Private Pilot License Requirements

The private pilot license requirements are broken down into a few different sections. In most cases you will see something like this:

40 Hours Total

20 Hours Dual Instruction

10 Hours Solo

Now in other places you may see some added information

3 Hours Instrument

3 Hours Night

5 Hours Solo Cross Country

Now this is correct and the FAA regulations for the private pilot license do state this. The things that are missed are all of the area's of operation within these requirements. Many times the student doesn't realize what is exactly required, this can add up to more flights if something is missed by the flight instructor. The worst case scenario is this is picked up by the pilot examiner on flight test day.
If you have read over my Private Pilot License Cost section you can see that I break the cost down the same way. This is because you have to realize that there is a lot of subject areas that need to be DOCUMENTED. If they are not documented in your logbook you are not qualified for your flight test.

I can't tell you how many stories I have heard from examiner friends of mine about this. It happens all the time on flight test day. In many cases the flight instructor is nowhere to be found and the student has to reschedule the flight test. This happens so often that I made some special sections in my book called ( Keeping Your Instructor In Check )

So I will point them out to you so you can double check your instructor. Once in a while a student of mine will remind me of something, even after 20 years of doing this Better a week before the flight test than on you Private Pilot Flight Test Day.
The above requirements for the Private Pilot License are the Minimum Requirements. Within these requirements are a lot of subject areas.

In addition to the Aeronautical Experience Requirements ( Flight Time) There are Aeronautical Knowledge Requirements. Most people just look at this is the FAA written Test. You have to realize that once again your instructor has to DOCUMENT each of the subject areas. The FAA is starting to get very tough on this. If these subject areas aren't documented on flight test day, the examiner walks out.

Hopefully your instructor is somewhere to be found but if he/ she isn't, then you will have to reschedule your flight test.

I will outline all of these Private Pilot License Requirements for you and try to make it as simple as possible. So like my cost estimates I will break everything down into The Following:

Private Pilot License, Pre-Solo Training Requirements

Private Pilot License, Post-Solo Training Requirements

Private Pilot License Requirements

The reason I do this is so you can get an idea of what you are required to do at each stage of your training and then what is required for you to take your flight test. There are a lot of things to learn so my advice is to plan this process out before you spend a dime flying.

Hope to See You In The Sky

Airfreddy

Airfreddy's Private Pilot License Guide

Airfredy's Private Pilot License Course

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