PPL
 

Hello everyone.

So I’m finally pursuing my PPL and I just have a few questions. So getting into it, this has been a lifetime dream of mine, I’m 27 years old and hoping to be flying for a regional carrier by at least 31 years old. So I currently have 9 hours of flight time. My concern is that I’m not flying consistently due to my work schedule. Exactly how often should I be flying to become proficient? My other concern is after achieving my PPL, how can I get to the regionals without having to go to an ATP accelerated program.

Thank you all for your time.

Hey congrats on your decision, I'm presuming a career in aviation as well.

As for the accelerated program you don't have to go to a accelerated flight school. Just have a talk with your current instructor or flight school and go over you goals and your preferred schedule and see if they can work something out. I'm sure many others will have a lot of advice as well. But I was just giving my best two cents.

Your questions are asked and answered on several threads on this website, look around. Your concern about maintaining a good pace of training is astute, generally 3 times a week is considered an optimum pace but if you schedule only 3 flights a week you will likely fly less, possibly a lot less. The unknown is how weather will affect your schedule, which is greatly affected by the time of year and where you are geographically in the country (The more northern, the more weather is going to impact how many flights get cancelled). The other factors are the quality of the school, whether your instructor is very busy and soon to leave for greener pastures, how well the school fleet is maintained, and lastly, how much money you can put towards your training and at what rate.
Working while training creates conflicts where usually your training winds up on the loosing end. Best bet is to set aside all the money to get you to your goal (Zero to hero, figure about 70K, give or take). If you can do so, don't work while running the table on your training, but that's a consideration only your can answer.

Thank you for you input man

3 times a week is doable, my instructor doesn’t seem like he’s available 3 times a week from what I gather. Also, is it normal to pay after each lesson? That’s what I have been doing. I asked my instructor about some sort of payment arrangement but he didn’t give me a straight answer. My instructor is my age and won’t be around too much longer, he’s already surpassed his 1500 hr by far and is waiting to be called for the regionals. As far as working goes, I work overnight and would definitely need to work to pay for my training. Currently working for New York City Transit.

Worked full time and averaged about 2 flights a week. PPL-CFI took me just under 3 years.

I am in a very similar situation. I was set to quit my job and begin training at an accelerated school out of state, then life kind of hit me in the face and made that not possible. Now I am planning on beginning my training one year from now with a local community college which offers a one year certificate course PPL - CFI. Fortunately, I should be able to use student loans for this. I am planning on using this next year to save as much as possible, then transitioning to a part time role so i can focus primarily on flight training. I give props to anyone who can make it through training while also working full-time. I gave it a shot and it was just too much for me. Best of luck!

It took me 9 months to get my private. After your private you can get a little more creative about when you fly. I did a lot of my instrument rating at night. If your instructor doesn't have good availability then you should try and find someone who does. You can also fly with multiple instructors.