Flight training: How much? What should be covered? In what airplane?

[Aerodude45]

So with the LE being a Part 103 airplane, legally one could hop right in and fly with absolutely no training... Which is an awesome way to kill yourself and make ultralights and homebuilts look bad. So, the question is, how much training is enough? What training subjects need to be covered? And in what airplane should you get training?

Didn't know if there was a post on this elsewhere already...

I got a couple hours in a cub before I flew my LE. I am making some modifications to it right now over the winter and am planning to start working on my pilot's license as soon as I get the LE done enough to move it back out to the airfield. Also, our LE is a group project, and there's another guy looking to fly it yet who probably isn't going to be able to put down the money for a license. Would like to know, from a safety standpoint, what other people would recommend. Otherwise, my standard would be: be able to solo a cub, extensive ground school on general aviation knowledge, and stall training.

[Dan_]

there's another guy looking to fly it yet who probably isn't going to be able to put down the money for a license.   Would like to know, from a safety standpoint, what other people would recommend.  Otherwise, my standard would be: be able to solo a cub, extensive ground school on general aviation knowledge, and stall training.

Your standard is good...   If your friend doesn't have the money for training, make sure he has enough to buy you out if he screws the pooch.   Just saying...



My personal minimum (not knowing any better or having input from forums) was "Solo the Champ".   That airplane was sold and the Cessna 150 was all that was available around here.   During that process I wound up passing  FAA 3rd class physical, FAA written,  ETC... and wound up with the PPL.   (All this took place over a 5 year period.)   I kept taking lessons to get the flying disease fix and woke up one day with only a couple of cross countries and night flights left, so I went ahead and got the private ticket.   It's been `Katie bar the door' from then on...  



Some stall training will come with the solo, but not nearly enough most likely.   Nowadays Insurance is prohibitive for mom and pop flight school to solo you in a tail dragger.  So they sign you off (tail dragger endorsement) and you have to actually solo in some other plane...   Nothing says that can't be your Eagle BTW.



The Gleim book will do the trick on FAA written test prep...
http://www.thriftbooks.com/w/private-pilot-faa-written-exam_irvin-n-gleim/378386/?isbn=0917539524&mkwid=XyBYNGzs|dc&pcrid=63635727552&gclid=CMyA8OrQ4cICFbBAMgodA2QAfA

[Aerodude45]

Okay. Having built our plane as a group, we have to be extra mindful of safety and training because the airplane has to survive 3 low-time pilots... There are 3 main guys who want to fly the plane. Myself and one of the other guys have met my standard and we've already flown our Eagle this last fall. There's one more guy we need to train up, but he's the least experienced in terms of flying or general aviation knowledge. All of us will be getting some lessons as a refresher before we fly our Eagle again this spring, and I'll be sure the last guy trains to the same standard as we already have.

And yes, I'm pretty sure flight training is still cheaper than a funeral... Not to mention a lawsuit.

I plan to take a break from building this summer and get my ppl anyways while I figure out what my next build project will be.