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BEST
of POD
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Student Journal
I soon went out and picked up 2 more books, " Your Pilot's License"
and the " Aim-Far 1999".
I knew that I had better get a jump on the ground school stuff If I was to save
any money at all for the training. The school rents their planes at
about $78 an hour for non-members, and $57 an hour for members, and it
costs $200 to be a member. The instructor charges $25 an hour. I
figured that it was going to run me about $4500 for the whole sha-bang.
All the schools estimated the minimum 40 hours of flight time, but said that it
usually takes 55 or more to complete the course with a license. Here is
how I figured my costs:
| Rental Cost Estimates (SpanaFlight) |
| Description |
Hours
|
Rate
|
Total
|
| C172 Rental |
55.00 |
$ 57.00 |
$3,135.00 |
| Instructor |
30.00 |
$ 25.00 |
$ 750.00 |
| Total Rental
Costs |
$3,885.00 |
|
| Fixed Expenses |
| Description |
Count
|
Cost
|
Total
|
| Medical Exam |
1 |
$ 60.00 |
$ 60.00 |
| Flight Club |
1 |
$200.00 |
$ 200.00 |
| Dues for
Club(monthly) |
3
|
$ 20.00 |
$ 60.00 |
| Training Materials |
1 |
$200.00 |
$ 200.00 |
| Total Fixed Expense Cost |
$
520.00 |
|
|
Grand Total
|
$4,405.00 |
|
Total Cost per flight hour
|
$
80.09 |
As I found out, Learning to fly is not cheap. Should be worth
it though.
My next endeavor was to find the least expensive way to fly in my area.
So far, I have only examined one company in detail and although they have decent
rental rates, I still think I can find better. I wasn't all too
comfortable with my first instructor either.
I found several small airports located around
Seattle. I was willing to  travel some, so this opened up several of the
smaller ones, and a large one for me to investigate. I got a list
of Airports in Washington at AirNav. I selected
the following list as having an acceptable drive:
Continued...
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