its not a "rating"... but like sgt said above, its about 10 hours to be able to solo and do the basics.

There are not time limits, just whatever is required by your instructor before he/she will let you solo. I wouldn't mess with a pitts, although, it may be fun but the really high performance acro planes tend to be really pricey. I would look for a decathlon or citabria or even a 150 aerobat. I used to teach aerobatics and it is a blast, you'll also want to take it easy at first so that you don't get burned out. Start out with short sessions (like 20 min) and work your way up. It takes a while for your body to get used to the stress of higher than normal g-forces. If you have a good instructor then they'll know about all this. Another way to do things cheaper is to look around and figure out who owns these kind of planes then offer to buy their gas and clean their plane/car in exchange for flying. This is also a good way to get multi time as well.

I did a little acro and loved it, but gave it up to build ME time. I say if you want to be an airline pilot, forget the acro. If you want to be a acro pilot, forget the ME time. Or you can get the multi time, get an airline job, and then do acro for fun. Assuming you can afford it with the airline pay. I still can't.

If you really want some acro training, just come sit in the jumpseat while I'm trying to land in a crosswind! :)

haha

see normally that would have been a great suggestion. but my acro instructor said something the other day that made me think... it was something to the extent of: "half of those guys flying the airliners haven't even been over 40 degrees of pitch and 60 degrees of bank in their lives, are they the kind of people you want flying you?"

or be an instructor at a place that owns a twin

I fly the one filthy two, the skychicken, the skylane, the arrow, the seminole, and the Super Decathlon

If you can find a place that will train you to instruct acro then you get the best of both worlds

too bad no one around here instructs acro, cept for the guy I'm learning from... i don't even know, what does it take to be able to instruct it?

so i take it aero is a "signoff" just like a complex or tailwheel endorsement...?

To my understanding it kind of is, but I think it is also almost like its own kind of licensing. I believe acro pilots have a couple different tiers of licensing that allows them a little more leeway on how low they can fly and exactly where they can fly. I'm pretty sure that's how it goes because you have to have a special type of license to perform aerobatic maneuvers close to the ground and close to people/buildings (Read: Airshows)

Again - I could be completely wrong but I think that's how it goes.

There is no signoff necessary for loops, rolls, hammerheads, and the like.
The regulation of acro is done for the purpose of competitions and airshows. It's a whole mess that I don't really understand, but you may feel free to go do Cuban Eights whenever you want (within the limits of the aircraft and safety, of course).