[Porsche-O-Phile]

Motion has it.

Speaking as a guy that has over 3,000 hours in "small planes" and worked as a CFI for a couple of years, I can assure you it's as safe or as dangerous as you care to make it. I would absolutely get the best quality (read: NOT CHEAPEST) instruction you can find and be willing to put in your homework to learn the regulations, weather/meterology, etc. Your prospective instructors will get into this with you more as you shop around.

Any place that tells you, "we can get you your Private Pilot Certificate in 40 hours" is full of it. Run (don't walk) away. Realistically it takes more on the order of 60-70 hours.

Once you've obtained your PPL, I strongly urge you to pursue your instrument rating. The statistics for survival indicate a marked increase among those pilots holding an instrument rating versus those with a VFR-only PPL. It's also some damn fun flying - you'll learn a lot and it'll do wonders for your confidence, precision and judgement/decision-making skills.

What Motion said is basically all correct, just figured I'd expand on it a little. Shop around, set a realistic timetable and budget and find a CFI that'll work WITH you as an individual to attain YOUR goals, not a mill that'll crank you through based on THEIR goals (I could give the names of a few such "flight school factories" here, but I'll hold off for now). There are exceptions too - just because a school/academy is large or franchised doesn't automatically make it bad - just some have better reputations than others.

Best of luck! I hope you pursue it and find it enjoyable!



I'll share with you this little bit of advice I used to bestow upon people when they asked "how do I know if I'm financially ready to take flying lessons"?

I'd look them right in the eye and say "reach into your wallet and pull out a brand-new, crisp $100 bill. Light it. When you can do that without flinching, you're ready."

Best of luck!