Eligibility
According to CFR14 Part 61, a Private Pilot must be at least 17 years of age, able to read, speak, and understand the English language, and pass both the written knowledge exam (“the written”) and the Practical exam (“the checkride.”)
Experience
A person applying for a Private Pilot license must:
Log a minimum of 40 hours of flight time that includes 20 hours of flight training from an authorized instructor and 10 hours of solo flight time.
3 hours of cross-country training
3 hours of night flight training
3 hours of flight training solely by reference to the flight instruments
This is a simplified summary of the experience requirements mandated by the FAA. It is not intended to be an exhaustive review of the regulations, but to give you an idea of what to expect in your primary flight training.
Process
This is where training at Fly-NC really stands apart. As part of your training, we will complete your regulatory requirements to ensure you are eligible for your license and prepared and confident for your checkride. And we will accomplish together by maximizing the time spent applying real-world scenarios and experiences to your flight training.
For example, on a day we will practice takeoffs and landings, instead of staying at our local airfield, we might pick a destination of interest to you (or one I suggest as a “cool airport to go checkout”), and prepare a flight plan to get there, considering weather, airspace, landing environment. Along the way, we can practice various types of navigation, use of automations in the airplane, discuss emergency scenarios and responses, and brief our arrival procedures. This is what you will be doing as a licensed pilot every time you fly yourself and your passengers from A to B. We will begin to integrate this from Day 1 of your training.
