How long is the school part of getting a pilot license?

Question

I know a kiddo who took an after school class (8th grade), about flight. She says they will fly (takeoff and landing, and stalling) by themselves, after only 12 one hour classes, and she thinks she can fly a commercial plane "in case anything happened to the pilot". How would that be possible? Dosent it take a long time to learn to fly? She thinks a big jet has the same instrument pannel as the cessna she will fly one time for an hour on. Is this true? How long is the schooling? How many hours of air time do they put in? Do you need to be good at math for this?

Answer 1

flying a plane is actually pretty easy.. its no harder than learning how to drive.. for the most part, all planes, big and small, fly the same.. bigger planes are much more sophisticated, but amazingly simple.. your friend probably could land a big jet if both pilots were incapacitated.. but that has never happened.. she probably wouldn't be able to land the plane properly, but she might be able to get it down and stopped without any casualties.. your friend could do this cuz she understands the very basic theory of flight and she understands what the flight instruments are telling her... however, if she had to fly in the clouds right now, she probably wouldnt have as good of luck.. she hasnt had any training for that yet.. Basically, she would have a better shot of landing a big jet than you would..

it takes a couple years, usually, to get a commercial pilots certificate.. you need 250 hours of flight time to get that..

Answer 2

You don't need to be good at math because all the math is done by the instruments on the dashboard of the plane. All you have to do is be able to know what the displays mean. Piece of cake.

In most flight schools, they have flight simulators. If it's a good school, they put you in a simulator with an instructor right away on your first class. When you're in a simulator, it's like being in a real plane. Schools usually charge for a minimum of classes. You pay the whole amount up front, whether you finish the course or not. About 15 classes is the minimum. And remember, a pilot is always in radio contact with an airport Tower. If a pilot has trouble reading the dashboard displays, he/she simply contacts the Tower, and someone will help the pilot fly/land the craft.

Answer 3

Can you get to fly solo after just 12 hours flight training? Yes it's possible. I took 14 hours myself, but other guys on my course made it in less than 12. This was on a full time course in the summer vacation.

You cannot fly solo before your 16th birthday, so she should start training a few weeks before this. If you start too young you will take more hours to solo because you will loose continuity of triaining. To get a private pilot's license you have to be 17. (as far as I know these age limits are the same in all countrys in the world)

Answer 4

It is correct that a Boeing 747-300 (for example) has basically the same primary flight instruments and controls as a Cessna 150 (a common training airplane).  The airspeed indicator is in the same place, and the roll and pitch controls work the same way.

But the handling of the machine is a little different.  She would not be able to maintain control of the 747 in any but the most glassy-smooth, perfect conditions.  Private pilots with 100 hours or so have successfully flown big jetliners, but that was with about three experienced airline pilots hanging closely around, and it did not include any landings.

Handling an airplane close to the ground, as in landings and takeoffs, is much more difficult than just flying straight and level at cruising altitude.  A big kite like the 747 is so much more massive than the small trainer that there is no comparison in the way it responds to the controls and the amount of advance planning and thought required for each maneuver.

And certainly no real airplane will "fly by itself."  She may have seen a film clip in which an instructor demonstrated that the training airplane will fly more-or-less straight and level for a moment with hands off the controls.  That is a demonstration of general stability, and it is a long shot from "flying by itself."  Basically the same thing holds true for the Great Silver Bird like the 747.

So she has part of it right, but not all of it.

The US Private Airman Certificate requires a minimum of 40 hours of flight time ("aeronautical experience," they call it), and most people need 60-80 hours.  There is also a written test, for which you can study by yourself, though most people go to ground school for a semester or so.

Finally, just tell her to take a cold shower, but not to be discouraged.  She could go on to be a good pilot.  Girls often do, including me.  And I was a complete jerk in the 8th grade.

So keep her realistic, but keep her enthusiastic.  You, too.  Have fun!

Answer 5

It's nice your friend is doing the class, but she has gotten a big head over it. A lot of people have a fantasy about taking over "in case anything happens to the pilot". It's a common one, but it's never going to happen. It is so rare for a pilot to become incapacitated in flight, much less both pilots on a commercial flight becoming incapacitated, that you have a better chance of being struck by lightning twice. A student with minimal training wouldn't have a much better ability of landing an airliner safely than someone with no training. It takes a lot of education and experience to handle a large aircraft well. Twelve hours is barely enough for someone to solo safely in a small Cessna while still under the supervision of an instructor in very controlled conditions.