TRAINING AIRCRAFT

[**DONOTDELETE**]

DOES IT MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE, IF ANY, BASED ON THE TYPE OF AIRCRAFT YOU USE TO GET A PRIVATE PILOT CERTIFICATE? IF YOU LEARN TO FLY IN A CESSNA AND THEN YOU GO TO A SCHOOL THAT USE A DIFFERENT KIND OF AIRCRAFT, SAY PIPER AIRCRAFT HOW EASY WILL THE TRANSITION BE?

WILL IT BE VERY BENIFICIAL TO GET A PRIVATE PILOTS LICENCSE FROM AN FBO BEFORE GOING TO A BIG SCHOOL SUCH AS FLIGHT SAFETY TO DO THE REMAINING TRAINING?

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

[Acadia]

I did my PVT flying a C-172. After 80 or so hours of high wing time it only took me a few hours in a Cherokee to get comfortable with the switch. Unless you fly something very different than the standard trainers you should have no problems converting.

On where to get your private. I decided to get my private at a smaller school before going to FSI. I wanted to be certain that flying long term was for me before investing in the rest of my education. When I arrived at FSI I found that I was more than prepared to join the commercial program. Just be sure to study up and know your PVT material inside and out before you arrive.

As an after thought I think doing a PVT at FSI would have driven me crazy. It seems very slow paced and there is very little solo time built into the PVT section (Step 1). It is also very expensive (even by FSI standards). I want to say that the PVT portion costs you over 10k. I think there are less than 40 hours of flying built into that cost!

[Timbuff10]

I second that thought. When I talk to most of these aviation schools (FSI, Comair...etc) they all say that I should do my PPL there at the school because "ther is no sense in learning habits that you will have to break" and also "starting here gets you more acquainted with our program". For a while I was thinking these guys were right but the more I looked into it, the more I totally understand that these places are businesses and they are trying to make money, not that I blame them for this.

Anyways, my plan is to get my PPL at a local FBO for about $6,000 as opposed to the over $10,000 at a big school. Once I am done with the PPL I will know a ton more about all these schools and hopefully be able to make a better, more educated decision.

The point is, a PPL is a PPL and you have to decide if you want to rush through it at a higher cost at a academy or if you want to take your time and learn more about flying before you take out a loan for $60,000 and be owned by a bank.

Tim Graduating CU- Boulder in may and then off to get my PPL

[chunk75]

It's so common for FSI students to come with a PPL, they have a class, "Private Audit", for these students.

Chunk <-----He's BAACCCKKK!!!!

[davetheflyer]

I've flown and taught in both Pipers and Cessnas and it is not a big deal to transition between the two.