Becoming A Pilot: What Every New Pilot Needs To Know To Save Time And Money In Flight School

Clear and concise, loved it!

Becoming A Pilot is an incredibly informative and comprehensive guide for anyone considering flight school. James Kofford, with his extensive background in aviation, presents the material in a logical and unbiased manner, providing a clear overview of the entire flight training process. He covers everything from what to look for in a flight school to how to approach studying and what to expect during the training process.One of the most valuable aspects of this book is that it empowers the reader to take control of their education by providing the knowledge and tools to guide themselves through the process. It's like having a personal mentor, as Kofford writes the book as though you are sitting across the table from him and he is sharing his insights and guidance.I highly recommend Becoming A Pilot for anyone considering flight school or for student pilots in the early stages of their training. The book is primarily tailored for those completing their training under the FAA, but it still provides valuable information for those training under other aviation regulatory agencies. If you are training under an agency other than the FAA, the author does recommend doing individual due diligence for specific differences.Overall, Becoming A Pilot is a must-read for anyone looking to become a pilot. It will save you time and money and increase your chances of success. James Kofford truly has your best interest at heart and wants to help you learn how to help yourself. Five stars!

This book is absolutely the best at providing the information needed to get your private pilot certificate. The paths are explained in detail and gives you the pros and cons of each. Getting your certificate is an expensive and time consuming task but the way James lays everything out, explaining the steps, and the ways you can save time and money are exactly the way I would do them if I had to do it again. Even after getting your private certificate, the steps to get your instrument, commercial, and your CFI/II are about as perfect as can be! As a commercial pilot about to take my CFI check ride, there were a couple of things I found useful to include in my studying prior to my check ride! I will definitely be recommending this book to all future pilots and even those that are working to further their aviation career!

Worth the price and relatively quick read, just to set an aspiring pilot straight on the process of attaining their pilot’s license.Most of the info is common sense if you’ve been around for any amount of time and pursued other forms of significant licensure and have good communication skills while asking existing pilots, and especially CFI’s, the right questions, but it’s certainly nice to see it affirmed in one volume, black on white.The gist here is as follows; Part 61 tends to be more efficient than 141 but can have drawbacks especially if you are a military pilot or went to college for an aviation related degree. Make sure you interview your flight instructor well and learn to tell them what you want/need to learn rather than wait on them to tell you, unless they’re very low drag and goal oriented on your behalf. Use your time (flights) wisely. Get paid to fly ASAP rather than pay to fly.The reason I drop it on star is because it’s one of the worst quality bindings I’ve ever seen in a book. If this book binding were a wing spar, nobody would survive flying. Multiple pages have fallen out on me with one ginger read through, and I’ve yet to reference it over my flying progression. It’ll be a heap of pages by the time I do. A little laughable, sadly.

I just finished my Commercial Pilot Check Ride this week and then read this book.. Very good information! I wish I would have read this before my Private, Instrument, and Commercial! This book has very good advice on methods and order of studying that work. I used the same methods that are discussed here and learned a few more that I will use for my CFI/CFII ratings. There are two things I would add to this great book. 1) Sporty’s has some great online courses for prepping for the knowledge tests as well that I have used over the years, and 2) buy a GoPro camera and an audio adapter to record your training flights and rewatch them between lessons! When you are in the plane being overloaded with all these new things that your instructor is teaching, you will miss a lot of what is happening and being taught because of overload. Capturing it and rewatching it again when you aren’t overwhelmed is a good way to save money and time and come to each lesson better prepared. That helped me tremendously.

A well written guide by a seasoned pilot who genuinely cares about helping others. I'm very glad that I discovered this book before I start my PPL training. I had an ever-growing list of questions which would generate follow-up questions. Despite asking questions and researching, I never got as many helpful answers as I did from this book. Of course, it also provided information that I wouldn't have considered, but still needed to know. This isn't a book of fluff - it's a relevant guide and it's going to help you. Even if you know pilots who give you advice, or you're researching like a pro, you need this book. Don't think twice, just get it, read it, and then make your moves. You'll be empowered to make the best choices.

A well written, informative and indepth review of what can be an overwhelming and confusing subject. The author step by step takes you through the process of obtaining your pilots license (PPL in my case), and stops along the way to discuss issues, nuances, and quirky details you may run into. I recommend this to anyone on their journey to become a pilot.

When you think about becoming a pilot it can overwhelm you a bit. This book helps you with all relevant topics that you can think of. Even when you already did some research there will most likely be things in the book that you did not yet think of. So read the book and make sure you are as prepared as you can be & make the jump into your new piloting careeer!

Recommended 100% if your dream is to be a pilot, perfect to help you make the right decision

Hello,I've started reading the book and I really like the way it is written.It contains a lot of advices and precious information to save time and money to become a pilot.Simple, easy to read and everything on it is well explained with arguments.This book contains and answers all the questions that a future pilot would ask before starting his aviation training and further more.Thanks

I really enjoyed reading this book, it highlights many points that are often missed by others, particularly emphasising the idea of doing what you want and not being pressured on time and commitment. Considering I am learning to fly under CAA regulations, this gave me a clear understanding of FAA regulations! A great book that I will recommend to my friends! Thank you for your help understanding the process aspiring pilots like myself will have to follow!