Best as I can figure, all of us who enjoy civil flight simulators
share a love of flying. I have met in real life and online with a
lot of simulator pilots that routinely fly fairly realistic long haul
trips in 737's on their simulators. They finish it off with an ILS
approach through 300 foot ceilings and half mile visibility, and they
have never touched the controls of a real airplane. Of course, a
fair number of these same people couldn't do the same thing if we
shut off the autopilot, but I am not going to get into that crutch in
this discussion.
For me, love of aviation goes back to when I was about six years old. I started flying simulators when I was about 13, with Flight Simulator 2. I started working on my private pilot license when I was 21 years old (I think FS3 was current, maybe FS4). I promptly ran out of money and flying went on the back burner for 9 years. Recently I completed my training and got my private ticket. During all that time I never lost sight of the goal. And now I want to know why some of you haven't done it?
It's really not all that hard to do. Anyone of average health and
intelligence should easily be able to achieve a private license.
Yes, the training, especially the bookwork, can be daunting at times.
But anyone who can do basic math can handle every ounce of it. Yet
strangely, of all the people who start taking flying lessons, only
about 50% finish the program. Its not because they fail either. It's
because it's not all fun and games. There is a lot of important
information you need to ram into your skull, and any decent flight
instructor is going to beat you silly with acronyms and procedures
and simulated engine failures, electrical fires and just about
anything else they can think of. They baby you for about your first
5 hours, then they start teaching you how to be a safe pilot. This
is where the dropouts start happening.
Assuming you get all the way through, and you will...then you will go for a ride with the examiner. Your flight instructor has probably made you good and scared of this person. Your instructor wants you on your toes. He wants you to make a perfect check ride because it makes you look good and it makes him look good. The examiner is probably going to pull some pretty shifty tricks out of his hat, but if he's a good one, he will be fair. A lot of people forget that the examiner is a pilot too. He went through all the hoops that you are going to go through. He wants to see you sweat so he can see how you will react under pressure. He wants to make you a pilot, but he wants to make sure he is making the right decision. If you fail, it's not all over, you can retest. Most people do pass on the first attempt, in case you are wondering.
So what is it going to cost?
Well, it's not cheap, but just about anyone with a good job can work
out a way to pay for it. It's going to cost you about the same
amount of money as an older used car. Figure 3 to 5 thousand
depending on the aircraft and instructor and of course your skill and
dedication. I personally ended up paying a lot more, but this is
because I really went through it twice, due to that nine year delay.
Great, so now I have the license, but how am I going to afford to fly?
Well, there are many ways of doing this. First of all, I think it is important to take a look at your flight instructor's car...You will notice that it is not a Mercedes Benz. It is probably 8 to 10 years old with over 100,000 miles on it, it's not anything that is going to get him many dates. You sacrifice some things to pay for flying. But for the money most of us blow on movies, video games, eating out, or car payments on that shiny pride and joy in the garage you can get yourself a fair amount of flying. You'll have to weigh your priorities, if you love flying like I do, you'll know which decision is right for you.
After you take your knocks and pass your check ride, you have an
all new type of freedom available to you. You have sharpened your
mind a little, and you have new privileges and responsibilities that
only a tiny fraction of people enjoy. You have the option to open a
whole new career path if you so choose. There are a lot of doors
that open up. You have probably made a lot of new friends down at
the airport. And it's a lot of fun. No flight simulator is ever
going to capture the real feeling of flying over your home town at
sunrise on a day with unlimited visibility. Your flight simulator
has provided you with a good head start, if you have used it
properly. You probably already understand a little about stalls, and
the basics of flight. Take it the rest of the way. You'll be glad
you did. And you will enjoy your flight simulator even more, when
you can fly it properly.
There is probably an airport nearby, head on over there and start talking to the flight schools. Visit www.aopa.org or www.beapilot.com or www.eaa.org for lots of additional information. Or email me if you like, but I will just tell you about my experiences, I am not a flight instructor...
Good Luck!
Kurt Van Wagenen
kurtvw@crs-sonoma.org
