How do I pay for flight training?
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How do I pay for flight training?
It seems like lately there has been a plethora of articles and blog posts on the internet about the cost of flying and how our population is shrinking. I felt it was appropriate to provide some ideas on how to pay for, and defray, training costs as the antithesis to all this rhetoric.
I am of the mindset that if you love it enough you can make it happen; I don’t buy into the “I can’t afford it” argument.
Some of the ideas herein will be obvious and some not-so-obvious.
The assumption is you are seeking your private pilot license, but it could apply to other types of training as well. Depending on the kind of flying you do, training will be the most expensive piece. Going on an occasional trip or joy riding once a week after you are licensed will be less of a financial burden.
Paying for flight training:
- Get a part-time job (or work harder at your current job to get more hours and/or promoted)
- Start of business – online business are great second jobs
- Borrow money – use caution, revolving credit can eat your lunch
- Sell something – boats and sports cars are overrated
- Save – preferred over borrowing, but patience required
See if Kermit Weeks will adopt you – I’ve already tried that
Defraying flight training costs:
- Shop on price – don’t sign up at the first place you come to if the quality is the same
- Ownership – depending on your locale, it might be cheaper to buy an airplane than rent (better again if you have partners on the airplane)
- Can you barter? – maybe the flight school needs some computer work or someone to clean urinals or pump gas
- Go fast – spreading out lessons is a huge cost driver because you end up repeating previous lessons which costs more. 40 hours for a private turns into 60 pretty quickly
- Study hard – if you are sharp you can minimize excess costs of being ‘spoon-fed’ by your instructor
- Be up front with your instructor about your finances – they are trying to scratch out a living, but they’ll be less likely to pimp you for ‘extras’ if they know your situation up front.
My personal experience:
To pay for my private pilot training in high school, I worked part-time on weekends as a lineman pumping gas and washing airplanes in addition to working my other part-time job and going to school. It took a year, but I got ‘r dun! Several people in my hometown worked as a lineman for their PPL and it worked great for all involved.
I hope this helps. I’m sure :10 minutes with Google will give you twice as much good advice on the topic, but I felt compelled to write about it anyway.
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“Go fast – spreading out lessons is a huge cost driver because you end up repeating previous lessons which costs more. 40 hours for a private turns into 60 pretty quickly”
I learned this one the hard way working toward my private pilot license. I was young, working my first real job after college, and foolishly believed that limiting my lessons to once a week was a cost-savings measure. It was short term thinking that led to greater expenditure long term.
“See if Kermit Weeks will adopt you” – I actually laughed out loud at that. About eight years ago, I was at Fantasy of Flight with a group of friends and we bumped into Kermit himself. We didn’t ask him to adopt us, but we did mention that we were docents at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo (which was true at the time) and we received an awesome behind the scenes tour of the facility there. Cool place, cool guy.
That was my experience too. I need to get down to Kermit’s museum.
I got a part time job as a building janitor in the evenings to pay for my lessons. I soon become crew supervisor and that helped. Eventually, the part time job worked out good enough to buy my first 172.
Well done!
I am a “re-starter”. Started flying in 1988 and to date have 15 hours of flight time. (insert embarrassed emoticon here)
BUT, I am blessed with a wonderful wife who supports my passion for flying.
And Blessed again for a CFI who hooked me up with one of his ex-students who is refurbishing a 1956 (#44 off the line!) Cessna 172. We came to an agreement where I would trade my time working on his plane for flight training. My CFI gave me a great deal too!
So for the past summer I have been cleaning off the ailerons, rudder, flaps and elevator from corrosion with a nylon wheel.
I’m almost done…and then we’re off to the IA for an inspection.
Thanks for a great blog.
rtc
Good for you! That’s a great story!
Cool blog–and great post! Just stumbled onto your site, and I’m gonna tweet this out tomorrow. It’s been too long since I’ve been in training, so forgot a lot, LOL!
Thanks Eric! I appreciate the kind words!
Brent
I checked out your blog! Very cool and fun to read!
Great post. Going fast or fly frequently is the tip I always give people. I am confident scheduling three flights per week is what let me complete my training well below the average for hours and cost.
Todd,
Exactly!
Brent
Very Nice Blog, I am very happy to visit such type of blog. Keep up the good work. I wait to read more posts.
Thanks!
I am currently facing roadblocks trying to pay for flight school and would appreciate any and all advice. I am currently enrolled at Fox Valley Technical College in Oshkosh WI and have spent the last two years completing gen eds and working fulltime. I am enrolled for the flight program beginning in August 2014 and will graduate in June 2017. It is a fulltime program in which I will receive my CFI, private pilot and commercial pilot licenses. I am married and my wife has student loans (so debt-income ratio not very good), we can’t get any loans for the amount I need which all of you know is expensive not to mention I would be forced to quit my current job (according to what the school says) in order to commit myself to the program since I’m currently working 3-11 and the school is 7am-7pm including some weekends. If anyone out there has any suggestions on what I can do I would be grateful.
-Adam
Adam,
Maybe try doing your training part-time through an FBO or other flight school. Maybe you can use your off hours to work at the airport to barter or make money separately to pay for your training. In the end, I empathize with your situation. Training is super-expensive and people that are just starting out rarely have extra money for such endeavors. Keep seeing it and don’t give up.
Brent