Fight Training - Private
A Private license is your first step in your flying career
If you intend to pursue a commercial rating and become a professional helicopter pilot, it is also the initial stage in your career development. A pilot who holds a private license may take passengers flying, as long as they are not being paid to do so. This license is therefore also popular amongst pilots who want to own their own helicopter for personal use and enjoyment.
The course is a combination of flight and ground school designed to prepare you for the Private Pilot written exam and your check-ride with a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE). As with all of our programs, training is conducted one-on-one with your instructor. At Clyde’s Air, we feel that a good pilot is one that has the knowledge and skills to operate an aircraft safely and competently. It is for this reason that our students are held to the highest of standards in the flight training industry.
The Private Pilot course will take the student pilot through three different stages of training, each designed to build pilot confidence and skill sets.
Training begins with concentrated study in the Rotorcraft Flying Handbook
The 1st Stage will be your introduction to helicopter aerodynamics; the “how and why” of helicopter flight. Understanding what makes a helicopter fly is vital as you take the controls of a helicopter for the first time.
A great deal of time is spent on the use of checklists and how to perform a thorough preflight on the helicopter. These are basic skills that you will use throughout your flying career.Your stage 1 flight time will be devoted to learning how to control the aircraft, including basic maneuvers like hovering, approaches, departures, flying airport traffic patterns, and communications with other aircraft. These will be the building blocks leading up to your first solo flight.
In Stage 2, you will continue to improve your skills in all the basic maneuvers while you gain proficiency outside the local airport area. You will learn how to properly plan for and fly cross-country flights, master the art of reading the weather, experience night flights, and gain proficiency in handling emergency procedures.
You'll learn to navigate, using charts like this one, around San Diego County
Stage 3 rounds out your private pilot training as we help you fine-tune your maneuvering, navigation, pilot rules and regulations, and overall aviation knowledge to the level required by the private pilot practical test standards, a set of criteria published by the FAA which all private pilots must meet in order to earn a license. This stage culminates with your FAA private pilot check ride. In order to earn your license, you will need to pass a written exam, an oral exam, and a flight test.