Tips to Save Time & Money during Flight Training

The number 1 question I get asked is how student pilots can pay for and save money for flight training. It makes sense, it is expensive. So How Can you Save Money? If you're anything like me… I wanted my money to last me as long as possible. Believe it or not there are actually quite a few things you can do to save money and if you take the time to do them and plan ahead it can really make a difference. I mean, we are talking $1000s in savings which could determine whether you can actually afford to become a pilot or not. So, I decided to write a lesson on tips to save time and money during flight training that has some information that can really make a difference...

Use an online ground school

Having an online ground school will save you hundreds of dollars at a minimum. The right ground school can mentor your and provide you value throughout your flight training journey to save you $1000s. Typical in-person ground schools range from $600 to $1200 while online ground schools range from $250 to $400.

So what should you look for an in online ground school? I have created a list of the features that are most important to your success as a student pilot. Look for an online ground school with the following:

• Lifetime Access
• Life Happens. Your plans may change and ground training may take longer than expected such that you wouldn't want a monthly or yearly membership to something.
• Licensed pilots are required to review ground material every 2 years. Having a lifetime membership allows you to not only meet this requirement from the FAA but also keep yourself safe, competent and sharp in the skies.
• Ability to get your Questions answered
• Every online ground school is going to advertise that they will be available for your questions 24/7. But they wont tell you if these answers will be short, generic or copy and pasted answers or if they wont get back to you for two days.
• The only way to know if a ground school has good customer service and mentorship is to read reviews from other students. You can read them on reputable review sights like google or TrustPilot.
• Test Prep materials & Downloads
• A ground school should include everything you need. A ground school should not require you to buy extra books and material to prep for the FAA Written exam.
• Look for ground schools that include flash cards, practice tests, test prep book downloads and more
• Written, Video and Audio lesson
• Everyone learns best in different ways. For example, my wife learns best watching videos while I learn best reading an article or listening to a podcast or audio lesson.
• Look for a ground school that not only has the format you learn best in but one that has MULTIPLE formats. Because when you combine all 3 formats, the comprehension skyrockets!

Do an online ground school BEFORE you start your training

Doing this gives you the essential foundation in your flight training, It is much more difficult to try and understand the fundamentals as you're flying at 120 knots trying to maintain the aircraft. If you do your studying before you get to the plane, things will click better and faster. Furthermore, splitting up ground and flight training will allow for a less stressful learning environment which will give you the best chance to succeed. In fact, not knowing your ground knowledge once you get past about 10 hours of flight training is the number 1 reason for added costs to flight training and the number 1 reason student pilots fail to become a pilot.

It truly blows my mind that there are instructors or flight schools out there that send student pilots out on solo flights without having the ground knowledge completed. Find a ground school that teaches you not only how to pass the FAA Written but also prepares you for your flight lessons and beyond. This will give you the best chance to succeed. When you do this before you start flight training you make things infinitely easier on yourself!

Look for scholarships online!

There are many scholarship opportunities for student pilots if you know where to look. And with the current pilot shortage there are more and more popping up everyday. At Part Time Pilot we run a facebook group that posts upcoming scholarship opportunities from around the US. In our free Become a Pilot training we will also show you a complete list of these opportunities shortly.

PLEASE for the love of god do not say to yourself "I never win these things" or "it's not worth applying for". You have no idea how wrong that is. How do I know this? Because I go through hundreds of applications every 3 months for the Part Time Pilot scholarships we give out to our ground school members. Every summer, fall and winter we give out a $1000 scholarship to one of your students and every spring we donate $1000 as the start of a crowd funded, larger scholarship give-away. All the members of our Online Ground School are eligible to apply with a short online application. However, only about 20 out of every 100 students actually takes the time to fill out this short application. Then, out of the 20 students that do, only about 4 of these students put more than the minimal effort into their answers. Most of the students who fill out the application put one or two word answers. I skip everyone of these applications and only spend my time on the people who actually made an effort.

That means out of every 100 students only 4 are taking the time to apply for scholarships and actually put in the effort to provide detailed answers on the application. So if you were thinking that too many people apply to these things and you will never have a chance... you have never been more wrong. If you just apply... that's it, apply... you will be in the top 20% of student pilots. Then, if you actually put some effort and emotion into your application you will be in the top 4%!!! So please, apply and do so as if you expect to win!

Airline Reimbursement & Bonus Programs

We covered this in our How to Pay for Flight Training lesson which you can read here and see which airlines are offering these programs. But to summarize, airlines will offer reimbursement or bonus programs in exchange for you working with them. In a reimbursement program the airline will reimburse you for some of your training and in a bonus program they will give you a signing bonus to help you pay off your flight training or any loans you took out to pay for flight training.

Find a School & Instructor that Treats you as a Priority

We covered a lot of this in the How to Find a Flight School lesson which you can read here. But making the decision on the right flight school can be one of the most important decisions you can make for your training. Think back to elementary school or high school... What was your favorite class? My guess is that it coincides with your favorite/best teacher. It is amazing the impact can have on a student's ability to learn and the student's overall perspective and attitude towards a subject. Flight training is no different.

Make sure the school has the type of traits you would look for in a friend, mentor, parent, teacher, etc.. Are they honest? Do they care about your finances and well-being? Is you flight instructor just there to build hours? These are the types of things you want to look for as it can end up saving you from a lot of hassle, wasted time and wasted money.

ALWAYS be Prepared for your Flight

Remember, you pay your flight instructor per hour. In order to save the most money you want to make sure as many of those hours as possible are spent in the airplane taxiing and flying. This is why we tell you to do ground school first so you don't have to spend time doing any 1 on 1 ground lessons. The one other thing that doing ground school first does for you is that it allows you to spend your time at home the night prior or just before your flight to prepare for the upcoming flight. This includes making flight plans, filing flight plans, creating kneeboard notes, checking charts, gathering airport information and chair flying your lesson (more on this later). When you don't need to spend your nights and free time studying ground school, you can spend it preparing for your flights so that your flights go smoother. This results in less mistakes and less lesson redos.

Chair Flying... Chair flying is when you sit in a chair or a simulator if you have it and going through the flight lesson you will be performing the next day. This includes going through all your preflight and before takeoff checklists, taxiing, making radio calls, visualizing maneuvers, navigating and more. I am a huge believer in visualization. When you do something in your mind before you do it... your mind does not understand that you haven't done it yet. In your mind's eye, you've already done it.

Don't Save your AvGas

If your flight school is like most than the rental of the aircraft includes the use of fuel. This is when the hourly rate is considered a "wet" rate. Therefore, when flying to your practice area with your instructor or flying on cross-country flights you want to focus on maximizing your time and not your fuel. For example, if you are flying 15 nm away to a practice area to practice maneuvers with your instructor, don't fly at 70% RPM, fly at as high as RPM as you safely can, pitch down to maintain attitude and speed up! You will get to the practice area faster and have more time to practice. Similarly, on cross-country flights you want to do the same. Just be cognizant that you will want to factor in using more fuel into your calculations so that you are sure to have enough (use best power performance charts instead of best economy, for example). By using Best Performance instead of Best Economy configurations you can save little bits of time here and there which can add up in the end.

Extra Practice... when you can

There may be times when you are with your instructor that your planned flight lesson activities end early. Instead of getting down early, use this time to practice any maneuvers you may need help with. You will need to do this in a safe area or practice area that your instructor is okay with but if you need to practice maneuvers why wait for another flight when you will have to preflight the aircraft, taxi, takeoff and do all that work to get in the air again? On top of that, so many things can cancel a flight and it could be days or weeks until you get up again... Maximize all your time in the air.

DON'T Pay Your Instructor to Drink Coffee

The Number 1 way student pilots waste money is by paying their flight instructors to drink coffee!!! Huh? Let me explain.

I paid for my instructor to drink coffee too many times before I realized what I was doing wrong. How and why the heck did I do this? Well, it wasn’t on purpose. Instead, it was poor planning and scheduling on my part. Before every flight lesson, you will be required to pre-flight the aircraft. If you perform this pre-flight check while you have your instructor scheduled to be with you, you will pay him/her to sit and drink coffee or whatever they do while you are performing the pre-flight… my instructor would go help other students study so I was essentially paying for other students to get help (AHHHH).

You can perform this pre-flight inspection as soon as the aircraft is available. You do not have to wait for your scheduled time with the aircraft as long as the previous flight on the schedule has finished. Therefore, you can get to the airport 20-30 minutes early to perform the pre-flight before your scheduled time begins.

Alternatively, if it is unlikely that you will be able to get to the aircraft before your allotted time, then do not schedule your instructor until 30 minutes into your aircraft’s scheduled time. This way you will be able to finish the pre-flight before your instructor arrives. Then, once he/she arrives you can get straight to your flight and waste no time and no money doing so.

Train in the SAME Aircraft

A super easy way to make flight training easier on yourself is to fly the same airplane for all your training flights... and your Checkride!

Most flight schools will give you the impression that all the aircraft in their fleet are essentially the same such that if the aircraft you normally fly is downed for maintenance you can just fly on one of the other aircraft. THIS IS NOT TRUE. I learned this the hard way. Each aircraft has a different set of equipment. Each aircraft has a different weight. Each aircraft engine provides a different amount of power. Each aircraft has a different amount of drag. Each aircraft has different quirks in its instruments and equipment. And more!

Not only do these differences make it difficult to perform precise maneuvers and landings but it also adds an additional thinking element to your flights. The more you have to think about it, the harder it is to fly. You always want your mind as quiet as possible and to always stay ahead of the aircraft mentally when flying. Changing aircraft will bring up subtle differences that manifest themselves in many ways that will make you less comfortable and less likely to succeed to the best of your abilities.

If possible, fly with the same aircraft at all times. It will be inevitable that your aircraft of choice is downed. In this case, find a backup aircraft that feels and handles as close to your original aircraft as possible.