Couple of different ways of looking at it.
Yes, money is an issue, it always will be as, let's be honest, this is not the worlds cheapest hobby. What has been said before is true, budget to fly an amount of hours every year, either training or post training. It doesn't matter if it takes you 10 years to pass a skills test, the end result is still the same. The only thing to take into account is do you like flying?? If the answer to this is yes, and trust me it gets more addictive the more you do, then carry on. No-one cares how many hours you take to get your ppl, and those that do fall into the "bold pilot" category. Law of the playground, my bike's better than yours sort of thing. Who cares, both bikes do the same job. Forget the legal mins, that is what they are, a minimum. Put this way, it is possible to turn up at a driving test centre on your 17th birthday and pass a driving test, not really plausible, but possible. Who is the better driver, the lad who did that, or the guy that had 25 hours training before test?
To make this understandable to you, lets look at something everyone knows about, driving. Lesson1, controls. Student goes nowhere. Lesson2, straight line driving and simple turns. It's all the student can do to change one gear. That would account for, in todays learning enviroment, for about 3 hours. You are at a similar stage in learning to fly. Straight and level, like all exercises will come with practice. That said pilot induced oscilation happens to all of us, those approaching test like me, or 2000 hour pilots. Don't worry about it, honestly! It is a known fact that your age does play a part in training hours. Driving instructors use the 1 hour for each year principal. a teenager will go through test in about 20 hours, a 40 year old is looking at 35 - 40 hours. Nothing against your age, it is a simple fact of nature, and different people learn different skills at different rates.
I was at about 22 hours before I went solo. I know a guy who was solo at 15 hours. He has so far spent 10 hours on dual nav training and still doesn't get it. My instructor is happy to send me off on solo nav after about 5 hours at it dual. All horses for courses.
The are a few things to remember. Don't count the money, if you can't afford it wait until you can, even if that means a couple of hours a year. You will learn at your pace, and everyone gets hung up on something. Normally landing or nav, maybe your hang up is S&L and you will whizz (notice I didn't say fly) through the rest of it! This hobby is more addictive and more expensive than any drug, once bitten you will never let go. I took my first lesson in 1990. I came back to flying in 2000. I ran out of money again in 2002. I have just come back to it on a limited budget like you. I am prepared to stop flying after I qualify, and just do what little I can.
Now a question, how often are you actually getting airboune? Curreny is the key, if you go up every week, there will be less skills to brush up before the next topic. Fly once a month and you will spend a great deal of that lesson covering and refreshing what has gone before. There comes a point when the S&L will be second nature, and something else will take your attnetion.
Above anything else, do it for fun, if it isn't fun why do it? If that means never getting a licence and flying with an instructor twice a year, then accept that as your version of aviating, I know people that do that.
Good luck
Last edited by cessna l plate; 25th Sep 2006 at 08:59.