Private Pilot

Obtaining your private pilot’s license is the first step towards a freedom that you have never experience before! You will be able to fly over the beaches and mountains, going to new exciting locations without ever having to get into a car.

Coast’s Private Pilot Training program will not only teach you how to fly an aircraft, but will arm you with the confidence and skills to fly to new destinations after your training is complete. This is accomplished through a revolutionary style of training called scenario based training that Coast is spear-heading. From day one of your training, you will be put in scenarios that will better prepare you for flying after your training is complete and you are flying to new airports. Most flight schools use what is called “maneuver based training” which teaches you piloting skills through a series of repetitive maneuvers over a practice area. Scenario based training allows for you to learn these maneuvers while planning and flying to distant airports, experience simulated emergencies and flying through some of the busiest airspace in the world, such as LAX. Coast’s Cirrus training and Cessna flight training programs are guaranteed to make you the exceptional pilot that you want to be!

During your training, you will complete ground school which will cover a wide range of subjects such as aerodynamics, how aircraft systems operate, rules and regulations that govern pilots and advanced weather. Your ground schooling will take place at the same time as your flight training in order to give you the opportunity to apply what you have learned in the classroom.

The FAA requires you to learn to fly an aircraft safely and effectively. Our San Diego Flight School requires you to have fun while doing it!

These are the minimum flight times required to obtain a Private Pilot’s license:

• 40 total hours of flight
• 20 of which must be dual with an instructor
  • Three hours of cross country
  • Three hours of instrument flight training
  • Three hours at night, including 10 takeoffs and landings for applicants seeking night flying privileges; and one cross-country flight of over 100 nautical miles total distance
  • Three hours in airplanes in preparation for the private pilot flight test within 60 days prior to that test
• At least 10 hours of solo flight, consisting of at least 5 hours of solo cross-country flight time
• One solo cross-country flight of at least 150 nautical miles total distance, with full-stop landings at a minimum of three points, and one segment of the flight consisting of a straight-line distance of at least 50 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations
• Three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport with an operating control tower