By Derek Royal

So you’ve just received your hard-earned PPL and you’re ready to take the next step in your climb up the aviation ladder. Derek Royal takes a look at the options available to the new private pilot.

Getting this far has cost you plenty of money and everything else in your life has taken a back seat to your obsession for flight. What’s the next step for the new private pilot who dreams of another endorsement, a bigger aircraft or a rating or two? What ratings or endorsements are advisable at this stage of the fledgling pilot’s career?

Well, that depends on the individual. And it depends on individual ambitions and financial resources. If you want a career in aviation, you must continue your training and work towards achieving a CPL. Then you’ll probably need an instrument rating, a multi-engine endorsement and perhaps even an instructor rating. The fact is, without such qualifications, you’re not even in the ball game.

But having said that, as a private pilot you still have numerous options at your fingertips and you need to make decisions on whether you simply want to spend more money on flying or on flying different aircraft in different conditions.

You must make that decision yourself – honestly and with careful consideration to what you’re trying to achieve. Always remember that aviation is an expensive hobby and at the end of the day, it’s your decision how your hard-earned cash ought to be spent. Here’s a selection of licenses, endorsements and ratings available to the new PPL.

NIGHT VFR
The Night VFR Rating is often completed while the ink is still wet on your PPL, and allows you to fly at night in clear weather conditions. However, the rating is not designed for unlimited night flying. Rather, it is intended to extend the envelope beyond first and last light so that it is possible for you to arrive safely at your destination after dark, or to begin your journey early, before dawn.

Before undergoing the NVFR flight test, the candidate must have the following: a PPL; 10 hours flight time at night; five hours night navigation flight time, including one three hour cross-country exercise. This shall be over a distance greater than 100 nautical miles and include a landing at an airfield remote from extensive lighting. Useful and relatively inexpensive, the NVFR Rating is a handy endorsement to have in your logbook.

CONSTANT SPEED UNIT
The CSU simply makes the propeller more efficient, thus extracting better performance from the aeroplane. You will have another lever to deal with – the propeller pitch control – which sets the blade angle and hence the RPM of the metal that provides the thrust up front. Depending on your skill level and learning curve, you will need between two and four hours to master the CSU, and probably a few more hours until you really feel comfortable. Is the CSU rating advisable? Like all things in aviation, that depends on individual needs. But realistically, if you’re not planning on venturing too far beyond your local area, then the expense is probably not worth it.

RETRACTABLE GEAR
Retractable undercarriage means you can pull the wheels up when you don’t need them, thus cutting back dramatically on drag. In a nutshell, this equates to more efficient flight and a whole lot more speed. Depending on your aptitude, it shouldn’t take you more than a few hours to attain competence at working the gear, perhaps a few more to get really comfortable. But bear in mind that once you move away from fixed undercarriage and start dabbling in retractables, the hourly hiring rate increases at a similar velocity to the speed of the aircraft. Is it worth it?
If you’re planning on doing plenty of cross-country flying and making the most of your licence, then yes, it is worth the expense. Otherwise, it’s best to stick to the trusty old fixed undercarriage types.

MULTI-ENGINE ENDORSEMENT
Learning to fly a twin engine aircraft is very expensive – you’re looking at a far more expensive hourly rate for the privilege.

However, flying on two engines has advantages. If an engine quits in cruise over inhospitable terrain, the extra powerplant gives you an option that is obviously unvailable in a single. And once you progress beyond the basic twin trainer – like a Beech Duchess – you’re also able to carry more passengers.

However, to fly a twin-engine aircraft, the pilot needs to be on the ball. After all, there’s two of just about everything: two pitch controls; two throttles; two mixture controls; two tacho readouts; two carby heat controls. With so many extras to think about, things happen a hell of a lot quicker and more often than not, the pilot finds it difficult to keep pace with the aircraft.

Initially, you will spend an hour or two familiarising yourself with the aircraft and it will take you a while to get used to all the additional dials and levers, and the extra speed across the ground.

Next, you’ll face a few circuits and become accustomed to working in a busy environment. Then you will learn how to handle asymmetric flight – or the art of flying on one engine – a manoeuvre that will certainly find you out if you haven’t put in the homework.

But like all things in aviation, the ability to pay determines the altitudes and speeds you are able to reach. Flying a Beech Baron or Piper Seneca for instance, will set you back a few hundred dollars per hour. Now that’s big bikkies and for the average private pilot such an expense is difficult to justify.  

COMMAND INSTRUMENT RATING
A Command Instrument Rating allows the pilot to fly in cloud, at night and in poor weather conditions.

During your PPL training you briefly touched on flying “under the hood”, but now, you’re expected to do so for hours at a time with unerring accuracy.

Navigating from A to B with visual cues has its dramas but doing so without any sighting of the outside world is a darn side more difficult. Yet that’s what you’re expected to do if you’re serious about about completing a Command Instrument Rating.

So why do people pay thousands of dollars to “fly on the clocks”? Generally, so they can get somewhere fast – a requirement for the professional pilot yes, but certainly not a priority for the average private pilot.

PRIVATE INSTRUMENT FLIGHT RULES
This relatively new rating permits private pilots to fly en-route in Instrument Meterological Conditions (IMC) whilst conducting departures and approaches in Visual Meterological Conditions (VMC). You must still fly in visual conditions when operating below Lowest Safe Altitude (LSALT).
 
The PIFR Rating was introduced to offer pilots the opportunity to conduct limited IFR operations as an alternative to, or an escape from, those situations of deteriorating weather or daylight where scud running, disorientation, controlled flight into terrain and loss of control accidents have been all too frequent.
 
You must hold a Private Pilot Licence or greater to qualify for a PIFR and it is recommended you hold a Night VFR Rating. If you do not hold a NVFR then the syllabus is modifed for you to ensure you undertake adequate night flying training (including circuit operations) to meet the required standards.

COMMERCIAL LICENCE
Commercial pilots are essentially private pilots with higher skill levels and experience. And they’re better because of the intensity and demanding nature of their training. You need two things to get a commercial licence: a minimum of 200 hours flying time (unless you complete a fulltime 150 hour course) and the appropriate standard. You need to fly an aircraft with a constant speed unit and a minimum cruise speed of 120 knots and you also need the nous to navigate your way to an obscure dot on a map, rather than an easy-to-find township.

So why should you even consider completing commercial training when you don’t want to earn a buck from flying?
Earning a commercial licence or at least striving to achieve commercial standards will improve your flying and make you a better pilot. And that can only be good for you and the entire aviation community.

FORMATION FLYING
Few pilots learn formation flying and that’s a shame. The pursuit takes precision, discipline and experience to master, but apart from those pilots who engage in aerial photography and team formation flying, then the endorsement doesn’t provide any practical benefit to others.

TAILWHEEL ENDORSEMENT
They say that you haven’t really learned to fly until you’ve mastered the tailwheeler. With their centre of gravity behind the main wheels, tailwheel aircraft have the ability to embarrass the unwary – but to tailwheel enthusiasts, that’s merely a part of their charm.

There are flying schools that believe so strongly that tailwheel flying makes for a better pilot, they do all their early training in tailwheelers. It could be worth talking to one or two of them and maybe taking a ride in a tailwheel aircraft before you make your final decision about where you want to train.

And if you’re attracted by the romance of flying classic aircraft like, maybe a Tiger Moth or a Harvard, then money spent on a rearwheel endorsement will be money well spent.

AEROBATIC ENDORSEMENT
Aerobatic pilots are amongst the most confident aviators in our skies. They have to be. They’re constantly pushing their aircraft throughout its entire envelope and to do that takes superior skill and oodles of confidence.

An endorsement in aeros gives you more confidence to handle the unexpected and that can only benefit your flying. A more confident pilot is ultimately a safer pilot and the more safer pilots using the skies the better.

You will tackle the basics like loops, rolls and spins and your skills level will have been polished after some 15 hours of training. If have a spare few grand or so, then an aerobatics endorsement will not only improve your flying, you’ll also glean plenty of fun from doing it.

FLOATPLANES
The ability to take off and land on water can be one of the most rewarding types of flying imaginable. But like so many options, the floatplane endorsement is not a practical choice – it’s more an exotic one. Unless you have access to a floatplane, then your hard-earned dollars would probably be better spent elsewhere.