The books and materials you need for the Aeronautical Knowledge portion of your flight training are taken from publications put out by the FAA. There are a lot of aftermarket courses that are all good. I always tell the student to do what is best for them. Some students will study at home with just the FAA publications and others will want a DVD course and some like to sit in a groundschool.

I have found over the years that the home study options are the best. That is for my style of teaching. Now I have recently seen an e-book out there that quotes 100 hours of ground training? I can't understand that since the person who wrote has about the same experience as me though I am not an examiner yet, I am in the candidate pool.

I could say that you may spend 40-50 hours at home studying and then 10-20 hours ground instruction with your instructor. Even students who have difficulties, I have never spent more than 25 hours with a student with ground instruction.  If you study hard you will not have to spend that much time with your instructor on the ground. For the students who study everything I tell them to, I spend an average of 12 Hours on the ground with them throughout their training. Even if you decide to take a 40 hour ground school that will cost you about $300 not $4,500.

The questions for the Private Pilot License Test are based on the information in the following FAA Publications:

There are a few other advisory circulars that are also used in the practical test standards. I have them all included in " Airfreddy's Guide on Learning To Fly" If you are interested.

At this level of training examiners are looking for save pilot and are not quite as strict on the FAA publications. I perfect example is the "Pilots Guide " For airports. This is a great resource but it is not an official FAA publication. You should learn and know how to use the "Airport Facilities Directory"

Private Pilot License Groundschool Classes

Many of the flight schools out there will have a formal ground-school. I used to have these for my students. You have to realize one thing. If you are planning on flying a lot ( more than twice a week) you will be done with your flying before you are done with the class. This will cause a delay and extra flights to get your license.

You can take private pilot license groundschool classes at many of your local flight schools and your local community college may have them. You just want to look at how long the class lasts. If you have a 12 week class and you want to do a somewhat accelerated flight training schedule, you may want to take the class first before you start flying. You could start your flying about half way through the class so there are no delays.

Private Pilot Kits

There are many Private Pilot License Kits out there that are all great. They all have the same material but the approach each uses is a little different. It is more personal preference than anything else. I have listed some below for you.

Jeppeson Private Pilot Kit

Gleim Private Pilot Kit

In Some Places these can get rather Expensive. Ebay is probably the best place to find good deals on these. I have links to the auctions in the Pilot Supplies Section

Headsets

You will want to get a headset now there are many different types and makes. Plane and simple the basic David Clark Headsets will last you forever. Up until a few years ago I had two sets of David Clark Headsets that I originally had from flight school. Each set had about 8,000-10,000 hours on them and I never had a problem. I used to let students use them and then rent them if they needed another set for their flight. So the David Clarks definitely got beat on  There are others out there that I have used and they have not even lasted 400 hours. The David Clark Headsets run about $290

David Clark H10-13.4 Headsets

Once again Ebay is probably the best place to find them. I know of one pilot who found two sets of H10.13.4 Headsets for $60 For Both of them. I have the David Clark Auctions listed in the Pilot Supplies Section

Other Private Pilot License Materials

Aviation Medical Certificate: The Aviation Medical is another Expense that you will have to pay for. In most case the Medical Exam will Cost you somewhere between $80 and $125. I will use $100 For this cost estimate

Individual Items: If you decide not go go with a Private Pilot License Kit, You can get the items individually from any pilot shop. I have listed what you will need below.

The Prices will vary depending on where you buy them. I have them all Listed in my Pilot Supplies Section

Total Private Pilot License Books and Materials Cost

Since there are many different options for you I will just come up with a base Number of $200 for the basic books and materials. If you buy everything separately or if you get a kit, the cost will be pretty close. I will not count special DVD courses and things like that. My purpose here it to give you a realistic cost for what you need to get through. If you want a $1,000 set of headsets, of course this cost is going to be more expensive . You can also look around The Ebay Auctions in the Pilot Supplies Section for good deals. I know of one person who found 2 pairs of David Clark Headsets for $60.

This will be pretty close. You can find used private pilot course materials all over the internet. Ebay has a lot of stuff but there are many other websites out there that have these materials.

I have just Finished a Pilot Supplies Section that has all of the Ebay Auctions in it so you don't need to spend hours digging around Ebay to find them.