Originally Posted by
citxls
To add a flip side to this coin, in the 90s sure you had to have over 1500 hours to get looked at. Things have been quite different the last few years, pipers don't rent for no $60.00 wet anymore. Try $200, or 350+ for a multi. Cost of training is about 5-6 times as much as it was back in the 90s.
Inflation + 200%.
Minimum wage back when I started flying was $3.25/hr.
I had to work 10-15 hrs for a cheap flight hour in a ratty C-150/152.
20 hrs+ in a nicer C-172 or Piper Arrow.
I still think renting/training is a little more expensive - but let's not exaggerate it.
Here is a comparison of what I paid per hour with the min wage of 3.25 and how many hours of work were required to earn that one flight hour. The comparison will be with a local flight school and the OK minimum wage of $7.25/hr (rounded)
C-152 - $35/hr = 11 hrs of work, current is $99/hr = 14 hrs of work.
Warrior $55/hr = 17 hrs, current is $135/hr = 17 hrs.
Arrow $75/hr = 23 hrs, current is $180/hr = 25 hrs.
Seneca $110/hr = 34 hrs, current is Apache $209/hr = 29 hrs.
Prices vary but I think that the idea, at least in my locale, that flight training is 5-6 times more expensive when compared with spending power is a little exaggerated. I also understand that some training aircraft rent for a lot more (which is one reason why people say to training in some of the older aircraft), but this comparison made sense since I flew all of the same aircraft almost 30 years ago.