On summer evenings flying home
to the Bay Area from a day in the Gold Country, something magical
happens. As your little airplane glides over the Altamont Pass,
crosses the Livermore Valley, and descends towards the Bay, the
golden sunlight bathes the foothills and Mt. Diablo in a warm
glow. The marine cloud layer spills over the San Bruno gap like
a giant wave, and sunlight sparkles on the water. Of the seven
million people who reside in the Bay Area, only a few have the
privilege of viewing this landscape from a small airplane. On
these occasions, those who fly small airplanes appreciate their
good fortune. If you have the necessary skills and commitment
to learn to fly and to pass the “checkride,” you can
join these privileged few.
Thousands of people of all
ages have mastered the skill of piloting airplanes. Flying does
require a certain amount of manual and mental dexterity; unfortunately,
not everyone has the native talent to learn to fly. But you don’t
need extraordinary physical skill or a degree in aeronautics.
Commitment distinguishes pilots from those who merely dream of
flying.
I hold a commercial pilot certificate
and a flight instructor certificate, both with an “instrument”
rating. I also hold a ground instructor certificate with “advanced”
and “instrument” ratings. These certificates confer
on me the privilege of introducing new student pilots to the
thrill of flying.
Is Flying
Dangerous?
Let me address at the beginning
the issue that concerns so many prospective student pilots and
their spouses: Is flying dangerous?
Of course flying is dangerous.
Life is dangerous. Every time you get up in the morning and leave
the safety of your bed, you expose yourself to a multitude of
hazards. Most people judge that the benefits of getting up in
the morning outweigh the risks. The prospective pilot must decide
whether the benefits of flying outweigh the risks of flying accidents.
In 2009 small airplanes suffered
accidents at the rate of 6.6 accidents per 100,000 flight hours,
resulting in 1.3 fatal accidents. That makes flying small airplanes
riskier than driving. A pilot, however, encounters different
risks than a driver and has greater control over those risks.
A driver’s safety depends
to a large extent on the other drivers on the road. If an on-coming
car swerves across the centerline and into your path, you can
do little to avoid a collision, no matter how carefully you drive.
When flying an airplane, in contrast, a pilot faces a smaller
risk of colliding with another airplane. During a flight one
seldom sees more than a handful of airplanes in the air. Collisions
between aircraft in flight occur infrequently. In 2009 general
aviation aircraft were involved in ten midair collisions, seven
of which were fatal. The principal hazards of flying are mechanical
failures, maintenance errors, fuel mismanagement (i.e.,
running out of gas), flying into bad weather, maneuvering accidents
(i.e., buzzing and low passes), takeoff and landing accidents,
go-around accidents, midair collisions, and pilot intoxication
or incapacitation. If you fly carefully and if you maintain your
proficiency once you get your pilot’s license, you can reduce
the risks you face to levels below the average risks of 6.6 accidents
and 1.3 fatalities for every 100,000 flight hours. But no matter
how carefully you fly and no matter how diligently you practice,
you cannot eliminate all the risks associated with flying small
airplanes. You must decide for yourself whether the benefits
of flying justify the risk.
Fortunately, student pilots
face a smaller chance of having an accident while training for
a pilot certificate than the ordinary licensed pilot faces during
a personal flight. Analysis of the certificate level held by
accident pilots reveals that student pilots have among the lowest
accident rates. This is due to the high level of supervision
for student pilots.
Where
To Begin
To start towards your goal
of a private pilot certificate, investigate the instructional
opportunities at the airports within a convenient driving distance
from your home or place of work. Almost every Bay Area airport
has one or more flight schools, flying clubs, or FBOs (“fixed
base operators”) providing flight instruction. These businesses
and clubs vary widely in terms of cost and quality.
You will find no bargains in
general aviation. When it comes to flying, you get what you pay
for. The less expensive flight schools have older, heavily used
airplanes and frequent turnover in their instructor staffs. The
more expensive flight schools have newer airplanes and more stable
instructor staffs. The airplanes in the more expensive flight
schools don’t necessarily provide greater safety than the
airplanes in the less expensive schools—the FAA requires
frequent inspections of most airplanes used for flight training.
The older, heavily used airplanes are less comfortable and less
enjoyable to fly, are subject to heavy demand, and are often
grounded for maintenance.
Evaluating
What’s Offered
Prospective student pilots
have no way of comparing flight training programs based on the
quality of the training airplanes and of the instructors, so
most student pilots compare programs based on price and airport
convenience. The flight schools know this and compete to offer
student pilots the lowest price to obtain a private pilot certificate.
In order to compare one flight training program with another,
you need to understand what the various offers mean.
Airplane
Rental Prices
Flight schools base the rent
you pay for an airplane on how long the engine runs during the
time that you rent the airplane. When the engine starts, the
meter starts running. The question is, which meter?
Airplanes have two meters,
a tachometer, which measures engine revolutions, and a Hobbs
meter, which measures the number of hours an engine runs. Both
meters measure time in tenths of hours. When the engine runs
at its normal cruise speed, the tachometer and the Hobbs meter
advance at about the same rate. When the engine idles, however,
the tachometer advances more slowly than the Hobbs meter because
the engine turns over more slowly than when the engine is running
at full speed. On average, the Hobbs meter runs about 20 percent
faster than the tachometer. So, for a flight that lasts one hour
the Hobbs meter will show an elapsed time of one hour, but the
tachometer will show an elapsed time of about .8 hours. If flight
school A rents a Cessna 172 for $100 per hour measured
on the Hobbs meter and flight school B rents the same
airplane for $120 per hour measured on the tachometer, to the
unsophisticated prospective student pilot flight school A
may appear to offer the better deal. In fact, they are offering
comparable deals. Flight school B charges more per hour
measured on the tachometer because the tachometer turns over
slower than the Hobbs meter. When comparing airplane rental prices
pay close attention to whether the flight school rents its airplanes
based on the time shown on the tachometer or on the Hobbs meter.
Flight schools rent airplanes
either “wet” or “dry.” “Wet” means
that the flight school pays for the fuel; “dry” means
that you pay for the fuel. A Cessna 172 burns about 8 gallons
of aviation gas per hour. The price of aviation gas fluctuates
from week to week. Assume that it currently sells for about $5
per gallon. That means that it costs about $40 per hour of flight
to fuel the engine. If flight school A rents a Cessna
172 for $80 per hour dry Hobbs and flight school B rents
a Cessna 172 for $120 per hour wet Hobbs, to the unsophisticated
student pilot, flight school A may appear to offer the
better deal. In fact, they are offering comparable deals. Flight
school B charges more per hour “wet” because
flight school B pays for the gas. When comparing airplane
rental prices pay close attention to whether the flight school
rents its airplanes “wet” or “dry.”
When I compare the prices flight
schools charge for airplanes, I convert the quoted prices into
their wet Hobbs equivalents. For example, suppose that a flight
school charges $75 per hour dry tach for its Cessna 172s. Divide
the $75 by 1.2 to get the Hobbs equivalent—$62.50. Add $40
for the gas to get a wet Hobbs equivalent price of $102.50.
Be on the lookout for hidden
charges. Some flight schools try to make their rental rates appear
more competitive by reducing the published hourly rate but tacking
on a fuel surcharge. Before deciding which school to patronize,
call the school and ask whether the school imposes any charges
not disclosed on the school’s web site.
Instructor
Fees
You can compare instructor
fees more easily than airplane rental prices. Instructors normally
charge by the hour. The rates range between $25 to $60 per hour
or more. These are ridiculously low prices considering the time,
effort, and expense involved in obtaining a flight instructor
certificate and the instructor’s responsibility to keep
the student safe. Private skiing lessons cost more than twice
as much. Flight instructors charge so little because the FAA
lets flight instructors log as “pilot in command” time
the hours they spend instructing students in the air. Young pilots
who aspire to fly for the airlines want to build their pilot
in command time as quickly and inexpensively as possible, so
they obtain their flight instructor certificates and hunt for
students willing to pay for the instructor’s pilot in command
time. These aspiring airline pilots bring down the market rate
for all instructors because the aspiring airline pilots accept
low pay for the opportunity to build their hours.
I charge $55 per hour, including
both the ground portion and the flight portion of each lesson.
To encourage students to train with me during the week, when
demand for my services is low, I offer a $5 per hour discount
for midweek flight training.
Evaluating
Airplanes
As a prospective student pilot,
you have a difficult job evaluating the airplane in which your
flight school proposes to teach you to fly. In order to compete
on price, flight schools provide training in the cheapest airplanes
they can find. Typically, these airplanes are 20 years old or
more and have been flown for thousands of hours. They show their
history of heavy use: faded and chipped paint; worn upholstery;
scratched windshields; a mishmash of installed electronics, some
of it as old as the airplane. How do you tell whether an airplane
is safe?
Safety shouldn’t concern
you as much as you might expect. The FAA requires that most training
airplanes receive inspections by licensed mechanics after every
100 hours of flight. (This rule arguably does not apply if a
member of a flying club rents an airplane from the club and then
hires a club-approved flight instructor to provide flight training.
In this case, the airplane may only receive annual inspections.)
I've flown in some really ugly airplanes with no concern about
my safety because I could tell that the airplane, though old,
was well-maintained.
Until you have had the experience
of flying in lots of airplanes you will have a hard time determining
whether an airplane is well-maintained. When you first get in
an airplane, scan the instrument panel and look for devices that
have been labelled with stickers indicating that the device is
“inoperative.” If the airplane owner allows the equipment
on his airplane to go unrepaired after it breaks, that makes
me wonder whether the owner skimps on maintenance to save money.
Every airplane has a set of
maintenance logs. Ask the flight school to show you your plane’s
maintenance logs. The flight school may not keep them at the
airport, but the flight school should be willing to show you
the logs after they have a chance to bring them to the airport.
Ask the school to show you the mechanic’s logbook entries
showing that the airplane has received its
annual inspection
100-hour inspection
50-hour oil change
transponder check
static system check
ELT check.
Ask the school to show you
the records showing that the airplane complies with the “airworthiness
directives” from the FAA. Note the condition of the logs.
Neat, well-organized, and complete maintenance records signal
an owner who takes good care of his airplane
Evaluating
Instructors
When you visit a flight school
for your first lesson, the school will probably assign you a
flight instructor based on availability. You do not have to stick
with the first instructor assigned to you. Student pilots, however,
have difficulty evaluating the instructors assigned to them.
Flying ability is important, of course, but teaching ability
matters more. Ask the assigned instructor whether he hopes to
move up to the airlines and leave you behind. Try to gauge whether
you will enjoy spending many hours in a cockpit with this individual.
If the school cannot provide you with an instructor who seems
to have the ability to teach, who plans to continue teaching
at the school for the foreseeable future, and who gets along
well with you, then keep shopping.
You should understand that
flight schools do not employ the flight instructors who train
their students. Flight schools rent airplanes to student pilots
and maintain lists of instructors whom student pilots may hire
to provide flight training in the school’s airplanes. The
school does not hire the instructor to train you. You hire the
instructor to train you in the airplane that you rent from the
flight school. (Flight schools indulge in the fiction that their
instructors are independent contractors, not employees, so that
the schools can save money on workers’ compensation and
unemployment insurance and evade the wage and hour rules.) Because
the instructor does not work for the flight school, it isn’t
fair to complain to the instructor about the flight school. If
the flight school’s airplanes are dirty or poorly managed,
don’t burden the instructor with your complaints—take
them to the flight school. The instructor is as much a victim
of the flight school’s mismanagement as you are.
Earning
a Private Pilot Certificate
To earn a private pilot certificate,
you must meet these requirements:
You must be at least 17 years
old. You can start your flight training at any age, and you can
fly the airplane “solo” (by yourself) if you are at
least 16 years old, but you cannot take the test for the private
pilot certificate until you are 17.
You must receive flight training
on various kinds of airplane operations. You must accumulate
at least 40 hours of flight time, including 20 hours of flight
training and 10 hours of solo flight training. (To be realistic,
expect to fly at least 65 hours.)
You must pass a practical
test, known as a “checkride.”
Starting
Young
Although one can qualify to
fly an airplane solo as young as 16 and receive a pilot certificate
as young as 17, I don’t recommend rushing into flight training
at such an early age. In my experience, students in their early
and middle teens seldom finish their flight training or take
their checkrides because they simply lack the maturity to stick
with the flight training program to the end. I will train young
students if I feel that they have the maturity to finish, but
I don’t encourage students to start training that young.
The average 15-year-old has
never undertaken as project as difficult as earning a pilot’s
certificate. He has never done anything that requires so much
sustained and prolonged work. When he discovers after a few lessons
that he can’t fly like Chuck Yeager, he gets discouraged
and loses interest.
I hate to see a youngster with
an interest in aviation suffer a setback the first time he tackles
the private pilot training program and give up flying forever.
I would much prefer to see that youngster come back when he’s
19 and has the maturity to see the process through to conclusion.
Speaking
English
In order to earn a private
pilot certificate, you must be able to understand spoken English.
Many foreign student pilots come to the United States with excellent
skills in reading and writing English but not in understanding
spoken English. Inability to understand spoken English will almost
certainly doom your efforts to earn a private pilot certificate.
I have flown with students
who almost spoke English but not quite. That won’t work.
You must speak English well enough to understand air traffic
controllers who are operating under pressure and speaking rapidly.
Your safety and that of others in the air and on the ground depend
on your ability to understand English.
It does not matter if you speak
English with an accent, even a heavy accent, as long as you can
easily make yourself understood to air traffic controllers. In
fact, having an accent has the advantage that when air traffic
controllers hear a pilot with a strong accent, they suspect that
English is not his native language, and they speak to him slower
and clearer.
Preparing
for the Knowledge Test
In order to receive a private
pilot certificate, you need to pass a computerized knowledge
test. There are three ways you can prepare for this test.
First, you can enroll in a
ground school course designed to prepare students for the knowledge
test. The College
of Alameda offers such a course.
Second, you can buy a book
and study it on your own. I recommend:
You will also need a current
copy of the federal aviation regulations and of the Aeronautical
Information Manual. Publishers usually combine these in a single
volume:
If you wish to train with
me, you must purchase one of the computer-aided instruction programs.
I require that you progress through the instruction program at
the same time that you do your flight training with me. I do
not want to be put in the position of delaying your cross-country
flight training because you haven't mastered the material in
your computer-aided instruction program.
Earning
an Instrument Rating
To add an instrument rating
to your private pilot certificate, you must meet these requirements:
You must pass a computerized
knowledge test.
You must receive flight training
on various kinds of instrument operations.
You must accumulate 50 hours
of cross-country flight time.
You must accumulate at least
40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time, including 15
hours of instrument flight training.
You must pass a practical
test.
Training
with Me
My
Background
I began flying lessons at age
48 and earned my private pilot certificate five months later.
Soon thereafter I joined the University of California Flying
Club, purchased my first airplane, and began training for my
instrument rating. For a period, the UC Flying Club had no instructors,
which meant that my airplane sat idle, so I set about to rectify
the situation by earning first my commercial pilot certificate
and then, in September of 2003, my flight instructor certificate.
I added the instrument rating to my flight instructor certificate
a year later.
I began teaching long before
I started flying. I have taught courses at the Hastings College
of the Law, at the University of San Francisco School of Law,
and, for 12 semesters, at the School of Law at the University
of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall). I specialize in insurance
law. I come from a family of teachers—my mother had an elementary
school credential, my father chaired the Department of Economics
at California State University, East Bay, my sister teaches in
an elementary school, and my daughter teaches middle school math.
My
Airplane
Four years ago I purchased
a Cessna 152—N24998— for the purpose of providing flight
training. I have completely restored the airplane with an overhauled
engine, all new avionics, new propeller, new interior, new upholstery,
new window glass, and new paint. N24998 has a GMA
340 audio panel, a SL30
nav/comm transceiver, and a GTX
330 transponder, which is connected to the audio panel and
to a GPSMAP
496 GPS. The inclusion of the top-of-the-line GTX 330 means
that in most congested airpaces, including the Bay Area, the
GTX 330 can receive the Traffic Information Service signal from
air traffic control and display the locations of all nearby airplanes
and helicopters on the screen of the GPSMAP 496. Furthermore,
the GTX 330 gives an audio warning whenever another aircraft
comes close to the airplane. I provide flight training to my
students in N24998.
The Cessna 152 is the ideal
airplane for flight training. It has the advantage that everything
happens slowly in a 152. Takeoffs happen slowly, cruising happens
slowly, and, most important, landings happen slowly. Student
pilots have plenty of time to plan their maneuvers. By the time
you earn your private pilot certificate, the 152’s leisurely
pace will have lost its appeal, and you’ll yearn for something
that flies faster and higher. Until then, you’ll appreciate
the virtues of the 152 as a trainer.
The 152 does, however, have
two drawbacks. First, it can carry only about 480 pounds, including
fuel. I weigh about 190 pounds. Two hours of fuel weighs about
72 pounds. So if you weigh more than 210 pounds, fully dressed,
you need to find a bigger airplane. Second, the 152 cockpit is
rather narrow, and the seating is cozy, which means that the
pilot and passenger sit shoulder to shoulder. If claustrophobia
is a problem for you, you may prefer a larger airplane like the
172. I flew N24998 from Mississippi to California with one of
my students (who actually did most of the flying), and we did
not find the coziness uncomfortable.
I provide flight instruction
at the Oakland International Airport. In addition to Runway 29
on Oakland’s South Field, which the airlines use, the Oakland
Airport has three long, wide runways on the North Field (Runways
27L, 27R, and 33), all for private airplanes. The North Field
controllers show remarkable patience when communicating with
student pilots.
Training
for the Private Pilot Certificate
I rent my airplane for $62
per hour dry Hobbs (equivalent to about $92 per hour wet Hobbs).
I charge $55 per hour for ground training and flight training.
In order to encourage students to train on weekdays, I offer
a $5 per hour discount for weekday training.
How
Much Will It Cost?
The cost of learning to fly
varies from student to student, depending primarily on how frequently
you can fly. If you train every day, you might finish in as few
as 40 hours, the minimum required for Part 91 operations. If
you can only fly on Saturdays, then learning to fly might take
you twice as many hours. In addition to the cost of renting an
airplane, you need to budget the cost of hiring the instructor.
To obtain your private pilot certificate, you need a minimum
of 20 hours of instruction, but 40 to 50 hours is a more realistic
estimate. Renter's liability insurance will cost you about $240
per year. If you wish to train with me, you must have a $1
million renter's liability insurance policy. Also, you will
need to purchase the study materials and a headset. Finally,
you’ll have to pay an approved medical examiner for a medical
examination, and you’ll have to pay the pilot examiner for
the checkride. You can expect to spend somewhere in the neighborhood
of $11,000. You will read at other flight instruction web sites
that you can learn to fly for as little as $5,855. Don’t
believe it. Any estimate substantially less than $11,000 is unrealistic,
no matter where you train.
Although $11,000 seems like
a lot of money (and it is), keep in mind why you are spending
it. You are spending it in order to fly. Most of the time you
spend in preparation for your checkride you will spend doing
the very thing for which you are seeking a license: flying. You
will have a lot of fun learning to fly, and earning a private
pilot certificate will bring you enormous satisfaction.
If you’re not sure about
the idea of going for a private pilot certificate but you’d
like an introductory flight to see if flying is as much fun as
you imagine, I would be pleased to give you ride for $59. No
coupon is required. The lesson will consist of a flight across
the Bay to San Francisco and back (weather permitting). You will
sit in the pilot’s seat, and you will handle the controls
(except for taking off and landing).
When
Am I Available for Instruction?
I am available to train you
to fly any time that’s convenient for you, including evenings
and weekends.
Other
Matters
Are
You Too Old to Learn to Fly?
Because I started flight training
and earned my private pilot’s certificate at the ripe, old
age of 48, I know the difficulty of teaching an entirely new
skill to a calcified brain. I like to think that my advanced
years give me an advantage in training the more mature student.
Are you too mature? We can’t answer that question until
you get up in the air and give flying a try. What’s the
worst that can happen? You’ll take a few lessons, have a
lot of fun, but conclude that maybe a private pilot’s certificate
is not for you.
Mature students have certain
advantages over the young whippersnappers. Mature students often
have more time and more flexible schedules, as well as the financial
resources to see them through their training. Because of their
greater life experience, they know that challenges like the private
pilot’s certificate require sustained effort to meet. Setbacks
along the way do not surprise them. They exercise better judgment
and avoid foolish risks. Confessing ignorance and seeking advice
do not embarrass them.
Are
You the Wrong Gender to Fly?
There is no wrong gender to
fly. Flying is the most fun that life has to offer, but only
six percent of licensed pilots are female. There is no reason
why men should have all the fun. Don't be deterred by the fear
that you might make a mistake in front of your flight instructor
during your flight training. You will make thousands of mistakes.
You learn more from your mistakes than you learn from the things
you do right. My job is to let you make lots of mistakes but
keep you from making one mistake too many.
Insurance
The world of general aviation
revolves around one issue: insurance. The high cost and limited
availability of insurance shapes the whole general aviation industry.
When a flight school approaches
an insurance broker about obtaining liability and property insurance
for the airplanes in the school’s fleet, the school soon
learns a harsh reality: a flight school can obtain no more than
$1 million in liability coverage. That amount of coverage will
not protect the school and its customers from the entire risk
of liability arising out of a serious airplane accident. To make
matters worse, the policy will provide only $100,000 in coverage
for liability to passengers riding in the airplane, a ridiculously
inadequate amount of coverage considering the potential injuries
that a passenger could suffer in a crash.
If you or your passenger suffer
injuries in an airplane accident, you may recover from the liability
carrier $1 million or $100,000. To obtain payment on the unpaid
portion of your judgment, you can try to collect that money from
the flight school that rented you your airplane and provided
you an instructor. You have little chance of recovering on your
judgment against a flight school, however, as these businesses
seldom have significant assets. Flight schools lease most of
their airplanes from private owners.
Every year, when I renew my
insurance policy, I ask the broker to provide me the maximum
liability coverage available, and every year he tells me that
he can find me at most $1 million in liability coverage with
a $100,000 sublimit for passengers. Because $100,000 would
provide me almost no protection against an injured passenger’s
lawsuit, I have no alternative but to insist that my students
and passengers sign a form releasing me of liability exceeding
any recoverable liability insurance.
If you care about the financial
impact an airplane accident might have on you and your family,
you need to look for protection from your own insurance—your
life, health, and disability insurance. The Airplane
Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) can put you in touch
with insurers willing to issue life, disability, and renter’s
liability insurance to pilots. You should check to make sure
that your personal policies do not exclude coverage for injuries
suffered in private airplane accidents. Also, you should acquire
as much airplane renter’s liability insurance as you can
afford, to supplement whatever paltry coverage you have under
the flight school’s liability coverage. Don’t assume
that the flight school’s liability policy covers you. If
you cause an airplane accident, the insurance company will settle
the claims against the flight school and then may sue you for
reimbursement.
A pilot imposes a risk, albeit
minute, on everyone whom his airplane could injure or kill if
the pilot lost control of the airplane. All of our efforts to
fly safely, to maintain our proficiency, and to maintain our
aircraft cannot eliminate that risk altogether. Out of consideration
for the public who let us fly our airplanes virtually unrestricted
over the magnificent American landscape, we should take whatever
measures we can reasonably afford in order to protect the public
in case of an accident. That means buying as much liability insurance
as possible in order to assure the availability of funds to compensate
persons injured or killed by private airplanes. For this reason
I insist that my students acquire a $1 million/$100,000 renter’s
insurance policy. This coverage will cost you about $240
per year.
Student pilots sometimes assume
that they need not fear the risk of liability from a crash because
no one expects student pilots to fly as skillfully as regular
pilots. Unfortunately for student pilots, the law holds novice
pilots to the standard of competence exercised by experienced
pilots. As stated in the Restatement (Second) of Torts,
a leading legal treatise:
In our increasingly complex
industrial civilization there may, however, be situations and
activities in which allowance cannot be made for the deficiencies
of beginners. The probability of harm to others involved in an
activity may be so great, or the potential quantum of such harm
may be so large, that anyone who engages in the particular activity
must be held to a certain minimum standard of competence, even
though that standard lies beyond the capacity of a novice. This
means that, until he has attained a minimum of competence, the
beginner is to be treated as if he were negligent in engaging
in the activity at all; or, more accurately stated, that the
risk of the harm which he does while he is learning must be borne
by him, rather than by his innocent victims, and his lack of
competence cannot excuse him. This may be true particularly where
the dangers of incompetence in an activity are so well recognized
that licensing statutes have been enacted, requiring minimum
standards of competence for anyone to engage in the activity.
Thus a beginner who is learning for the first time to fly
an airplane may be held from the first moment that he takes it
into the air to the minimum standard of competence of a licensed
pilot, even though he is in fact quite unable to conform to that
standard.
Id.
§ 299, Comment D (emphasis added). Student pilots need liability
insurance more than anyone.
I have written a short book,
the Pilot’s Guide to Insurance, for pilots and airplane
owners on the subject of insurance. You may access it at Scribd or at www.pilotsguidetoinsurance.com.
Foreigners
The Transportation Security
Administration (the folks who brought us those delightful security
checks at airports) have cracked down on the provision of flight
training to student pilots who are not citizens of the United
States. The AOPA has put together a useful web
page describing what a non-citizen must do in order to obtain
flight training. The TSA has authorized me to provide flight
training to qualifying foreigners.
Where
To Begin
Evaluating
Instructors
