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Private Pilot
Certification Course
The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) has two different sets of regulations under
which they issue Pilot Certificates, part 61 and Part 141. The
basic difference between the two parts is the minimum
number of hours of training required to qualify for your pilot’s
Certificate, the structure of the training, and the scrutiny of
the FAA.
A noteworthy statistic is that the
average time for a person to obtain their Private Pilot’s
Certificate is 70 hours, and average time at Northwest Aviation
Center is 53.8 hours. That being said, the minimum time
required by part 61 is 40 hours, and under part 141 is 35
hours. This is total airplane time by the way. Northwest
Aviation Center has chosen to train pilots under Part 61.
What is involved? We break our
training syllabus into three phases, solo, cross country, and
exam (also known as the check ride) preparation. During to solo
phase you will learn all about the training airplane, how to
ready it for flight, how to taxi, (drive on the ground) take
off, learn several in flight maneuvers, and landings. While
there is no minimum hourly requirement for solo, most pilots
will solo in around 15 hours. Solo means that you are alone in
the airplane and this will happen when your instructor is
satisfied that you are competent in all the maneuvers and take
off and landing.
After your first solo (which is a
huge milestone) you will continue to fly on and off with your
instructor for supervised solo practice and then move into the
cross country phase of your training. This is the most fun
phase as you finally get to actually go some place other than
the local practice area. We have several “canned” cross country
routes for you to learn navigation and advanced communications.
Think of doing this in your car. Leave Everett, WA and go to
Port Angeles, then across Puget Sound to Bellingham, and then
return to Everett’s Paine Field. This all together takes about
2 and one half hours in our training aircraft, and I don’t think
it is even possible in your car. The first time you do this
trip you will be with your instructor, and then you will repeat
the trip in reverse solo.
Your next trip will be solo and
take you to some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet
earth in my opinion. You will depart Paine Field and fly out to
Hoquiam then north to almost the end of the United State to
Quileute State Airport, and then back to Paine Field.
Now it is time to start your night
time training and more cross country. You will depart Paine
Field and this time head south to Olympia, then up to
Seattle-Tacoma Airport and on east and then north back to Paine
field.
Now it is time again to get to
work and start preparation phase for your flight with the FAA
designated representative to get your private pilot’s
certificate. You and your instructor will refresh all of the
maneuvers you learned in your early training, review the many
types of take off and landings, review flight solely by
reference to the flight instruments, a review by the chief
flight instructor.
In addition to the flight training
there is also a knowledge test that you must pass, and to study
for this test most people take a classroom style ground school.
You may however choose to just study on your own, or purchase a
DVD or CD-ROM based course. There are several of these types of
courses commercially available for you. We encourage you attend
the more formal classroom ground school as we feel the learning
process is much better with the synergy of the classroom
setting.
You are now ready for your check
ride. Nuthin’ to it.
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