Comment by redis_mlc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by redis_mlc | Hacker News Reader

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Get a PPL if:

- you plan a long-term commitment to flying, and more ratings later

- you live near an airport, or can trailer in an airplane

- you make a good salary for your region (or live at home)

- you're healthy (can pass a required FAA airman exam)

- you plan to fly at least once or twice a month for airplanes, twice per month for helicopters

Don't get a PPL if:

- you want to travel and can't afford a fast-enough airplane

- it's an expensive bucket list item to cross off, then forget

- you have severe ADHD, dyslexia or problems reading

- you have a DUI or seizures (disallowed), diabetes, apnea or cardiac problems (on-going special issuance paperwork.)

- you care about family approval, but your partner is afraid for your safety

- you don't like rules (FAA, flight schools and clubs have tons of rules and regulations)

- want to make money flying (you need a commercial+ rating to charge money)

Note that after you get your PPL, you will have a baseline of skills that lets you fly safely under cheaper, less-regulated rules, like ultralight, experimental and LSA.

For example, for safe, low-cost long-term flying, a PPL followed by purchase of a Hummel all-metal ultralight trailerable airplane (~$30k) would be ideal for local VFR flight for one person.

https://flyhummel.com/

Source: commercially-rated pilot.

Forget about flying if you have any treated ADHD. The FAA will throw a hissy fit during the medical, and getting a medical exception is a spectacular collection of hoops - you basically have to completely go off meds, because according to FAA, being distracted while flying is a much better plan than just taking your meds.

(Funny side effects: There are plenty of pilots who are pretty certain they have ADHD, but since getting the license was expensive, and this is now their job, they won't seek diagnosis)

Other things that make you skip PPL: Color blindness. Again, endless hoops needed. Night flights are out even if you get the exception.

In general, get the medical cert out the way first if you care about PPL. Be prepared to spend good chunks of money if you're anywhere around SV. PAO especially is a hideously expensive place to learn flying.

A commercial rating just lets you fly for hire, not run a commercial aviation business. Those are regulated separately.

Edit: I'd also suggest avoiding becoming a pilot if you're adverse to turbulence or sweat, as not many light aircraft have ACs.

1) With just a commercial license, you can do a variety of non-passenger businesses with minimal insurance (photography, pipeline patrol, banner towing, cargo, mail).

If you want to carry passengers, especially on scheduled flights, then it gets complicated as you're really starting an airline as far as the FAA sees it.

2) You can fly in the early morning if you're new to turbulence.

I got most of my ratings in Hawaii, and we'd tell new students to show up at 8 am or 9 am if that was an issue for the first couple of flights.

In your 1) you mentioned cargo, so just to clarify, you can fly cargo for somebody, i.e. not in your own airplane. In general, flying and operating your airplane for any kind of compensation is what the FAA calls 'holding out' and just a commercial rating is not enough for it (more precisely, you need other, nonflying related qualifications for that, like a 135 certificate).

On 2), my experience has been that most students get airsick because of anxiety (I guess it is associated with them fixing their gaze inside the airplane) and is usually not an issue once they gain confidence. Before that, flying early is great advice.

+1 to calling out the holding out stuff. Lots of people assume commercial means you can start flying people for cash - so not true.

I’m still early in my training but the sport pilot license just doesn’t seem like enough time to me. I’m usually a fast learner but I really don’t feel I’ll be safe after I hit 20 hours!

The Sport Pilot license is not recommended in general for that reason, or if you need confidence to fly in Class B or C airspace.

However, if you do a bunch of research it may be right for you even though it usually isn't for anybody else.

For example, if I was a CFI and had a partner who flew with me, and who wanted a rating and refused to spend serious money, I might tell them to do a Sport and endorse it. But from this example you can see how super-narrow the use cases can be.

Or if you own a Japanese flight school in Hawaii, and get 20 candidates per month who are doing hobby-only flying, then maybe that business model works for everybody. (This is based on a real situation. PPLs were granted to students who could not speak English on the radio, so the FAA stopped that.)

Yeah and I know a lot of people who couldn’t pass the medical for the ppl get them too.

The 20 hrs/ 40 hrs for PPL is not a hard limit. If you are not ready, a decent instructor will not sign you off to take the check ride. Even if you have 20/40/100 hours—the instructor will not let you take it until they feel you are ready.

So it may cost you more or take you longer. If you are truly interested, you keep with it, or decide to stop.

I have well controlled diabetes type 2 and sleep apnea that has never resulted in nodding off. What's the scale of additional red tape for that?

The Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) may request months of CPAP data. Insulin-dependent diabetes may require special issuance.

For a broad reference, see the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) database on health conditions that may affect medical certification.

https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/medical-resources/health-conditi...

I'd recommend avoiding trying to obtain the PPL with those medical conditions, since there will be a lot of paperwork, and the goalposts can be moved on you.

The 2 better options are:

1) Do some research on Sport Pilot and LSA planes. No FAA medical or PPL required, just a valid drivers license.

2) Get involved in the ultralight community, ask around about training, and buy a Hummel. No FAA medical or license required, but I'd recommend doing PPL-level training for safety reasons.

Just for those reading along: all FAA licenses require demonstrating mastery of the aircraft to certain tolerances. PPL has pretty basic requirements that get you from Point A to Point B, but no acro or IFR, so it doesn't make you an ace. But a PPL is still a world away from an untrained ultralight pilot.

I would bet you can get a third class medical. Go to an AME, they’ll ask you to get letters from your other doctors.

Call the FAA yourself and ask. They have a hotline for medical related questions. I have had heart related issues in the past and AMEs gave me conflicting answers about the way forward but the FAA is the source of truth

If you insist on having an airman medical certificate becaue you're already a rated pilot and need it to make money, then special issuance makes sense.

But if you're not a paid pilot, you're better off not going down that route, since once you're on record as having a deficiency, that's a permanent concern to the FAA. And if they decline the special issuance, you're also not eligible for the drivers license medical.

I would advise nobody with issues who wants to fly for hobby reasons to go down the PPL route since you can get banned for failng a medical. There's almost no upside and huge downside to risking that.

Definitely agree. In my case it was use of antidepressants. I thought the whole country is basically doing them so surely that’s not a problem when I went to an FAA AME for the PPL 3rd class medical. Well now I’m fucked for life apparently. There only 3 antidepressants they accept for a special issuance with costly on-going tests each year. Even if I’m off them entirely it’s still a problem.

I did witness an AME re-approve a commercial guy with a DUI though while in the waiting room. Good on you, FAA.

Well, the Hummel is an all-metal ultralight that looks like a real airplane, so try that route.

Thanks for the DUI anecdote. Great that he got re-approved, but that can be retracted anytime.

Just to recap - the FAA assumes if you get an airman medical, you might try to carry passengers, so their medical rules are maximally strict.

> - want to make money flying (you need a commercial+ rating to charge money)

Correct, but you need a PP to get the CPL (which only allows you to basically fly the same plane you did your PP on, just for money). Then there's IFR training, ATPL, AMEL, and that's only to get you at the door of a major company

(Just adding a bit of detail to the story)

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