Can we ordinary people get a pilot's license?

Yes, it's more cost-effective to go to America. The United States has the best flight environment in the world, many airports and various free services provided by the government, and the flight cost is far lower than that of other countries.

First of all, briefly introduce the American flight license.

According to the holder's authority, the flight driver's license is divided into: student pilot, sports pilot, rational pilot,

Private pilots, commercial pilots and air transport pilots. Business only

Pilots and airline transport pilots are allowed to fly as a means of making money, while others only allow passengers to share the cost of flying at most.

All aircraft in the United States can be divided into the following categories: airplanes, rotorcraft, gliders, lighter than air, powered elevators, powered parachutes, and weight transfer control.

each

There are further sub-categories under one category. For example, airplanes are classified as ASEL (Single Engine Aircraft).

Land), AMEL (aircraft multi-engine land), ASES (aircraft single engine

Sea), Ames (aircraft multi-engine

Sea); Rotorcraft is divided into helicopters and rotorcraft, etc. After passing the exam, the flight license issued by FAA will indicate which level of aircraft the pilot is allowed to operate.

In fact, there is a further breakdown under the level, but it usually does not appear on the flight license (unless it is a model level, every model of aircraft weighing more than 12500lb needs a model level to operate, but private pilots generally do not involve this issue when flying small planes), but it appears in the form of an endorsement by the teacher.

In the journal. For example, when the plane lands with a single engine, the tail wheel is obtained.

Endorsement, you can operate the aircraft at the last three points and get high performance.

After the endorsement, you can operate an aircraft with an engine power exceeding 200 HP, and so on.

In fact, the English full name is Private Pilot- an airplane with a single engine on land. In the United States, about 50% people will get a certification called musical instrument level after obtaining this license (musical instrument refers to the musical instrument on the plane, not the musical instrument), and the words on the driver's license will become private accordingly.

Single-engine land-based aircraft, instrument aircraft. Instruments

Rating allows pilots to fly in the clouds and rely entirely on in-plane instruments to complete the flight, which is quite useful for people like me who fly in Seattle all the year round. After that, some people will choose to upgrade their driver's license to a commercial pilot or even an air transport pilot certificate. Some people will add more levels to experience more different planes. For example, single-engine airplanes or gliders are popular choices because they are more interesting and require shorter training time.

For practical reasons, I will focus on the single-engine landing of private pilots. If the driver's license profiles listed above confuse you, please ignore them and look at the private photos below.

Basic requirements for obtaining single-engine landing of private pilot aircraft;

* At least 17 years old (no upper age limit)

* Understand English and be able to communicate with ATC and other pilots.

* Hold at least a third-class medical certificate.

* At least 35 hours (part 14 1 flight school) or 40 hours (part 6 1 flight school) flight experience. Please don't worry about choosing 14 1 or 6 1 because of that. If you don't fly three or five times a week, you can't finish learning in 40 hours. The average time in America is about 70 hours.

* ground knowledge test, 60 multiple-choice questions on the computer, and the question bank was officially announced. Anyone who memorizes the questions about 800 or 1000 and fails to get more than 90 points will be sorry for the exam-oriented training that China started from primary school.

* oral test+driving. The written test results largely determine the length of the oral test. My personal experience is that if you get a high score in the written test, you can basically finish the oral test about 1 hour, but a friend with a low score in the written test may have to toss for 3 ~ 4 hours. After passing the oral test, the driving test is usually 1.5 ~ 2 hours, plus the time to sign the test materials before the oral test, the time to check the plane and some messy things, and the shortest time for an exam is 4 ~ 5 hours. If you fail in the exam, you will be sent back to the instructor to retrain the failed subjects and take the exam later. An instructor generally needs to maintain a pass rate of at least 80 ~ 90% to keep his job, so if the instructor dares to recommend you to take the exam, the success rate is still very high.

How strict are the requirements for tertiary medical certificates?

This is related to the traditional concept of deformed flying bodies in China.

The exam is different. The third-level physical examination certification is roughly the same as the annual physical examination of primary schools in China, and even blood samples are not needed. But if there is a urine test, be careful not to eat too much polysaccharide that day (diabetics can actually go through extra procedures).

Those who pass the physical examination will go directly to heaven with medicine and syringes. It's okay to wear glasses for myopia. If you are color blind, this will restrict you from flying at night. If you are blind in one eye, you have to go to more departments to go through some formalities, but you can fly.

Yes There are pilots all over the world who lack arms, legs or even semi-paralysis, and all of them can pass the physical examination.

If you have too many physical problems, you can consider learning Sport Pilot. That doesn't require a medical examination. The physical requirement is an American driver's license.

How high is the requirement of oral English listening?

Flight English is different from general English. I flew with dozens of Americans who were not pilots. Basically everyone told me that they couldn't understand what our pilots and controllers were saying. So if you feel at a loss at first, your English level is the same as that of normal Americans:).

navigate by water/air

Empty English actually comes and goes in dozens of sentence patterns. If you can memorize all those sentence patterns, you will naturally answer them in the sky. Another thing that scares ordinary people is that we use NATO in the sky.

Phonetic symbols, we don't say A, B, C, ..., X, Y, Z, but Alpha, Bravo, Charlie,

... x-rays, Americans, Zulu people. It takes a lot of effort to memorize 26 letters at first.

If you study or work in the United States, your basic English can definitely be competent for dialogue in the sky, as long as you are willing to spend time at home reciting sentence patterns and practicing listening.

What do you need to know to pass the computer test and oral test?

Physics, aerodynamics

You don't need to do complicated physical calculation, but you need to know the basic Newton classical mechanics and Bernoulli fluid mechanics, why the plane can fly, what factors affect the flight efficiency, how the stall occurs, and the various effects of propeller rotation on the plane.

Aircraft structure, system and engineering. tool

The basic structure of aircraft, how to control the aircraft, engine, propeller, oil supply system, hydraulic system, power system and so on. There are also the operating principles and systems of various instruments on the plane, their own defects, how to behave when the system is abnormal, and what countermeasures should be taken. Basically, you must understand how the systems and components used in the plane work.

airplane characteristics

Understand the influence of different air pressures and temperatures on aircraft performance, and know how to calculate the take-off and landing distance, climb speed, flight speed, maximum range and so on under different conditions. Many calculations are done by looking at drawings or using E6B slide rule.

weather

Similar to high school geography knowledge, the formation of wind, clouds, rain and fog, atmospheric stability, cold front and warm front, thunderstorms and other extreme weather that affect flight safety. Different kinds of clouds and fog must be remembered.

weather service

Learn to translate all kinds of literal meteorological data, such as METAR, TAF, regional forecast, etc. These data are published in the format of early telegrams, so all the words are seriously abbreviated, and it takes effort to practice translation. Besides, you should also learn to understand several other weather charts and radar charts.

territorial sky/air

Proficiently recite the definition of airspace A, B, C, D, E, G and other special airspace, access requirements (what equipment is needed, whether the controller's consent is needed, what license is needed), and flight visibility requirements.

Airports know how to get in and out of airports with control towers and airports without control towers, and how to mark airports, airport lighting systems and airport signs on the ground on maps.

Airway flight and navigation

Look at the chart, how to navigate through the chart, and use electronic devices such as VOR, ADF, DME and even GPS to assist navigation (you must be able to use all the equipment on your plane). How to accurately calculate the flight route on the ground, consider the influence of wind speed and direction on cruising (using E6B slide rule), how to calculate your position when you get lost, and how to fill in the flight plan.

rules and regulations

Various rules and regulations, what pilots can and can't do, what requirements are there for aircraft equipment maintenance, and penalties after violations.

Aviation medical factors

The relationship between flight and body and mind. Like all kinds of optical illusions, all kinds of sports illusions, hypoxia/dehydration/fatigue/alcohol and tobacco/stress/drugs and other factors on the body.

Aviation decision-making

How to make the right decision in the air, how to consider the risk of flight and the tendency to avoid danger, the cooperation in the cockpit, the influence of flight electronic automation, etc.

What to practice and test for private driver's license?

Normal cruise, straight line and. Horizontal flight, climbing, descending

This is the most common flight.

The biggest challenge for beginners is how to use the rudder to overcome the tendency of various planes to turn left and right (torque, gyro forward caused by propeller rotation,

Slipstream, P-factor and the reverse yaw of the wing) and how to stabilize the aircraft (using trim mitigation).

Control pressure)

Power-on stall and power-off stall

The consciousness and recovery of stall can be recovered with the least height loss. Power stall is a simulation of takeoff, and power stall is a simulation of landing.

(of a road) curve sharply

manufacture

A pair of 360-degree turns and 45-degree inclinations.

Left/right. When the plane tilts to one side, the vertical component of lift needs to be equal to gravity to keep the altitude unchanged, so when the plane tilts 45 degrees, if the component of lift

Similar to gravity, aircraft and pilots actually feel 1.4 times gravity, so many adjustments are needed in control.

A slow battle

When flying at low speed, the aircraft is relatively unstable, the control sensitivity decreases, and it is very close to the stall edge. How to operate the aircraft safely at the lowest allowable speed is a good way to prove the pilot's level, and it is also one of the training means to raise awareness and prevent stalling.

Analog instrument flight

Wear an eye mask (fog mask or hood) to block the view outside the cabin. You need to overcome the illusion of the body and believe in instruments. You can only fly by looking at the instruments inside the plane. This is to ensure that the pilot can fly out alive in case of bad weather. It should be noted that these 3-5 hours of training can only help pilots reach the level of saving lives in an emergency. If you want to fly to the cloud legally, you need 40 hours of instrument training and get an instrument license after taking a private photo.

S turn; Turn around a point; Rectangular route

These three types are ground reference maneuvers, which train students how to adjust the control according to the wind speed and direction to keep the plane on the ground.

Tracking. It's like turning a point,

In the absence of wind, students can fly out of a perfect circle as long as they keep the same inclination angle and speed, but when there is wind, they will be blown into an ellipse without adjustment.

These exercises are not only helpful for flying rectangular traffic patterns over the airport, but also useful for taking passengers out for aerial photography in the future:)

Simulate engine failure

When the engine stopped, the plane became an inefficient glider. This exercise is mainly to train students how to control the best gliding speed to the most suitable landing point and complete the checklist of engine failure. Private photo training and exams will not really land (unless the engine is really broken). If you have a commercial driver's license, it will increase the engine fault practice over the airport, and it is required to taxi to the designated point of the runway, and the error before and after should not exceed 200ft.

Normal takeoff/landing

Complete normal takeoff and landing safely.

Short takeoff/landing

Prove the skills of short takeoff and landing

Soft field takeoff/landing

Demonstrate the skills of taking off and landing on soft ground. According to the weather and airport conditions, it can be simulated on the cement runway or actually taken off and landed on the grass.

Night Flight

Flying at night is completely different from flying during the day. Visibility is not as good as during the day, street lamps are brighter than airports, so there are more illusions to pay attention to. The training time only takes 3 hours 10 take-off and landing, and the test does not need to investigate night flights. However, please note that three hours of night practice is far from enough to fly safely at night, so after you get your driver's license, you must spend several hours practicing with the instructor outside your forehead when flying alone.

In the private driver's license test, the allowable operation errors of all the above actions are left and right deviation 10 degree, and up and down deviation 100 foot. However, it is strongly recommended that you try to reduce the error to close to zero, which will not only improve your level, but also leave more room for the exam day under bad conditions.