As I approach closer and closer to the flight test for my PPL (Private Pilot License). I want to write a short summary of what I did and how I planned my PPL.

Working on PPL is not for the faint hearted, and your mileage may vary. I don’t think I am very exceptional at flying since it did took me to 30hr flight time to even get my first solo. But this is aimed to give you a big picture on a “average” plan for PPL

Preparation

To prepare, I ordered all the required book and tools for study this includes:

In addition to all of this, I also enrolled in a online ground school. This allows me to study for everything about the written test portion in my own pace. (But I really underestimated the amount of info in the exam)

School Enrollment and Medical Certificate

I enrolled a flight school recommended by my friend. They have good safety record and they fly the Diamond Aircraft instead of the Cessnas most school are using. To pick a good school you should be looking at:

  • Fleet
  • Instructors
  • Payment options
  • Flexibility

Medical Certificate is also very important, without it you can’t even hold a student permit. So get this done ASAP.

To get the student permit for your first solo, you will need:

  • Medical Certificate
  • PSTAR exam passed
  • Radio exam passed
  • Sign off from your instructor

Fam Flight - 1 Day

I always wanted to fly, but before starting I also want to see if I will be used to the idea of flying. Most flight schools offers fam flights at pretty cheap price. This is aimed to get you familiar with the airplane and you can also use this to see if you are comfortable with flying.

I booked my fam flight in late March, during pretty rainy and bumpy season in Vancouver 🥹, it was still fun.

Pre-Solo Training - 2-3 Month

This is the fun part, you get to fly each exercise in the flight training manual. The goal here is to get you to first solo so you can continue your training. For me solo training took me forever. (10 flights)

Concurrent Ground Study

While training for my first solo, I also need to make sure the ground school items are moving since some of them I need to get it done before my solo.

Your First Solo - 1 Day

This is going to be a day you will never forget in your life. Today you will be flying couple circuits with your instructor for a final check. Then they will hop off leaving you in the airplane. After a full runup and pre take off checklist, you will be taking the airplane to the sky yourself. Trust me, its a great feeling flying the plane first time by yourself, also its awesome to hear “congratulations” from the controller. Yeah also you will get wet since its traditional to have a bucket of water poured on you once you land.

Now you had your first solo, I will go over post-solo plans in a following post.