Comments

Robert, As a brand new sport pilot (I just passed my checkride last Monday) I can name several reason why sticking with it can be very difficult for anyone - even those like me who are 100% addicted to flying. In my case there were many factors that would have made me quit a long time ago. If it wasn't for the fact that I am my own boss and lucky enough to have excess disposable income there would be no way on earth I would have been able to complete my training. While I liked my instructors personally, the school itself was poorly run at best. I expected ground school to be in a classroom like setting followed by quizing of some type, followed by flying lessons and then more ground work and more flying etc.. In reality I didn't have a day of traditional ground school other than when I explained that I didn't clearly understand certain principles even though I was given books and expected to learn it on my own. I explained I learned best in a tutoring type of environment but was told that I was underestimating myself. I am 46 and I know my strengths and weaknesses pretty well which I tried many times to explain to my teachers. I was cancelled on at the last minute many times due to different circumstances with reservation changes, maintenance, weather and this became a real problem as the airport is one full hour from my home, many times I got the call minutes before arrival. I was also given false expectations from day one. I was told that I would become a pilot by the summer, which I thought was ridiculous at the time. Then it became end of summer, then fall, then winter. It wasnt until the following spring and 68 hours later. The most frustrating part came after i was "ready" to take the checkride. Getting an approved FAA examiner in our area took 3 full months! So I just kept flying the pattern weekly waiting for the examiner who also then cancelled on my 3 times before finally showing up. The cancellations usually came the morning of the checkride after I spent few days before doing flight planning and prepping and losing sleep! Long story short, I fear the lack of professionalism in the training community coupled with the extensive amount of time and money that must be committed are what make it very difficult for students to actually become pilots. At the end of the day I was incredibly determined to let nothing stand in my way but I always kept thinking about what if I were one of my employees or anyone with a regular job and income? It would be next to impossible. I hope this experience isn't what most people are facing but my gut says with such a high dropout rate they might just be. Of course you do now have one new pilot, EAA, AOPA member and aircraft owner here, but I wonder how many people would put themselves through what i just went through? Sadly, I dont think too many...

I'm a new 100 hour VFR sport pilot on long island who is going to start doing this as early as next week. I do talk to controllers even though I learned to fly at an uncontrolled field and have found them to be nothing but helpful yet I haven't filed a flight plan or used flight following. Yet!