AOPA Membership: You Can Fly special issue lands at flight schools

Flight Training initiative encourages future pilots

June 1, 2020

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Photography by Chris Rose

Ask AOPA

Close enough?

A smidge less just won’t cut it

By Craig Brown

Q: When I measure out my planned solo cross-country flight I need to earn my private certificate, the distance comes to 148 miles. Isn’t that close enough to satisfy the FAA requirement?

A: No, it is not. The regulation, 61.109(a)(5)(ii), states it must be 150 nautical miles total distance. My suggestion: Add another leg to the trip to increase the distance. A flight of greater distance is acceptable.

The regulations typically cite only minimum training requirements. Anything greater is fine, but a smidge less just won’t cut it. You will likely be denied a checkride and will then have to go back and complete the requirements properly.

In my 33 years of flight instruction, I have seen my share of uh ohs. A student I inherited told me he had “dozens” of cross-country solo hours. A quick check of his logbook confirmed that, but his long cross-country (more than 300 miles at the time) showed he was three miles short. Whoops. Guess who had to make that five-hour flight again?

Make sure you get three hours of night training and 10 takeoffs and landings. Almost doesn’t work. Likewise, the examiner will turn you away if you show up with 2.9 hours of simulated instrument time; you need at least three. If you have 80 hours of logged flight time but only 9.8 solo, guess what? The same result will occur if you can only show two landings at a towered airport. So, double check each requirement, and be sure yours meets the regulatory minimum.

For more information, contact AOPA’s Pilot Information Center at 800-872-2672 or [email protected].

Craig Brown is a senior aviation technical specialist in the AOPA Pilot Information Center.

Flight Training, AOPA’s multimedia brand dedicated to inspiring and educating student pilots, has produced a special issue titled You Can Fly: Your Path to Become a Pilot. In February, custom You Can Fly countertop displays filled with the special publication were distributed to 875 of the most active flight schools in the United States.

For those arriving at their local flight school dreaming about becoming a pilot, the publication sheds light on what to expect—from their first introductory flight in a general aviation airplane through initial training. Flight Training’s editors detail the steps to becoming a pilot, different paths to the sky, medical certification options, training airplanes they’ll fly, gear they’ll need, modern technology used in flight training, paying for training, and more.

Additionally, the You Can Fly issue contains an offer for a free six-month trial membership to AOPA for student pilots. The free membership includes a subscription to Flight Training magazine (print or digital), the Flight Training weekly newsletter, an enhanced members-only website with premium aviation training content, and a student pilot helpline for one-on-one support.

“The Flight Training team had a lot of fun putting this special issue together. We tried to think of all the questions someone interested in learning to fly might ask—and provided straightforward answers with plenty of colorful illustrations and amazing photography,” said Kollin Stagnito, editor of the magazine. “Based on the positive feedback we’ve received from flight schools so far, we’re confident this issue will achieve its goal of encouraging future pilots.”

If you know of someone who might be interested in learning to fly, encourage them to access a digital version of the You Can Fly issue at ft.aopa.org/youcanfly. Flight schools that did not receive a countertop display can request one, while supplies last, at [email protected].