Robert Simpson wrote:

This is a newbe question from someone who is thinking about beginning
flight training.

I see it took about 9 months from first flight to solo, 7 more months to
the check ride and about 26 months total to accumulate 200 hours and
begin IFR instruction. Is this pretty close to the time it usually takes
to get to these milestones?

Robert,

For me, a lot of factors came into play for the time frame on training.

The biggest factor was the availability of my flight instructor. He
only tought on weekends. So, I flew basically once a week. Weather is
a major factor, throw in marginal visual flight rules, high winds, and
training is pretty much cancelled.

After going solo, I was able to fly more often, but then the cost factor
goes up. Each lesson gets more expensive as you now enter the stage of
going airport to airport (cross country trips).

Figure on 100 to 125 an hour for airplane and instructor fee. This
varies greatly geographically! I now own my own airplane, so the cost
factor of flying has decreased some overall.

If you have an instructor that teaches throughout the week, and you have
the money, the time frame will be significantly shorter.

Hope this helps.

Allen