7 Things Your Flight Instructor Won’t Tell You
March 08 2011 by 
John Zimmerman
No, I’m not suggesting that flight instructors lie or mislead students. Most are dedicated to making you the best pilot possible, and often they teach simply because they enjoy it. But there is so much information to pass along to a new student that some topics end up getting over-simplified or ignored. Occasionally, this means you don’t get the whole story.
None of these omissions are dangerous, but it’s worth considering what you might not hear. Here is my unscientific, random list of seven things to consider:
- You won't get your license in 40 hours. A good flight school will tell you this up front, but a surprising number try to hide it. While the FAA minimum number of hours required to earn a Private Pilot certificate is 40, very few people actually have a license in their hands at 40 (or even 45) hours. Plan on 60-70 hours for your training, and be pleasantly surprised if you do better than that.
- You could earn a Recreational license in about half that time. The vast majority of flight schools do not offer training for the Recreational certificate, and that’s a shame. A Recreational license gives you many of the same privileges of a Private, including: flying with a passenger, flying popular airplanes like the Cessna 172 or Piper Warrior, and flying to tower-controlled airports (with an endorsement). You can earn this license in 30-35 hours, and all of this time counts toward a Private license. It’s a great way to break up your training into manageable segments.
- Showing up unprepared for a lesson really bothers me. If you were taking one-on-one guitar lessons, you wouldn’t think of showing up for a lesson without practicing your music. The same should apply for flight training. Flying an airplane is 90% mental, so just because you don’t have an airplane in your living room doesn’t mean you can’t “practice” between lessons. Reading books, watching video or even listening to an aviation radio will make your flight lessons more efficient, more rewarding and more productive for your instructor. So if you’re not using a syllabus, use one!
- You need both pitch and power to control airspeed and altitude. There’s an endless debate about whether you control airspeed with pitch (the yoke) or power (the throttle). Like most of these either/or debates, the answer is really both. A smooth pilot coordinates pitch and power to manage the airplane’s glidepath, making small adjustments to both in order to stay on-speed and at the right altitude. Need to slow down 10 knots? Increase pitch for sure. But be prepared to adjust the throttle if you want to stay on glidepath.
- A good crosswind landing uses both a slip and crab. Another either/or debate that doesn’t make much sense. Sure there are exceptions, but a good crosswind landing usually starts with a crab on final, then transitions to a slip when over the runway. Learning both maneuvers, and when to make the switch, is the fun (and occasionally challenging) part of perfecting crosswind landings. Practice both.
- Decision-making is hardest on the ground. Aeronautical decision making (ADM) gets a lot of attention from the FAA, as it should. But while you’ll make lots of decisions in the air--do I have enough fuel to comfortably make my destination, am I below that cloud deck, etc.--the go/no-go decision you make before every flight is the most important. It’s also often the hardest decision, and that’s true for a brand new private pilot or a commercial pilot with an instrument rating. Some days it just doesn’t make sense to fly, and making that call when you want to go is tough.
- Flying will change your life in ways you haven’t considered. OK, so most flight instructors probably do say this in one form or another. But experienced pilots and CFIs alike often undersell the amazing things that happen when you become a pilot. You’ll notice practical things, like a new understanding of weather and physics. But many pilots also notice more fundamental changes, like overall increased confidence, discipline and purpose. These are the things that keep people flying, long after the flight from Point A to Point B becomes routine.
Do you agree or disagree? Are there things you wish your flight instructor would have told you?
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13 comments
Mar 10, 2011 at 5:46 PM
I agree with all of these except number one(for sure) and 1/2 of number 2. I had my sport pilot cert in 20.5 hrs(20 hrs is minimum). I had my private cert right at 40 hrs(my checkride took me to 40.75). It is very doable to get your cert and be very competent with the minimums but it requires serious study. If a flight school tells you you can't do it in less than 50-60 hrs, they are ripping you off. You may not do it in 40 hrs if you don't attack it like an animal, but that is on you. It can certainly be done.
Yes the recreational cert can be had for less time than the private but it is a complete joke and waste of time. Yes you can fly a four seat aircraft, but only for a short distance and only with 1 passenger. Why not get a sport pilot license for even less time invested and be able to cover the entire continental US including the Bahamas now also with 1 passenger. Better yet, make sure your sport pilot training is with a regular rather than sport pilot CFI and this time is also applicable toward your private pilot certificate. My sport pilot cert was $1,800(yes I paid $1,800 for a pilot's license) and applying that time toward my private pilot, it cost me only $2,700(including, not in addition to, the $1,800). Now I have an instrument rating and fly regular IMC in a Cherokee Six. Wake up general aviation, our numbers are dwindling. Embrace Light Sport, it may just save us.....
Mar 10, 2011 at 5:58 PM
Jason, I agree that you can get your Private in 40 hours, but the facts are 95% of student pilots (outside a university program) don't do it.
And don't be so quick to knock the Recreational. With a logbook endorsement, you can lift that 50nm restriction and take lots of cross-countries. Plus, the options for airplane ownership are outstanding--buy a Cherokee or a 172 for far less than a new LSA and get more performance too.
I'm not knocking the Sport Pilot license--it's a great thing and I wish more people acknowledged it. But don't write of the Recreational either.
Mar 10, 2011 at 6:42 PM
John, no argument with your post for the most part except utility of the recreational certificate. I contend that there is no more performance out of a 172(or a warrior, I am a piper guy) than most of the light sport. Most light sport cruise at 110-120 knots which is a stretch for a 172 and although a 172 can be had for cheaper(30 years old) it will burn more $$$ in gas than the SLSA which will cost more than the cost difference over the life of the airframe. Likely before that given the gas price issues going on. The Sport Pilot Certificate, in fact, was created specifically to address in the inadequacies and impracticality of the recreational certificate. I will go on record with you, my friend, and say I am in favor of ANY PILOT CERTIFICATE because it helps all of us as a community. I looked very hard at my options when I started and felt the Sport Pilot Certificate offered me more for less. (and if you look at rental prices for a 172 or Warrior, you cannot argue that it can be had for less than a sport pilot certificate because of the aircraft fuel savings).
Finally, I agree that most pilots take longer than 40 hours to get their certs, but as I said it is doable and I blame this equally on the student and the instructor. The students have become feeble(rather than driven like most of America) and the instructors have become complacent rather than enthusiastic(I had to teach many fellow pilots much of what I know because I went out and sought it on my own)
Mar 11, 2011 at 5:57 PM
Wasn't there a comment in a recent AOPA Flight Training magazine that the rules were somewhat vague about sport pilot hours being applicable to a private pilot license?
Mar 11, 2011 at 6:04 PM
@William Mooney- The initial Sport Pilot Rule said that all time toward a Sport Pilot Cert would be applicable toward any higher cert(Recreational and higher). They later stated that only time toward a sport pilot cert obtained BY A REGULAR CFI RATHER THAN A SPORT PILOT CFI could be used. This has recently been challenged by AOPA, EAA, NAFI and other groups and is being looked at again by the FAA. It is a really stupid interpretation to think someone who can fly an airplane would have to start at square 1 when working for a higher rating and it will almost definitely be overturned back to the original interpretation. Either way, you can protect yourself by getting your sport pilot flight training by a regular CFI. If you use a regular CFI, then all of your time can be applied to ANY higher rating or certificate.
Mar 11, 2011 at 6:08 PM
William, that issue only applies if the CFI doing the instruction is only a Sport instructor. If you're training with a "regular" CFI, all of your time would count towards a Private.
Mar 11, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Understood. I was worried about that so I have to "interview" my CFI closely.
I JUST got the Sporty's DVD kit for Private Pilot and plan on studying that as much as I can and going for actually flying closer to September of this year.
Mar 12, 2011 at 8:51 AM
Enjoyed article I think I had 50 hrs but several hrs just went up for fun. Could be done in 40 if you did what you needed to do. But why the best part of flying is the freedom to go up an enjoy the world from a different perspective.
Mar 12, 2011 at 5:41 PM
Hi John, thanks for the excellent article. I linked to it and made a couple comments in my Light Sport Hangar Blyin' blog for Plane & Pilot magazine. Keep up the good work, it's always good to expand everybody's mind around flight training: as you note, there's a lot of disinformation out there.
Mar 13, 2011 at 1:37 PM
The best advice I ever received from my Flight Instructor, Chuck Rettig, following my Instrument check ride, was that I now have a license to learn. While you can get your license in 40 hours by being prepared to make the most of every minute with your instructor, AND tons of study time off the Hobbs Meter, there is no substitute for experience. It's been said that you never really learn anything until you "screw up." The good pilots learn from the mistakes of others. The best pilots learn from the mistakes of their students.
Mar 19, 2011 at 3:35 PM
Motorglider,s can be flown without a Medical or failed with a failed FAA medical.
Light sport can only be used if you have not failed a
faa medical.
I took 58 hrs to get my license and the extra 18 was fun and worth it.
Spinns were introduced at 200 hrs = should have been learned at 60 = great confidence builded for me.
Mar 21, 2011 at 12:32 AM
Enjoyed the article guys keep up the god job this is god for our General Aviation community
Mar 30, 2011 at 2:52 PM
Enjoyed the discussion. I tell my students to plan on getting their private if they can fly a minimun of once a week. I can back that up with proof. If you plan on getting your private, ignore the rec. license. The money spent on the additional knowledge test, flight review prep, and checkride fees will pay for the rest of your training to complete your private. And last, who can afford a Light Sport aircraft? Everything except the really fun, really limited J-3 starts at $120K. C-150s can be purchased all day long for $15K- C-172s for $35.