Wings of Carolina Flying Club Flight Training FAQ

So you want to learn to fly? You've come to the right place. Let's see if we can answer some of the questions that most of us had when we first dreamed about obtaining a pilot's license.

What does it mean to "learn to fly?"
In common parlance, it means obtaining a Private Pilot Certificate, which is the basic pilot certification issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. With this certificate, a pilot may fly a single-engine airplane in visual conditions, day or night, virtually anywhere in the United States (or most other countries, for that matter). A Private Pilot Certificate is a lifetime membership in the spiritual fraternity of pilots -- a pilot's certificate never expires, although you must fulfill currency requirements to continue to exercise its privileges.

Must I have perfect vision and be in perfect health?
Not at all. Visit the club any day and you will see for yourself that few of us are perfect physical specimens. You will have to obtain a medical certificate, but if you can see reasonably well with correction by either eyeglasses or contacts and if you are in reasonably good health, you will have no difficulty obtaining a medical certificate and you will be able to learn to fly. The principal disqualifying medical conditions would be only those that might cause sudden, serious incapacitation, such as neurological disorders or heart disease. Absent such conditions, you should have no difficulty qualifying for a medical certificate if can see well enough to read a book or drive an automobile.

Must I be a U.S. citizen to learn to fly with the Wings of Carolina?
No. We welcome members from many different countries. If you are a foreign national and wish to learn to fly or obtain an instrument or multi-engine rating, with the WCFC or elsewhere, you will need to register with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and submit to a background check, which will take several weeks. We can help you with this process. At any given time, the Wings of Carolina has several members who have undergone this registration procedure and are learning to fly with the club. If you are not a U.S. citizen, please let us know when you apply for membership so we can advise you how to begin the registration process.

Must I prove that I am a U.S. citizen?
If you are a U.S. citizen, you are required to demonstrate your citizenship by presenting a U.S. passport, an original birth certificate, or one of several other qualifying documents. We can help you with the specific requirements and you can find additional information at http://www.aopa.org/tsa_rule/.

What can I do with my Private Pilot Certificate?
You are qualified to fly into any civilian airport, although for reasons of cost and complication, you might choose to avoid some of the largest air-carrier airports. You will be, however, qualified to land and legally entitled to land at any airport from a grass strip south of Siler City to Chicago O'Hare.

With a Private Pilot Certificate can I fly at night?
Yes, so long as the weather is clear enough to allow you to fly by visual reference, you may fly at night.

What do you mean by "visual reference?"
A Private Pilot Certificate entitles the pilot to fly VFR, which stands for "visual flight rules." The definition of weather suitable for VFR flight is more complicated than we need explore here, but suffice it to say that, in general, flight in low visibility or actually in clouds requires an instrument rating, which is an additional rating granted pilots who have learned to fly solely by reference to the instruments in their airplane and without outside visual reference. If you plan to travel over any distance by airplane you may well want to continue your training to acquire an Instrument Rating, which will increase the utility of your flying. Many pilots proceed beyond the Private Pilot Certificate to acquire an Instrument Rating or other advanced ratings and certificates, such as a Commercial Certificate or a Multi-Engine Rating.  Such additional training is available from club instructors and many club pilots take advantage of the opportunity to enhance their skills and increase the utility of their flying.

Can I fly a twin-engine airplane?
You may fly a twin-engine airplane with a Private Pilot Certificate but you must also have a multi-engine rating, which requires additional training that you can get through club instructors in a twin Comanche closely tied to the club.

Is learning to fly dangerous?
You will often hear pilots say that the most dangerous part of any flight is the drive to the airport.  I could quote statistics to prove that assertion; I could also quote statistics to disprove it.  It would depend on whether we are comparing travel miles or travel hours and whether we are considering general aviation as a whole or whether we are factoring out corporate aviation  and a number of other assumptions on which our comparison would be based.  While it is difficult to simply state the risk inherent in flying, the question is a serious one and deserves consideration. The risks of flying are substantially less than those of many other activities in which we engage with little concern.  While flying involves undeniable risks, those risks are both less and different than supposed by non-pilots. (For example, the non-pilot will often ask, What happens if the engine stops?  In fact, engine failures are far from the most common or serious cause of aviation accidents.) Pilots, far from being daredevils, are among the most safety-conscious of people.  Leaf through any aviation magazine or attend any aviation gathering and you will read and hear an emphasis on, virtually an obsession with, safety.  The club emphasizes safety in all of its training and all of its practices and fosters a communal culture that respects safe practices.  You will find that club pilots are, in general, highly motivated people who are accustomed to pursuing goals that others may only consider.  You will not find them to be risk-seekers.   They are sober, careful individuals who have determined that the rewards of flying far outweigh the minimal risks and that those risks can be minimized even further by their own proficiency, discipline, and good judgement.

How long does it take to obtain a Private Pilot Certificate?
That depends. It's a good question, because learning to fly requires a substantial commitment of time and money (more about that later) and it is wise to have some idea what's involved before starting. It may take as few as six or eight weeks to learn to fly or as many as five or six years, depending on how much time one can devote to the task and a few other variables. Nevertheless, I would like to give you some idea of the time scale involved. Most people who learn to fly with the club are able to schedule perhaps one or two flight lessons a week. On that schedule, one is likely to complete training for the Private Pilot Certificate in six or eight months. If you can devote more time, the process can be accelerated, but it is very difficult to complete the training in fewer than three months. We have had occasional rare individuals who have finished in six or eight weeks, but they were in a position to devote their time and attention almost exclusively to flying for that period - a luxury unavailable to most of us.

How often should I try to fly?
For most people who have other responsibilities -- family, work, school -- that is to say, a life, two flight lessons a week is a reasonable goal. It's difficult to take full advantage of more than that unless you have a lot of time to devote to study between lessons. At the same time, if you schedule less often than once a week, there will inevitably be some inefficiency in the training process. Remember that weather will require cancellation of some flight lessons, so if you plan on one flight every week, you will probably average three flights a month. One of the advantages of training with the flying club is the flexibility it affords. If you can only fly twice a month, you may take a bit longer than average to obtain your certificate, but you can do it. We have had members take as long as five years to obtain a certificate, but they enjoyed flying when they could, enjoyed the learning process, enjoyed the association with other pilots, and eventually reached their goal.

Do I need to take a ground school?
You must pass a written test and a flight test to obtain a Private Pilot Certificate. (The FAA now administers the test via computer so it is now officially called a "knowledge test." Those of us who have been at this awhile remember when it was a paper and pencil test and still call it a written test.) You may decide how you wish to prepare for that written (excuse me, knowledge) test. You can simply buy some books and study on your own. An entire industry exists to provide you, for a price, with videos, CDs, and other learning aids to prepare you for the written test. A good ground school is perhaps the best way to prepare because you will not only learn the information required for the test but you will learn it in context. Note, I am speaking here of a good ground school. You will see advertised commercial ground schools, often weekend affairs, which promise to prepare you for the exam. They do that and nothing more. They teach specifically for the exam, in some cases literally drilling the actual questions ad nauseum. A good ground school will not only prepare you to answer the questions on the knowledge test but will help you understand the material and will bring you to understand aviation safety, how it is achieved and sustained.

Where do I find a good ground school?
Glad you asked. The club teaches an excellent ground school several times a year, usually in the early fall, the early spring, and once in the summer. What makes it good? A very experienced instructor, for one. The instructor who usually teaches our ground school is a pilot of many years experience, an aircraft mechanic, and a former teacher who cares about teaching. The club ground school will not only prepare you for the exam, it will give you a broad understanding of many of the areas of knowledge that a pilot must comprehend - aerodynamics, aircraft systems, weather, air traffic control procedures, and safe piloting techniques. We try to impress upon prospective pilots at the outset of their flying careers the practices that will keep them safe for as long as they fly. You will learn what constitutes aviation safety and what habits, misjudgments, and assumptions lead to difficulty.

How much does the ground school cost, when does it meet, and how long does it take?
The cost is usually $200 for the course. In addition you will spend something more for books and materials. It will be the best bargain you will ever find in aviation. Trust me. The course usually meets one weeknight for three hours each week for a session of twelve weeks. If you pass the final exam at the end of the session, the instructor will endorse you to take the official FAA knowledge test. If you then pass the FAA test, your results will remain valid for two years. So long as you complete your training within two years, you will not have to retake the test.

Should I take a ground school before I begin flight lessons?
Not necessarily. The ground school will prepare you for the written (aka knowledge) exam, which must be completed before the end of your training. The ground school will also provide you with a broad introduction to the theoretical aspects of flying -- weather, aerodynamics, aircraft systems, airports, airspace, the air traffic control system, the Federal Aviation Regulations -- all of which will enhance your flight training and save you and your instructor valuable time that can be utilized in the airplane. Therefore, the ground school will be a useful adjunct to your flight training, but do not feel that you must complete the ground school first. The ground school will take ten or twelve weeks to complete and your flight training is most likely to stretch over six or eight months, so even if you commence both at the same time, you will complete the ground school well before you complete your flight training and take your checkride. If a ground school is not being offered at the time when you are able to begin flying, do not let that inhibit you. Begin flying and take advantage of a ground school as soon as one is available.

How much does it cost to learn to fly?
It depends . . . Not a very helpful answer, I know. It does, however, depend on a host of factors that are impossible to predict precisely: how quickly you learn, the amount of time you have to devote to the task, the weather, and the frequency with which you can train. Because it is wise to have at the outset some idea of the commitment, in both time and money, required, the club has prepared a realistic estimate of all the costs involved, which will be primarily the cost of airplane use and instruction but which will also include such often-overlooked expenses as an aviation headset, books, your medical certification, and the cost of your checkride. The total usually works out to be between thirty-five hundred and four thousand dollars.

Do I have to pay that much to start?
By no means. You pay as you go, so you do not have to offer up that total sum at the beginning, and if you should find at some point in your progress that you do not wish or are unable to continue, you will have paid only for the expenses you have actually incurred. The flight time you have logged will remain in your logbook as a permanent record and you can resume your training later, either at the club or elsewhere. 

Is there any way to learn to fly for less?
Alas, I doubt it. Since the club is non-profit, we keep costs to a minimum. It is possible, however, to learn to fly at area flight training businesses for not so very much more than it will cost at the club.

Why, then, should I learn to fly with the club?
First, please understand that the club is not a business. We do not make money when someone chooses to learn to fly with the club. We have no financial incentive to have you learn to fly with the club. We are not in the business of selling flight training, so this is not a sales pitch. The flying club is not the best avenue to a pilot certificate for everyone. For most people, though, I am convinced that there is no better place to learn to fly. It does cost somewhat less to learn with the club, but cost is not the principal advantage of the club. The most important reason is the collegial nature of the club. Much of what you learn about flying you will learn outside the context of your formal lessons. Flying well and safely isn't so much about stick and rudder skills as it is about making good decisions and experience is the best teacher of judgment. At the club you can benefit from the experience of many other pilots.

Do I have to join the club to learn to fly?
If you want to learn with the club, you will have to join the club. There are many other places you can learn to fly and we will be happy to tell you about them. Many of us have found the club to be the very best place to fly, but we want you to find the training environment that best suits you.

Can I fly the club airplanes after I get my license?
Absolutely. One of the best reasons to fly with the club is the availability of airplanes for personal use. We are really a big partnership. Very few people will fly enough to justify supporting the substantial fixed costs of personal aircraft ownership. Much as you and I might own an airplane together to share and thus minimize the cost, the club is three hundred people sharing the ownership of twelve airplanes.

As a club member, you will have access to club airplanes for your personal use. I have flown club airplanes to California, the Bahamas, Canada, New England, Wyoming, and Wisconsin, in fact, to most parts of the United States for both business and pleasure. So can you.

Can I have an airplane to fly any time I want one?
Not quite. For a club such as ours, we must balance availability and utilization. We could have thirty airplanes and we would each then be able to have an airplane at any time  but the airplanes would not fly very often and the fixed costs they accrue would be amortized over a relatively small number of hours and the hourly cost would be prohibitive. So we could have an airplane when we wanted but it would cost a great deal to fly. We would have availability but not affordability.  Or we could have just three airplanes and they would fly many, many hours and the hourly cost would be very low  but we would have three hundred people fighting for three airplanes and you would never be able to have an airplane for your personal use. We would then have affordability without availability. We are always trying to balance availability with utilization. Therefore we have club rules to give everyone an equal opportunity to use the airplanes. As it generally works out, you can get access to a club airplane most of the time if you can plan a week or two ahead for long trips. For a casual or training flight of an hour or two, you can almost always find a club airplane available.

Can I get those advanced ratings you mentioned with the club?
Yes, you certainly can. For many of us, the Private Pilot Certificate was just the beginning. Many club members go on to obtain an Instrument Rating, which enables them to fly by reference to instruments in low clouds or reduced visibility, or a Commercial Certificate, or even a Flight Instructor Certificate. Each of these can be obtained flying club airplanes and training with club flight instructors.

How do I get started?
Join the club. We have applications for student pilots. Your name will be registered on a list of new members and you will soon hear from a club flight instructor inviting you to begin your training. Inquire if the club will be conducting a ground school soon and, if so, register for it.

I have some questions. Where can I find additional information?
Telephone the club at 919 776-2003. Email me through the web site Visit the club at Sanford - Lee County Airport in northern Lee County. Any club member will be happy to tell you about his or her experiences as a pilot. Flying is a grand adventure. For many of us it has become a passion.

George F. Scheer    Chief Flight Instructor    cfi@wingsofcarolina.org