Schools for flying

Pilot John Travolta

Learning to fly has been practiced by many walks of life including actor John Travolta. The difference is that John has always had the dream even before his acting career to become a pilot himself. Becoming an actor for John has given him the opportunity to learn how to fly all types of aircrafts in his life. It is also said that at a young age he also had a room full of model airplanes in his room.
Of course is not cheap to learn how to fly, just learning to fly a single engine aircraft can run in the neighborhood of $4000-$5000 dollars. However Johns acting career has given him the opportunity to be able to do it all.
Now don't go thinking you cannot go learn to fly because of cost. Courses can be taken over time and not all at once. Getting your single engine private pilots license is something that you should do if flying is your dream.
John Travolta is so enthusiastic about his aircrafts and flying that he owns a total of five of them and parks two of them in the picture seen below in his private home. Even the Boeing 707 is parked there too. This is how strongly he feels about aviation and perhaps you do to since you are still reading this article.



The photo above is of John Travolta's home and where he parks his jets. This is how passionate he is about his aircrafts, by the way located there to is his of course air strip.
Perhaps you feel as passionate as John does when it comes to flying. All it takes is determination to get your own pilots license yourself and you will be well on your way to your flying career as well.

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Alberto Santos Dumont

Alberto Santos Dumont was a very important pioneer in aviation history. There of course is lots of controversy between Santos and the Wright Brothers in whom made the first flight successfully. According to Europe and the rest of the world excluding the United States believe it was Santos Dumont. This is because he was awarded and seen by thousands to have flown an aircraft under its own power in Paris. The Wright Brothers where seen by a few people and needed a sort of catapult system to get their aircraft airborne.
Santos Dumont born in Brazil, had immigrated to France in 1891 with his parents that owned a coffee plantation. His career began when he worked on motorized tricycles before turning to ballooning. He was greatly noticed when in 1901 he piloted an airship around the Eiffel Tower winning him 100,000 francs which he later gave to his mechanics.
In 1902 Santos Dumont turned his attention to heavier-then-air flying. His first invention was a glider then tried building a helicopter that never took flight. He was however noticed and to this day for his creation of what is now known as the 14-bis.
The 14-bis meaning 14-encore since the airplane made its first appearance suspended from the belly of Santos Dumont's No. 14 dirigible. The aircraft actually resembled the closest looking aircraft framework to what we have today with the difference being that it was flown backwards in that time.Nonetheless it flew and under its own power winning Santos an award in Paris, France.
On November 12,1906 he set the first aviation record in Europe flying 722 feet (220 meters) in 21 1/2 seconds with members of the Aero-Club du France in attendance. This won his 14-bis 1500 francs for flying more then 100 meters and because he was observed by officials from what would become the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (the designated keeper of aviation records), he was credited with making the first powered flight in Europe.
Below is a picture of his 14-bis.



This monument is located in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Santos Dumont flew it for the last time on April 4,1907 after reaching a dead end. He decided to turn it around and creat the 15-bis made out of plywood and would fly as we know planes to fly today but it never left the ground.
Later in his life He was stricken with multiple sclerosis, dropped out of aviation, and retired to Brazil in 1916. He died there in 1932.

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Pilots license

So what does it take to get your pilots license? Well that all depends on the license you want since there are a few different types. There is your private pilots license to your recreational one and then there is yet another one for you to become an actual airline pilot.
If you are just looking to get your private pilots license or recreational one not for hire it can take you about 4-6 months to get if you go to school part-time. If you go full time then you could get it much quicker in about 2-3 months time. The requirements for this type of license is that you are at least 16 years of age, full knowledge of the English language and that you pass a class 3 medical exam.
Learning to fly is the best experience you will ever encounter in your life. The freedom to get in a airplane and just go and fly anywhere you want, you have to admit would be great.
Your recreational pilots license is about the fastest and easiest way to get to flying. This license will not allow you to fly at night which you would have to take an instrument ratings test in order to do that. To get yourself going with this type of license your looking in the neighborhood of about $4000-$5000 to get your private pilot or recreational license for non commercial usage. Of course you can take your friends and family with you if you choose.
For those of you choosing to become an airline pilot you too of course will start off with a private pilots license as well. The airline industry requires that pilots have extensive amount of hours to get hired. This is why a lot of graduates that get their pilots license become instructors. By doing this they accumulate flying hours for their log books.
The steps to becoming an airline pilot is as follows, first they obtain a private pilots license. After that they go for their instrument ratings exam. Next its on to getting their twin engine license. Yes, when you go for your private pilots license its for a single engine.
New pilots become instructors to accumulate flight hours for their log books. To become an airline pilot there is another special schooling to learn about jet/turbine engines. These types of engines are a different beast then turbo props that you first learn to fly.

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Becoming a pilot

Becoming a pilot is not as hard as one might think it is. There are just a few requirements needed in order to hold a pilots license. The basic requirements are you must be 16 years old, Understand the English language, and pass a medical examination.
Of course there are different types of pilots in the field ranging from individuals who just fly for the fun of it to airline pilots who get paid to do what they love to do. If your goal is to become an airline pilot you too can become one only it will take you time to get there. Even those students that go to school to become airline pilots all start by flying the majority of the time in a Cessna. The aircraft used is a single engine one to get the student familiarized with the aircraft , its controls, the feel for flying, and not to mention you have to learn how to crawl before you can walk.
As far as being an airline pilot the major carriers do tend to hire those with military backgrounds first due to the nature of them already having a number of years experience in the air and the strict guidelines they have gone through in becoming pilots in the military. However this is something that should not discourage you if you have no military background yourself, there are many companies out there that actually do hire a lot of graduates from the major flight academies.
Starting out as an airline pilot you will most likely be put as a reserve pilot. As a reserve pilot you will be basically paged when your services are needed and they can call you at anytime. However after putting in your time will land you a position and get a line. A line is a scheduled flight that you will be flying for the rest of your career pretty much.
Becoming an airline pilot can prove itself to be a stressful climb to the top but it can be accomplished with commitment and the reward is great at the end if this is something that you have always wanted to do.
There are many excellent schools out there with a few great ones like Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. This school teaches more then just becoming a pilot. They also have other areas of interest in the aviation industry you may be interested in pursuing you can check them out. There is also Delta Connections Academy,another fine school of aviation.
The trick is to keep your options open, there are many schools out there but before deciding to become a pilot you can take a test flight. Basically you pay a small fee like $30 and see if you are going to like flying.
The two schools that I mentioned have to deal with airplanes. Helicopter enthusiast I am looking into some schools for my next post so stay tuned on that.