Private Pilot Questions, please help!

Question

I can't get a straight answer from anyone on this, do you need 40 hours of certified ground instruction in order to take the FAA Ground Exam? I have 16 hours of certified ground school and have passed two practice tests, and feel I can pass the real one. I'm going into my senior year and am an applicant to the Naval and Air Force Academies, but I'm probably starting to late to make a difference on my resume. I'm trying to start my hours ASAP but its hard with my schedule and with all my applications. If someone could go over the entire process of getting certified, that'd be great, because I know i need 40 hours minimun with a 100 NM solo somewhere in there, and a medical certificate, a ground exam, and an oral exam but past that I'm clueless. Thank you.

Answer 1

if you're talking about the written exam, no you do not need 40hrs to take it. If you're talking about oral/checkride, then yes you need to have completed all hours and instruction as that will be the last exam before receiving your certificate.  

Answer 2

Doesn't sound like the course you're enrolled in is very well done. Anyway, there is no flight-hour minimum to take the written. Most people find it easier once they have at least one cross-country trip completed, just because some of the questions in the exam make more sense after you have practical experience with the subject matter. To take the written, you just need an instructor's endorsement in your logbook.  

Answer 3

Sorry to hear that you are getting such a crappy ground school course that probably wasn't cheap. Unless you are enrolled in a Part 141 flight school, which requires 40 hours of classroom instruction (whether computer based, video based, or "live"), you could have just taken a self-study video or online course under Part 61 and gotten the same or better instruction, and then had your flight instructor do a logbook "sign-off" stating that you had completed the required ground training, thus allowing you to take the written test. If you're doing all your training under Part 141, you're stuck with however their program is set up to teach the material.

Here are the F.A.R. requirements:

61.35   Knowledge test: Prerequisites and passing grades.

(a) An applicant for a knowledge test must have:

(1) Received an endorsement, if required by this part, from an authorized instructor certifying that the applicant accomplished the appropriate ground-training or a home-study course required by this part for the certificate or rating sought and is prepared for the knowledge test; and

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§ 61.39   Prerequisites for practical tests.

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, to be eligible for a practical test for a certificate or rating issued under this part, an applicant must:

(1) Pass the required knowledge test within the 24-calendar-month period preceding the month the applicant completes the practical test, if a knowledge test is required;

(2) Present the knowledge test report at the time of application for the practical test, if a knowledge test is required;

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p.s. there is no requirement that you finish ground school before you start flying. There are some stipulations that you have received ground instruction in certain subject areas prior to solo, but in my humble opinion you ought to be flying concurrently with ground school so you get immediate correllation between the two. That is how "integrated" flight training is supposed to work.

Answer 4

There is no specific requirement in terms of hours of training for the Private Airman Written Test.  All you need is an endorsement from a flight instructor stating that you seem to be ready to take the test.

Never heard of a "Ground Exam."  I think somebody must have gotten you confused somehow.  Don't see how you could have sat in ground school classes for 16 contact hours and still be misinformed about this stuff, but I will take your word for it.

But there is no point in taking the written test until you are nearly ready to take the flight check ride.  Otherwise it will expire while you are out doing turns around a point and you will just have to take it again.

So stop worrying about the written test.  Go meet some flight instructors and get some flight time under your belt.  Get your medical exam, which is also your Student Pilot Certificate, within the first 2-3 flight hours.

That's the order in which to do things:  go talk to the instructors, get your medical, and start flying.  The written test will come along at the right time.