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?
One way that people try to control their costs – selecting a flying school that offers low prices and/or 'fixed' prices for a specific licence or rating – can be a false economy. Certainly, in my experience, some US flying schools offer these kinds of deals and in every case you end up paying more. A good school will charge what it needs to keep a well-maintained fleet and a roster of instructors with the experience needed to get you through the course. A cost-driven school may skimp on both meaning that more flights are scrubbed for maintenance problems and your training takes longer because of second-rate instruction.