The best starting point would be to schedule an appointment for an introductory or discovery flight lesson. This is a thirty-minute lesson with a certified flight instructor, who will allow you to sit at the controls and fly the plane. This “miniature” lesson will give you the opportunity to experience the joy of flying and a general understanding of how flight training works. You will also receive a logbook filled out by the instructor who will log the flight as time that can be counted towards a pilot license. To schedule a flight, just call our office or send us an e-mail request.You can expect your appointment to be about an hour from start to finish.
First, give us a call and get on our list! We will ask for your general information, your weight (275lb. maximum individual weight limit for our aircraft), and availability. When we have an instructor that matches your availability, we'll give you a call.
Once you receive a call that we have an instructor for you, you'll need to get a medical exam from a FAA Aviation Medical Examiner(AME). You can find one through the FAA.gov website's AME locator. There are different levels of medical certificates. For Private Pilot training you will need a third class medical.
Flight lessons are scheduled for 2-3 hours at a time by appointment. Some lessons will be shorter, and some will be longer depending on where you are in your training. During each flight lesson, you will be expected to pre-flight the aircraft, discuss your plan for the day, fly, debrief, evaluate your flight, and discuss homework before your next lesson. If you are scheduled for a lesson on a day when the weather is poor, your instructor may give you the option of doing ground training in place of flying.
Our goal is to train safe, competent, private pilots in accordance with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards. You can expect us to provide instruction of the highest quality, airworthy training aircraft, be on time for appointments, and act in your best interest with uncompromising integrity. We will expect you, to treat your training as seriously as we do, to be prepared and on time for each lesson, to provide timely notice of unavoidable cancellations, and to pay for services per financial agreements.
The ground school portion of your training is going to teach you about flight planning, navigation, weather, aerodynamics, FAA regulations, radio communications, airport operations, aircraft systems, safety and more. There are various ways to complete your ground training. You can take an in-person or online ground school course, self study, or do one-on-one sessions with your instructor. The online ground schools have recently become very popular because of the low cost, and convenience of going through them at your own pace. There are a variety of private pilot ground schools online you may want to explore that have “try before you buy” options. Some of our student favorites include King Schools, The Finer Points and Sporty's Private Pilot Course.
Once you have completed your ground training, you will receive a certificate of completion or an instructor's authorization to take the FAA Airmen Knowledge Test, often referred to as the FAA written test. The test covers what you learned in ground school and is a multiple-choice, computer-based exam given at an FAA approved testing site. To schedule and pay for a test, you will contact the testing company's website: https://faa.psiexams.com If you have any problems with the PSI website, please call 1-844-704-1487 for help. All tests are currently $175
The final step to completing and obtaining your private pilot's license is to pass an oral and practical exam known as your checkride. When your instructor feels you are ready and you have met all the requirements necessary, he/she will endorse you for your checkride with an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner(DPE). Your checkride will take place here at Barnes Aviation and you will fly the plane you trained in.
*Note: Before you can start flight training, you are required to provide proof of citizenship. If you are not a U.S. citizen, you must first receive approval through the Transportation Security Administration's(TSA) Flight Training Security Program(FTSP).