Someone who is new to learning how to fly or has no background in aviation may think that getting pilot’s license is as simple as training and passing a test.\u00a0 But that’s far from the truth.\u00a0 In fact, being a pilot will put you in the mode of student for as long as you wish to fly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are many ways to start learning how to fly.\u00a0 In Orange County, California, Fun Outside Aviation teaches students to initially earn their private pilot’s license.\u00a0 Each student learns at their own pace and process typically takes anywhere from six months to a year.\u00a0 Students are encouraged not to compare their timeline to any other students because everyone learns at different speeds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But what happens when you reach that goal?\u00a0 What happens after you pass your checkride and your examiner tells you that they were officially your first legal passenger?\u00a0 Odds are you’ll have half a dozen friends or family members saying they’ll fly with you but maybe not right away.\u00a0 And why is that?\u00a0 They want you to gain more experience which is the same as them saying, “go ahead and keep learning.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So now, you’ve flown your friends around and you’ve gone for that $100 hamburger a few times.\u00a0 You’ve even had a bunch of cross country trips under your belt.\u00a0 Well, this is part of the learning process as well.\u00a0 Talking to different controllers from different regions teaches you better communication skills and to be flexible in a changing environment.\u00a0 The further you fly, the more encounters with different weather patterns you’ll need to address.\u00a0 I’d even argue that most likely, you never learned how to fuel up your plane if you’ve only rented from your school “wet”.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you’ve done what you can to learn to fly on a tight budget, there’s as good chance you’ve rented only airplanes with steam gauges.\u00a0 This means you’ve learned on traditional primary flight instruments that are mechanical in nature.\u00a0 The next step in your learning could be jumping in to the world of digital aviation.\u00a0 Many pilots at this point start using an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB).\u00a0 Once you’ve had a chance to start flying other planes or with other pilots, you’ll get exposed to other versions of panels.\u00a0 Digital or “glass” panels vary widely and are rarely the same.\u00a0 The learning curve is about buttonology and hopefully realizing how much of a distraction all this could be and focusing on what’s important…flying the plane.\u00a0 But once you have the hang of it, the value of the panel upgrades are well worth it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ok, so what else can you learn at this point?\u00a0 There are so many paths and options for you now.\u00a0 Let’s look at a few ratings you can obtain:<\/p>\n
As a private pilot, you can now pursue your instrument rating.\u00a0 This is a challenging and rewarding way to dive further into mastery of the airplane and how to deal with adverse weather conditions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Or you can go after your commercial rating.\u00a0 This is where you must start if you ever want to get to the point of getting paid to fly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now how about you look at getting your tail wheel endorsement?\u00a0 You’ve seen the taildraggers all over the airport, now go out and learn to fly one.\u00a0 To me, those are the stick shift versions of airplanes.\u00a0 Not everyone has the training to fly one but anyone could learn it.\u00a0 And after you get signed off, you’ll really have an appreciation of the rudder pedals.<\/p>\n
What about learning to fly a seaplane?\u00a0 Floats are a must in Alaska and other parts of the world.\u00a0 A great experience and another way to expand your flying knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another area you can never really get enough knowledge in is weather.\u00a0 Pilots live their life in mother nature’s good graces.\u00a0 So, keep getting acquainted with all there is to know about meteorology and how it impacts our flying safety.<\/p>\n
There are so many ways to expand your knowledge as a pilot.\u00a0 Immersing yourself in aviation will make you a better pilot and help keep you safe.\u00a0 Don’t let those skills atrophy.\u00a0 Continue to expand your exposure and learning in aviation.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Someone who is new to learning how to fly or has no background in aviation may think that getting pilot’s license is as simple as training and passing a test.\u00a0 But that’s far from the truth.\u00a0 In fact, being a pilot will put you in the mode of student for as long as you wish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[51,67,68,90,17,63,64,131,75],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1063,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions\/1063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1062"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funoutside.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}