Are You Ready for Flight School? | Airline Pilot Explains
Are you considering learning to fly and getting your PPL a private pilot license in this video? I talk about flight training working with your flight instructor your very first solo flight The equipment and gear that you'll need in order to be successful and how to pass your first aviation exam If you've watched some of my other videos and they've been helpful consider subscribing All you need to do is hit that subscribe button and the Bell notification next to it And each time a new video comes out you'll get notified Let's get into it The first thing I want to cover like anytime you're studying a new subject is just some basic terminology That I might be using during this video and that you'll definitely experience when you get to flight school Most of them if you've already done the research to get to this video Deep down in the barrels of YouTube somewhere.
You've known these terms but CFI, which is a certified flight instructor They're gonna be the ones that are generally teaching you how to fly a demo flight, which is your first intro flight Which is just some basic thing you can get off of honestly you can get that off of Groupon or any those other places you can go up and do a hour of half-hour flight just to get a taste of flying ATC known as air traffic control is this a general term that's used to when you're talking to control tower or anybody while you're flying at ATC and then a glass cockpit a glass cockpit means a cockpit that doesn't have Those round dials which are known as steam gauges Like the old trains a glass cockpit is what you see if you've flown on a commercial aircraft and you look in the cockpit Generally, it's about just computer screens.
That's known as a glass cockpit those are some just some basic terms that you're gonna hear especially when you get to flight school and I'm gonna bring them up a Little bit during during this video. So I just wanted to give you some quick explanation of what does what those words are So we're all on the same page the types of planes that you're gonna be flying once you get into flight school The two most common and the ones that I honestly did the most were a Cessna 172 or 152 it's a small high wing aircraft either a 2 or 4 seater depending of so 152 or 172 or a a Piper pa-28 Those are the two that I had the most flight time in some schools have Diamond da40 s or other variations of that diamond aircraft or Cirrus aircraft.
I've never flown the diamond I do have some time in the Cirrus just because a friend of mine Had one and he was going somewhere and I needed flight time So I jumped in for the ride and he was a flight instructor So I logged all eight of those hours as far as I'm concerned. This guy is doing it, right Those are the four most common planes that you'll generally see as you go through flight school Here's a mistake that some people make is they want to go get the most expensive aircraft They want to go get a glass cockpit because that's what Jets have the type of plane that you fly is Totally irrelevant this stage in your career If you're planning to pursue this as a career if you're gonna buy a Cirrus and you and you're watching this video because you plan on getting your private pilot license so you can Go fly your cirrus around then Absolutely do your training in a cirrus and prepare for it if you're doing flight school as a career choice and you plan on being a Commercial aviator the hours that you build up early in your career It's totally irrelevant what plane they are? So don't pay an extra fifty bucks an hour to go fly a Cirrus when you can go apply a 152 or a 172 That's an older plane because at the end of the day when you pass your commercial check ride your final exam They're not gonna say.
Oh, well you were flying on a 152. Are you sure you can handle this? It doesn't matter it's a totally irrelevant point and When you go to the airline's they are also not gonna care what aircraft you were flying in the more money that you can save Save it now if you have unlimited resources And you don't care and you want to go fly the Cirrus then go fly it's a beautiful plane I'm just saying do you don't need to spend the money if you don't have if your Budget is tight as you're going through flight school, you can save the funds. It's not gonna make any difference No, I'm saying you're poor poor Because if you're watching this video because you're thinking About being a commercial aviator and that's what you want to do as a career You'll have a lot of older guys that have been doing this for a long time. That will say don't do it It's a horrible career. You're gonna hate it. You're gonna miss your family You're not gonna be able to spend any time around and you won't get what you want Here's one thing that you really need to know about pilots pilots are whiners.
We love to whine. Why do we do that? I don't I'd honestly I don't know I have yet to figure it out I was fine with the guy who had just got his dream job a couple weeks ago We were coming out of Hong Kong and he was saying well, I just got this new job and it's a dream job I've been one that since I was a kid and I was like all congratulations and then he started complaining is like, you know But the thing is is this base that they have which is the new base that I'm gonna get a sign.
This really sucks Baby, I said bro. You just got the job. You said you've been working 40 years or whatever He was about 40 years old. You've been working all that time in order to get that job now that you got it You're still gonna be complaining and he said yeah, it's really not healthy. I just want to let you know in my opinion It's an awesome job It is a grind for sure coming up and getting your ratings and getting to become a commercial Avior That is a grind there is no doubt about it. It's better than it was ten years ago, but I personally, I love it I enjoy the company that I work for I enjoy the guys that I fly with And that's why I'm making these videos I'm making them so I can help people who want to be professional Aviators or aviators and have questions about what they want to do in their career.
That's why I'm making these videos Now your CFI your certified flight instructor he or she is going to be Someone who generally has finished their flight school and they're trying to get the hours Hours or experience to be able to get their next job. That's generally who your CFI is gonna be they may have 500 hours or 300 hours or 2,000 hours. I don't know they're not always there because they really love teaching and they want to help you That's generally not why they're there they're there because they want to get hours and experience. Is that your best? Is that the best instructor you can get? No the best instructor would be a guy who really loves to teach? That's just not how it works right now that the airlines are paying a lot So there's a lot of guys that are just staying with those airline jobs and aren't aren't staying as instructors, unfortunately That's what you're going to deal with now if you get a dick Instructor that you do not get along with you got two options You can either deal with it or you can ask your flights go and say hey, we're having a personality conflict Can I get somebody else? I had instructor that I as I went through I had one guy and for the most part everybody was really cool One guy just didn't get along with and I just used him as little as possible and went with other Instructors you can try to work through your differences you cannot it's up to you I had female and male instructors actually the female instructor I had for my commercial multi-engine Was an amazing pilot maybe one of the best instructors I ever had You're gonna have some people that you're gonna meet that just naturally gifted pilots, and she was one of them She was really good all the other spite instructors would look at her because she took me up and when I was new to me a 25 knot crosswind landing and I forget where we were in the Duchess was well, that was a lot, you know And she would go up and none of the instructors would do it and she said this is the max demonstrated crosswind Let's go fly ie joking with me right now I think that was more for her than it was for me because she got bored, but she was an extremely good instructor So don't judge a book by it's cover if they're young or they're old.
It's a male or female It's totally irrelevant when you get into your career, and you're filing as a crew You're gonna meet someone and you're gonna have to work with him so and When you get an introduce your instructor try to make it work if it's not working then take it up and try to change it Somewhere during your private pilot training you're gonna get sent out to do your solo usually I'd say it's around 20 hours. I got my private pilot license while I was in Vegas Durr We did a couple of flights in the morning and the instructor said, okay good you ready for your so let's go I don't know if you've ever seen that movie in Top Gun And and if you haven't watched Top Gun, you have to watch that really I mean, it's almost a requirement but one of the first scenes where they're coming in to land on the aircraft carrier And he's all over the place that that would pretty much surmise what my very first approach when I was alone was It looked a lot like that and and it was windy he didn't say to come back in at land Because they didn't picked the wind picked up.
I felt like it was Horribly windy and probably looking back on it. It was I don't know maybe ten not crosswind or something, but Anyways, it felt crazy So there's a few things that you're gonna really realistically need These are these are things that I have they are not you are not required to get these things But these are these are the things that I've chosen. I'm not sponsored by anybody even though if GoPro or Bose wanted to sponsor me because I don't know I have 20-something subscribers maybe they want to be getting in on this action, but First thing kneeboard you have two different types of knee boards that you can get They're a little metal board that sits on your leg There's a strap around it you use it to write down different things that you get told or clearances you get told There's a VFR knee board, which is obviously used for flying and clear weather and then there's an IFR knee board Which you will not the IFR knee board doesn't apply right now in the train that you're going to go to But it's going to suit your purposes.
So save your money by one D board buy an IFR knee board I'll put a link to the one that I use in the description below You're going to use it through all through all through your flight school And if you're a flight instructor you're going to use it then as well. So it's just a little metal board You put a blank piece of paper on it and you write stuff down on it clearances or whatever It is a frequency whatever it is They they want to give you you're just gonna write it down on that paper get the IFR kneeboard. I'll link that That'll save you some money on there Headsets so this is gonna be the most expensive thing You're gonna buy you're gonna have sometimes you'll have the school will be able to lend you a headset Usually they have Dave Clark's their grain. They're heavy they clamp on your head I personally don't like them, you know, they put out some newer ones that are better I haven't used them my flight instructor recommended to get the a 20s the Bose a 20s That's what I fly with now and I may get a different newer set.
But for right now, I'm flying with the a 20s They're expensive. I'm not sure the exact price. I think they're roughly $1100 I'll put a link to to that as well the ones that I the ones that I use My advice to be buy one good pair a headset that you can wear all the time the noise canceling feature that you're gonna have on your Headset is going to one.
It's gonna make being able to hear what's being said a lot more clear and – it's something you'll be able to use all through flight school while you're a flight instructor When you go to your first job, you'll be able to use those headsets all that time buzz is a great company Like I said, I'm not endorsed by them, but I've never had any problems when I you know The earpiece is started to wear out and there within a few years of buying them. I sent a man They sent me a brand new pair back.
It was all refurbished So they've done a great job as far as for taking care of me and there's something you can use long term It's gonna be overall better headset to have on a long-term basis so my recommendation is buy just one good headset and be able to use that for years than have a Crappy pair and then get a better pair later on It's easier to buy one good pair another another common pair of people get are the Zulu Lightspeed's or the Zulus. I Have not used those I can't tell you I've heard good things about good things about them from different people as far as for their Noise-canceling I'd say that's kind of the main competitor I've never used them so I can't tell you but I'll put a link to the bows down below. You're gonna need a 6b it's a flight computer. It's this weird metal thing and it helps you calculate, you know winds and things like that You're gonna use that through flight school and then you'll never use it again.
Why do you need to learn how to do it? I don't know but the FAA or Whoever is teaching you want you to learn how to use it So you buy it and you learn it and then you throw it away once you go to the airline if you're doing your check Rides inside the u.s. There's a book called the pts standards practical test standards book or something like that That book is going to tell you what to expect for your private pilot check rides It's gonna go over all the things that the instructors can ask you or the examiner can ask you so they have a set number of things that they can ask you that book will tell you all the different things that you need to study and that are going to be in the exam So if you read that book and you study based off of that you already know everything that they could ask you or that they're gonna talk about so read through that and you can use that as kind of your guide as far as what you need to prepare for for your flying and for your for your study and then the final thing is Completely optional is getting a GoPro some guys like to get a GoPro so they can film their flights They can put it on their wing They can mount it but Down below is the one that I got you're gonna get told to buy a lot of different books and a lot of different videos And things like that that you may not need if you have questions about it always in the comments below Let me know when I get a chance I'll respond back to you and tell you my thoughts on and if you're getting told to buy a certain book or a different Different manuals, but those things are what I consider is your core things that you're gonna need no matter what? So your checkride is gonna be your your final exam that you're gonna do you're gonna have your written exam Which you'll do prior? This is gonna be your flight exam and I made a whole video which I'm going to link to here in that video I talked about how to prepare for your check rides and how to do everything a few quick things I want to tell you before you watch that video I talked about limitations limitations as you get deep into your career are going to be usually limitation will be Aircraft service ceiling how high the plane can fly or speeds of which you can extend your gear or extend your flaps things like that? There's not a lot of limitations at this point of your career What you'll have is limitations as far as airspace you can fly into whoo You can fly in for what type of services things like that when I talk about in that video making your flight cards for How to prepare and what limit making your flashcards for your limitations? That's what I want you to use For that section of the of the preparation for your exam other than that I'm not really going to get into all the different rules that you're able to do once you have your private pilot license you're gonna get that from your flight instructor and you're gonna get that as you go through your ground school, but The main thing is is is obviously passing that check ride.
So I made a whole video about that So I'll link that wherever that goes and I'll put it in the description below as well All right crew that wraps up everything I can give you as far as preparing for your private pilot license and what to expect in The comments below let me know where it is You're doing your flight training and if you have any questions Or you want to know anything leave that in the comment section below as well? I look forward to hearing from you until then keep the blue side up
