Actual cost and time commitment to become a pilot

I recently completed an intro package to flying and I learned a lot about what it takes to become a pilot. I’m documenting the steps along with the money and time needed because I couldn’t find a realistic viewpoint anywhere else.

Steps

1. Complete Ground School Training (classroom instruction)
2. Pass written FAA exam
3. Complete Stage 1 Flight Instruction: basic maneuvers, take offs, landings
4. Complete Stage 2 Flight Instruction: cross country flying, solo flights
5. Complete Stage 3 Flight Instruction: high performance maneuvers, non-standard take offs and landings
6. Medical exam
7. FAA oral exam
8. FAA flight exam

None of this has to be done within a certain amount of time, although the written FAA exam results are only good for 2 years, so if you take longer than 2 years going through steps 3-8 you’ll have to take it again.

Initial Cost

• Ground School Training – $225
• Books, flight calculators and accessories – $500.
• Aircraft rental – average of 60 hours at $125/hr – $7500
• Flight instruction (gotta pay for instructors time too) – 40 hours at $50/hr – $2000
• Tests – $500

Overall it should take about $10,000 to receive your pilot certificate. I’m told that there are several ways to bring the cost down, such as if you need to travel for work you can write that off, or if you take a group of friends somewhere you can split the cost with them (although you cannot charge people for flights, as you need a commercial license to do that).

Initial Time

• Ground school training – 3 months of 2 nights/week
• Flight time – about 60 hours. Most schools say you can get it done in 35 hours, but no one has ever known anyone to do it that quickly. Average is 50-70 hours. Although this does not expire, the quicker you do this the better, otherwise more of your subsequent lessons will be focused on review. Recommendation is to do 1-2 hour flights per week. Flight time includes taxiing.
• Studying for tests – not sure, every student is different, but plan on time for this too.

Maintaining Your Pilots License

• FAA requires 3 landings every 90 days. Some flight clubs will require more (usually 5 landings every 90 days).
• FAA Flight Review every 2 years. This includes 4 hours of classroom instruction, 1 flight, and a medical exam.