Pilot resources

Student Pilot

Your initial entry into aviation means the first step is ground school.  You can either attend our ground school, or enroll in an online one. Gleim, ASA or Sheppard Air are a few of good online ones.

As a student pilot we need to see either your passport or birth certificate  and a government picture ID, and make a copy of this to and keep securely for five years.

You and your instructor will navigate the IACRA to obtain your Student Pilot’s license which is good for 120 days until you get the regular one via mail. 

You will need:

  1. FAA medical exam (you cannot fly until you have passed this)
  2. A pilot kneeboard
  3. E6B
  4. Sign up for membership in Plus One Flyers flying club. (this lowers the overall cost)

How long your Student Pilot phase lasts depends on you, how much time you have to devote to studying, flying, etc. and how comfortable you are with absorbing the new information and skills. An average it lasts six months.

 

Then you transition to:

Private pilot training

When you have successfully completed your Student Pilot training you are officially in the aviation family. Congratulations! However, let us also recognize that the learning does not stop here! 

Private Pilot training is split into solo flying, cross country flying and aero dynamics.

You also learn:

Emergency procedures

Night flying

FAA rules and regulations

E6B, the use of

Fuel management

Aero dynamics

Flight planning

Safety items

The FAA requires 40 hours of flying in order to test for the Private Pilot’s license. The average student pilot requires 50 – 60 hours of flying before testing. You also have another medical FAA exam to pass.

Then you are on your way to:

Instrument training

Learning to fly via instruments improves your safety factor as a pilot minimum ten times. The knowledge instrument training gives you makes you an infinitely safer pilot, plus you can now fly in places and weather you could not do earlier.

Some things you will learn:

Learn about weather in depth

Learn about instrument approach procedures

GPS approach procedures

Missed approach procedures

WASS

STAR

Aeronatic decision making

Navigation

When you have acquired the knowledge for instrument rating and practiced the procedures you will have achieved a level of skill and confidence which will stand you in good stead for the rest of your flying career.

 

Commercial training

Here you will be introduced to new flying maneuvers in order for you to master the handling your aircraft.The FAA now requires you to step up and narrows the tolerance levels for your piloting.

Learn how to master your aircraft by controlling chandelles, lazy eights, steep spirals, eights on pylons,  amongst other flying maneuvers.

Other items that are most important are emergency procedures – knowing them by “muscle memory”. Crosswinds and how to handle your aircraft in different situations.

The Commercial Pilot must also learn to hone his decision making skills, through knowledge gained by study and practice.