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My wife passed her Written!

ty1295

Well Known Member
My wife just passed her written PPL test. She has almost 28 hours in our RV9A now. Due to insurance industry going crazy with rates, she is going to finish off in a training aircraft as it became cheaper to rent a 172 than pay the insurance for the time she needs.

Very proud of her, 6 years ago when I bought my partially done kit she had the look of "Like **** will I fly in that thing!", after phase 1 and a couple flights she woke me up early in the morning with "I am going to get my license"

In that time she has flown many times, formation as a passenger, formation loops (passenger), rolls, cross country and loves it. Our airport "family" has been awesome and helping her along also.
 
Quite fantastic for sure!

You'll spend the rest of your years thumb wrestling for the airplane. Believe me, I'm an "expert" :).

Voice of experience: Shut up and stay the heck out of her way :).
 
Quite fantastic for sure!

You'll spend the rest of your years thumb wrestling for the airplane. Believe me, I'm an "expert" :).

Voice of experience: Shut up and stay the heck out of her way :).

I am already referred to as the "Mechanic" so if the plane needs anything its my fault, including fuel.
 
How did it go starting her training in the RV? My wife would like to start working on her PPL in the next year or so but I'm concerned about the nose gear taking a beating until she learns to land well. On the other hand only paying for an instructor and insurance in waaaay cheaper than the $150+/hr rentals around here.
 
My buddy is her flight instructor. He also happens to be on one of the RV teams, so he is very well versed in RV's. Because he has been doing it as a favor, and with her past work schedule training has not been very consistent which as we all know doesn't help. All she has ever flown until recently is the 9a. A couple weeks ago she got an hour in a cub and commented how slow it was but fun.

We have been very cautious with the nose gear and landing. She probably has 150 landings in it, all cautious is instructor there to help. He commented she was 80% there and ready to solo, but the 20% for RV was not ready to solo. He was very confident in a 172 she would have solo'd a long time ago.

My insurance was $1500, last year when we added her as a student it jumped to ~$3300 range. With renewal coming up, it jumped again to over $5,000. We did find another for $3k range, but talking with everyone we felt moving her to a 172 to finish up the solo, and get ready for the checkride was going to be quicker and more cost effective. Once she gets the PPL, we will move back to checking her out for solo in the RV but insurance shouldn't be an issue with almost 30 hours of RV time.

Moving to the 172 opens up another instructor/airport family member who is willing to help and his schedule is more open in the next couple months to get her over the hump for the checkride.

I am guessing she will solo in 172 in just a couple hours.
 
That's awesome! Congrats to her!

You thought insurance was expensive... soon she might want to build her own plane. :D
 
I am already referred to as the "Mechanic" so if the plane needs anything its my fault, including fuel.

Amen to that! At least I've gotten away with "Anything firewall forward is your responsibility and fault." At least for the last 14yrs.

Really Jeff, I'm super stoked for you and yours.


You thought insurance was expensive... soon she might want to build her own plane. :D

Or, "Thanks for building mine first, now go build your own **** airplane!" :).
 
My buddy is her flight instructor. He also happens to be on one of the RV teams, so he is very well versed in RV's. Because he has been doing it as a favor, and with her past work schedule training has not been very consistent which as we all know doesn't help. All she has ever flown until recently is the 9a. A couple weeks ago she got an hour in a cub and commented how slow it was but fun.

We have been very cautious with the nose gear and landing. She probably has 150 landings in it, all cautious is instructor there to help. He commented she was 80% there and ready to solo, but the 20% for RV was not ready to solo. He was very confident in a 172 she would have solo'd a long time ago.

My insurance was $1500, last year when we added her as a student it jumped to ~$3300 range. With renewal coming up, it jumped again to over $5,000. We did find another for $3k range, but talking with everyone we felt moving her to a 172 to finish up the solo, and get ready for the checkride was going to be quicker and more cost effective. Once she gets the PPL, we will move back to checking her out for solo in the RV but insurance shouldn't be an issue with almost 30 hours of RV time.

Moving to the 172 opens up another instructor/airport family member who is willing to help and his schedule is more open in the next couple months to get her over the hump for the checkride.

I am guessing she will solo in 172 in just a couple hours.

That makes sense and wow, what a jump on insurance! My insurance for this first year was around $2000 with zero RV hours. Maybe a good compromise in my situation is get her to solo in a Cessna or Piper and then transition to the RV for the rest. I just can't fathom dropping $10k+ on PPL training.
 
Insurance

Yep, insurance is getting ridiculous. I called on an RV3 a guy was selling 3 or 4 weeks ago. His insurance renewal came up and they denied him a renewal because he was 80 yo. He's been with the same insurance company for the last 20 yrs. While talking with him I come to find out he flew F-105's, F106's, F-4's, F-15's, and F-16's.

I looked him up online and found out he was wing commander of the largest tactical training wing at MacDill AFB in Tampa where I live in the mid 80's. He retired as a Brigadier General.

I find that extremely insulting to someone who has a background like that. I understand that an insurance company is out to make money and needs to make money, however they have no data showing older pilots have more accidents than younger pilots. If they want older pilots to have them pass a physical every 6 to 12 months instead of every 2 yrs, then ok. If they want older pilots to have flight review every year, then ok. But to simply deny renewal is BS.
 
What Manual?

Terrific, Jeff!

My lady friend wants to start PP training using my 172. What learning materials did your wife use?

Anyone else with opinions on what's in vogue? DVD and/or online courses are definite maybes, but for sure start with print. What gets the job done nowadays; FAA (PPHOAK), Jep, ASA, Gleim, ...?

John Siebold
(On my 6th RV-7 build. Somebody stop me!)
 
Terrific, Jeff!

My lady friend wants to start PP training using my 172. What learning materials did your wife use?

Anyone else with opinions on what's in vogue? DVD and/or online courses are definite maybes, but for sure start with print. What gets the job done nowadays; FAA (PPHOAK), Jep, ASA, Gleim, ...?

John Siebold
(On my 6th RV-7 build. Somebody stop me!)

She did a lot of practice tests and as a reader herself, just read the typical text books front to back. Of course if she had questions I could help, or several of our airport family would also. When she was ready her CFI signed her off.

2nd part of insurance is even though she isn't on the insurance as long as she is with me or CFI she can do some flying, just no solo time for now. I am predicting 10 to 15 hours of Cesna time before the checkride. I am sure will be some RV time in between.
 
UPDATE: Wife did her first solo yesterday, 3 landings and no issues.

Best part was the Tower knew she was on a first solo, asked her to do a 360 on downwind to let a Pilatus come in. She offered to extend, but said unable to do a 360 (not because she can't, just wasn't the best idea on first solo). Tower let her in first.

I can't be more proud, several years ago when we met, was the same time I bought my partially completed 9. The look on her face at the time was something along the lines of "You are crazy and no way in heck, will I ever fly in that." She now calls the airplane hers.
 
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