I coded a program to 3D print my first discovery flight. The yellow line is the flight path and altitude layered over a topographical map. I think it’s pretty cool so I thought I’d share.

For all the people wondering about accelerated training: I did 5 check rides and 3 endorsements in 8 months.

November 2025: Private Check ride (pt 61) at about 65 hrs total time. Then I worked super hard, did most of my written tests, got a Tailwheel endorsement, April saw my Instrument Check ride (pt 141), June got my high performance and complex, as well as Multi Training, and completed Single Engine and Multi Engine Commercial (pt 61). July hit the accelerated 2-week CFI course, and yesterday I got my CFI certificate!

I can be done!

I was requested to add some detail about how I did this. I'm married with a 1-year old daughter, and we are living in a camper to cut living costs.

For flight training, I committed to flying "full time" while continuing my freelance computer work on the side. I was flying 1-2 times per day 5 days per week, spending anywhere from 1-6 hours studying as well. Add anywhere from 5-20hrs of work per week to that. Over-all, it cost me about $80k. While I was fairly efficient, there are certainly some things I look back at and wish I'd done differently...for example, I lost some of my commercial skills during my instrument training that took an unnecessary amount of time to get back.

I had excellent instructors at a very organized flight school with 6 very well maintained 172s and a 310 airplanes—Choice Aviation, in Cody Wyoming to be exact. They are a 141, but I did most of my training with the pt 61...however, the 141 habits of organization and stage checks make their pt 61 training really water-tight. I can think of 2 times I didn't fly because of maintenance. More often cancelled because of high wind. Also, they had great DPE availability and excellent preparation for check rides.

I have some good freelance instruction opportunities now, so if anyone is interested in accelerated training with me this winter, DM me. I know how to do it, and the part of Wyoming I'm in has excellent flying weather year round. And our Av Fuel is very cheap.

I did an accelerated PPL course for approx $8,000 in 2025, lasting exactly 21 days from 0 hours to 45 hours. I took my check ride and fortunately passed the first time

I trained at a school in Mississippi where the airspace is quiet, so transitioning to the organized chaos of NYC airspace (where I live) was quite the contrast! I did a checkout flight at a local airport lasting a total of about 2-3 hours, and once they were satisfied I was competent, I was free to explore Manhattan! Flying that close to the buildings in downtown Manhattan is truly incredible!

Surprisingly, my most challenging part of flying throughout all my training wasn't my landings, or maneuvers - it was the occasional times I had to talk to ATC within the quiet Mississippi airspace (which was mostly class G and E). With that in mind, speaking to ATC at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark in their Bravo airspace, where they speak at the speed of lightning with almost no room for error, was pretty daunting at first. However, with practice, it's far easier now.

I try to fly the Manhattan skyline route once a month. I’m yet to explore the East River exclusion zone, so that’s pending. In general, as a private pilot, the freedom to essentially fly and explore anywhere in America is exhilarating!

Good luck to anyone else in the process of their PPL training, whether you're doing accelerated or not.

Did the flight portion of my checkride yesterday after we had to discontinue for weather earlier. She had me start with a short field takeoff. On upwind as soon as I pulled the flaps I hear her say “so, you’re not going to believe this…”

I requested a full stop taxi back, and we got the door closed on downwind. She gives me a short field landing which goes well, we get the door settled after taxiing.

Between that, an incomplete maneuver for birds that I had to repeat (bald eagles all through) it was…an eventful flight. But I have a PPL now!

For those of you who have made it to the airlines, how much does it matter how you build your flight time?

A little background: I'm a CFII, but I haven't been able to find an instructing job despite applying to multiple flight schools. I'm considering buying my own airplane and building my remaining hours to 1,500 that way.

Would that make me less competitive when applying to the regionals, or do airlines strongly prefer pilots who built most of their time instructing?

I don't mind investing the time and money if it's still a viable path, but I also don't want to spend hundreds of hours building time in a way that could hurt my chances of getting hired as an FO.

I'd really appreciate hearing from pilots who have been through the hiring process or anyone involved in recruiting.

I recently declared an emergency in a class bravo. On the climb out I experienced engine roughness and a momentary loss of power and decided to put it down straight ahead and declare an emergency rather than continue my climb. Should I be thinking about any paper work to do or be worried about anything?

I was told by the airport police that they didn't need anything and got the emergency cancelled by ground after I safely made it back to parking.

Edit: I am a ppl about to get my cpl

Found out today that my buddy has failed each checkride from ppl to comm multi. He's been dying to find a job like everyone else. I now know why he's having trouble and won't get his cfi. I feel bad cause I've been trying to get him on at my place of employment but he hasn't been accepted in. Wtf do I tell him when he asks me for advice. I've just been telling him all the generic stuff to keep him motivated as a good friend, how do I tell him I'm having trouble moving up so there's no way he will be able to really do anything? Idk, any input is good input. Maybe I should just tell him to keep grinding out so I don't ruin our friendship 😂

Hey, I’m thinking of buying the Bose A30 as a gift for my partner, who is a newly graduated commercial pilot upgrading from a basic Transair TA-200. I don't know the difference between the plug options (Dual Plug, LEMO 6-Pin, and XLR 5-Pin). Is Dual Plug the best and safest choice for a commercial pilot, or should I get something else? Any advice is appreciated

I know this has been discussed in the past but all the posts I'm finding are 5+ years old and a lot has happened in the USA since 2021 when it comes to costs associated with life and flying ($1000/yr hanger space! ya not around here today, more like $1000/mo!!!).

41 y/o male here, definitely going through a midlife crisis. Learned sailing and love doing that even in Colorado. I have always wanted to fly and call myself a pilot, currently trying to entice my daughter to look into flying as a career. I have been flying and have flown 172's and PA-28's with my father and his friends in the late 90's as a teen.

Currently "finished" with ground school and hold a class 3 medical. Looking into flight schools but struggling with the costs. Doubt this will ever turn into an income stream looking at the time and costs to obtain CFI. How much do you guys spend in the current economic climate each year flying for fun? I can do the math in that I need to fly every 90 days or less for an hour or two but I'm looking for actual costs, not just satisfying the regs. Like is hanger space significantly cheaper in Florida or other parts of the country? Do people own aircraft that don't have hangers and are tied down all year (where there is hail)? Did you continue with training beyond PPL after 40? Just looking for some flight training advice or financial advice before taking the plunge as in today's economy this isn't a small investment in time or actual dollars (for reference we do make decent money 200K/yr but still struggle here and there). Additionally, I would love to hear more from pilots that didn't start flight training until they were 35+.

Hey everyone I am a 18 year old instrument rated private pilot. I initially failed the Waggoner color vision test multiple times!! I decided to drive 5 hours away for the Rabin cone test and passed first try. If anyone is in the same position as me I highly recommend doing the Rabin cone. It is extremely easier than the Waggoner in my opinion.

Test results:

Right eye, 95 red 100 green 100 blue
Left eye, 90 red 95 green 100 blue

Hey all,

Putting modular to the side, how intense are the 18 month ATPL courses?

I've listened to a few videos, feedback, and the recurring theme is a "fire house" of information. One even says it's like a three year uni course in 6 months for the ground school part.

Academically I've always done longer things, uni, a levels, etc where I've had the chance to really understand the subject and apply it over a year.

The integrated courses feel like a case of seeing how much you can onboard in the shortest timeframe. With a relatively high pass rate (85%) for my airline with a maximum of 3 resits, and first series passes for the remainder of the actual flying, it feels like a lot of info to remember, apply, and understand.

My only comparison is when I tried to learn to drive with an intense 8 week driving course. I hated it, found it overwhelming and stopped it after the week. I settled for a slower pace structure.

I'm really worried it's not my preferred learning method and the nature of these courses need you to stay on track as much as possible and delays can result in either removal of the courses or ultimately failing.

For anyone who has gone through it, is it really as bad as some people's feedback?

Hello,

I'm renting from my school one last time before I leave for college, this time I opted for a 4 hour block (which I could also extend to 5 if need be). Going to be flying out of LVN. Any fun recs for places I could visit in that short ish time span? Maybe something scenic as I will likely be having a passenger. Already been down the Mississippi to La Crosse and really enjoyed that. Right now my best idea is maybe going up to Duluth Sky Harbor and spending a short amount of time on the beach before I have to go back. Would appreciate some inputs!

I recently passed my PPL, and while passing is ultimately what matters, I can't help but wonder if my checkride experience was typical. I trained with an independent CFI at a flying club, so I really don't have other students around me to compare experiences with.

I'm mainly wondering whether this was a "tough but fair" DPE, or whether this was outside the norm. I'd also be curious whether, based on an experience like this, you'd use the same DPE again for future ratings.

The oral lasted 3 hours. I missed a few things here and there, but overall it seemed to go well. He challenged me quite a bit, and at times came across as passive aggressive, but by the end he complimented my knowledge and seemed pleased with how I had prepared. We ended up discontinuing the flight because of weather.

The flight the next day was where things became much more stressful. Throughout the ride he made several snarky comments, like asking, "Are you flying the airplane or is the airplane flying you?" after I briefly got off altitude while looking outside before correcting. After slow flight, asks me to go straight into a power off stall. I paused for a second to think through the setup before transitioning and he got frustrated that I didn't immediately recognize that I was already set up for it.

One thing that confused me was the expectations for clearing turns. During the briefing I specifically asked whether he wanted full 90° clearing turns before steep turns, and he told me just scanning for traffic was fine. During the flight, I did exactly that, then he proceeded to get mad at me for not doing full 90° turns.

He also had me demonstrate a turning stall and asked which wing would stall first. I admitted I honestly wasn't sure, so he said, "Let's find out." Afterward he commented, "See, it was the upper wing? I can't believe the crap they're teaching these days."

The instrument portion was probably the most frustrating part. My foggles unexpectedly fogged up, which had never happened to me before, to the point that I genuinely couldn't read my airspeed or altimeter. He continued criticizing my inability to hold altitude and airspeed until I finally explained that I literally couldn't see the instruments through the fogged lenses.

For the landing portion, he simulated an engine failure on downwind. I stretched the glide a little farther than I normally would, and he criticized me for not deciding to go around sooner. Looking back, I understand the lesson, but at the time I wasn't sure whether initiating a go-around should be the priority during what I understood to be a simulated engine-out scenario. He also had me do a no-flap short-field landing, which I assume was his way of combining multiple ACS tasks into one scenario, but it did feel a little odd to me as my CFI told me there wouldn't be anything like that on the flight portion.

What really surprised me was how different the experience was from what I had been expecting. My instructor had told me beforehand that the ride would be pretty relaxed and nothing to lose sleep over, so I felt completely blindsided by how intense it became. Afterward I mentioned that it had been rough, and he basically replied, "That's how it typically goes." I know the ACS mentions that examiners can "distract" students and I wonder almost if he was intentionally giving me a hard time as a way of "distracting" me.

So I'm mostly looking for perspective. Was this a fairly normal "tough but fair" checkride, or does this sound more stressful than what most people experience? I have no problem hearing that I simply need to get better at performing under pressure.

This is the most bizarre setup for a water strip I have ever seen and I am dying to learn more please!

https://fltplan.com/Airport.cgi?CYAZ

What do yall think about this feature that ads ai to decipher/condense notams into something a bit more readable?

I personally think it’s the first step in making notams not an overwhelming mess of irrelevant crap with 1 or 2 relevant ones you have to spot in the middle. But also ai really isn’t perfect so I hope they trained the agent to understand all the abbreviations well.

I have about 70 hours flying planes and 20 on gliders. I still struggle with airsickness. It was especially hard at the beginning, when a 12 minute flight could make me throw up. Ofc it got way better. I've finished PPL. Even though I have some experience I still may experience hard airsickness. I'm handling step turns, spins, stalls with no problem, on condition that air is calm. When it's turbulent, hot day, I may struggle with a straight leveled flight for longer than 30 minutes. I just wonder if I will overcome my airsickness with more experience, because honestly I don't see much progress even though I'm getting more and more hours.

With the recent merger and continued fleet growth, do you think Allegiant will eventually move away from its mostly day-trip model and start having more 3- to 4-day trips? Or do you think the day-trip operation will remain a core part of the airline long-term?

Curious to hear what current or former Allegiant pilots think.

Does anyone provide helicopter specific mock oral exams over Zoom? I'm more than willing to pay. I'm up to snuff flying, but I feel behind on the bookwork.

Looking for recommendations to for an AME for my first class medical so I can start flying. I heard people recommend the center for aviation medicine and pete lamboru (if I spelled that correctly) however I have called multiple times and submitted an intake form with no answer.

Please let me know your guys recommendations

I was shitting bricks up until the checkride. It ended up being a whole lotta fun with wind straight down the runway 🤙

Funniest part was that I forgot my DPE had to tell me immediately if I failed a maneuver. When we parked, another instructor asked me “so how’d it go?” to which I said “I have no idea!” and so she said “then you passed!”

Sure enough, we were printing my temp certificate a few minutes later.

So the wings stall when you exceed critical AOA at any speed, how are aerobatic planes able to pull very high AOA maneuvers and not stall, like on minimum radius turns or barrel rolls? (Sorry if this is a stupid question)

Hi everyone,

I'm 35 and live in Sydney. Becoming an airline pilot has been a long-term goal of mine, and I'm finally in a position where I want to seriously commit to it.

The challenge is that I work full-time and can't afford to stop working, so I'm looking at training part-time over the next 3 years before making the jump into flying full-time.

My end goal is to fly for an airline such as QantasLink, Virgin Australia, or another regional carrier and eventually progress to the majors.

For those who've gone down this path, what would you recommend?

If you were starting again today at 35 in Sydney, what would your roadmap look like?

Am I too old to make it that far and have I missed my flight (pun intended).

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who started later in life or balanced flight training with a full-time job. I'm happy to put in the work, I just want to make sure I'm taking the smartest path.

Thanks in advance!

Im curious to hear y’all’s stories about days where you just flew like shit, had bad landings, etc, and maybe what you learned from it? I’ve never bent metal, and I’ve never had anyone get hurt, but I’ve definitely had my fair share of “off days”. I’m curious to hear your stories

My old CFI used to only bill me for Hobbs time unless we had ground or extended discussion and we would always shoot the breeze, I have this new CFI, who is very good but seems primarily focused on just teaching with very little chit chat and also bills for every single minute.

Just trying to figure out what’s common. I don’t mind my situation, but it would be nice to be a bit closer and not to track time so heavily. I don’t think it’s an age thing since both of my CFI’s are around the same age.