Seasonal Starts: Timing Your Flight Training for Success

Over the weekend I encountered a former co-worker who, after a multiyear hiatus, is returning to the cockpit to finish his certificate. I love it when people tell me they are returning to flying to finish because I admire people who pursue their dreams, especially after life has gotten in the way. 

He told me about his son’s efforts to enroll in a local college aviation program that had hit a bit of a snag because it was at capacity for the time being. It had a policy of not accepting private pilot candidates for the fall semester because the weather goes sour a few months in, resulting in very few private pilot candidates completing their certificate within the year.  

I have been flying in the Seattle area for more than 30 years, and I agree with that 100 percent. I am glad the school is being responsible and not stuffing the program and dragging out the training.

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Unfortunately, there are many flight schools that do not warn their prospective clients of weather limitations that can get in the way of their training.

Starts Are Seasonal

One of the most common questions a flight instructor is asked is, “When is the best time of year to begin your flight training?” The answer depends on where you live and what Mother Nature throws at you seasonally.

If you are in a part of the country where sunshine and calm winds prevail 350 out of 365 days a year, you can probably knock out the certificate fairly quickly provided you have an airplane, instructor, and money and time for lessons—not to mention the time for study.

Budget and plan for at least 10 hours a week, spending part of that in the airplane, and part of that will be head down in the books.

There is the adage that you don’t really notice something until it affects you. That is true about the weather.

Every year aspiring pilots go to the airport on that “one good day” of the week during a time we in Seattle call the “Big Gray,” which is a polite term for weeks on end of fog and rain. There is a reason we drink so much coffee up here. You have to do something to fight the winter blahs.

You can’t fly VFR without seeing the horizon, and fog and low clouds can prevent this, so the private pilot candidate can spend weeks on the ground between lessons. It is frustrating and expensive because you often must repeat lessons to relearn skills. This drives up the cost of obtaining the certificate and increases the frustration factor. 

Spring and Summer Starts

Flight schools enjoy a spike in student starts and completions in the spring and summer. Good weather will do that.

The seasons are not without their challenges, however. If your summer is already booked with activities, like going to the cabin, camp, etc., for several weeks depending on the length of the stay, you may want to see if there is a suitable airport with a flight school that may be able to accommodate you for a few flights.

Reach out in advance and explain your situation. The flight school might be able to get you on the schedule. Flying with another instructor and in another environment can be an excellent experience and make you a better pilot.

Daylight Saving Time 

Getting the night flying experience can be a challenge during the summer due to daylight saving time. You can be up all night—or it feels that way.

That can prove challenging if you have a day job. It can also tax your CFI, which is why some flight schools have an instructor who specializes in night flights.

If possible, try to log the required night flights before DST kicks in. 

The upside of DST is that there is more daylight to fly in. You can knock out a lot of training during those long days. 

There are some pilots who will fly twice a day to expedite their training. This works well for some, not so good for others. When you are getting ready for the check ride, it is common to do two flights—one in the morning, then a break, then one in the afternoon or evening. By the time you are ready for your check ride, you should have the endurance mentally and physically to handle two flights in one day. 

This may not be true for the primary learner who becomes fatigued at an hour but stays in the air for two hours or more. I have seen student pilots who have logged 50 hours of concentrated dual instruction, flying twice a day for 2.2 hours or more for a month, but not getting to first solo. 

Sometimes neither the learner’s skill set nor knowledge matches that of a 50-hour pilot who has been doing concentrated lessons, often without a syllabus, because there was no structure to the training. The learner is pretty much just being taken for a ride—in more ways than one.

Working Around the Weather

No matter where and when you do your training, you must learn to work around the weather. One of the first skills you should be taught is how to acquire and interpret a weather report. Don’t rely on your CFI to check the weather.  

Many schools have weather minima for different levels of pilots. Learn them. Respect them. As a student pilot, you don’t know what is considered questionable or inappropriate.

For example, taking a pre-solo private pilot candidate up in IFR conditions is more for the benefit of the CFI, not necessarily the learner, yet this happens sometimes. 

Learn to identify weather trends in your area and schedule accordingly. If fog is common, keep careful track of when the fog forms and tends to burn off. If you are in a part of the world where density altitude is common or thunderstorms are a daily or almost daily occurrence, know what triggers them and when they form, and develop a plan to work around them.

Armed with this knowledge, you will be better able to schedule flights or, at the very least, be prepared for the flight that might get canceled for weather and have a backup lesson planned. 

Be prepared to stand your ground. As a commercial student, I scrubbed a flight because the forecast included freezing rain. It was cold on the ramp, and the skies were ominously dark. I wasn’t about to chance turning the C-172RG into a Cessna-cicle.

We were on the ramp next to the airplane when I made the call. As the CFI began to argue with me, suggesting it “wouldn’t be that bad,”  the sky opened up, and we were hit with a deluge of ice pellets. They came down so hard and furiously it looked like snow, and they stuck to the airplanes.

I was happy with my decision, and the CFI was too.

Starting IFR Training in the Fall

If you complete your private pilot certificate in the summer, the fall can be a wonderful time to build cross-country time and/or begin your instrument training if you are working with a Part 141 program.

Under Part 61, you need 50 hours of cross-country pilot-in-command (PIC) time to qualify for the certificate, so many Part 61 pilots focus on building those hours at least partway before they begin their instrument training. 

The fall brings a riot of autumnal colors, corn mazes, and pumpkin patches to fly over and admire, and usually you do not have the heavy icy conditions yet. If you are starting your IFR training, those marginal VFR days present a chance to experience going in and out of the clouds.

The instrument rating is one of the more intense training experiences. Remind yourself of this if the training starts to wear on you and you want to take a break. Do your best to power through it, because you don’t want to have to repeat the training again.

If you time it right, you can finish your IFR ticket in time for spring and then build your hours for the commercial ticket, and if you are on the career track, perhaps the CFI ticket. Just don’t forget to have fun along the way.

If you enjoy your training, it is likely your learners will too. And that will keep them in the cockpit.