THE MOVE FORWARD

The purpose of this document is to help you to become aware of the fact that your dream of flying can be achieved.  It may have been a life long dream, but it doesn’t have to take the rest of your life.

After I began my flight training, guys would come up to me as I performed my preflight inspections, to question me about the different aspects of flight training, and the costs involved.  Some of those men were not much older than I was at the time.  Some of the guys were a little older, some were a little younger, but they all had that same dreamy wishful expression on their faces that I was very familiar with.

This document will show you “How You Can Fulfill Your Dream of Flying.”   It will show you what strategy I used to get started.  And I believe that what I did to fulfill my dream of flying will also help you to fulfill yours.

DREAMS:  THE STUFF LIFE IS MADE OF

Almost every pilot I talked to had one thing in common; they all seemed to have developed the desire to fly somewhere around early elementary school years.  I don’t understand why, but that is the same time the desire to fly first struck me.  There was a TV program that aired in the late nineteen-fifties called Steve Canyon.  It was about a military soldier who found himself in new and wonderful adventures, sometimes involving his jet fighter.  It was a very exciting program, and it captured my imagination.  From that time on, at every opportunity, I would tell my mother that I wanted to be a jet pilot.

As the years moved along, that desire grew more intense.  However, for some unexplainable reason, my life did not move in that direction.  Somehow, I developed the idea that in order to realize my desire to fly, I would have to be of super intelligence.  Perhaps that idea had a bearing on the path I eventually took, but the desire never left me.

I was into my mid-twenties when one of my co-workers, an accountant who worked on the second floor of the company I worked for at the time, shared with me his desire to fly.  Taking it one step further, he showed me a curriculum of the flight school he was going to attend, complete with cost and a step-by-step list of each portion of his training.  He was kind enough to make me a copy of that curriculum, and from that day on, the desire to fly became a dream that burned with increasing intensity throughout the waning years.  An airplane could not fly over head without my noticing; day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, for years.  It was frustrating to want to do something so badly, but had no idea of how to reconcile the cost of flight training with my other financial obligations.  And yet, the fire of that dream raged relentlessly out of control to the point where my dreams of flying were not relegated to the night, but flowed over into the daytime hours as well.  Those dreams became so real to me, that I began to imagine myself as a pilot.

Sitting down one day in a quiet place, I asked myself a series of questions:  What do I know about airplanes?  What do I know about aerodynamics?  What do I know about the costs that go into flight training?  What kind of an aircraft do I want to fly...a single engine... a twin engine?  And the most important question of all...How do I get started?  Someone once said, “A journey of a thousand miles starts with one single step.”  Somehow, I was going to have to take that step, and that it was going to have to be a big one.

PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

There is nothing in life that one can successfully accomplish without setting goals.  That’s basic, and I know that you’re aware of that.  Setting goals, as you know, involves making plans for the future.  You’re here today, where do you want to be tomorrow?  In order to effectively plan for the future, there are some things you’re going to have to do:

·         Get information

·         Determine a course of action

·         Set your goals

Get Information

Getting information can be as simple as going to your favorite bookstore to look for reading materials related to flying.  There are several magazines and books to choose from; among these are Flying and Plane &  Pilot magazines, and Your Pilot’s License by Joe Christy and Jerry A. Eichenberger, published by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  Flying and Plane & Pilot are just two of the many excellent magazines on the market today that will give you in-depth information on flight safety, test flight information on new or refurbished aircraft, weather information as well as navigation techniques, and also, the latest on avionics and other aviation products on the market. These magazines are also an excellent source to get up-to-date information on upcoming seminars, fly-ins, scheduled competition programs and other upcoming aviation functions.  Your Pilot’s License is an excellent book on things having to do with aviation; from flight schools and instructions, to the basics of take-off and landings, navigation techniques, stalls and spins, just to name a few.  This book will give you enough information to begin planning for your future as a licensed pilot.

One more thing.  There are two basic avenues you can take toward your flight training: as a member of a flying club, or through a local fixed base operator.  Check the telephone listings in your local telephone directory for any flying clubs in your area.  You will find, as a general rule, that flying clubs will cost you less than you would pay through a fixed base operator (FBO).  How much less?  Before I began my flight training in the early nineteen-nineties, I first called an FBO.  The representative I talked to quoted fifty  dollars an hour for the aircraft rental, and twenty-five dollars an hour for the flight instructor’s fee.  I later contacted an area flying club, and the price that was quoted was much better.  I was quoted forty dollars an hour for the aircraft rental, and fifteen dollars an hour for the instructor’s fee.  Those prices, of course, were member fees; and that meant that I first had to become a member.  Some flying clubs require a joining fee, plus the first month dues; which ranges dramatically between the different clubs.  The club I joined, required a joining fee of two hundred dollars (refundable upon termination of my membership), and the first month membership dues of fifteen dollars a month.  The type of aircraft you choose to fly will also have a bearing on the cost of the rental.  My club has several aircrafts ranging in rental fees from forty dollars an hour for a Piper Cherokee 140, to one hundred sixty dollars an hour for the Piper Seneca, a twin engine airplane. 

Determine A Course of Action

Now that you have some information about airplanes, and possible training avenues to take, the next step on your journey is to decide what you’re going to do; a course of action.  Like most things in life, there are more than one way to handle a situation that may come up in the everyday scheme of things.  Likewise, on your journey to achieve your dream of flying, there are several things to consider.  What type of flying do you want to do?  Do you want to be a recreational type pilot, flying only on weekends when things are sunny and delicious?  Or, do you want to be a private pilot with skills that would take you through the rock-n-roll of true aviation life?  How far will your dream of flying take you...all the way to the captain’s chair of a major airlines?

There are five different pilot certificates:  student pilot, recreational pilot, private pilot, commercial pilot, and the airline transport pilot.  As a student pilot, you will begin to learn the basics of aerodynamics, and the different procedures used in controlling the airplane.  As a commercial pilot, you would have earned the privilege of flying for hire.  An airline transport pilot certificate is what you’re going to need if your dream of flying includes flying for a major airlines.  For our purpose, we’re going to limit our discussion to the recreational and the private pilot certificates, because fulfilling your dream of flying will take you to one of those two places first, once you’ve completed the student pilot phase.

The Recreational Pilot Certificate will limit you to carry no more than one passenger, and would require that your aircraft is certified for no more than four occupants, has only one power plant (single engine), with no more than 180 horsepower, and the airplane must be such that the landing gear is “fixed”  in the down position.  Also, in order to receive your recreational pilot certificate, you must receive and log a minimum of thirty hours of flight training, including three hours of which will be solo in the aircraft for which the certificate is sought.

The Private Pilot Certificate is more intensive, and requires a minimum of forty hours of fight training; which includes twenty hours of dual instruction, and twenty hours of solos.  The solo flights will include a cross-country flight of 150 nautical miles with full stop landings at a minimum of three points.  Also, there are no limits on the number of passengers a private pilot may carry.  With the proper ratings, a private pilot may fly airplanes with more than one power plant, which may exceed the 180 horsepower limitation of the recreational pilot.

For more information, refer to Federal Aviation Regulations/Aeronautical Information Manual, purchased from any aviation pilot shop or FBO. Also visit the website of the Federal Aviation Administration (www.faa.gov).

Set Your Goals

Now that you’ve gotten the information that you need to get started on your journey, and you’ve decided on a course of action, the only thing you need to do now is to set your goals.  Map out a strategy, a route, to your destination by asking yourself these questions:  When do I want to begin fight training?  And, How much will it cost?  Answering those two questions will give you what you need to begin your journey.

Let’s say you want to begin flight training two years from now.  You’ve made some phone calls to area flight training schools or flying clubs, and learned that the average time of training for the private pilot certificate will be somewhere around sixty hours, and, that the average cost will be a total of  $3,780 dollars ($15.00/hour instructor’s fee + $48.00/hour aircraft rental x 60 hours total training = $3,780.00).  Next, determine the number of paydays in two years.  If you’re paid twice a month, that will be twenty-four (24) paydays/year x two (2) years = forty-eight (48) total paydays.  Now, dividing $3,780.00 (total cost of training) by the total number of paydays (48) will give you the amount of money you’ll need to lay aside each pay day; in this case, $78.75.  Better yet,  round it up to an even $80.00 per pay.  Put this into an interest bearing account for two years, and you’ll have the finances you need to complete your flight training without having to temporarily suspend them for a lack of funds, as I’ve seen others do.

STAY WITH THE PLAN

Now that you’ve finally started on your journey toward the fulfillment of your dream of flying, please don’t allow yourself to be distracted.  Stay on course.  Don’t be tempted to get started before your financial goal is met.  Read as much aviation material you can.  Join aviation associations, such as, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (www.aopa.org) or Experimental Aircraft Association (www.eaa.org).  Continue to dream as never before.  See yourself in that cockpit.  Hear that engine rev up as it screams down that runway.  Feel the exhilaration, as that airplane lifts off the runway; climbing higher and higher, as the earth seems to fall away beneath you.  Believe me, there’s nothing on the earth like it.