Time to earn license for professionals

On Sep 17, 10:29 am, wrote:
Hello all,

I just wanted to see if other CFIs and pilots have been seeing the
same trend I have. I've been flying with a student for a little over a
year now, and she's almost ready to solo. It will take her another
year to get her ticket, for a total of 2 years, and probably 100 - 120
hours total, when done. Why? Because she's a busy CPA, and sometimes
cannot fly for periods of up to a month. Obviously if a student pilot
hasn't flown for a month, much of the next lesson is simply brushing
off the rust.

I've talked to a couple other local CFIs about this, and they have
noticed a similar trend. As the cost of flight training has gone up
(schools near mine cost approximately $130-$140 per hour, wet, with
CFI), we have seen a seeming increase in the number of early mid-life
(30-50 years old) professionals (CPAs, lawyers, doctors, etc.) taking
lessons, because to them, money isn't a major issue. But TIME is. One
CFI told me he has been working with a well-known doctor for over 2
years, and he probably won't take his checkride for another 1-2 years,
simply because he cannot fly often. But, like my student, he really
DOES want to fly, and DOES want to get their ticket. I talked to my
student about this, and she's fine with taking 2 years.

So is this becoming a trend? Two years or more to get a PP-ASEL, start
to finish? And does this mean that it might be necessary to modify the
traditional PP-ASEL curriculum to better meet the needs of these
students?

Just wanted to hear what other thought.

Cheers,

I'm one of those guys. A software engineer, was in my late 30's when
I did my PPL, and it took me 80 hours over 2 years to earn my PPL. I
scheduled one flight a week, on the weekend, and about half of them
would be cancelled due to weather, mechanical problems, etc, so in
reality I usually flew twice a month. Oh yeah, and 9/11 happened
during my first year of flight training and my home airport is within
10 miles of a nuke plant. Feh.

One thing that was intersting is that I was generally better in
lessons after a long layoff (like 2 weeks) than in lessons close
together. Not sure why, but there ya go. Everyone's different.

It then took me about a year to do my IFR ticket and I flew over 70
hours that year. That was a great year. I sure would like to do that
again. But cost and time are always prohibitive.

I belong to a flying club which really helps keep current. I can often
fly safety pilot for someone when I can't fly myself (because of $$ or
whatever). Usually there are opportunities to fly with other members
for various reasons and trips. The club also has currency rules, like
no flying with pax without 3 t/o's and ldgs within 90 days, and an
annual club checkout that is basically a BFR. There's always an
instructor to grab and go do x-wind landings with when feeling
rusty. You can stay current and safe with 20-30 hours a year, if you
keep that consideration in mind all the time.

xyzzy wrote:
I'm one of those guys. A software engineer, was in my
late 30's when I did my PPL, and it took me 80 hours
over 2 years to earn my PPL.

Two years may be a long time, but three years ago, our school (a Cessna
Pilot Center) quoted prices based on *approximately* 60-80 hours of
flight time for PPL. It was suggested and highly encouraged that
students fly at least once/week, preferably twice, to build and maintain
momentum and not spend a lot of extra time/money on review. But in the
end, you're absolutely right that everyone is different.