11 Reasons Why Student Pilots Quit | How to Avoid Them

Listen in as Tiffany explains the top 11 reasons student pilots quit. Not only that, she’ll tell you what you can do to avoid them.

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#studentpilot #quitflying #stopflying

CHAPTERS
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0:00 Opening
0:22 High Drop Out Rate
0:39 No Set Goals
1:09 Medical Problems
1:41 Running Out Of Money
2:13 Not Enough Time
2:46 Lots of Studying
3:18 The Wrong Instructor
3:47 Lack of Structure
4:09 Flying Solo
4:34 Not Fun Anymore
5:25 Failing Your Checkride
5:55 Outro

Music By:
Composed by: Anwar Amr
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)

[TheAirplaneDriver]

As a 20+ year CFI, I would agree that 70% plus dropout rate is correct.

The reality is that lot of people find that flying is not what they think it is and they lose interest. A lot of others (a WHOLE lot) do not want to commit to studying. Others get frightened by this or that incident and walk away. I’ve had a lot of primary students that had plenty of money and time but don’t follow through.

Flying is not a casual endeavor…it requires a major commitment and, honestly, most people don’t want to put that much effort into learning to fly. Then…though not what the aviation industry wants to acknowledge, not everyone has the ability to do it. Not everyone can be a good lawyer, or carpenter, or plumber, or engineer…not everyone can be a good pilot and marginal piloting skills can get you killed.

I tell my students that successful flying is like a three legged stool. One leg is commitment, one leg is good judgement, the third leg is basic physical skills. The stool cannot stand without all three legs.

[benjaminpowell]

I almost quit after my first flight. Puked 8 times in one hour...was complete misery. Luckily I stuck with it. 11 years into the career at this point.

[rrenderman]

Becoming a pilot is the best thing ever happened to me - This was my childhood dream and I dreamt about being a pilot almost every day - Started 2 years ago when I was 38 and finished the PPL in june 2018 - Best decision ever - For me there´s nothing in life as much fun as flying - Being up there among the clouds, passing by valleys, rivers and mountains, looking out on the wing and down on the fields and farms and tiny cars far away below me, monotoring the gauges and reading the checklist... sometimes it amaze me why there are not more people into aviation... but I guess it´s just like another hobby, like golf, football or fitness... If you love it, it´s all you think about...

[michaelengelken]

Ran into #12 on my first checkride. Passed the oral, then in the practical, I botched a stall, and kicked the plane into a spin. I froze. I had never encounter a spin before. My nerves got the best of me. Failed the practical because the DPE had to take over. I was devastated, and I almost gave up. In my mind, because I had made a stupid mistake, I would never be a proficient pilot. My instructor and I got back together and we practiced stalls endlessly until I could do it in my sleep. I probably did around 100 stalls of every variety between checkrides. We also discussed spin recovery and what to expect and what to do. Passed my next checkride after that. I’m glad I didn’t give up.

[deadstick]

Most of these are absolutely real, justifiable reasons. You literally have to overcome each and everyone of these, but it becomes essential to being a good pilot. I've had my Licenses and Ratings for 45 years, but once you get your first one, you will have gotten over the most difficult mental hump in your flying career. Please, trust me on that -- Private License, Commercial License, Instrument Rating, Seaplane rating, Flight Engineer on C-141s in the Air Force. The most difficult one of these was the Private License, yes, my very first one. I'm not saying that the other ones were easy, but it's a mental thing that you have to overcome in the beginning.

[jamescaley]

"If it's important you'll find a way. If it's not you'll find an excuse."

[chriss]

I'm a flight school owner and I have to say this is one of the best lists I've seen online. Fantastic job!!

[MrRaylay]

I got my private 38 years ago. I remember thinking then. “How am I ever going to learn All this”? But I did. Then I got my Instrument rating, Commercial and Multi Engine. I’ve owned 3 of my own planes since then. It’s the most fun I ever had with 2 Hands.

[packatak]

My husband passed his pilot exam before he had his driver’s license back in the early 1970’s! He no longer flies, but has so many fond memories of his time in the cockpit.

[charlieacheson]

I quit almost two years ago because of a mix of a bad flight instructor and money. I was low on money already and my flight instructor had to take a medical leave. That left me with a bad substitute instructor that I felt I was wasting my money on. I still have no money but this time I have the determination to get my license. Thank you for this video.

[williammayer]

I decided i wanted to be a commercial pilot at the beginning of 2023, I was lazy, I almost failed my medical, and I quit after I couldn’t complete a turn around a point. Now a year later, I set aside the time to actually do this. I’m 10 hours in and im flying 3-4 times a week. Don’t quit. If you enjoy aviation you will regret it.

[Kaimine]

When I started on my private, I didn't know anything about aviation. It took me a long time to get my private pilots license and I can say there were times I wanted to quit. A combination of a lot of mistakes, insecurities about soloing, the ridiculous amount of information you had to know, the heartattack we call the checkride, the 6 times I had to shutdown the 150 NM cross country trip because of bad weather, VORs in general, and the disturbing amount of money it cost. I believe it cost me about 15 or so thousand dollars when it was all said and done. Getting this license was the hardest damn thing I have ever done in my life, that being said, it was easily the best thing I ever done. I've never accomplished anything that felt like it required everything I had and to be able to do it, there's just no words to describe it.
My biggest tip is to not get all your ratings at once. Space them out a bit. The last thing you want to do is give up aviation because all you're doing is training for 100s of flight hours. When you get a rating, go have fun for a couple months or even a few years. Go enjoy that rating. Get experience with it. Make mistakes and learn from them. Fly in a bunhc of different environments and get really comfortable doing it.Hell, get add on ratings. Just have fun, but be respectful as well.

[robsgaragexw]

That background music makes me feel like this is a kids show lol

[emilyanne]

I was so close to quitting throughout my training. I had moments - such as an in-flight emergency alongside an instructor - that I felt that I would simply never make a good or safe pilot, or that I would never get the hang of flying, and that I should just give up. They don't tell you about the mental exhaustion that goes with flight training when you sign up. If I hadn't moved across the country or sacrificed so much for my training at that point I may have given up, but I am so happy I pushed through all the tough moments! I have no doubt there will be more difficult times in the future. Anything worth having will be hard work and sacrifice.

[doreenchelimo]

I will never quit until i see my dream come true

[cessnaident]

One more important item to note is that a bad landing or saying the wrong thing to ATC happens to all pilots; even the airline ones. The most important aspect is to fly the plane safely and to learn from yours and others' mistakes. During flight training, a flight instructor is making sure that you are capable of flying the plane safely. Sightseeing and taking passengers all come later. Some, such as the one I had, mixed it up by flying cross country to another airport and eating brunch (aka $ 100 hamburger) sometimes. I also had the pressure from my parents to quit during training. I never quit and was determined to finish it. Since I finished training, I've flown both of my parents individually and they love it now.

[flightbug]

I very nearly wiped out on a local solo early in training, coming in to land with some wild winds and a flock of birds on final. The inclinometer swung from one extreme to the other all the way down, and gusts at the surface picked me up and slammed me down pretty hard (when I finally managed to get it down). With the tension, I subconsciously pressed on the right rudder pedal and almost drove myself off the runway. The plane and I made it through unscathed, and while I was parked waiting for my instructor to fly in to fly me out, someone listening to the local radios and who saw my landing came out and remarked how calm I sounded on the radio. I took it as a compliment, though it was in vain - I was far short of calm in those moments... I didn't have the experience to make the right choice of going around and leaving for a different airport (the whole situation was a diversion/go around from the start), and I imagine things like this scare people away. Stay objective! Examine the causes and pitfalls of all your mistakes because there are always definite reasons why something happened, and it will actually make for a very profound learning experience that you will remember forever.

[shayefowler]

Thanks for making this video, even for a student pilot that’s 44 years old, has been at it for going on (2) years this month, and is closing in on his checkride. I can’t begin to stress enough on finding the right CFI to get you across the finish line and that’s compatible, and also to study, study, study! Yes, you’re going to mess up on things like COMMS and landings, but couch-fly when you’re not flying and practice your COMMS while driving down the highway, and you’ll get it! Thanks for creating this video again, and blue skies and tailwinds to you!

[bed]

Got my private pilot certificate about a month ago. I had a couple of these come up While training.

[sinjinkincaid]

I’m 17 and after this summer and corona scare, I’m hoping to get my PPL and then IFR so I can follow my passion to be a pilot!