The most important thing is your instructor, ya gotta go with your gut here, if he doesn't feel right or doesn't remember you from your lesson last week find some one else.
The next most important thing is the insurance they carry, make sure it's up to industry standards.
The best way to do it is, think immersion, an expensive (141) flight school can actually be cheaper than stringing it out at a 61 operation.
And yes join AOPA.
Good Luck and set your goal to get an Instrument rating eventually, it's the best and safest way to pal around with your new friend.

I would personally think twice before putting down a sizeable amount of money upfront. Just IMO...

Yea, thinking about it, it may be easier to go through a 141 school. I would like to fly a few times a week (work has been slow), so this is the best time for me to go about it. The club is great, but if someone rents a plane before me, I will be .... out of luck for a lesson that day. I guess I will have to find an instructor through the club - and make sure the schedules work out. But with the club only having two planes, it might be tough.

You don't want to use a part 141 school for your private pilot license unless doing so is required for some reason (part of a degree course, to qualify for financing, etc.). The part 141 course requires a large number of hours of logged ground school that you'll have to pay for. That will significantly increase the overall cost.

Find a moderately busy flight school with an instructor that is flying at least eight to ten times per week and has a steady stream of successful applicants. Interview several of the school's instructors before choosing one. Make sure that you have a good rapport and that your schedules will be compatible. Ask the instructors about the syllabus they use (will you have a copy?), the training materials that they use, and how many hours their last few Private Pilot students had when they took their check rides.

I tried learning part-time in the UK and was defeated by the weather.... too many flights rained off.

In the end I spent 2.5 weeks in Long Beach flying in good weather and clocking up the necessary hours and experience to take my flight test back in the UK.

I would really recommend immersion - a lot less re-learning when you get back into the cockpit. Fly 3 hours/day for as long as it takes. Spend time in the circuit yourself once signed off for solo. Hours = experience = proficiency.

Thanks.
If I find a flight instructor that can fly often through the flight club, I will go that route. I may need to look at a few clubs though.

Great posts guys...
 

....from someone else who's interested in doing this.
Cheers!

Actually, doesn't MWR have flying clubs that give instruction at reasonable rates without regard to rank?

It took me about sixty hours. However, more than half of those hours were solo. You should not price using the dual rate only. If I hadn't spaced my flying out so much (once per week), I am sure I could have done it in the 40-50 hour range. I agree on buying block time. Worked great for me.

Heres another question:

I spoke to two flying clubs that seem good. What are good rates to play for the aircraft? One club charges $115-$125 wet/tach hour, the other one charges $30-65 dry/hobs hour.

I would take the club that bills by the tachometer hours, not the hobbs hours, for the uninformed, a hobbs meter which way back was made by the Hobbs Co. is an electric clock that shows the hours in numbers like a odometer in a car starting from 1 and counting up instead of a clock faceplate.

Most pilots don’t know that the tach is engine driven and it records an hour when the engine is at cruise RPM, when idling it records at a lower rate, so when you are on the ground waiting in line for takeoff and the engine is idling, it is not recording at an hour per clock hour rate.

For instance if the max takeoff RPM is 2750, which will record as an hour on the tach, then idling at 800 RPM the tach will record at one third the rate.

Depending on the airplane, most tachs are direct engine driven by a rotating cable in a housing from the engine to the back of the tach, if the tach is electrically driven instead, the tach then may record the tach time as an actual time the engine is running.

A Hobbs meter is a clock powered electrically and records an hour no matter what the engine RPM is, it starts running as soon as the engine is started and is usually controlled by an oil pressure switch, so when the oil pressure comes up, the hobbs meter starts running.

One trick that flight schools do is to use the hobbs meter to bill out the flight time, but base their maintenance schedules like their 100 hour inspections on the tach time, this way they can bill out about 110 hours or even a little bit more based on the hobbs time, but show only 100 hours of flight time on the airplane based on the tach time.

The FAA does not have a rule as to which time to use for maintenance, most privately owned airplanes do not even have a hobbs meter installed, so they use the tach time

Mr. Elliott

One big determining factor in what it will cost will be the type of plane you fly. Flying in a shiny new 172 with glass cockpit with cost alot more than one 30-40 years old.

You have lots of good advice. The best way to keep cost down is not to rack up so many hours. The BEST way to not rack up so many hours is to fly as frequently as possible (as has been mentioned many times). Some people will suggest flying at smaller airports with less congestion. This can help with reducing the amount of money you spend sitting there idiling waiting to take off. But carefully weigh this with how convenient a busier airport may be to where you live. Personally, I didn't want o drive too far for my lessons. I did them at the closest place, which happened to be a busy GA airport (KADS)

Of course, once you get the ticket, you'll still want to fly and fly safely. That requires hours. And that requires money. This is an expensive hobby that really doesn't get "cheaper". But it's a fun if you have the cash and the time,

My son is going through this right now. 60 hours sounds right. He's going 3-4 times/week for three hours a shot and expects to have PPL in six weeks.

BTW, question...a neighbor of ours who is a commercial pilot has asked my son to fly with him for fun on weekends (he has a plane and is always looking for someone to drag along apparently)...does this equate to logged hours? I would assume so.

You don't need a license to join AOPA.

It's his log book. He can log whatever he wants to log. But unless the neighbor is a CFI and signs off on the logbook, then those hours can't count as dual instruction.

Full voting membership does, more or less. From the AOPA website:

Voting Membership in AOPA is open to individuals who hold, or have held, a pilot certificate issued by the certificating agency of the United States of America, as well as individuals who have soloed, owned, or now own an aircraft. Non-voting Affiliate Membership is available to other individuals who have an interest in becoming a pilot.

When I originally joined, I don't think the Affiliate Membership existed.