Cruz5350

Dude if you want to build hours sit in the pattern doing full stop taxi backs. That's about as cheap as it'll get and you'll learn about as much as you will putting around from point A to B in day VFR. Dealing with ATC and traffic that's precious.... If you want to build experience file IFR (on a day with decent IMC not VFR on top crap) and go to random airports shooting approaches. Change it up and go at night to make it better. That's how a bit of my time was built and I gained quite a bit of knowledge going out by myself at night after work tooling around.

elmetal

the slower you run the tach, the slower the tach will run vs the hobbs. if you can handle a XC at 1800rpm, do it. at 1700 it'll run even slower, so on and so forth.

I personally keep 2100-2200 for long XC. 2300-2400 if I wanna go a little faster. I hardly ever go 2500 (unless I'm above 6k feet). No need to get there faster.

DALFA

Considering I don't have an Instrument rating I can't really file an IFR flight plan or fly in IMC.

I don't have a problem flying at 1,700 rpm @ 2,000 AGL. I need 50 hours of x-country time just to be eligible for an Instrument rating so that's what I need.

Duckdude

You could go 141 and skip the 50 of X/C.

jonnyjetprop

Since tach time equals Hobbs time at only one rpm setting, operate below that rpm.

As you are building time, build experience. Check as many boxes per flight as you can. Night, simulated instrument, actual instrument, cross country the better. When you get your instructor ratings, remember to fly yourself. I'm not talking about demonstrating, real you go fly the plane.

Mason32

I'd suggest using some of those pilot skills to review your aircraft pilot operating handbook and get the answer yourself. Your club should have a copy available for you to look at and use.

That's good experience.

Just a suggestion.

DALFA

I would...but like I said..."i'm in the process of joining". So I don't have access to the airplane just yet.

Why so much hostility? Jeez...one would think I was asking for the best way to pencil whip a logbook. I'm just trying to stretch my dollar, out of all people you guys should know how expensive it is to rent a plane and now you can't even get a Part 121 job until you have at least 1,500 hours.

elmetal

OP, this right here should be the thing you should be looking at.

If you are doing XC anyway, why not do it at night when possible?

Why not bring a safety pilot anytime you can to get that simulated instrument and work on you BAI, while XC and at night?

I did most of my time building between instrument and commercial by flying as far as I could when I could. I got my commercial ticket with over 150xc PIC. if I was going to fly, I was going at least 50nm away. Most of the time it was more like 300-600nm away, but at LEAST 50.

of course now and then I'd log 1.5-2.0 just in the pattern or doing approaches over and over, but that's neither here nor there.


Always try to make your flight count in more than 1 column.

since you're going to be in a club soon, try to organize a long trip with either a friend, or a fellow clubmember. I split time with another guy when I was building my 50xc for the IR, and we went from florida to california and back. It was hard finding a school that would allow us taking the 172 in that manner, but we managed. Some of my most fun flying hours happened on that trip, I managed to get a ton of legitimate hood time (not just logging, actual navigating and all) and XC time (and some night to boot).

the trip would've worked out better had I had my instrument rating at the time, but we managed it VFR and it was a hell of a good time.

JohnBurke

Change my approach? Why on earth would I do that?

You're the one wanting to "build time." If that's all it is to you, if it's all about hours in your logbook, then falsify them. It's the least amount of cost. Invest in a good pen and invent it all, and you'll get just about as much experience as "time building."

Instead, you could work on experience...same hours, but you'll be practicing crosswind landings, instrument approaches, holds, stalls, slow flight, and so on. Get in the system and file IFR...get experience. Rather than sitting on your fat hands and doing nothing but logging flight time, try spending those same hours not droning along, but seeking experience.

Lift a finger to help yourself.

You asked about maximum hours of time for every hour of tach time. Your question, your request. Sitting on the ramp with the engine running is it. You won't get much more "bang for the buck" insofar as hours/tach hour than that. The lower the RPM, the slower the tach hours will register. Not really complicated.

Big deal. You're not planning on renting your way to a poverty job at 1,500 hours, are you? Go out, get a job, and work...just like most everyone here did.

DALFA

Now you're just being ridiculous. Go spread your garbage on another thread please.