Are all flying lessons to be 1 hour?

[Stilton1]

Please could anyone tell me how long a flying lesson should be? I know that most lessons are done in one hour slots, but I was wondering whether, if a student was particularly skilled and had no trouble with concentration, tiredness etc whether it says anywhere that the lesson could not be - for example two hours...

Does anyone have any info around this - thanks

[RTN11]

It can be as long or short as you like.

Most commercial schools I know of, and I believe the RAF, keep their airborne time somewhere around 40-50 mins, because after this the student starts to glaze over and stop absorbing information.

As you progress into the later lessons, including navigation and training towards QXC, the lessons will naturally get longer, but 2 hours is still pushing it a bit.

If my student was really keen, and wanted to push through the course, I would aim for 2-3 separate flights in a day, each 45-60 mins long rather than one flight over 2 hours+ as it breaks it down into manageable chunks.

[PlanetEarth]

Personally, as a student and an instructor. Most of my flights have been between 1.2-1.8 hours.

Do take into account that this was at a busy airport, and just getting to the practice area from engine start could take 20-40 minutes.

All flight lessons were in 2 hour blocks

This is of course excluding cross countries

[Stilton1]

Thanks RTN11 - what I was thinking.

When you say there is no length restriction - is there any caa document that says this?

[Stilton1]

Thanks Planetearth - and welcome

[Stilton1]

In fact RTN11 don't worry about the documentation bit - I'm just going to stick to your advice - thanks again!

[Whopity]

The ideal length of any lesson is around 45 minutes; because the student absorbs little after that time. Longer flights are more suited to consolidation than basic learning.

[Stilton1]

Thanks everyone..

[BigGrecian]

When you say there is no length restriction - is there any caa document that says this?

Although nothing is enshrined in law - a school's operation manuals / training manual will tell you the maximum length of lessons.

It's normally 2 hours.

Maximum per day for PPL : 4
Maximum per day for CPL : 6

The CAA will bring attention to the above if it is above that in the training manual in my experience, and require it to be changed.

[FlyingGasMain]

A lot of the standard exercises are pretty well suited to 50 minutes in the air give or take a bit. Navigation lends itself to longer lessons.

If you are planning on going for longer lessons, I would say the key thing is to be fully briefed for everything thats going to be covered. There's no point in continuing from eg Ex. 8 into Ex. 9 without being briefed for 9. And some would argue that you should really get back to earth to absorb one lesson before starting the next.

I would say that some lessons can be extended by a shortish amount to bring in other useful learning eg. familiarisation with the local area.

[athonite]

The learning element should be roughly forty minutes, because after that research has shown that students can lose concentration, having said that the component prior and after the flight exercise can be added. So stalling could last 40, plus departure and arrival 20 minutes, so an hour in total. cross countries are going to be 90 mins. Any other training flight lasting longer than 90 minutes, is probably not justisfied, so students beware.

[ReverseFlight]

I've seen instructors habitually log an additional 0.3 hrs on startup even before taxying to the run-up bays. That's another 18 minutes which could have been better spent improving the student's flying skills.

[athonite]

in the UK flight time logged is from when the aircraft moves under its own power until it finally stops, and that is all that can be counted as flight training.

[BillieBob]

Nice try, but inaccurate. In the case of an aeroplane, flight time is defined as being "from the moment when, after the embarkation of its crew for the purpose of taking off, it first moves under its own power, until the moment when it next comes to rest after landing". In the case of a helicopter, it is considered as being "from the moment the helicopter first moves under its own power for the purpose of taking off until the rotors are next stopped."

With the best will in the world, "next comes to rest after landing" cannot be considered the same as "finally stops"

[172_driver]

It seems to be two different schools when it comes to initial flight training.

FAA, lessons 1,5 hrs duration, squeeze in a few exercises in one flight. E.g. straight & level, climbs & descends and turns.

JAA, lessons 1,0 hrs duration, takes one flight for each exercise.

I prefer the latter, sort out the basics, attitude flying, visual references before moving on to more advanced maneuvers. Building small learning blocks.

[Cows getting bigger]

My electronic logbook tells me that, on average, each instructional flight I have given is 44 minutes, chock-to-chock.