Yup. And thats just a PPL.

Call me chicken little but based on the lack of new flight trainees looking for a career in aviation, the furloughs from airlines resulting in people leaving the industry for good, military pilots on contracts for over a decade, the overall downturn of the economy as the resulting factor, and the new age 65 retirement rules, I see a commercial pilot shortage in 2 years.

Which is pricisely my point.

jonnyjetprop said it best; however, let me just add that when the supply (i.e. flight students) dwindles for whatever reason, you lower your prices to generate the demand for the product (the desire to train).


atp

But then why would someone complain about money issues if they are renting the most expensive equipment?

I hope you are right. I will be in the job market in 4.

Youre in a profession where nothing is guarenteed. Its all about getting lucky with timing.

Some were shorted by age 65. People before that were affected by 9/11.

All you can do is cross your fingers and hope it works out.

Flight training an investment?

An investment in what?

One can just as easily spent the money on beer, jet skis, a boat, horse, fancy car, latest and greatest TV and other gadgets, shows, and so on.

Or one could have put the same amount of money into the stock market. I'm down over 65%. Coulda put that money into flying and that would have been several hundred more hours aloft instead of ground-pounding.

Or the local bank where fees and other stuff would assure one is out a significant chunk, too.

Or the mattress, where mold and rats could have destroyed it.

Or a second or even a different career, and be one of the millions out of work, except having had a heck of a lot less fun at the other job.

I don't know what these new rules of money are. If you pay down your debt, the bank rewards you by reducing your credit line. If you keep a revolving debt, you get charged. If you invest, you lose, period. If you save, you lose. If you spend, you get the benefit of whatever you purchased, for a short period of time. If you recycle, you get charged. If you reuse, you get charged. If you earn a dollar, the gov't takes 40-60% of it. If you win a dollar, even more gets taken. There seems to be no reason or rationality to it anymore.

The only thing that seems to make sense is to spend it now, before someone else does it for you.

SSSHHHHHHHH! Your not supposed to say things like that.

I don't think it's reasonable for a PPL. you don't need an IFR trainer, or AC for that matter. I used an old 172 for $95/hour, had a $35 instructor, and finished in 53 hours, and I'm not super pilot. That was just in 2006, during the price increase. Now my flight school's cheapest plane is $105, and cheapest instructor is $38, and it's still not the cheapest school around. Either way, you come out still paying way less than $10k. I think if you pay over $8k for a private, either you or your instructor is doing something wrong, or you just like training in G1000 planes which skyrockets the cost.

I know our trainer was overkill, but it was all we had. We sell aircraft, and it was a trade for a saratoga. If it was my choice, we'd have an old cherokee 140/180 or a 152(but we're a piper dealer).

A lot of it depends on geographic area, the aircraft, and the wants/needs of the customers. I have 12 sign-off's, with an avg of 65hrs for PPL's. I had one guy that I signed off with 186hrs for his PPL. I had the other extreme with one at 45hrs. When you're teaching folks that want to fly just to fly, not on the path to becoming a commercial pilot, things are hugely different. I had some folks that could only come once a week, or less, and they obviously took the 65+hrs, the ones that hit 3 times a week(minus my one exception), they hit it out around 50-55.

I guess my whole thought is never put a specific price on what it "should" cost, because everyone learns differently, time constraints, etc.. I absolutely never 'milked' any of my students, and am still keeping up with many of them today after being away 4 years and moving states. This is just my experience.

A well known local flight school charges $118 per hour for a 152 and $45 for the instructor.

Skyhigh