My one year anniversary contest

[boomshay]

no posts today so far shelby? i'll see what i can do about that...

i've got a question about flying... my dad used to have his pilots license for small planes... he hasn't flown in years, how long is he legal to fly without renewing something? and what would he have to do to go about renewing it since i'm assuming its long past expired

[Shelby07]

no posts today so far shelby? i'll see what i can do about that...

i've got a question about flying... my dad used to have his pilots license for small planes... he hasn't flown in years, how long is he legal to fly without renewing something? and what would he have to do to go about renewing it since i'm assuming its long past expired

Actually, his license and all ratings are still good. If he is over 40 years old he needs to get a 3rd class medical every 2 years and a biannual flight review. Once he does that he is good to go.

The medical is easy. usually about 90 bucks and about 30 minutes with an AME (a doctor certified by the FAA.) The BFR will be a bit harder. He can take it with any CFI, but the CFI needs to be satisfied that he is proficient and safe. Once that happens the CFI simply endourses his log book (he does have his log book, right?) and he is good to go. Depending on how long he has been out of it that can take anywhere from 7-8 hours to 20 or so, but nowhere near the effort it takes to get a rating in the first place. If he had his Instrument rating there are minimum proficiency requirements that he must pass with a CFII and a certain number of instrument approaches and procedures that he has to have logged in the past 6 months.

The bottom line is his ratings are still good. He just needs to get current. There is also something called personal limits that we taught. That is where a pilot may be certified and legal, but they need to know what their personal limitations are. For example, If your dad gets current then doesn't fly for 6 months or so, the FAA says he's legal, but he's probably not current enough to go up alone. There are also personal limitations that need to be taken into account for weather, night flying, mountain flying, etc. They are all things that a good instructor will cover with your dad during the BFR.

A gift certificate for a couple of hours of aircraft rental and instruction towards his currency would be a great gift for any occasion. Take a ride to your local airport and talk to some folks at the flight schools there.

[boomshay]

thanks for the info, that was a lot more detailed than i was expecting

i used to love it when he flew, it was cool to see the area from above, but he completely lost interest... he hasn't talked about it for years, he's still got all his old headsets and a briefcase full of stuff... i would guess flightplans and whatever else he needs

i'll look into the gift certificate thing but i'm going to assume it won't happen... he abandons hobbies and never looks back, its happened more than once

[Shelby07]

Flying is one of those things that get into your blood. Many people drop it for one reason or another, but they never lose their love of it. I would say that it's worth a shot. Just make sure you can get your money back if he decides not to use it... or you may want to try it yourself.

[boomshay]

i was thinking about getting into flying for awhile, i think i could've started when i turned 16 with all the lessons and stuff but once my dad lost interest i lost mine as well

[Shelby07]

i was thinking about getting into flying for awhile, i think i could've started when i turned 16 with all the lessons and stuff but once my dad lost interest i lost mine as well

Actually, you can start no matter how old you are. You can't solo until you are 16 and you must be 17 to obtain a raiting. But here is no age limit on how old you need to be to log dual instruction time. I had a kid who started logging time at 14 years old. His plan was to proceed slowly and be ready to solo on his 16th birthday. Then they would use the year to prepare for their practical on his 17th birthday. We had logged dual time (which counted toward a rating) with kids as young as 8. The only requirement is that they are able to reach the controls and see over the dashpad.

[boomshay]

wow that's impressive, i can't say i would've trusted myself at that young of an age, i also can't imagine soloing at 16... i had just started driving a car by myself haha