So you’re a pilot, and you need to build flight hours. That’s great! You’re taking the steps necessary to improve your education and career. At this point, the ideal thing would be to get a pilot job, right? Well, unfortunately, for a lot of you low-time pilots (150-300 hrs), many aviation businesses won’t even look at your application until you have at least 500 hours! That’s what we’re here to talk about.

There are a number of ways to get the flight hours you need without breaking the bank. In this blog post, we’ll discuss sharing planes, flying clubs, and time building programs. We’ll also give you some tips on how to find the best deals possible. So read on and start building those flight hours!

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Share Planes and Build Flight Hours!

Price Range: $60 – $160+ /hr (Split Rate)

One way to reduce the cost of building flight hours is to share a plane with other pilots! Many pilots have their own planes and are also happy to split costs of flying. This can be done by meeting people through flight schools/clubs (we’ll go in more details on below), online, or even with friends or family members who own their own planes. The benefit of sharing a plane is that you can split the cost of operating and maintaining the aircraft to really pinch your pennies!

Depending on where you live, you can usually find a relatively local pilot to go up flying with. Just note that it can sometimes be difficult to line up schedules. Additionally, we recommend getting to know your co-pilot and/or their plane very well before cruising the skies together; you never know what you don’t know!

There’s a variety of time building and plane sharing groups on Facebook where folks are posting about sharing their planes or looking for planes to share. Some of the more popular are: Time Building USA/EUROPE  and Aviation Career Mentoring & Time Building.

Legality of Sharing Planes

Under the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the sharing of the cost of operating a flight between a pilot and his passengers on the basis of a noncommercial certificate is permitted in the United States. Basically, in some situations, the costs of flying may be shared and thereby cause the flight to not be classified as a regulated commercial carrier activity.

However, the FARs specify several conditions for it to be correct. According to FAR 61.1113(c), the compensation allowed for such flight is limited to the actual direct cost:

“(c) A private pilot may not pay less than the pro rata share of the operating expenses of a flight with passengers, provided the expenses involve only fuel, oil, airport expenditures, or rental fees.”

The rules also state that the pilot and passengers must share a “common purpose” in flight. Also, the pilot must not advertise to the public about the passenger transport offering, but only to a limited and well-defined public (for example, family/friends, from a private flying club).

Some more tips before going this direction:

• Make sure that the owner of the aircraft is an LLC or any other legal entity, otherwise negligence from either pilot could lead to liability concerns.
• Be sure to carry insurance for your flights and make sure that the policy covers plane sharing.
• Have a formal written understanding of liability, repair costs, hourly aircraft usage and fuel costs.
• If the arrangement doesn’t work for all sides, it doesn’t work at all.
• Help clean the plane after flying!

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Flying Clubs and Flight Hours

Price Range: $50 – 300+ /hr (Split & Solo)

A Flying Club, or Aero Club, is a non-profit, member-run organization that provides members with affordable access to aircraft. Many clubs provide in-flight training, flight planning facilities, piloting supplies and related services, as well as arrange social functions, providing flights to and from other airports. Flying clubs are home to those who want to fly as a hobby, with many commercial pilots also getting their start in flying clubs.

Because Flying Clubs are non-profit, they end up renting the planes “at cost”, saving you a lot of money. Just be ready to put a little money down at first and every month thereafter, as well as getting to know as many of the other pilots as possible. You can make some great contacts and learn a ton from other pilots! Also, be aware that availability of the aircraft will differ greatly based on the location, size, and pilot density; so do your research beforehand.

Most flying clubs own and lease small general aviation aircraft. The most popular aircraft of this type are the Cessna 152, Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee. However, some clubs also exist to provide access to more specialized aircraft, such as older aircraft, aerobatic aircraft, helicopters, and gliders.

Equity vs. Non-Equity

There are two main types of Flying Clubs; Equity Clubs and Non-Equity Clubs. In an equity club, each member owns a share of the company’s aircraft or shares. To join the club, members buy a share and when they leave, they will sell their share. 

In non-equity clubs, members do not own any financial share of the aircraft; rather, they pay to be a member of the club that owns or leases the aircraft. They pay to be part of the club and have no financial rights to the aircraft.

Flying clubs are one of the best ways to save money while you fly more, enjoy increased access to planes, and spend time with friends and family. Interested in finding a Flying Club? Use AOPA’s Flying Club Finder.

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Time Building Programs (Bulk Flight Hours)

Price Range: $50 – 180+ /hr (Split & Solo)

For many years, flight schools have offered pilots packages of flight hours in bulk and at discounted prices. But as the demand for flight hours has increased, these programs have grown into full-blown operations with dedicated facilities! What differentiates these operations are things like: pricing packages, airplane variety/availability, maintenance, accommodations, minimum requirements and rental procedures.

Generally speaking, however, you’ll find that dedicated Time Building Programs will have very good plane availability, bulk discounts, regular maintenance, and sometimes even offer accommodations! Make sure you’re prepared to set aside a decent chunk of time, pay some registration fees, potentially travel across the country/world, and study up on the new airspace.

Some operations vary in pricing based on their location, services, and operating costs. When comparing prices, it’s important to take into account all the benefits you’re gaining as well as those you’re missing out on. Other than pricing, questions you might ask are:

• What are the minimum requirements to join your program?
• What airplanes are available to rent?
• How available are your planes to fly on a daily basis?
• What kind of maintenance do your planes undergo, and how long are they down for?
• Do you offer accommodations? If so, how much are they and what are they like?

We’ll be doing a full write-up on every Time Building Program we can get our hands on in the near future. But in the meantime, here’s a list of some of the most prominent Time Building Programs in the USA:

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Odyssey Pilot Hours

“Odyssey Pilot Hours is approaching the worldwide demand for pilots by assisting in the number one barrier to entry: building time. Building quality pilot time and experience is our main objective while simultaneously cutting the cost for you. We do this by offering a full-time immersive experience to get you prepared for your future faster. With us, you’ll stay in FREE beautiful Colorado lodgings and fly at least 30-50 PIC hours a week in our glass cockpit, TAA fleet to meet the requirements for your dream job fast and affordably.”

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Flying Academy

“Exciting offers on Time Building packages to ensure pilot students build required hours expeditiously with iconic views and experiences. We offer a variety of advantages and benefits each catering to different locations, including: FREE accommodation, extra money is credited towards your training, fairly priced hourly rentals, airport transportation arranged upon arrival.”

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SkyEagle Aviation Academy

“We understand that an aspiring pilot usually needs to get flight hours somewhere, which are essential for a new license or employment in an airline. In general, an additional and non-training flight time is required between the private pilot license (35-40 flight hours) and the commercial pilot license (minimum requirements are 200-250 hours).”

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Chandler Air Service

“Chandler Air Service has had the privilege and opportunity to provide aircraft rental for the purpose of time building to pilots from all over the world. We have numerous pilots come each year to build flight time and we are happy to be able to provide this service. Coming to Chandler to do your time building is a big decision and there is a lot of information to provide, we have put together this overview to cover all the major aspects and help prepare you for a safe fun flying experience.”

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Flight Time Building

“Flight Time Building, LLC, specializes in providing quality aircraft at low hourly rates to bring affordable building of required flight time for your next rating or for your ATP minimums or for your personal or business aircraft use. Whether you want an aircraft to use for business travel, to complete your time building or to purely fly for fun, we have the right aircraft and the right price to meet your needs.”

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Final Note: Building PIC Flight Hours Together?

If you’re going to be sharing a plane and trying to build Pilot-In-Command (PIC) time simultaneously, you’ll need to know about the Safety Pilot position.

What is a “Safety Pilot”? A Safety Pilot is a rated pilot who helps maintain visual separation from other aircraft, clouds, and terrain while another pilot is wearing view limiting devices (under the hood) for the purposes of simulating instrument conditions.

Why does this matter? According to CFR 91.109 and CFR 61.51, as long as the PIC is under the hood, both the PIC and the Safety Pilot can log the flight time as “PIC time”.

The Safety Pilot cannot log PIC time during taxi, takeoff, run up, and landing because the PIC cannot be under the hood during these procedures. Therefore, it’s recommended that you consecutively switch with your co-pilot between being the PIC and the Safety Pilot in between flights to equally build hours in tandem.

For safety’s sake, it’s highly recommended that both pilots be at least Instrument Certified.

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And that’s it! Other than getting paid to fly, these are the cheapest ways to build flight hours! Do your research and find the route that’s right for you. But remember, the easiest way to build flight hours is by getting a job flying.

So don’t give up on your job search, even if you feel like you’re coming up short. The right opportunity is out there waiting for you. Happy flying!

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Need help breaking the 1,500-hour ceiling? Interested in the fastest way to build flight hours? Odyssey Pilot Hours offers quality flight time fast and affordably, with beautiful lodgings! Fill out a pilot interest form today to take the first step to join our flight time building program.