How many training hours to Certificate

[keith.b]

Certificate time frame

 

solo @ 12 hours

 

certificate @ 20 hours

 

Total hours to date 70

 

 

[eightyknots]

I had over 200 hours flying Hang Gliders & then another 70.1 hours for full PPL. My second flight after gaining my licence was from Hamilton to Nelson (NZ) with 169 NM over water. I was supremely confident & trusted the Lycoming 0360 in the C172 absolutely. I didn't have any Pax and it was my first real appreciation of how good ATC were, keeping me informed with advice on heading etc. Mode C Transponders rule. Set indelibly in my memory now. There was no GFPT in NZ so it was the full Nav, XC etc. I'm not sure whether there is a GFPT in NZ now. Conversion to low performance in a Gazelle was easy. It only took an hour or so but I still had to do the whole 5 so did a bit of sightseeing.

No, there still isn't.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

18.4 hours in Jabiru 55-922, including flight test. ( I cheated abit as I had flown a Drifter (solo),Javelin single seat(solo) , Huges lightwing (Dual) and a Piper tomahawk (Dual) seven years earlier for a grand total of between them of about 14 hours). Im not counting the 14 hours as they where 7 years earlier.

Hey Daz, I reckon your fourteen hours of "Previous" was probably an advantage, even thought you may not have recognised it as such at the time. Bit like the "Once you've ridden a bike" philosophy, even the most DENSE of us will remember SOME PART of earlier training, even if it's subconcious ! ! ! !

 

Even thought this may be a "One Off" I flew with my mate's Father in 2005, and he hadn't flown since WW2 - he used to fly Sunderland flying boats searching for U-Boats . . . I flew him in a Rans S6, and within a half hour, he was back in the saddle again, balanced turns, the lot ! ! ( Yes, I know I've posted this story before. . . .) but that is SIXTY YEARS of no flying as a pilot at all. . . . I believe that the grey matter always remembers something, even if it's just a bit of "Feel"

 

Anyway, you got that cert in a lot less hours than some guys I know. Well Done Mate !

 

Phil

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I'm not sure that a poll regarding hours to first solo is going to be a useful feature, ( I could be wrong. . . often am. . .) The reason I say this is that I'm sure there are many pilots, me included, who were lucky enough to get introduced to flight at a very early age, some of whom managed by luck, or damned hard work either sweeping out hangars, refuelling aeroplanes, painting sheds and other airfield "Geek" jobs to get into aircraft well prior to any official training for a flying qualification.

 

All experience in flying is GOOD experience and it's remarkable how much this builds the knowledge base in preparation for official training. I don't intend to go into my own very fortunate history of flight ( ! ) here, but suffice to say that when I finally started training with a remarkably nice man named Alan Basket at Casey Field Berwick Vic, in the early 1970's he climbed out of the C-150 and sent me solo after we'd flown for between six and seven hours total training time. Did this make me a brilliant student ? NO it didn't . . . as I'd already amassed over 250 hours in my school excercise book of unofficial "Hands On" flying AND INSTRUCTION with some really kindly aviators in several different types of powered aircraft, starting at the age of 7 yrs in my neighbour's Tiger Moth, . . .proceeding into my "teens" and been involved in weekend gliding with the Air Training Corps for some three years as well. . . BEFORE I went to a flying school ( after moving the family to Australia ) with enough money to pay for training.

 

So if you want a poll, . . . it really ought to have to have a field at the bottom, which says something like,. . . " How much experience had you got prior to formal flight training ? " as I firmly believe that ANY previous airex is a darned good start . . . otherwise the resulting poll data, whilst being possibly quite interesting and a bit of fun, wouldn't be of much practical accuracy in determining which of "us" is a dimwit, and who is the quickest or the BESTEST to solo . . . ! ! This would just be a "piddling up the wall" excercise methinks. ( I know, I know, I'm just a miserable sod . . .)

 

AND ANOTHER THING . ( ever so slightly off topic ! ) I often wonder if these one - month to get your PPL courses in Florida and South Africa are a good idea, with intensive briefings and flying every single day in the brilliant weather,. . . culminating in a shiny new PPL.

 

I mean. . . come on,. . . there's a heck of a LOT to learn if you really want to be good, all round, safe aviator,. . .I wonder how many pilots who have been trained in these intensive courses really believe that they have learned it all in a month of training to consider themselves well trained . . . . ? What does the caucus think ?

 

Phil

 

 

[68volksy]

It's just my impression but the pilots that have been trained in "crash" courses honestly believe they're the best pilots out there...

 

Anyone who is looking purely at "how many hours to licence" or "how quick can I get my licence" should be treated with extreme caution. They're so blatantly out of touch with the world of aviation that they should probably be sat down and talked through it all over a few cups of tea. Avoid at all costs the schools that promote the "crash" courses in aviation! The only thing they're after is dollars.

 

For me getting a licence is a by-product of simply enjoying flying, aircraft and sharing the passion with others of a similar mind. I have also learnt a great deal whilst right-seating with other pilots during fly-aways, day trips or local flights - an activity that is all too often forgotten at many schools.

 

 

[facthunter]

I've found that people who have built and flown model aeroplanes can often just about jump into a plane and fly it. This won't apply to everyone because the motion of the plane is an entirely new experience, that is reacted to differently by people.

 

I agree with Phil about not forgetting it once there is a well consolidated experience base in place. Some of the detail might elude you but the basics stay there. This is assuming that you ever were any good. I've met a few with a lot of time who should have done something else. ( Nervous on a FINE day we used to say). You will find them in any job, but you don't expect it in flying.

 

I don't think I have ever responded to listing my hours to anything because the external factors are considerable and the outcome not much related to the hours to solo. The red baron crashed three planes but was a big hit later. (That doesn't mean that everyone who crashes planes is going to be an "ace")

 

People who become unduly concerned with hours to solo don't do them selves or their instructors any favours.

 

Dual time is learning time and solo is consolidation.( When training)... Nev

 

 

[dazza 38]

Students who come from a earth moving background operating skid steer loaders, excavators etc. Generally find learning to control a aircraft easier, than peeps without machine operating experience IMO.

 

 

[kgwilson]

I said it somewhere on another forum but hours and experience are 2 totally different things. A crash course over a few weeks in good weather may get you your licence but you are a long way from the experience gained by doing the licence over months or years when weather conditions, aircraft, instructors and you, the trainee pilot, all change. Guess what you get some experience along the way. So long as the gaps between flights is not much more than a month or so the "Just like riding a bike" analogy kicks in.

 

For me the better pilot will generally be the one who persists over time.

 

 

[paulh]

Students who come from a earth moving background operating skid steer loaders, excavators etc. Generally find learning to control a aircraft easier, than peeps without machine operating experience IMO.

Interestingly a friend who has licences for and drives most vehicles - car boat motorcycle loaders forklifts excavators trucks right up to B Doubles says that learning to fly was by far the most challenging. A good mechanical appreciation certainly helps I think, but the extra dimension in the sky coupled with the secondary effects of controls etc is a whole extra level of learning.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I've found that people who have built and flown model aeroplanes can often just about jump into a plane and fly it. This won't apply to everyone because the motion of the plane is an entirely new experience, that is reacted to differently by people.Nev

Nev, I've posted a story about this one somewhere else on the forum. . . . My friend Andy Newman was one of those 5,000 hours on home simulator AND model aircraft enthusiasts, who I intoroduced to teh comforts of a C-152 and found that the bloke could actually FLY it ! ! ! Landings were interesting, but after the third attempt, the guy had GOT it nailed. . ., and I really mean that. . . Which is probably why the airlines use simulators ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!

 

Phil