Today, the beginning pilot has many paths to choose from when learning to fly. There’s the Light Sport activity, which gets you going in a basic airplane. Then there is the recreational route which expands horizons a bit. Finally there’s the tried and true private certificate that expands piloting privileges by a lot. If initial cost is a big factor, the best start is at the Light Sport level. However, history has shown that pilots like to move upward and onward, and most people who get one of the lesser certificates will likely eventually earn a private with probably an instrument rating. Because light-sport airplanes and certificates are new and untried, and because the recreational certificate has attracted little following over the years, we’ll concentrate on the private which is, and will continue to be, the first certificate earned by the vast majority of pilots.
If a person wants to be an airline pilot, the colleges, universities and flight academies offer a path to that form of flying. Present yourself and a proper amount of money, and if you have the ability they will make the transformation to the type of pilot that the airlines like to hire. Here, we are mainly going to address the person who wants to learn to fly at the local airport and wants to be able to use an airplane for personal or business reasons. I say “mainly” because some of the initial steps are valid for pilots who want to learn to fly for any reason.
