Aug 23 2008
Private Pilot FAA Knowledge Test … PASSED!
I finally got around to taking the FAA Private Pilot written knowledge test today and passed it! With a score of 90%, I think that may qualify as heartily passed it, dare I say, even aced it?!
In any case, I was stressing much more about the exam than necessary, it really wasn’t bad at all. You get 150 minutes (2.5 hours) to answer 60 multiple choice questions (each with 3 possible choices). That was way more than enough time as I finished in about 50 minutes (and I took my time). It’s a computerized testing system, with the ability to ‘mark’ questions and come back if need be. So, I breezed through the 50 or so questions that I could answer instantly or with little/simple calculations. The other 10 I came back to and worked about 6 of those with multi-step calculations, the remaining 4 I took confident educated guesses because I simply didn’t feel like working on them much more knowing I had likely passed with plenty of buffer.
I never took an official ground school class, just learning from the Gleim Publications books - the Pilot Handbook to learn the theory and rules, and the Private Pilot FAA Knowledge Test Prep book to prepare for this test. As I mentioned in my last blog post, learning from books only cost me about $40 (verus $200-$300 for full ground school course). I would definitely recommend these books, and the Pilot Handbook will be a great reference to check back on when needed in the future.
All that’s left now is about 1 more hour of standard solo practice flight time, and then my practical test!

As I’m nearing the end of my initial training journey, I figured I’d take a look back at what this whole endeavor is costing me. Plus, all my friends and family keep asking: “How much does it cost to learn to fly?” Well, here’s my answer! Granted, I haven’t taken the test yet, so I’ve estimated the last few hours of flight training time (I hope I haven’t jinxed myself)…but here’s a solid picture of how much it cost me to learn to fly!



One of the first questions I’ve gotten when I’ve told people I’m taking flying lessons is some variation of them asking: “is it safe?” Or, the statement I’m sure most pilots get frequently: “I’m never getting into one
of those planes, they are so unsafe“. My wife still vows to never fly with me (although she’s already buckling I can tell). Naturally, I’ve personally felt that general aviation planes are safe (otherwise the government wouldn’t allow us to fly), but I also love to prove people wrong and I knew there must be data to back me up. Thankfully the NTSB (
Therefore, I quickly decided a passive set (PNR) was the way to go for me. I found a neat little 