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PPL vs CPL


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I am doing the PPL which costs around $35k and I cannot deduct from my income for tax. CPL costs around $65k but I can deduct from income so net cost would be around $45k. I am wondering what you think I should do? Is it worth the extra time and money to do the CPL if I don't have any intention of flying commercial? While $10k is still a lot of money, I am still considering as it does not have a substantial impact on my finances at the end of the day.

Cost: Money but mostly time.

Benefits: Better training, safety, perhaps lower insurance costs.

Any other obvious ones I'm missing here? Your thoughts appreciated.

Oh yea, I'm about 15 hrs into PPL for flight time and not that far into ground school yet.

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So I assume you intend to buy a machine or rent? 

Entirely correct the private is not tax deductible and commercial is....and often people spend upwards of 40 to get to a safe flight test standard. The required and actual for dual hours never line up, you will have more training, be safer and perhaps a better insurance rate if you decide to purchase?

Should be no problem to change course at this point in your training

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6 minutes ago, snowedin said:

I should ask what machine are you training on. You should expect 60 - 70 hours to do a good private ride....just to reference where the 35k number came from?

I think 40hr is minimum but it has been going well and expect I might be closer to 50hr. I'm training on the Cabri G2. Probably plan to buy a raven I or II within a year or two of getting licensed which is a topic for another thread. School has cabri's and ravens for rent once I'm done so will perhaps do that for a bit to build hours to get my insurance down.

What do you mean by dual hours?

Do you think I will still get credit for commercial based on my private hrs?

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INMO: Go for your commercial licence, for the tax reduction. You will spend that amount to gain experience and it will certainly have an effect

on your insurance.

Talk to whoever is training you, they should be able to give you advice on the best route and also talk to an underwriter. 

You can also spread out your training, to stay current.

Good Luck.

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Funny, where I'm from you have to get the ppl before you can get the cpl.

As for training in the Cabri, well,...if I intended on buyng a Raven I'd most certainly train in an R22, a much, much more relevent helicooter.  The Raven can prove to be a deadly choice for private owners who are not properly trained in Robby's quirks!

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So by dual hours I mean the number of dual hours on instruction required to meet the licensing/flight test standard. You need 17 hours of dual instruction, and if you can meet the real flight test standard in 17 hours you are well ahead of any curve I have seen. So quite often the dual number goes up as a result of getting through all the flight exercises to a safe level.

Typically students finish private in 60-70 hours, which makes the 45 number a bit unrealistic.

If you do ppl first and then Cpl you will need to convert your ppl, which is 60 hours minimum I believe, so even if you got it done in 50 hours you now need 110 to obtain the cpl. Everything is deductible but you added 10 hours (or more) to the 100 hour requirement.

R-22 can be a deadly choice, but in my experience the 44 is a great machine and quite safe, the only hurdle for you will be that everything is going the wrong direction from the Cabri

Good luck!!

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26 minutes ago, snowedin said:

R-22 can be a deadly choice, but in my experience the 44 is a great machine and quite safe, the only hurdle for you will be that everything is going the wrong direction from the Cabri

 

What many fear about the R22 is far easier to become of victim of in the R44, as you combine its light weight and faster speed.  

The R44 is only safe if you know how to fly it, and there are ways of flying a Cabri that will kill you in the R44, however, there's nothing you can do in an R22 that will kill you in the R44.

Private owners generally don't fly as much as career pilots, so developing flying habits while training in one helicopter that are dangerous in the helicopter you intend to own is not the greatest idea.

Having over 600 hours in many R22's I can assure you it is far from a deadly choice.  Having over 100 hours in several R44's I can agree that it is a fine, and perfectly safe helicopter,...if you know what you're doing.

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They don't have R22's so not too much choice in the regard. Don't want to do all the training in an R44 either as that would increase the cost by 30%. I will just save some time to get type rated at the end or do it afterwards.

I think I'm at 15 hours (or just under) and will be soloing in the next 1 or 2 hours after more emergency manouvre practicing if that is what you are getting at by dual.

I'm going to ask about converting the PPL to CPL after I get the PPL. That would probably be my best option if it is not too cost prohibitive to do so. Then I could at least fly recreationally while earning the CPL.

Also, this is largely for personal use (not through  company), so would be deductions, not credits. 

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