are you ready to get your pilot certificate people are dreamers in fact pilots are possibly some of the biggest dreamers of all the desire to leave the ground either recreationally or as a career requires someone with a healthy imagination experiencing the world from above is a common dream we know this all the way back from when we were children we see birds and airplanes overhead we know that all of the cool superheroes fly angels fly and we know that we are fortunate enough to live in a time when we can fly too you know for more than a few seconds and you know well survived landing anyway on this episode of the power parachute show we talk about the top 10 things you need to get your pilot's license and we're going to get started right now [Music] unlike superheroes we have to put a little effort into learning to fly and if we want to take people with us we want to do it safely as it turns out the faa wants us to do it safely too that's part of the reason for the pesky requirement that we meet certain training knowledge and experience requirements before they will let us fly anything more than an ultralight this top 10 list is about turning those dreams into reality getting your pilot certificate is no small thing there is a lot to learn and do but it isn't that hard and there are flight instructors who are more than ready to help you achieve the goal of flying whatever it is you want to learn to fly including airplanes gyro planes weight shift control trikes or of course powered parachutes part parachutes are probably the easiest so if you're considering them you may have an easier path than others but you still have a path to walk before you put your shoes on let's talk about what you need to be successful and as we get rolling here please take a moment to subscribe if you want to see more aviation content like this your subscription to the channel and your likes for the videos are highly motivational to me thank you so much now on with our list number one is health this item began its life at the end of the list it ended up being promoted to the top because it is so incredibly important part parachuting is a moderately physical activity you certainly don't have to be the picture of youth and health like like i am well like i would like to be but there is some pushing carrying and bending involved and that is even before you get into the sky there are less strenuous ways to fly for example airplanes and gyro planes are about as automobile like as you can get the most exercise you get is climbing into the seat of one of those aircraft another thing that's it is mental health it's a it's a health issue also they face it the younger we are the easier it is for us to learn new skills and flying a pirate parachute is a new skill it requires some book study as well as some eye-hand foot coordination very doable even as a senior citizen i've taught a few people who are decades past their twenties but it is better to learn it sooner rather than later it just gets more challenging the longer you wait time is number two learning to fly is not a weekend adventure while it is true that under carefully controlled conditions you can get to a solo flight in one weekend that is only a milestone on the way to becoming a pilot to get a sport pilot certificate for powered parachutes you need 10 hours of dual training 2 hours of solo flying and 20 takeoffs and landings i know what you're thinking 10 hours that sounds like a normal day with maybe a little bit overtime why can't i get this done in a weekend there's actually more than one reason first students can only absorb so much training at one time one hour blocks seem to be about right for the first few sessions and then those get a little longer as time goes on you can't speed up learning no matter how many training montages you've seen in the movies you also have to deal with weather unfortunately powered parachutes are best flown in calm the modest winds that's even more important for student pilots not only is a more textured sky more difficult to fly in it is hard for a student to be able to tell if the aircraft is reacting to pilot inputs or something the wind is doing so ideally you get one hour of training early in the morning and one hour in the late afternoon two individual hour long sessions per day in the 12 required sessions equals six days and those are six nice days without rain or all-day high winds i estimate that it takes about two weeks to get it done if you're working with average weather that is a two-week vacation or a heck of a lot of weekends if you have to travel and honestly most students have to travel to find an active part parachute instructor number three is money yeah yeah i know if the best things in life are free and prior parachuting is so darn great why isn't it free that one my friends we will leave to the economists and the philosophers all i can say is that most of the flight instructors i know enjoy eating well that and i don't know anyone who is becoming a millionaire in the powered parachute flight instruction business some people confuse powered parachute instruction with airplane flight instruction hourly rates an airplane cfi is often a young person trying to build hours to get into the airlines or a retired person who is just doing it in order to share their accumulated knowledge with the faa requiring a lot of piloting command hours before a pilot can fly transport aircraft a young pilot seeks flight instruction jobs he or she knows that it is a great way to build pilot in command time while earning a little cheese but then they find those jobs relatively low paying because there are a lot of other young people and pilots wanting to do the same thing they're doing that drives instructional prices down well that and an airplane cfi can fly for eight hours a day powered parachute instructors only have an hour or two per day to sell bottom line is learning to fly a light sport aircraft of any kind will cost you anywhere from zero to well north of ten thousand dollars zero dollars is the friends and family rate with really nice guys if you have a deal like that take advantage of it i know a couple of people who have had offers like that through the years and didn't realize what kind of gift they were bestowed equipment is number four this one's a little tricky though in fact a lot of people get this one backwards they first buy themselves a great deal on ebay or somewhere then they begin looking for instruction often they learn that their great deal may not have been that great they may also get a little discouraged that it could cost them more to get a license to fly their 15 year old machine than it costs them to purchase their low hour gem the truth is it is best if you find an instructor first an instructor can give you good advice on equipment purchases more importantly you may not need equipment at all with your instructor they often but not always have their own training aircraft hopefully that is the case because you will learn things about powered parachutes that will help you to make a better you a better consumer when you are ready to buy worst case is that you buy something that is illegal unsafe or not fully functional each instructor has brands they prefer to teach in prefer not to teach in and won't fly on a dare it's simply best to find an instructor first and your ride second number five is the instructor this guy is the one who will help determine how much time and money it takes to get you to your certificate and yes it'll probably be a guy although there are a few exceptions out there one of the ways he helps determine that is by where he's chosen to live if he lives close to you that's great the further you have to travel the bigger the investment in time and money talk with more than one potential instructor programs vary greatly in form timing style and ultimately effectiveness find someone who trains the way you want to learn weather is number six you're going to have to work around the weather this makes training more challenging the further north you go it also makes weekend training difficult say you want to learn to fly but you only want to do it on weekends first of all join a club so does everyone else but even if you get an instructor to commit to a string of weekends it will probably take a long time to get where you want to go a couple of weekends worth of bad weather combined with other scheduling conflicts can stretch what looks on paper like a month and a half of training time into two years of hit-and-miss training it's better for you if you can commit to a stretch of time especially if travel is involved then you can be on site for the morning and evening flights when the weather is good when the weather is poor maybe you can arrive a few days late or if training goes really well you can leave a little early which leads us to number seven which is flexibility flying light aircraft is not at all like flying the commercial airlines commercial jets need some serious bad weather to keep them on the ground on the other hand most light sport aircraft like calmer winds well except for our rotary wing friends who don't seem to notice winds that would be a little too sporting for those of us in the pair sports in any case learning to fly isn't like taking music lessons it is outdoors and climate dependent and if you're working with an instructor who does this part-time you're going to have his schedule as well as your own on top of the weather forecast and of course by the way the weather forecast doesn't always conform to you know the weather so be prepared to wait for the proper window to fly and not be able to fly on certain days at all if your type a personality this could be frustrating sometimes a little frustration is one of the prices you have to pay getting a first flight is number eight this isn't at the top of the list although i believe it could be for some people i always recommend that you try to get a flight and a powered parachute before you go all in on getting your license but for many this is actually somewhat optional i've flown with a lot of students and know a lot more pirate parachute pilots that jumped feet first into the sport without an introductory flight but face it if you have some doubts clear them up with a flight experience in an actual powered parachute it may take the form of an introductory training flight with an instructor but committing no further than flight number one might be a great way to test the waters and in the process get you completely hooked you can't find a local instructor will drive or perhaps drive to a fly-in where someone can take you under their big nylon wing and show you the strings number nine is study this is really bad news for some people i'm sorry yes you're going to have to commit to some studying not just flight training but actual book learning after all you have two tests you're going to have to pass and those tests are very different the first test is a knowledge test which is a closed book multiple choice test the test is not impossibly difficult but it does cover material you have to study the good news is that you can study and pass your knowledge test before you ever meet a flight instructor or touch a powered parachute asa has a good home study course for the pirate parachute sport pilot knowledge test other companies have products too and all of the test prep companies can give you the official recommendation that you need in order to take that knowledge test at an faa approved testing center the second test is your practical test or check ride for that test you will need your certified flight instructor to help you prepare there are specific tasks that you will be tested on and your cfi knows those tasks and you can recommend you for your practical test when you're done and by the way an excellent book for helping you prepare for that practical test can be found at poweredparachutebook.com finally we have number 10 dedication if you don't have the things above in abundance you can still meet your goal of becoming a pilot if you have some dedication on the other hand you can have all of the things above and still not earn your certificate if you don't apply any dedication to achieving your goal dedication can also be described as focus if you make becoming a pilot a goal and then map out the steps you need to take to achieve your goal then that focus will help you earn your pilot certificate this list is not meant to discourage anyone instead it was put together to help you mentally prepare for what will ultimately be a very rewarding accomplishment there are less than a half a million certificated pilots of any kind in the united states that is 0.1 percent of the u.s population you could be one of those people but like anything else worth achieving it will take a little effort finally if you are interested in pirate parachute flight instruction in either the midwest or in florida please visit the link to ezflight.com in the comments and again please remember to subscribe thanks so much for watching and blue skies [Music] you