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Old 12-20-2006, 05:17 AM
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Default How long did it take you to get your PPL?

How long did it take you to get your Private Pilot License and how much did it cost you?
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Old 12-20-2006, 05:28 AM
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Started January 17th. Soloed February 20th. Checkride May 1st.

47.6 hours of flight time. About $6000 (1997 dollars) with all costs included (books, fees, airplane, instructor, etc)
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Old 12-20-2006, 05:35 AM
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About 45 hours over two years. It costs me about $1500. I took two years because I didn't have the $1500 and I was only making $2.80 an hour working part-time. At least I was the only kid in high school with a pilot's certificate.
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Old 12-20-2006, 05:45 AM
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Took a couple years for me too, finally got it in April 1999. It was a free program for high school students, offered by the college I ended up attending. I was juggling that part time in between school, homework, part time job, etc etc so it took a long time for a PPL but it was well worth the effort for not spending any $$! I wanted to get it before high school graduation too, and made it by a couple months :-)

Obviously there are plenty of programs out there that are cost effective and can get done in a relatively short amount of time if you're looking.
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Old 12-20-2006, 05:58 AM
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Originally Posted by PhantomAir View Post
How long did it take you to get your Private Pilot License and how much did it cost you?
I would say that most people get it with 50-60 hours. One of my students had 41.2 hours when I sent him, another one had 130. It has everything to do with how motivated and determined you are and how often you fly.

Fly 3 times a week. There will be times when training is so frustrating you want to quit, don't. Keep flying. Study every chance you get. 80% of my students drove me crazy because they would not study. They are the ones who spent a fortune on ground school with me. The ones who actually studied all the time were by far the easiest on me, and they probably paid for 2.5 hours of ground the whole time.

Price is all relative to where you live. Where I live, getting your ppl costs from $4k to $10k depending on the equipment you decide to use.
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Old 12-20-2006, 06:11 AM
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8 months elapsed time and 52 hours
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Old 12-20-2006, 07:14 AM
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18 months and about 75 hours. Sounds like a lot doesn't it?

My PVT checkride was first scheduled on 9/12/01. Needless to say it didn't happen. I did my training at an airport under class B airspace so I couldn't fly for about 3 months while they figured out that it wasn't a Tampico that rammed the buildings. By the time I got back in the airplane it took about 10 hours to get back up to speed.
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Old 12-20-2006, 12:22 PM
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My logbook isn't with me but approx: $5500, 50 hrs, 10 weeks. Circa 1993.
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Old 12-20-2006, 02:03 PM
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8 months and 50hrs.
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Old 12-20-2006, 02:16 PM
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8 months 53 hours. With a delay after 9/11.
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