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Controlling your flight training costs

Learning how to fly can be an expensive and time consuming endeavor. Moreover, it can be very difficult to determine a ball park figure as there are many variable to include such as aircraft rentals, fuel costs and instructor fees and these costs may vary drastically depending on where you live and the type of license you seek.

However, Scott Spangler writes on Jetwhine that there is some good news in a sense that students can always control their training costs by mastering the variables. The first and most obvious variables that Patrick mentions is your choice of licenses and aircraft to fly. He also makes a valid point when he states that spreading out your lessons over time is a bad idea as it inevitably means that you will spend more time relearning skills that were already taught to you in a previous lesson.

Moreover, he points out that flying, unlike most other recreational activities, is “a complex, long-term process that requires a substantial investment of time and money” and that “anecdotal evidence shows that more than half the people who start flying lessons never finish because they didn’t fully understand or appreciate the commitment it takes to earn your wings.” In other words, one of the best ways to control your costs is to ensure that you have both the time and the mental dedication to see the flight lessons through from beginning to end.

Hence, and to all pilots or students out there, how did you or how are you controlling the costs associated with flight training?

Mountain flying tips

Flying over mountains in a small plane can be tricky, especially if those mountains are on the scale of the Rocky Mountains (or for that matter, the Alps or the Pyrenees in Europe). Hence, Brian has posted a very detailed post about mountain flying (specifically the Rocky Mountains in a small plane such as the Cessna 182) on Brian’s Flying Blog.

Brian begins by suggesting that you first fly near a mountainous area and get some specialized instructions by local instructors who are experts in flying over mountainous terrain. In addition, he also posts some helpful links to mountain flying books or resources on the internet with Mountain Flying LLC by far being the most useful resource available (sadly however, the man behind the website and a number of books about mountain flying, Sparky Imeson, recently passed away in plane crash). Brian then posts a number of tips that he has picked up from these sites and has them conveniently posted under topics that include landings, takeoffs, climbouts and crossing ridges.

Hence, the post is a must read by any pilot who has plans for flying over a mountainous area in the near future.

Lightening strikes revisited

In case you are wondering what happens if a plane is struck by lightening, Paul of Ask a CFI.com has written a detailed post about lightening and the potential damage it can do to airplanes. As Paul explains, aircraft designers work under the assumption that aircraft will be struck by lightening and they have tried to incorporate various lightning strike and static electricity defense measures into their designs.

Nevertheless, lightening strikes still happen and happen with surprising frequency. In fact, it is estimated that most commercial aircraft are struck by it at least twice a year and usually the only evidence left behind is a small lightning entry and exit point on the body of the aircraft. However, Paul also mentions that lightening strikes can do more serious damage such as pop circuit breakers, cause some glass cockpit displays to flicker or even fail and punch large holes through aluminum surfaces. He even includes some pictures of lightening damage to aircraft in his post but he is quick to point out that crashes where lightening is a contributing factor are extremely rare.

However, since lightening strikes can still do damage to the aircraft, it makes sense to avoid the risk of getting hit by not flying in thunderstorms and to avoid any thunderstorm by at least 30 kilometers or 20 miles that is identified as severe or one that gives off an intense radar echo. After all, its better to be safe than sorry!

The EFD1000 Pro: A glass cockpit in a box

For owners of older aircraft, upgrading to a glass cockpit with most systems will often not make sense from a cost standpoint plus the technical headaches such a transition may involve. However, as Max Trescott writes on his blog, upgrading to the EFD1000 Pro by Aspen Avionics may in fact make sense from both a technical and a value standpoint. As Max puts it, the EFD1000 is like a G1000 in a box and although the system will only cover two holes in an instrument panel – it will act as a digital replacement for all six instruments.

Furthermore, the current list price for the EFD1000 Pro version is US$9,995 while the list price for the Pilot version is US$5,995. And although installation times may vary, 40 hours seems to be the consensus among shops that install the Pro version.

Max’s thorough review provides excellent information regarding the capabilities of the system, transitioning to it and flying with it after it is installed. As he concludes:

Aspen has come up with a very compelling value proposition for upgrading older aircraft to give them most of the capabilities of glass cockpit aircraft at a tiny fraction of the cost. Candidly, if I ever own an older aircraft again, it will be a no-brainer to upgrade it with an Aspen EFD1000.

So for readers who have older aircraft, upgrading their aircraft with the EFD1000 is something well worth looking into.

Spin training

Spin training is not for the squeamish or for the feint of heart. In fact, the AOPA ePilot newsletter recently recounted a 2006 incident involving a Cessna 152 where a flight instructor and her student were killed during spin training because the student may have frozen up at the controls while attempting a recovery. The plane had showed no signs of mechanical failure and had also been used on the same day for spin training without incident; however, it was reported that the student pilot had a history of panicky and impulsive behavior during stressful flying situations.

Hence, Tracy of the Around the Pattern blog mentions the incident in a long and well written post where he recounts the spin training that he received while in the United States Air Force (USAF). Although he received his training 35 years ago, Tracy can still recite the six basic recovery steps which are worth repeating here:

Throttles – Idle
Rudder and Ailerons – Neutral
Stick – Abruptly Full Aft and Hold
Rudder – Abruptly apply Full Rudder Opposite the Direction of the Spin and Hold
One Turn After Applying Opposite Rudder – Stick Abruptly Full Forward
Controls Neutral and recover from the Dive

His post then includes a more detailed discussion about the proper procedures under each of these steps and he also recalls how they would regain the attention of a student pilot in the Air Force (i.e. yelling, hitting the pilot on the head with a half-inch thick aircraft checklist, kinking the oxygen hose and finally the last resort: hitting the eject button).

The post is well worth a read and Tracy promises a follow-up post about how he found himself in an inverted spin with both engines shut off.

A perfect landing but its at the wrong airport

Have you ever made the perfect landing – but at the wrong airport? As amusing or embarrassing at this may sound, landing at the wrong airport is not out of the realm of mistakes that can be made even by the best of professional pilots. And apparently, it happens often in some locations such as India.

Hence, Rupam Singh has written a fascinating article on Bangalore Aviation about the subject because after all, many international flights arrive in India at night and their foreign flight crews are often not familiar with the local geography. Nevertheless, landing at the wrong airport is still the fault of the pilot as the pilot was obviously relying on what he or she saw outside of the window and NOT on what the instruments or charts were telling him or her.

Rupam proceeds to recount some Indian aviation incidents involving commercial planes landing at the wrong airport – typically at air force bases instead of commercial airports as they are often near each other. In one such incident, a Saudi Arabian 747 destined for Chennai mistook a much smaller runway at a nearby air force station which led to a nerve racking experience for all involved as the plane blew out its tires while braking and was then surrounded by air force personnel with their guns drawn.

So have you ever landed at the wrong airport (would you admit to it?!!) or have ever heard about a pilot who landed at the wrong airport? Are there some locations in the UK or elsewhere that you frequent where this is not out of the realm of possibility if you are not careful?