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North Central Flight Center
Financial aid
affording flight training
- Obviously, flying is very expensive, and as is it not backed by an educational institution, the interest rates on the personal loans are quite high to counteract the fact that, unlike educational loans, personal loans can be dropped via a bankruptcy. Unfortunately, not many scholarships exist either. Most people pay as they go, or use credit cards to finance their training. Beyond that, he are some suggestions to help:
- 1. Take advantage of block pricing to save thousands of dollars on your private pilot rating alone.
- 2. Some organizations, such as The Ninety-Nines, AOPA, and the Aero Club of New England (ACONE), offer great scholarship opportunities.
- 3. Finance your flight training through loans provided by vendors such as AOPA, Lending Tree, or NCFC's approved lending partner, Flight Training Finance (FTF). Some people choose to take out backed loans such as mortgages or home equity loans (HELOC), as these often offer lower interest rates than an unbacked line of credit.
Best practices to minimize cost
- Beyond just getting a scholarship, loan, or pricing discount, everyone can take advantage of these tips to reduce their overall cost. The key concept is that delays will result in degration of your proficiency (or in other words, you get rusty) and more time is spent rehashing already learned skills rather than learning new ones. Here's some recommendations to avoid this:
- Work closely with your CFI to establish expectations early, develop good habits, and be as productive as possible. They went through the same training you are going through, so ask them any questions that you have, and take their guidance and advice seriously. They are trying to reduce your frustrations and costs as much as possible, and it's your instructor who will be signing you off for your checkride.
- Fly 2-3 times per week. Flying more leads to not enough time for rest and ground preparation, unless flying is treated like a full time job, and flying less doesn't allow a new pilot to build the required level of proficiency.
- Spend about 2 to 3 hours studying for every 1 hour you fly. To progress your flying skill at the optimal rate, your ground knowledge has to progress just as much. If you're lacking in one area, it'll negatively impact you in others and delay your training.
- Recognize that weather and maintence delays will happen and are outside of your control. Be prepared to pivot a flying lesson into a ground or simulator lesson if weather is poor, or spend that time self-studying. Talk with your CFI on expectations regarding weather cancellations. It's also best practice to schedule more lessons than you intend to fly to hedge against cancellations. If you intend to fly twice a week, schedule 3 or 4 times instead. If you only schedule two lessons a week, it is very easy for that to become 0 lessons, which will contribute to further delays to your progress and additional training time being needed to relearn lost skills.
- Invest in good equipment. A good headset will not only protect your hearing, but will improve your ability to hear the instructor and ATC. Plus, good equipment will take you through your entire pilot career.
- Invest in proper resources. Nobody wants to go out and buy a bunch of textbooks early on in their training, but doing so early allows you to spend more time with the material and resources you'll have with you doing your checkride, and better enable you to prepare for each lesson. Talk to your instructor early to discuss what textbooks, resources, and equipment you should get so that you have time to get them before they are needed. Further, a good online ground school can significantly reduce the amount of time needed to pay for ground instruction with your instructor.
- Come prepared for each lesson. Not only does that include having done any asigned reading/studying for the lesson, but also ensure you're properly rested, nourished, and hydrated, and otherwise in the right mindset to learn. The IMSAFE checklist is a great resource to structure your decision making process.
- Not every instructor teaches the same. Even at NCFC, every instructor has a different instructional style and things they focus on. Some instructors might work better for your learning style, so don't be afraid to fly with other instructors and learn other ways of doing things. Your instructor should always be challenging you to become a better pilot than you were on your last flight. However, once you find an instructor you like, stick with them throughout your training, as switching instructors will introduce significant delays in your training progress.
- Ensure that each lesson has a clear objective and goal. When you show up to fly, you should already know what you'll be doing, and you should always be progressing your knowledge and abilities.
- Knock out your medical and private pilot written test (PAR) early. Doing them early can reduce unexpected delays, as you cannot solo without your medical, and you cannot do your checkride without the written test being complete. Eitherof these can, in some cases, take months to complete. Both of these can be completed prior to starting training, even.