When you want to learn how to fly, it involves a considerable amount of training. You will need time in the cockpit to see what is being done, log hours, work with simulators and much more. Before you can truly determine how you are going to learn, you have to determine what kind of plane you want to fly. The larger the plane, the longer it will take to learn and obtain your pilot license.
Some of the most popular places to learn how to fly include 2-place and 4-place planes. You may want to learn to fly a Piper Tomahawk, a Cessna 152, a Cessna 172, another smaller plane or a Robinson R22 helicopter. Some have more reliability than others, but they have good visibility within the cockpit and are relatively easy to learn on.
There are a few different types of pilot licenses. To start off, you can get a recreational pilot certificate and this will include training as well as flight hours. It can be as few as 30 flight hours and there’s a full pilot curriculum that you will need to take. Each type of license has its limitations, including how high you can go in the sky as well as what type of plane you can fly.
The more flight hours you log, the easier it will be to upgrade your license. Flight experience will include dual and solo flights, night flights, cross-country flights and more. The training itself will focus on federal regulations, navigation, aerodynamics, collision avoidance, dead reckoning and more.
Once you have completed flight hours as well as training, there will then be a test for you to take. Upon passing, you are able to get your license. From there, you can start flying on your own or with others in the plane with you. You can become a student as soon as you are 16 years old – unless you want to operate a glider or balloon, in which case it is 14 years old.