How Long does it Take to Get your Private Pilot License?

Another common question I get asked is "How long does it take to get your private pilot license?". Like most questions about flight training the answer isn't simple... it depends. So let's make some assumptions. Let's assume that ground school studying is a total of 55 hours and the total number of flight hours to get your license is 65 hours (close to national average).

One of the biggest hurdles in a student pilot's flight training is studying the ground knowledge and doing the ground preparation before a flight. This is another reason Part Time Pilot recommends doing ground training before flight training because you will have enough to do on the ground in preparation for each flight... you don't need to add ground school. If you show up to a flight lesson unprepared or with mistakes in your flight plan or not having reviewed the ground material your instructor is going to notice. And your instructor is going to need to spend more time on the ground which will end up costing you more. Why study with your paid instructor when you can do it for free at home? Use your instructor to answer the questions on things you can't quite figure out. 

Most students look at the long list of subject areas that they need to know in the Private Pilot Airmen Certificate Standards (ACS) and become overwhelmed. "How am I ever going to learn all this?" "Am I even cut out to become a pilot?" And these thoughts end up causing us to procrastinate and put off studying. So what is the solution? The solution I have used for many, many years with great success is the following:

• Split up what you need to study into small incremental parts (each subject from the ACS for example)
• Use a calendar to black out a small sliver of time each and every day for you to study
• It can be as small as 30 minutes but the key is to do it every day and be consistent
• Why not study in the morning for an hour while you sip your coffee
• You can even write big X's on the calendar on the days you study or better yet write in the subject areas that you studied. 
• Keep track of the subjects you have mastered (they are stored in your memory), the ones you still need a little work on, and the ones you still have no idea on
• When you master a subject, give yourself a pat on the back
• When you cross off a subject from the list of items you need to learn you now know that you are just that much closer to your end goal

When you do this the studying quickly becomes less of a chore and more of a mission. Each day you will start to cross off one subject after another and slowly step towards your main objective of being fully prepared for your FAA Written or practical checkride. 

To help you with this planning tip I have developed the following table to give you an idea of how long it would take you to study the required ground material for a Private Pilot Written Exam and to fly an average of 65 flight hours before a checkride. For example if you study 1/2 hour a day during your morning coffee and fly once a week you can expect the studying to take about 4 months and the flight training to take about 11 months. This really isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. This shows the power of consistency.

Part Time Pilot recommends following the last column which is the number of months it takes to do ground training and flight training separately. Ground training first, followed immediately by flight training will make flight training easier and more affordable:

Tips to Get your Pilot's License as Quickly as Possible

It's true that if you fly under Part 141 the total minimum number of hours is 35 and if you fly under Part 61 the total minimum number of hours is 40. But the average student pilot will take much longer than this. In fact, the national average is between 70 and 75 hours. This is because there are additional requirements you must meet (which we talk about here) and several of those requirements require that your flight instructor provide you an endorsement that says you are ready to train for that next step. Therefore, a lot of your progress is up to how your flight instructor thinks you are doing.

The other reason it takes many more hours than the minimum is because the less often you fly, the longer it takes to master the skills your flight instructor is looking for to endorse you to the next step. And sometimes we can't always fly a lot because, well... life happens! Many student pilots, especially in today's economy have to maintain a full time job or being a full time parent. This means they may not be able to fly twice a week or even once every week and it will naturally take them longer to perfect the required skills. Another common factor is for students to pay for flight training on a paycheck to paycheck basis such that they can only train when they have the money. And again... life happens. Sometimes we have to pay for car maintenance or hospital bills or other unexpected things that means we don't have the money to pay for flight training until the next paycheck.

So how do we avoid taking longer than necessary to get our pilot's license and actually finish it closer to the minimum number of hours? Because the less hours, the less cost. Well, the MOST EFFECTIVE way to finish your flight training in as little hours as possible is by avoiding interruptions in training.

The MOST EFFECTIVE way to finish your flight training in fewer hours is by avoiding interruptions in training

As mentioned above you have to rely on your fight instructor endorsing you through different steps of your training (solo, cross-country, cross-country solo, night, checkride prep, etc.). Your instructor is not going to endorse you unless they feel you are proficient enough in the necessary skills needed for the next step in your training. Attaining proficiency requires consistent practice and NO INTERRUPTIONS in your training. For example, if you practice soft field and short field takeoffs and landings for two flight lessons and you are THISSSS close to mastering them but then you take a week or two off from practice... you are going to lose your touch, feel and proficiency and have to complete another lesson or two getting it back.

You have to remember that your flight instructor and flying club are trying to make money. Now, not all flight instructors or flight schools are like this but it is a grave mistake to believe that your flight school is out there doing all they can to save you money. In fact, it is usually the opposite. They are incentivized to get you to fly more than the minimum amount of hours and you cannot rely on them to keep you on track and make sure you're staying proficient. This doesn’t mean it is impossible to get your license in the minimum amount of hours but in order to accomplish your training near the minimum amount of hours you will need to:

Research the flight school you will be receiving your training

• Getting into a flight school without doing the research will likely bring surprises that end up costing you money.
• Things like extra requirements, poor instruction, crowded schedules, and instructor turn-around are things you can find out about ahead of time.
• We will talk more about how to choose the right flight school soon

Clear your schedule as much as possible for 4 months

• We want to avoid interruptions to our training as much as possible. Interruptions will cause us to lose proficiency in a skill and have to redo lessons. This means repeated flight training hours and added costs
• By making sure you have a solid 4 months of no vacations, work trips, major life events, sicknesses, bad weather or other events that will cause delays in your flight training you can give yourself the best chances at success

Require the minimum amount of 1 on 1 ground instruction

• If you are not up to speed on the ground knowledge for a flight lesson you are about to take it is your instructors job to teach you that ground knowledge before you fly. This means you will have to do 1 on 1 ground sessions at $50/$60/$70 an hour
• Avoid these situations by being 100% confident in your ground studies and completing a ground school before flight training
• If your instructor starts to do ground training with you, tell them you already did ground school and they can quiz you on the subjects real quick instead of wasting both your time on the ground
• Complete your FAA Written before you even begin flight training or right after you begin your first couple flight lessons. Having the Written complete and having a good score will give your instructor more confidence that you know what you are doing
• At Part Time Pilot prepare students not only to pass the Written with a high score but also for their flight lessons
• Staying ahead of the aircraft mentally is the BEST way to avoid mistakes during flight lessons and impress your flight instructor. Ground knowledge is the key to doing this.

Fly every single week

• You can’t miss weeks because it will lead to having to review material and re-do maneuvers for your instructor to see your proficiency
• This happens to even the best pilots and the only cure is flying more consistently. Remember, interruptions in training = more hours and more $$.
• This means you need to think ahead in terms of scheduling your aircraft
• In some flying clubs scheduling an aircraft can be extremely difficult, especially on a nice sunny day
• Make sure you are scheduled at least 3-4 times per week with always 1 backup day in case weather turns on you

Have the money or a large portion of it saved up

• We want to avoid paying paycheck to paycheck. As mentioned previously, if we need to wait for a paycheck to do a flight lesson we are almost guaranteeing an interruption in our training. Something always comes up that will require our extra cash for the paycheck period (car problems, doctor's visits, kids, bills, etc.)
• So instead, pick a date to start flight training in the future and start saving as much as you can so that you can start flight training with a lump sum that you can draw from
• I know not all of us have the luxury of saving every paycheck but the more you can save up, the better

In Summary

Part Time Pilot has seen 1000s of students go through private pilot training from start to finish. Over the years we have seen students complete their training in around 40-50 hours while we have seen others complete it in 80-100 hours. The key difference between these two groups is that the students who had completed their training in fewer hours ALL HAD A PLAN consisting of all the things we just mentioned.

They set a date several months to even a year in advance to start their flight training. They cleared their schedule for 3-5 months after this date to completely dedicate their free time to flight training. They started saving as much money as possible while they began our Online Ground School months before beginning flight training. They got a complete and comprehensive understanding of the ground knowledge, passed the FAA Written exam and THEN started their flight training. Now, they had the knowledge, the time, and some money to give flight training their best shot. They were able to completely focus all their mental effort solely on flight lessons and it paid off. The lessons went smoother and less lessons were needed to become proficient. They schedules multiple flights a week and had backups for weather and aircraft maintenance events.

When these students show up to their flight lessons prepared with the knowledge and a plan... it gives their instructors the confidence to get them through their training as fast as possible. On the other hand, students who are NOT prepared and do not have a plan... give their instructors nothing to be confident about and every reason to be nervous about endorsing their student for the next step in their training.