Category Archives: Flying

Why will 80% of Learners stop flying?

ON REDDIT’S r/flying I recently shared what turned out to be an overly low, erroneous figure regarding how few people complete entry level Private Pilot flight training. It turns out about 20% of people who start will finish.

I often read posts saying, “I just did a discovery flight. It was amazing! I’m going to quit my job and borrow $100,000 for flight training. Blah. Blah. Blah. What do you think of my plan?” A discovery flight is all fun; the realization that learning to fly is work sets in after several lessons. And lots of money.

Here are three webpages suggesting causes why people drop out. I’ve listed the name, linked to the page, and copied the reasons shared.

FlyingDon’t Quit After Your First Solo

1: Running Out of Money for Training

2: Forced Repetition of training

3: Poor Guidance

4: ‘Instructorous-disappearous’

5: Life Gets in the Way

6: They Scare Themselves

7: Lack of Airplanes

KingskyWhy Some People Fail Pilot Training

1. Losing Interest or Motivation

2. Ground School Is Challenging

3. Incompatible Programs or Flight Instructors

4. Challenging Failures or Stalled Progress

5. Unprepared to Take Full Command of the Aircraft

6. Financial Challenges

Boldmethod11 Reasons Why 80% Of Student Pilots Drop Out Of Training

1) Lack Of Structured Training

2) Finances

3) Medical Problems

4) Poor Flight Instruction

5) Checkride Failures

6) Not Setting Clear Goals

7) Killing The Fun Of Flying

8) The “Solo Plateau”

9) Flying Is Much More Work Than Anticipated

10) Airsickness

11) Flight Training Isn’t A Priority

Some of the items seem a little vague or generic, but what can we as instructors do to help things? You’ll see “finances” in one form or another on all three lists.

Flying is not cheap. The people who start and don’t finish have spent a lot of money with nothing to show for it. That’s a sad waste of money, particularly for someone who probably didn’t have it to begin with. I’m a fan of Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard for money management – if you can’t afford to finish, please don’t start. As much as I enjoy flying and want others to learn, I don’t want them to spend a lot of money on something they are not going to finish.

Poor instruction is a common factor. In the public school system there is a concept called “beginning with the end in mind.” Training should be focused on getting to- and through the checkride – “the end” – as efficiently as possible. How do you do that? Use a syllabus for both sequencing and tracking the training. I like to start each lesson with a plan I’ve jotted down on a note pad. The Learner already knows what we are doing and why. I think the customers are reassured when the instructor has a plan and they get input. This stuff is too expensive not to have a plan.

Changing instructors along the way, sometimes even more than once, is common. A training record in the form of a syllabus lets the Learner smoothly transition from one CFI to another. I was – I must admit – unaware of the requirements of 61.87 when I took my first airplane instructor checkride. It’s important for Learners to know CFIs are not cheating them when they need to see some things before they can sign a (new) solo endorsement. (I have to see it, but they are paying for it!)

Even a pilot who doesn’t want to be an instructor but has no other option to build time can be an adequate instructor by following the same syllabus prep items.

Along with finances, it’s important the potential Learn knows that there’s a lot of work involved in becoming a pilot. Probably more studying required than they’ve done in a long time. Good prep saves time.

Not everyone has the health of an action figure on the big screen. It’s important very early on to mention the need for a medical and that there are pitfalls to avoid. I do not advocate lying. I want people to get smart on the process before they go get a medical. And I want them to get a medical early in the training. Funny story – the only person I’ve sent for a traditional initial ASEL Private Pilot checkride* went for it using BasicMed. He’d like to do Commercial, but won’t qualify for a traditional medical anymore.

I had a 1500-hour Army helicopter pilot wanting to pursue AMEL Commercial. We made a plan that fit his personal circumstances. In 33.5 hours we did AMEL Private, AMEL Commercial, and Airplane Instrument. The only flight not fulfilling a specific, identified in advance FAR requirement was the flight home from the last checkride. This provided 23 hours of PIC multiengine time. My Learner was happy with the plan and now has a job flying ME airplanes. Success!

I like to share something I was told as a young Army Captain by an old, retired Sergeant: “Plan your work, and work your plan.” It works most every time!

Please share your comments on how instructors can help more Learners get through their Private Pilot checkride.

*As I write this I’ve sent ten people for checkrides with ten successes. The Gold Seal paperwork has been submitted! Two of the ten were CFIs and six were AMEL.

Pilot Study Materials / Getting Started

Initial Pilot Certificates

Private Pilot – Federal Aviation Regulation 61.109 defines the aeronautical experience requirements for a Private Pilot – minimum of 40 hours of experience, but average is 65-80. See paragraph A. The Airman Certification Standard details the knowledge and skills required – print just the “Airplane Single Engine Land” portions.

Sport Pilot – Federal Aviation Regulation 61.309 defines the aeronautical experience requirements for a Sport Pilot – minimum of 20 hours of experience, but average is about twice that. The Practical Test Standards detail the knowledge and skills required – print just the “Airplane Single Engine Land” portions.

The Minimum Library

The path to your first or next checkride is well defined by the FAA. Here’s what you need to buy, print, download, etc to get started building your study materials. I have some advice on how to use them, too.

Air Space

Air Space is important, and there’s a lot of straight forward memorization. The FAA Safety page has a nice summary PDF worth printing and putting in a binder. When studying, I suggest looking for patterns. “They are all ‘3 152s’ except…” And the exceptions all make sense!

Rod Machado has a useful graphic. I memorized how to draw it, then as soon as I sat down for the knowledge test (‘written’) I sketched out the triangle to be my own reference for the test. I’m not great at rote memorization, so this really helped. Print this for your student pilot binder. Rod has a good video on YouTube explaining this as well.

Instrument Flying / View Limiting Device (‘Hood’)

What you use is your choice. I happen to like/use this one. The owner of the company offer to send me some and let me sell them, but I’ll just refer people to the site!

Summary Cheat Sheet

As you build your study materials, this Private Pilot Cheat Sheet is very good. Be sure to work backward from it to highlight the important bits in your primary documents. Expect for the Private Pilot-specific content, much of this summary is useful for Sport Pilots too.

I instruct Light Sport, ASEL, AMEL, and IFR at Spirit Aviation in Thomson, GA (KHQU) and gliders with the Mid-Georgia Soaring Association in Monroe, GA (D73).