Hi there, I was wondering what it takes to become a pilot? How much training do you need? I am very interested in aeronautics. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
$$$
(I was going to leave it at that… but the forum requires 10 characters to be a valid post)
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Depends. Becoming a GA pilot is feasible. Main issues are assertiveness, available time, interest in self-development and also money. But especially if you decide for light sport aircrafts money is not that important. The license costs in a flight club vary between 6.000-10.000 Euro. The flight hour between 120-210 Euro depending on the type of aircraft you fly (UL, C172 or something above).
If you want to do it, then my recommendation is to go for it. From my perspective it is the best what you can do to spend your time and money for.
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It takes time, money and the determination to do it. Depending where you are in the world, the time may vary a bit, but a PPL typically requires 40-ish hours of flight time, plus ground school (100-ish hours) and can cost $10-15K USD.
That gives you your basic PPL. That’s your starting point for higher end licences like CPL, advanced ratings such as night flight, instrument rating, etc… All of those require more time and money.
Do a google search for a flying club / flight school near you.
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if money is only thing you are kinda wrong, in my opinion it takes more dedication than money. if you have millions of dollars but not dedication how could you become a pilot ?
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Yeah right, and if you have all the dedication in the world and no money the only chance is trying to join the Air Force …
If you had millions of dollars someone would muster up the dedication to get you ready for solo flight unless you’re totally untalented and too stupid to drive a tricycle
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It kind of depends on where you live and what you fly (a 30 year old C152 will be cheaper than a newer airplane) but a PPL takes around 7-10k USD and 3-6 months of commitment (if you work / study at the same time).
ATPL frozen will cost around 50-60k USD and take minimum around 2 years.
yeah true, but its still all about determination and dedication. you cant become anything even you have infinite amount of money can you ? theoretically yes but in reality no
I admire your slightly naive optimism … but I’m a cynic anyway… 
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Yeah, I was being facetious. Truth is, I went through ground school for free, when I was a teen, some 45 years ago. Then life brought changes, and now I’m too old. So, yeah, there are many other requirements for safe piloting.
Jim-Sim
I became a pilot in 2008, so a while ago but this is a breakdown of how it went for me.
First thing is to find a flight school and determining what type of pilot you want to become. The choices can vary based on if you want to become a commercial pilot or you just want to learn to fly.
If you just want to learn how to fly and become a general aviation pilot most FBO’s have instructors that can teach you how to fly.
First step is to approach an FBO that offers flight training, ask if they have an introductory flight you can take. Cessna has a program called introductory flight which seems to cost about $99 now, when I started it was $45, how things have changed lol. This will introduce you to flight by taking you up in a plane after doing a walkaround and seeing what it’s like to fly in the real world.
Next step in this path is to schedule more lessons. When I learned to fly I started in the cessna 152, it cost $85 per hour, this is measured by how long the engine is running, so if you fly somewhere and land time on the ground isn’t counted toward this rental time. For the first 20-30 hours depending on how fast you learn you will fly with an instructor, this will cost $20-$35 per hour and they are paid even if the engine isn’t running. ( pro tip: Instructors I had liked $100 burgers, so we usually flew to airports that had good food and I bought lunch, he let me solo at the minimum time required. Might have something to do with the burgers 
After your first 20-30 hours you will get the opportunity to solo, that means flying alone. Your first solo will be around the airport pattern. You will move on to cross country, which just means flying from one airport to another and then graduate to your first long distance cross country which needs to exceed 150nm. You will solo for 10 hours or more, minimum is 10. If you do really good, you will then be allowed to get your private license at around 45 hours.
If you want to progress to doing flying as a job, you need to become a commercial pilot. I suggest a university program, I went to embry riddle extension campus at Hillsboro aviation. Your next steps will be getting an instrument rating most likely. This allows you to fly in bad weather and teaches you how to fly using your instruments. You learn a lot more than that but this is the basic idea.
Next up would most likely be Multi Engine rating, here you will learn how to fly planes with more than one engine.
Next up would be commercial rating. Here you will learn about the rules of part 141, 121 and 61, you will learn how to work with a co-pilot you will learn actually a ton of stuff at this part, most of it very complicated.
Most pilots after this will move on the become a CFI. They do this so that they can earn more hours training other pilots to fly. You also learn a lot more about decision making and other really dry stuff. Some people choose to skip this and instead opt for the military, if you go this route, I would advise completing a bachelors degree to ensure they take you on as a pilot.
This all very simplified, my hands got tired typing it. Hope it helps a bit.
I should add, you can save a ton of money and help yourself learn by getting the sporty’s training courses it will cut back tremendously on the ground school cost and time and really helps you learn the information and pass the tests.
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■■■■! I don’t remember it costing that much! I think my PPL was $7,500, that was 18 years ago, but I guess it could cost that much. Totally recommend smaller FBO’s for PPL. Big Flight schools can get very expensive and aren’t worth the cost if you are not going to be flying for a job.
Yeah, I’ve found that it varies a lot from place to place. I’m looking at taking some lessons once the covid lockdown is over. At my local flying club, it comes out to about $12K Cdn for the full PPL, which is about $8-9K US. It’s one of the cheapest I’ve seen so far. US flight schools I’ve just checked out in passing were all at least $10K US.
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PPL here is around 12k (if you take the minimum hours, which is unlikely), rentals per hour between 170€ for a cherokee 28A-161, around 215€ for a cherokee 28A-181 or a DA40 Star, 275€ for a dakota 28B-236
Mostly based on fuel consumption and maintenance cost as these are included (you rent airplanes wet)
Cost is one thing, but dedication and willingness and ability to learn are another. Flying itself isn’t that difficult, but everything surrounding it is quite challenging (a lot more than you think)
I believe flying school is a bit harder in Europe than the US (but I don’t know really), but certainly our rules and airspaces are a lot more complicated
Generally it takes some level of “I want this” to achieve a pilot’s licence.
The further you go (IFR, CPL, multiengine, ATPL) the harder it becomes
None of this is meant to deter you, it is entirely feasible (and the journey is sooo good, you’re flying after all!)
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Money…and plenty of it
I did my ppl and instrument here:
https://www.twinoaksairpark.com/flight-training
Also used the king flight school dvd’s and books for ground school. Gotta save money where you can and it was a great way to learn the information.
Oh martha and dave, so fun!
Just did the math. At my old flight school, at $99 per hour for airplane plus 24 per hour instructor, it looks like you would spend about: $5,055 if you did a bang up job and the instructor liked you, plus your king ground school cost of $629.00.
So total cost about $5,700 for PPL. But I will warn you, c152 is no fun with 2 big guys up front. I think I went with the c172 after 15 hours.
And another thing, sometimes it’s cheaper to rent a faster plane when doing cross country solo, since a faster plane allows you to cover more ground quickly you end up using less time. I learned this from my instructor who told me to rent the 182 over the 172, the price difference was $20 per hour but the 182 was 156 vs 120knts so it ended up about the same price but went way faster in the 182. The 182 requires an endorsement because of it’s variable pitch propeller, I think these days most schools use the cirrus sr20 which is faster and I don’t believe it requires an endorsement for complex aircraft.
Be prepared to live a life without plans
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I’ve looked into what it takes to get PPL in the US and its about $10,000 total cost and about 10-20 hours a week of your time for a few months.
Like I said above, I did the math and If you choose a smaller FBO, not a flight school and use self learning ground school you can get a license for under 6k with about 50 hours invested.
What kind of pilot do you want to be? General aviation? Jet? Helicopter? There are so many avenues. I’d love to know more, that will help me answer the question properly.
Cheers