Since the Private Pilot License is your starting point in aviation, there are not many things that you need to get started. You must read, speak and understand the English language. You need to be in relatively good physical condition to receive a pilot medical certificate. You may receive training with a flight instructor on board at any age but you need to be 16 years of age to solo and 17 years of age to receive your Private Pilot License.

There are two general areas of training that you will go through, theoretical (Computer based training) and practical (actual flying). For best results, you should cover these two areas simultaneously.  Most students complete the computer based ground school in about 3 weeks time and are ready to take their written test.  The minimum requirements for your Private Pilots License is 40 hours flight training.  20 of which are required with your instructor on board.  10 of your 40 hours will be flying solo.  You also have to pass the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam.  The exam is a 50 question test.  A passing grade is 70% or better.  At the end of your training you will take a flight test with an FAA Designated Flight Examiner.  It consists of an oral review of your flight training and a flight test in which you will perform the various flight maneuvers and procedures you learned during your flight training.

Duration

The length and cost of your training depends on many factors. The most important factor obviously is training frequency.  Since there is a minimum number of flight hours required, the number of flights per week and length of your flights will determine the rate of progress. As a Cessna Pilot Center, Sawyer is able to provide our students with the best training tools available today.  Our Computer Based Training program efficiently moves our students along through the course. While the national average to obtain a Private Pilots License is close to 70 hours, with our new aircraft and training program, our pilots average about 50 hours of flight training to get their license.  20 hours less than the national average.  A potential savings of more than $2000 when you train with Sawyer.

Privileges and Limitations

With your newly acquired Private Pilot License you can fly almost anywhere you want day or night, in almost any single engine land airplane you would like.  Your only restrictions are: no commercial operations, no bad weather, no aircraft other than single-engine land plane.