Efficiency: Big payoffs

Although saving money shouldn’t be the primary goal in training, it is possible to do so without compromising safety. In fact, there’s usually a double or triple benefit where the tactics you use to save money will also result in faster, more effective training.

It used to take two weeks to get an instrument rating in an accelerated course, then it was 10 days, then someone came out with an eight-day course, and now there’s IFR6.You’ve heard the advice to fly more regularly, study on the ground, and get your knowledge test out of the way. It’s true that each of these has the potential to save you money, but here are three other ideas that can have big payoffs.

Go faster

We’ve all heard the advice that when in training you should fly as often as possible. The thinking goes that long breaks between lessons makes retention difficult. Gaps of four, six, seven days or more will make your instructor sound like a song stuck on repeat and result in you replaying a portion of each lesson again and again.

To avoid this, most people recommend flying at least twice a week in training, although three is better. Sometimes work schedules, family, and other demands don’t allow that. In that case, the best way to move forward may be with an accelerated program.

There are reputable programs for everything from the seaplane rating to an airline transport pilot certificate, but most students seem to gravitate to accelerated instrument programs. These have become the ab workouts of aviation. It used to take two weeks to get a rating, then it was 10 days, then someone came out with an eight-day course, and now there’s IFR6. As the name implies, IFR6 is a six-day instrument rating course designed to take a student through the checkride. It sounds crazy—and there are caveats—but the program appears to work.

Part of the reason accelerated programs have been able to trim days over the past few years is the advancement of relatively inexpensive flight simulation. Concepts are taught and repeatedly drilled in the simulator and then refined in the airplane. By the end of the simulator sessions, IFR6 founder and owner Mike McCurdy says the students can do a lot of things automatically. “That frees up brain real estate for what they need to think about.”

Students must come in with a completed knowledge test, 40 hours of cross-country pilot in command time, 10 hours of instrument time, and a minimum of 50 hours in their airplane—or they could use the instructors’ airplane. If they do that, McCurdy said they stand a good chance of getting an instrument rating on the sixth or seventh day. He said of the program’s 75 alumni, between 80 and 90 percent took the instrument checkride on the sixth day.

Most of the students are like Adam Watson, who came to IFR6 after becoming frustrated with his progress in a traditional flight training setting. Watson learned to fly about three years ago, and wants to make a career out of flying. He purchased all the instrument rating course materials the day he finished his private pilot certificate. Along the way he also picked up a Cessna 172 that he and his wife have flown all over the country, but Watson said the instrument rating was defeating him. He had been actively training for two years, but was only finding time to fly about once a week. “I had about 44 hours of instrument training and was nowhere close,” he said.

Watson researched a few accelerated programs, but he liked McCurdy and believed IFR6 could make a difference. He turned off his cellphone and spent six days head-down in South Carolina on the training. On day six he walked away with an instrument rating.

“I wish I would have gotten 15 hours of training to get the scan and get used to flying instruments and unusual attitudes under the hood and then stopped” and transitioned to IFR6, he said. “There’s no telling how many thousands of dollars I wasted. I spent $2,300 and almost a year doing holds and I still couldn’t do a hold.”

Buy an airplane

You probably don’t need advice or a push to do what every pilot dreams of doing, but buying an airplane during training can also be financially justified, assuming it’s done right.

When you talk about buying an airplane as a money-saving venture, you can’t compare the school’s Cessna 172 to a Cirrus. To buy an airplane for training means buying a starter airplane that is easy to acquire and even easier to sell. Airplanes such as the 172, 152, and Piper Cherokee will always be in demand. Prices remain somewhat stable, which means you should be able to sell or upgrade your investment soon after the training is complete.

The choice between buying or renting an airplane offers largely the same trade-offs as the calculation between buying or renting a house or a boat. On the plus side, ownership allows unlimited access, a known quantity, and often the ability to get most of your investment back. On the other hand, unexpected maintenance can quickly kill your budget. With that in mind, buy the airplane in the best condition you can afford and pay for a thorough prepurchase inspection.

“My first time ever on the radio was to get a VFR clearance out of John Wayne on my discovery flight. I look over and the instructor’s eyes were huge. He couldn’t believe it.” —Bill ForelliAssuming you find a decent airplane, fly regularly, and the economy doesn’t go off a cliff and tank airplane values, you are virtually guaranteed to save money. Disregarding financing charges, expenses include insurance, fuel, oil, a hangar or tiedown, and maintenance. For a simple four-seater such as a 172 or Cherokee, fixed costs might be roughly $4,500 a year, with variable costs around $50 an hour; flying probably costs in the range of $140 an hour for 50 hours. Compared to rental rates around the country, it’s easy to see that it doesn’t take too many hours to start to save money on airplane costs.

Play pretend

Bill Forelli is something of an enigma. He began his introductory flight at John Wayne-Orange County Airport by calling clearance delivery, getting a taxi clearance, and talking to the control tower. In fact, he handled all the radio calls on his introductory flight, including for a practice ILS. He soloed a modern trainer from Orange County after only 6.7 hours of training. His first dual cross-country through one of the country’s most congested airspaces was at 12 hours, and his solo followed immediately after. Forelli is not a superhuman pilot with incredible skills; he simply uses the right tools.

They say there’s no substitute for the real thing, but in a growing paradox, training in the real thing doesn’t teach you to fly the real thing as well as a flight simulator can. Forelli is among a crop of new, mostly younger pilots who have fully embraced simulation as a training tool. These pilots didn’t come from the world of multimillion-dollar advanced airline-style simulators. In many cases they are technologically savvy and have discovered simulation through gaming or online communities. Forelli was living in Washington state, where he said he knew he needed to find an indoor hobby. So, he built a gaming PC and started searching for great games to try. This led to a discovery of X-Plane, the popular simulation engine that enables users to create custom aircraft, liveries, and instrument panels. His aha moment came when he asked his dad, a former U.S. Navy pilot, for help starting the airplane. Following instructions over the phone he was able to get the Cessna 172 started, which showed Forelli just how realistic the software was—and how useful a tool the simulator could be. From there he discovered PilotEdge, a live ATC simulator service that brings together controllers and pilots in a simulated environment, but with real radio calls.

“My first time ever on the radio was to get a VFR clearance out of John Wayne on my discovery flight,” he said. “I look over and the instructor’s eyes were huge. He couldn’t believe it.” Soon after, Forelli was handling radios for Class B transitions, traffic pattern operations, and everything else that was thrown at him.

During his training he developed a regimented simulator training program to help supplement his in-airplane training. Every lesson involved a week of preparation, flying the lesson multiple times with and without simulated live communications. After every lesson Forelli would spend half a week debriefing the same lesson on X-Plane. Over time he learned exactly what to take away from the simulator and what to ignore. Things such as exact control forces and airplane dynamics didn’t translate well, but procedures, flows, and communication were exact replicas. “You have to be disciplined,” he said. “The discipline is what saved me money.”

Home simulator setups can be as basic as a Costco computer with X-Plane and a cheap joystick, or as realistic as full controls, physical instrument panels, and wraparound visuals. Redbird sells a ready desktop option called the Jay, and there are other options on the market. If you want to really up the level of realism, PilotEdge is a great tool that integrates seamlessly into a home simulation set-up.

A great way to remove some risk and share the burden of aircraft ownership is through a flying club. Flying clubs combine the best aspects of ownership and renting with an additional splash of community to help keep flying fun. For a list of clubs, check out AOPA’s Flying Club Finder tool.

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