What's the Cheapest Hour of Flight Time You Logged?
Becoming a good candidate for a military flying job is not a cheap endeavor. Between FAA ratings, rush events, interviews, etc the $$$$ start adding up quickly. The name of the game is being efficient with your time, and effective with your cash.
For myself, I needed to do some time-building a few years ago. The best way I found to do that was to find 2 other pilots in need of the same. We rented an airplane from a local flight school and flew together while splitting the cost. While doing this, we met enough people at that local FBO that they offered to fly with us for even cheaper splits.
So, what's the cheapest way you've built flight hours while not breaking the bank?
The flying club that I’m apart of allows members to have free access to the full motion simulator. So I’ve definitely utilized that a lot when the weather is bad.
When I was in college, I worked at the FBO as a "line guy." My job entailed working the desk, driving the fuel truck and refueling planes, washing airplanes, and just being around aviation. I got a discount on the hourly rate for flying the mighty C-152!
Great question Smack!
I would wash the local flights planes for an hour of flight time in college.
I used to volunteer at a local flying school while I was at PIT (Pilot Instructor Training). They had all these old war birds and after a while of just showing up and helping out around the school, they let me fly them and log dual time. Eventually I got to solo one.