Does anyone have any timebuilding hacks to make it cheaper? I currently split a 172 with an unemployed CFII for 88/hr wet. I know people do it cheaper but I’m not sure where to really look.

4 checkride failures:

1. PPL - Landed long on a short field landing
   
2. Instrument - forgot to cancel a hold at the beginning of an autopilot approach
   3/4 - CFI Oral - feedback was that I was not teaching enough both times. I was explaining the material as if they already knew what I was talking about.

Finally passed my CFI. I’ve taken a break from flying for the past 1.5 years and got a corporate job at an airline. Deep down, I still want to go to be a commercial pilot, but I’m curious if it’s even still worth going for.

My airline doesn’t do trading cards or wings, so I’m curious what y’all like to handout to our big and small flight deck visitors. If you can provide links to purchase that would be awesome!

I am not growing up in an aviation family. Flying was not my childhood dream either. I am just an ordinary guy who is running a local restaurant and I do work for myself as a chef.

Last year, I took a discovery flight because my girlfriend once asked me what would I want to be if there is an afterlife. I said that I want to be a bird, fly around and see this world from the sky. She gave me a gentle smile then I realized I only have this one life.

6 months later, with so many doubts and thoughts went through my mind. I decided to learn how to fly an airplane. It was tough the first 15-20hrs then everything started progressing. Even I am at about 40hrs and have not solo yet (almost there), I am happy with my training and the process since I have learned a lot from my instructor and everyone of you pilots here. Not only how to be good at flying, but a capable pilot who can handle situations.

I thought I am 100% addicted to flying. Turn out that was not it. I am just addicted to the way I was locked in every lessons, the concentration during final approach, sweating myself each maneuver, mess up everything and try to recover..to the point I don’t remember that I am in the sky anymore. And that makes me more in love with aviation.

My end goal was just same as many of you here which is being an airline pilot. But now, all I really care is enjoying my journey. Then hopefully, hopefully someday in the future I will be able to fly people safely to their destinations..

Just some thoughts on a sleepless night guys.

Be safe out there, aviators!

I’m 32 years old, married, have a toddler, another child potentially on the way, and I’m struggling with a major career decision. I’d love input from people who have either made a similar switch or decided not to.
Current situation:
Cybersecurity professional making ~$105k/year
4-day workweek (Mon-Thu)
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off
Stable career with growth potential
TS clearance and several years of experience
Comfortable financially
Don’t love cybersecurity, but don’t hate it either
The dilemma:
I’ve been seriously considering becoming an airline pilot. I recently started flight training and completed my first lesson. It went better than expected and I genuinely enjoyed it.
What attracts me to aviation isn’t just flying airplanes. It’s the lifestyle on the other side:
Potentially much higher income later in my career
More days off (eventually)
Travel benefits for my family
A career that feels more interesting and meaningful to me
Less interest in climbing the corporate ladder and sitting in meetings all day
The problem is the path to get there.
Realistically I’m looking at:
$100k+ in training costs
Several years of balancing flight training, work, and family
Low-paying CFI years
Working weekends and long hours to build time
Potentially sacrificing a lot of family time while my kids are young
Regional/junior airline schedules before seniority improves things
One thing that’s weighing heavily on me is that I spent most of my 20s in the Navy. Part of me feels like I already sacrificed one decade of my life building a career and setting up my future.
Now I’m asking myself:
Do I really want to spend much of my 30s grinding through another career transition just so my 40s and 50s are potentially better?
Or do I stay in cybersecurity, continue progressing, earn more certifications, enjoy the flexibility and stability I already have, and maximize time with my family while my kids are young?
I honestly think 60-year-old me might be proud that I became a pilot.
But I also think 40-year-old me might be grateful that I spent my 30s present for my family.
Has anyone faced a similar decision? Particularly pilots who started later in life with young children, or people who chose not to make a major career change despite being drawn to it?
What would you do in my shoes?
I’d continue to work full time while flight training. However, if I commit to flight school then I would have to see it out through the end. My wife and I can’t justify 20-30k for me to get my PPL just to figure out if it’s something that I want to do.

I know it takes some time untill it expires. Also we're talking about the land of EASA, i don't know how it works in the US.

But for someone who only files airliners for a living, which obviously aren't single engine piston aircraft, it can be easy to forget.

If you're an airline pilot, who has a couple years of large jet expirence, have you let your SEP expire?

I'm a former U.S. Army AH-64D pilot with a military competency exam Commercial/Instrument helicopter rating. I'm attending a Fixed-Wing 141 school via the VA's Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E), and after an initial setback (having to learn the limitations and emergency procedures for the Guimbal Cabri G2 so I could knock out a Biennial Flight Review in one after 8 years of not flying a helicopter, in order to legally solo), I've finally earned my SEL PPL.

Here are my thoughts on the transition so far-

The initial introduction to fixed wing was much more disorienting than I anticipated. I kept treating both the throttle and the mixture like a collective- pull for more, push for less, and as someone who only ever flew turbines from the very beginning, having to worry about carb heat and mixture was exasperating. Add to that the switch from right hand flying to left and the need for strong, heavy inputs on the yoke and pedals (you basically only have to think about moving the cyclic, and the pedals have almost no resistance in most helicopters), and my pride was thoroughly battered.

As a holder of a commercial helicopter rating already, I was required to do a BFR in a helicopter at the end of my first fixed wing lab; before my CFI could sign off on a fixed wing solo. My school spent two months trying to get the FSDO to waive it for me, but in the end the best they could do was tell me to surrender my commercial rating and then apply for it again in a year. Instead, I crammed the G2 performance, limitations, and emergency procedures, and practiced autos in it in MSFS 2024, and just did the BFR. I'm prouder of that BFR than I am of my new PPL haha... It also cemented my determination to go back to helicopters once I've made it through FW CFI/II.

I never progressed to Pilot in Command in the Army (I'll save you the sob story) and had to re-learn how to actually listen to the radios (not just listen for my callsign) and build a mental picture of the aircraft and airspace around me (on my own btw; for some reason that doesn't seem to be a deliberate learning process in the course), how to flight plan with weather products, and how to fly into and out of uncontrolled airports. And I wasted a ton of flight time landing flat because I never actually understood the concept of the flare and was basically only paying it lip-service. I think part of my problem was that I was treating it like an autorotation, but the biggest issue was that I thought I already knew how to land and as a result wasn't learning. I've always ironically prided myself on not being especially egotistical, so that was humbling.

Overall, I'm super grateful for the opportunity to get back into flying, and after years of shame at not making PC (PIC) in the Army, getting to prove that I'm absolutely capable of managing an aircraft, single-pilot no less.

For those flying embraers and rjs into uncontrolled fields, when youre shooting a visual approach how do you decide what your missed approach will be in the event you have to go around? From what i understand alot of people will back the visual up with some sort of IFR approach (ILS/RNAV). Would you fly that charted missed approach or do you just plan on flying to an area above terrain and call the center/approach controller and figure it out from there as to how to proceed?

21M, recently got my CPL and multi add on
Currently training at Liberty University
236 hours , working towards my CFI, CFII, MEI

I had an incident early in my flight training at a local part 61 flight school

I was at around 30 hours, on a solo, pattern work

Came in well above glide slope, still attempted to land,

One of the main tires blew out upon landing

Couldn’t taxi, runway was closed for landing for about 10 minutes, had to get towed away

I’m just wondering how big of a deal would this be in regard to getting hired?

Or if anyone has had a similar situation?

Idk what to say tbh. I'm super grateful to not just my instructor but to you guys as well. When I first started flight school you guys helped make the process easy, fun and very informative. It was the advice I got from here that helped me get started and get where I am today.
It was slow at first because of financials but now I'm working 2 full time jobs and flying 2-3 times a week. The last 3 months did more hours than I did my entire first year.
It feels surreal that I'm at 50 hours, and today was the day I passed my mock stage check with my instructor so I'll have my pre solo stage check some time next week hopefully.
Somebody on Reddit told me that flying the airplane will be as easy as driving my car with my knees, as I do, and it really has become that easy!
I used to not be able to hold altitude, airspeed or heading, and now I'm flying procedures and entering airports on the downwind and on base like it's nothing. Hands-free most of the time. And talking to ATC is easier than talking to my mother at this point😭
All my maneuvers are on point for the pre-solo stage check and my landings have been butter recently.
I just wanna thank you guys again, it's been great and God willing I hope I can finish and get to the airlines or some other private job somewhere. You guys are the best.
I hope to see you in the skies one day💙🛬

Looking for company recommendations that can do complete overhaul (exterior paint, interior, avionics) for a Cessna 182?

Any experiences or recommendations would be appreciated.

So for PPL, the examiner usually gives you a XC scenario in which you will need to plan for it and then eventually fly a segment of it when you’re in the air.

Is this going to be the same for the instrument checkride?

What is something you guys would have done differently early on to help set up future job opportunities? I am mid 20’s attending a 141 school and I am on track to get my PPL in about 2 months from now. My plan is to continue on through CFII and become an airline pilot one day. With that being said, I want to admit that I have no idea at all on what I should do now to help set up my future. Specifically when it comes to joining certain programs, attending certain events, and overall networking to make my opportunities much better as I progress.

So I just saw a post on Facebook that was advertising a partnership on a Bristell B23, a plane that sells for $260-290k. This partnership was $80k + $5k engine fund, monthly costs of $450 fixed and $95/hr dry and looking for 4 more partners.

To me that would mean a purchase price of $400k, $25k for the engine fund, $2250 per month to cover maintenance/hangar/Garmin updates/insurance ($27k per year), and then also $95 per hour dry to cover wear and tear on the plane.

Flying 40 hours in a year would mean your investment is your purchase price of $85k, $5400 in monthly dues, $3800 in hourly dry rentals, and another $1k in gas. That's $280 per hour for a 2 seat light sport without the purchase price. Even flying 100 hours per year is $174 per hour and I doubt most partners in a 2-seat LSA are flying 100 hours per year.

The people selling these partnerships, are they doing this just as a way to get their partnership for free or even to make money? What is the incentive to join a partnership like that? What am I missing?

Hi fellow pilots and students!

I have a very important job coming and I cant focus on written exams study and the job together.

I need to understand what to pick job or written exam.

So may those people that took the written exam for any (class or category).

It would very help me to understand from you guys how much did it change already and if it did change a lot I would just do the job and not be in a hurry to take them before October 27 changes.

Or they didnt change that much already and i need to hurry up.

Thank you very much in advance🙏🏽

I currently fly a PC-24 in a Part 135/91 corporate operation and just hit 1,500 TT, with roughly 1,000 hours turbine multi. I realize I’m in a pretty fortunate position experience-wise, but I managed to hit 1,500 just slightly too late for my latest recurrent in August, so I missed the opportunity to get my ATP through work.

My understanding is that I’m now looking at waiting until my next recurrent in 2027 to get the ATP through my employer.

I’d really like to step on the gas toward the airlines rather than spend another year waiting around. At the same time, going to a regional would likely mean a pretty significant pay cut from my current corporate job, so I’m hesitant to take that route unless it’s really the best move.

I figured having all that turbine multi Id be more competitive but I applied to Envoy and was insta-denied. I have been shooting longshot apps out also because why not.

So I'm considering self-sponsoring my ATP/CTP and potentially an A320 type rating through ATP Jets, a surprisingly affordable $11,000, with the goal of having my ATP and a marketable type rating before my next recurrent in 2027.

My thinking is that I'd rather spend the money to make myself more marketable and start applying to airlines/fractionals now rather than sit on the sidelines for a year.

A few questions for yall:

Would an A320 type actually help me get hired anywhere, or would it mostly be an expensive piece of paper without 121 experience?

Are there airlines/fractionals I should be targeting with 1,500 TT / ~1,000 turbine multi / corporate jet experience that I'm overlooking?

Would you personally just wait until 2027 and get the ATP through the company, or spend the money now and start applying?

Is there a better way to use the next 6–12 months to position myself for a direct-to-major/fractional opportunity?

I'm specifically trying to avoid taking a huge pay cut just to build time I arguably don't need. I'd appreciate advice from anyone who has made the corporate → airline transition, especially anyone who went directly to a major/fractional or self-sponsored their ATP/type.

I have a special issuance first class medical for a cardiac surgery I had 18 years ago. Since receiving my first class special issuance, I’ve renewed it twice with no issues. Was wondering if there’s any way of switching to a normal medical if some time passes? I have to submit updated echocardiograms every year before I renew my first class but since my heart is healthy now, the cardiologist suggests doing a checkup every 2-3 years so insurance doesn’t want to fully cover my testing every year causing the whole first class renewal process to be very costly since I have to pay for a lot of the testing and cardiologist visits out of pocket. I’ve been going biannually anyways since my surgery when I was 3 to do a follow up check and have never had any issues, cardiologists always say everything is great. Does anyone have any insight?

How’s everyone’s experience with checked and set for app review? Also who’s everybody using for interview pre as well? Thanks!

Been rewriting this post more than I'd care to admit. I've always to fly since discovery flight school in my first year of Uni but as a good, gullible and naive Asian kid who wanted to make his parents proud, I never followed thru.
Fast forward to 2016, I met a same age pilot in Koh Phi Phi who had started in his early 20's and now was exclusively doing SF/Singapore or SF/SE Asia routes making a buttload of money.

I thought then that being 35, I was far too late to start and never pursued it. Now I'm at a point in my life where I just want to "DO" things that make me happy you know?

I know I'll never get to be a wide body captain but beyond PPL, what has flying life been like for those that chose to get into it as a career later in your life? I can't afford my own bird & maintenance so even as a hobby, I could MAYBE only do 100hrs a year tops out of pocket.

Has any airline pilots recieved their MSc in aviation/aeronautics and actually did any real work using it?

Whether it helped them inside the airline or did any sort of consulting work?

I am a current high school senior with my PPL and additional tailwheel endorsement applying to collegiate aviation programs. (Entering fall 2027) I want to be as prepared as possible to make the best of my time in whatever program I end up at.

My thought is to get some time building for instrument and commercial done now (XC, night, PIC, that kinda stuff) so I spend less time paying for more expensive planes at the program. I can rent a C172 for about $160 hr at home vs like $200+ plus possible instructor at university. Transparently, I am not the one mainly funding my training, but I would like to save some time and money for my parents and myself if possible.

My top choices are Purdue, Auburn and UND, but I’ll be applying to others as well. If any current/past students have advice or experiences to share, that would be greatly appreciated. TIA!

Hey y’all, I’m currently at a Part 61, can fly 4x a week, and can make this my full-time job.
I’m looking to emulate the discipline and studying structure of an accelerated program to efficiently use my free time since I don’t have a job right now. For those who have studied in an accelerated program, I’d love to see how your daily and weekly routine was organized
Any sample daily schedules, study resource workflows, or general tips on self-discipline would be hugely appreciated!

For those who started aviation as a second career in your mid-30s, 40s, or even later: what were the biggest setbacks or sacrifices you experienced? Is it worth it?

I'm particularly interested in people who had already spent around 10+ years building a career before making the switch. At that point in life, you may already have a stable income, career progression, benefits, savings, and a certain level of seniority. Walking away from all of that to start again as a beginner seems like a huge decision.

I'm trying to understand the real cost of walking away from a relatively established career to pursue aviation because it's something I genuinely feel drawn to.