Becoming a private pilot is a stunningly terrible financial decision.
That “dinky Cessna?” I want you to imagine an 80’s Honda Accord that costs as much as a Lamborghini to buy and maintain, and that’s on top of the $8,000 or so you’ll put into training.
A better financial decision would be to buy a brand new Lexus every time you go out of town.
$8k sounds cheap, I looked into it for where I live and it was €15k minimum, probably more like 20… I gave up on that idea real quick and stuck with flight simulator and my drones haha.
All told I paid about $5,000 for my private pilot certificate in the early 2000s, though everything is more expensive and the US dollar is cheaper now. Since you used Euro, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is cheaper in America; we get a lot of commercial pilot students from around the world at places like ERAU.
Yeah that would make sense, car licenses are also much easier/cheaper in the US so I guess this is an extension of the same logic. Anyway the older I get the more anxious I become when flying (even commercial), and my vertigo keeps getting worse, so it’s probably for the best haha.
One interesting thing: American private pilots are trained in night VFR as a basic requirement, so any American private pilot can fly at night under VFR rules. In other countries, it either requires additional training or they do not allow VFR at night at all and so to fly at night you must be instrument rated.
Becoming a private pilot is a stunningly terrible financial decision.
That “dinky Cessna?” I want you to imagine an 80’s Honda Accord that costs as much as a Lamborghini to buy and maintain, and that’s on top of the $8,000 or so you’ll put into training.
A better financial decision would be to buy a brand new Lexus every time you go out of town.
$8k sounds cheap, I looked into it for where I live and it was €15k minimum, probably more like 20… I gave up on that idea real quick and stuck with flight simulator and my drones haha.
All told I paid about $5,000 for my private pilot certificate in the early 2000s, though everything is more expensive and the US dollar is cheaper now. Since you used Euro, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is cheaper in America; we get a lot of commercial pilot students from around the world at places like ERAU.
Yeah that would make sense, car licenses are also much easier/cheaper in the US so I guess this is an extension of the same logic. Anyway the older I get the more anxious I become when flying (even commercial), and my vertigo keeps getting worse, so it’s probably for the best haha.
One interesting thing: American private pilots are trained in night VFR as a basic requirement, so any American private pilot can fly at night under VFR rules. In other countries, it either requires additional training or they do not allow VFR at night at all and so to fly at night you must be instrument rated.
I guess I’ll look into it once I have money to burn