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| Time and Cost | |
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So...how long before I can just show up, slide into the cockpit in my shorts and T-shirt, and soar for an hour over my lunch break? First, the obvious: everyone learns at a different rate. I will give you some firm numbers (I promise, read on!) but first understand that no one can tell you when you will meet the standards for solo flight, or, after that, when you will have your Private Pilot Glider License in hand. Learning to fly should not be viewed as a race or a competition to get your ticket. The foundation we lay for ourselves as students, and through recurrent training, serves to keep us SAFE in the air, flight after flight, year after year. You will quickly learn that SAFETY is always NUMBER ONE, from pre-flight to post-flight ground handling.. | |
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CROSS COUNTRY SOARING, INC.
Having said that, asking HOW LONG and HOW MUCH are legitimate questions, and they are somewhat interconnected. Let's look at potential costs for you, the smiling someone just stepping out of the cockpit after your first ride in a glider. From that moment, without any prior flying experience, how long until you could be flying solo? A month? With a serious effort, quite possibly. Two months? Staying focused, quite probably. Three months? More typically, given the demands on a student's free time by work, school, family, etc. There are many factors that will affect the speed and cost of your flight training (weather, frequency of flight training, distractions in personal life, ambition, age, learning skills, retention, the quality of your instructor, etc.). So take this estimate as just that, an estimate. |
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Welcome to Cross Country Soaring, Inc.
If you study the subject with interest and pack your training flights closely together (2-3 flights a day, 2 days a week, so you don't give yourself time to forget what you learned the last flight) AND you are in the faster under-30 years old learning curve (or perform as well), AND 30 flights is what it takes for you to meet standards for solo flight...then your costs might look like: Books ($65), five hours ground instruction ($240), thirty 30-minute-average flights [glider+instructor+tow] 30x27.50+30x24+30x44=($2865), which adds up to $65+$240+$2865=$3170 |
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Rides
If you conform to the learning curve that is typically seen in flight training (the older you are, the more you know, the longer it takes to INSERT new information/skills), then add a few flights if you are over 30, a few more if you are over 40, etc. It is not uncommon to see students taking 40 flights before being signed off for solo if the flight instruction regiment is spread out over an extended period of time or a student hits a snag of some sort. You'll usually have an idea of where you are on this curve after about 5 flights. Don't hesitate to ask your instructor. |
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Instruction
For what it's worth, the U.S. Air Force starts all their fighter pilots out in gliders when they are cadets. Sometimes a group of them will even show up at a glider contest with a nice two-place ship and have some fun with the rest of us. This is a picture of a graduating class. If the cost of glider training would strain your budget right now, before joining the Air Force, I would recommend checking out the Paul Ratzlaff Soaring Scholarship Fund first. Click the link labeled "Scholarship" below. It's the best deal in the country! |
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