL pilots can accept money for towing gliders into flight. Those qualifications are:

• 100 hours of pilot-in-command flight on the glider type
• A logbook endorsement for glider training
• Three actual or simulated tows in the 24 months preceding an actual tow

Volunteer Jobs

Money isn’t the only type of payment, right? PPL holders are also eligible to fly volunteer missions for things such as search and rescue, as well as offering their piloting skills to get individuals who need specialized health services to locations across the country they may not have otherwise afforded to get to. 

Light-Sport Test Pilot 

Aircraft manufacturers hire pilots to run flight tests on new aircraft to make sure they meet safety and performance requirements before being sold to the public. A PPL holder can act as a test pilot for light-sport aircraft, as long as the pilot has 100 hours of pilot-in-command time in that type of aircraft. Light-sport aircraft are one- or two-seater airplanes that have a maximum takeoff weight of 1,320 pounds and a maximum speed of 120 knots. 

Advantages of a Private Pilot License

Compared to a commercial pilot license, the primary advantage of a PPL is simply less time and money spent earning it. With a PPL, pilots can still take passengers with them and can even practice aerobatic flight maneuvers, and most restrictions are relevant to making money.

Disadvantages of a Private Pilot License

Flight can get expensive fast, as can training for your next licensure, and with that in mind, the major disadvantage of stopping at a PPL is not being able to make any of that money back with your new skill. If monetary compensation isn’t something you care about relative to being a pilot, a PPL should serve you just fine. 

Private Pilot’s License vs Commercial Pilot’s License

A private pilot’s license is much easier to get than a commercial license. To get a PPL, a pilot must meet a number of requirements and have 40 hours of flight time, including 10 hours of solo time and 20 hours of instruction received. 

The time to get a commercial pilot’s license is 250 hours of flight time in addition to stiffer requirements, including a more stringent medical examination, 50 hours of a cross-country flight, and 100 hours of PIC (Pilot-In-Command) time. 

The next step is an airline transport pilot (ATP) certification, which qualifies a pilot for major airlines, but this licensure requires 1,500 hours of logged flight time as well as a number of other requirements. 

Is a PPL Enough?

Getting a PPL is a huge accomplishment, and for many people, the last license they’ll ever need. But if you want to have the option to be a pilot for hire, your options are very few with a PPL and you may want to consider taking aim at a commercial license.

Ready for a New Aviation Career?

Becoming a private pilot is a proud moment in any pilot’s career. Opportunities to earn money as a private pilot are a little more limited than with other types of licenses, but there are still many great ways to earn a salary as a PPL holder. The privileges of a private pilot license can give new pilots a way to make back money spent on training costs and experience different types of flight operations. 

Whether you already have a PPL or are just starting to look into flight training, there are many career options to explore as a private pilot and beyond.  

FAQ

Are private pilots in demand?

In general, though becoming a private pilot can open up select work opportunities, private pilots are not highly in demand. Most flying jobs prefer to hire commercial pilots because of the tighter restrictions and advanced level of training required to get a CPL. To become a competitive candidate, consider adding an instrument rating and working toward a commercial certificate.

How much does a private pilot make?

A private pilot salary can range from minimum wage to top dollar as a commissioned salesperson. How much a private pilot can make ultimately depends on the type of job and the pilot’s experience level.

Can a private pilot fly for an airline?

There are a few different types of pilots licenses an airline pilot needs to get before qualifying for that job. A private pilot cannot fly for an airline, but getting a PPL is a great first step to take toward becoming an airline pilot. 

The post What Jobs Can You Get With a Private Pilot License? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

My instructor, Emerson Stewart, signed me off at a uniquely charming grass field—Red Stewart Airfield (40I) in Waynesville, Ohio—named for its founder, Emerson’s grandpa “Red,” and operated continuously by succeeding generations of the Stewart clan since 1946. With my Cessna 180 in for annual, I was learning to fly again and taking the private pilot practical test in one of the Stewarts’ Cessna 150s. The painful nine-month hiatus—imposed by the FAA for my misbehavior— was finally over.

I don’t know if you remember your first solo as vividly as I do, but I was scared and sang an old spiritual at the top of my lungs as I made my way around the pattern at Lunken Airport (KLUK). So, in the ’50 at Waynesville, not scared but hugely joyful, I sang the same song to honor the memory: “My Lord, What a Morning.”

Red Stewart Field specializes in taildraggers, and from the air it looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting with Cubs and Champs, Stearmans, Taylorcrafts, and a couple gliders. Emerson lives down the road in a house with the front end of a Beech 18 in the yard. You can usually find his mom and dad, Cathy and Cub, in or
around the hangar.

Cub, an accomplished pilot and mechanic, was FAA National Maintenance Technician of the Year, and Cathy is widely known as a talented and sought-after airplane fabric recovering expert. Three airplanes displayed in the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, are Cathy’s restorations. I was especially proud when she let Emerson use her special fabric shears to cut off my shirt tail after successfully making it around the patch on my solo flight.

To say the least, it’s been a challenging nine months, kind of like being pregnant only different. Instead of morning sickness, I’d wake to the painful feeling of having lost something so important. And a pang every time I heard the roar of a jet taking off or an airplane flying over my house, which sits under the Lunken Airport traffic pattern.

But giving up was not an option, and the time wasn’t totally wasted. I studied for and took the private and instrument pilot knowledge exams. You don’t want to do that again! Even the private covered lots of territory I’d either never known or long ago forgotten—much of it not used or needed to safely and legally operate as a private pilot, in my opinion. The biggest challenge were the questions on risk management, scenario-based training, and other psychobabble devised by people who, I suspect, never darkened the cockpit of a real airplane. I guess I’m probably a mixture of “undesirable pilot personalities”; a little “anti-authority” combined with a healthy dose of “impulsivity” and spiced with feelings of “invulnerability.” But “macho,” no, I’ve never been interested in impressing anybody except myself (or an examiner). And certainly not “resignation.” You never, ever, throw up your hands and quit.

Through those nine months, I tried keeping my 1956 Cessna 180, N7772B, exercised by riding along as a passenger with friends who have 180 time. But it was a challenge. I found there was almost nobody around the airport who had 20 hours in a Cessna 180.

As you might have guessed, I’m crazy about airplanes— they’re pretty much my whole life. Being grounded gave me a sympathetic insight into pilots I know, who no longer fly because of medical issues. Don’t let this happen to you. Regardless of what class of FAA medical you currently hold, get a Basic Med signoff too. If you wait until you’re told you need a special issuance or your medical is outright denied, you are ineligible for Basic Med. I’ve known pilots who fought for years and spent huge sums trying to get a special issuance…and, yeah, I know some who’ve been denied and fly anyway. When asked, my best advice to them is, “Don’t, but, if you insist, don’t carry passengers; and if you have an accident, be prepared for a painful experience with the FAA, insurance companies, and maybe the law.”

The Stewart clan aren’t the only people I won’t forget. I took the knowledge exams at Dave McDonald’s Flamingo Air at Lunken, which offers almost everything aeronautical—sightseeing flights (“romantic” or not), ground schools, a flight school, and avionics and dispatch certification courses. It’s also an FAA-approved testing center.

One conundrum: With all my old certificates and ratings still listed in the FAA’s certification system, IACRA, how would I apply for a student pilot certificate? Flamingo’s Marty Partin is an expert at navigating this system, so I was there bright and early on the morning of December 1. It did crash a couple times in the process but Marty eventually got through, and I left clutching a student pilot certificate signed by an old friend, CFI Bill Greenwald. Sharon McGee, who runs the place, groaned when I returned with a box of Christmas candy and a calorie-laden cake to express my heartfelt thanks.

Right now, I’m finishing the three hours of dual, in preparation for the practical test with Emerson. This guy lives and breathes airplanes and is a joy to fly with. He, along with his father and daughter, Audrey, soloed gliders at 14. Cathy flew in the past, and Emerson’s son, Ace (what else?), almost 12, is waiting anxiously for his wings. It’s in their genes. Red, who started the airport, had no car so he flew daily back and forth to work in Dayton, landing in a field adjacent to the propeller plant.

The Lord works in curious ways. As painful as it was, my being grounded spread all over the aviation world, allowing me to reconnect with many old friends, people I’d flight-tested, old DC-3 buddies, and even total strangers.

Thanks, all of you, for keeping me going.

The post Second Solo appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

On the day you earn your private pilot certificate, a transformation takes place. You became a pilot when you soloed the airplane for the first time, but now you are a pilot recognized by the greater world. You’re able to do a lot with your new privileges. Maybe you have a few in mind, such as taking the special people who supported you through your training up for a flight or heading to your favorite vacation spot on wings instead of wheels.

But like many of us, once you tick through these initial, delightful firsts, you might find yourself searching for new ideas. If you’re not immediately jumping into the next rating, here are a handful of suggestions.

Spread Your Wings

It’s probably been recommended to you that, in order to take full advantage of your new certificate, you may need to check out in a slightly larger airplane than the one in which you took your training. Once you have a few hours of solo, post-check-ride time, step up into a Cessna 182, Piper Cherokee 235 or Six, or Diamond DA40. A few of those choices could involve a high-performance endorsement, but that’s pretty straightforward to achieve—and it unlocks the ability to fly something capable of carrying more than a friend or two at a time. You could go for a complex signoff as well and add a Piper Arrow or Cessna 210 to your repertoire, but insurance minimums might be a bit higher for these aircraft for a newly minted pilot.

If you’re looking to add to your stick-and-rudder skills—and you didn’t do your training in a conventional-gear airplane—it might be a good time to try a tailwheel mount. Lots of relatively low-cost options include the Piper Cub, the American Champion Citabria, a Glastar Sportsman or a Kitfox. You’ll take a little more time in the logbook to achieve the tailwheel endorsement, but the tradeoff will be an ease with flying and understanding of flight dynamics you never quite get flying nosewheel-equipped airplanes.

New ideas don’t always involve new airplanes, though. Often, it just takes a challenge to set you on course to cool flying. One you might try: flying to all of the airports in your state. In fact, some states offer a “passport” to pilots to collect stamps at each airport—such as Virginia’s Aviation Ambassadors Program—and learn more about aviation in their given locale.

Give Back

One of the best ways to make your time in the air purposeful is to volunteer for a worthy cause. The key lies in finding one close to your core values—and given the breadth of general aviation’s reach, that’s not hard.

Perhaps you’re an animal lover, and scenes of abandoned pups at the pound pull at your heartstrings. In certain regions of the country, there are typically more rescue-category pets than people to take them in. Light aircraft create a remarkable way to move these animals to areas where foster and forever homes are easier to find. There are several well-regarded organizations that arrange for their transportation by connecting pilots and aircraft with these pets, such as Pilots N Paws.

Maybe you kick into high gear following news of a natural disaster striking communities either locally or around the world. A number of groups coordinate the movement of supplies and people in and out of impacted regions, such as AeroBridge and Operation Airlift, which were both involved when Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Bahamas in August 2019.

Medical-transport flights organized by the folks at Angel Flight and Corporate Angel Network (to name just two) help patients reach doctor’s appointments and treatment centers from locations not readily accessed by the airlines—and with patients who sometimes cannot withstand the stress of commercial air travel.

Want to inspire the next generation to follow in your shoes? You can reach out and join your nearest EAA chapter and help out with the Young Eagles program. These flights give kids the opportunity to take a brief introductory flight and connect them with the resources to get started flying.

If you don’t yet meet the requirements to participate in these charitable flight operations, you can still make their minimums your goal—and give purpose to the hours you log toward helping others.

Find Flight Forums

Want to stick with flying? One key way to ensure you keep after it is to get together with other pilots, either face to face or virtually.

For real-world meetups, check out organizations such as the EAA, state aviation clubs, the Ninety-Nines and Women in Aviation, which all have local chapters depending on where you live.

To meet up in the virtual space, you can join online forums. Aviation forums cover a wide range of special topics and exist on a variety of channels. Knowing which deliver the best advice and community will help you steer clear of those who might derail your training with bad information.

Greg Brown’s Student Pilot Pep Talk Group on Facebook stands out above many, and it can be taken as an example of the right kind of forum in which to participate. With roughly 2,400 members, the group sticks closely to the goal of mentoring and providing mutual support for students, both from fellow students and flight instructors. Moderator (and founder) Greg Brown, a longtime CFI, keeps close tabs on the group to maintain an air of camaraderie and weeds out those who don’t contribute positivity, in the spirit of the group. Because it’s a private group, you’ll need to answer questions to join—but that helps to keep the conversations on track.

Other associations that specifically offer instructional tips and expert advice include SAFE (Society of Aviation and Flight Educators) and NAFI (National Association of Flight Instructors), which has just launched a mentorship program on its Facebook page. Both deliver information and contacts that may be useful to you as you seek an instructor or communicate with the one you’ve got. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the EAA, Women in Aviation and the Ninety-Nines also offer support and mentorship through their various channels.

If you’re training in a particular state, search in that state to find groups focused on aviation at the regional level. Students learning to fly outside the US can often locate a national group via Facebook that offers a country-specific aviation community and contacts that are useful for flight training in that country.

Airport-user groups form a category to check out on social media, and get even more specific to where you are flying and the challenges you might face at that airport or in that region. Various companies in the business of flight training can have groups as well, such as alumni or current-student groups within an aviation training organization—or groups like Russell Still’s Gold Seal Ground School group, which stays very active on training topics. It’s definitely worth looking up the flight school or company from which you’ve purchased training materials to see if they have a worthwhile forum to join. You may get marketed to, but you can also get some sound advice from people who really care about your success.

Flying also hosts its own Facebook page, and on it, you’ll find the latest news and aviation developments that might affect your training. Through Flying’s social media channels, you can contact the editorial staff to ask questions—and we’ll work to steer you in the right direction. Many of us are instructors as well as journalists, and we love to find answers for you.

Broader general aviation groups on social media tend to be more of a free-for-all, and unless you have a thick skin—or can distinguish the useless or bad info from the good stuff—you may want to steer clear. It’s a great way to kill time, watching someone’s latest stunt posted on YouTube, but that might be time better spent in focused study.

This story appeared in the Learn to Fly Special Issue of Flying Magazine

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