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of Flight!

Earn your Private Pilot Certificate in as little as 3 months and unlock the privileges of flying for pleasure – or start your flight path to an aviation career!
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American Winds Program

Who Can Get a Private Pilot License?

Have you always dreamed of defying gravity? Are you focused on pursuing a career as a professional pilot? Do you want the freedom to explore new places from an aerial vantage point?

Those are all great reasons to get your PPL at American Winds! Anyone can do it – so long as you are dedicated to learning new skills and putting in the time.

Qualifications

To qualify for an FAA-issued Private Pilot Certificate, you must:

  • Be at least 17 years old – though you can begin training for it at any age
  • Be a U.S. citizen – or obtain TSA approval before training
  • Be able to read, speak, write and understand the English language
  • Obtain a 3rd-Class Airman Medical Certificate from the FAA
  • Pass a computerized aeronautical knowledge test
  • Pass an oral test and a check ride
  • Log the minimum flight hours as outlined here:
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    Note that, although the minimum is 40 flight hours, most pilots take closer to 55 hours of flight time to acquire all the necessary flying experiences for the PPC.
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What Can (and Can’t) a Certified Private Pilot Do?

With an FAA-issued PPC, you have the privilege to:

  • Fly any plane in the category you’re rated for (single engine or multi-engine)
  • Fly in good weather during the day or at night
  • Fly solo or with passengers

Certified Private Pilots CANNOT:

  • Get paid to fly* solo, with passengers or with freight
  • Fly in inclement weather – unless/until an Instrument Rating is obtained

*Though you cannot accept compensation for flying with a PPC, you can split the cost of fuel and other expenses with the friends and family members you take as passengers. You can also donate your pilot skills to fly for a charitable cause and participate in fly-ins or aviation festivals.

Before you can take to the skies, you must be grounded in industry-specific knowledge. There are two components to your training as a private pilot:
Ground School is where you’ll learn about FAA regulations, aircraft limitations, principles of flight, meteorology and more. We’ll also prepare you to take the written and oral FAA Knowledge Tests required for your certification and ratings. At American Winds, these classes are taught two evenings a week by seasoned aviation professionals with online availability.
Flight Training is where you really find your wings! You’ll fly with a Certified Flight Instructor who will guide you through the maneuvers and skills you need to manage takeoffs, landings, emergency situations and more. As your proficiency builds, you’ll take longer flights, solo flights and nighttime flights!

It is possible to complete all the requirements for a PPC in as little as 6 weeks. But the pace of your private pilot journey depends on a couple factors:

Ohio’s weather can be fickle. Summer offers the most reliable clear weather for flying – but remember that you cannot fly in a cloud or near a cloud until you obtain your instrument rating, which happens AFTER you complete the Private Pilot Certificate. That means sometimes you won’t be able to log flight hours when you want to simply because of inclement weather. This reality may slow your progress.
Life can be complicated with stuff like a job, taking care of children and other necessities. You set the pace for your advancement through the certification process. If you have total freedom and schedule time to fly every clear-sky day, you’ll rack up your required flight time quickly. But if you need to pause or fly only a handful of days a month so that you can tend to other parts of your life, you’ll get there – just a bit more slowly. We want all our students to progress at a pace that is comfortable for them with safety being our highest priority.