Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

6 Answers

student pilot owned airplane

Asked by: 4258 views Flight Instructor, General Aviation, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

What if a student pilot owns his own airplane? How does it work as far as receiving flying instructions in my own airplane instead of renting?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

6 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Sep 13, 2017

    I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking (insurance? regulations? maintenance?), but here are some things that came to mind.

    As a CFI, I almost exclusively work with aircraft owners. This usually means mostly additional ratings or avionics training, etc., but I did have one student pilot/owner last year.

    Good points:

    – Naturally, the schedule and airplane availability was far better than at a flight school – the airplane was always available when he was, of course. So we never had to worry about that.
    – He was able to always fly the same airplane and get very familiar with it.
    – He was more aware of and involved in maintenance decisions and inspection status than as a renter.
    – The immediate cost of each flight is much lower – so he wasn’t worried about a high airplane cost if we went long on a lesson. We had some lessons where we were able to far exceed the basic requirements, making him a better, more knowledgeable pilot.
    – Many flight schools don’t allow landings on grass. We did plenty of them.
    – Once he was signed off for solo, he could fly practically every day if he wanted to. He got in lots of good experience this way, far more than just the minimum required.

    Now, the bad points:
    – Maintenance – if the plane went down for maintenance, it’s not like he could just schedule one of the other airplanes – this one was it. In fact, he was down for a couple months for exhaust work in the middle of training.
    – Initial cost – it’s a lot cheaper initially to pay a few hundred dollars for your first lesson than several tens of thousands of dollars!
    – Possibly-a-bad-point – temptation. I could see how someone in this situation would be easily tempted to take the airplane up without an instructor and do things they were not signed off for.
    – You only get to fly one airplane. While this is in many ways a good thing while learning, sometimes it is good to experience other aircraft – even if it’s the same model. Different equipment, radios, different model years, etc. But that’s a minor thing that can be solved after you learn to fly.
    – Insurance – Insurance will be expensive for a student pilot/owner, and may impose additional restrictions above the FAA requirements for solo flight, for instance.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. frios57 on Sep 13, 2017

    Russ,

    Thanks for your reply. You touch on some other things that I was wondering about. What I’m trying to find out is if I own an airplane, can I show up at any flight school and ask for a CFI to give me lessons in my airplane. Is a CFI tide to a flight school or is he independent and able teach a student/owner?

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes

  3. Best Answer


    Russ Roslewski on Sep 14, 2017

    In general terms, yes you can just show up at a flight school. There are of course some schools (especially the larger ones) that may not be interested. But usually, if you went to the local airport and started asking for a flight instructor you’d probably find one that would be happy to take you on. There doesn’t even necessarily have to be a flight school at all. For example, I am an independent flight instructor, do not have an airplane, do not work for a flight school, yet I keep plenty busy working with airplane owners.

    Of course, asking around on various aviation forums to try to get recommendations on specific instructors in your area would likely be better for you than just showing up at a flight school and getting the first instructor that walks by (flight instructors, like anybody else, vary greatly in competence, personality, professionalism, attitude, and teaching style).

    0 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 1 Votes



  4. frios57 on Sep 14, 2017

    Thank you Russ. You answered my questions and thanks for the additional pro/cons comments.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  5. RickS on Sep 14, 2017

    I’ll chime in here since I am a student/owner. Actually, I have had a PPL/Glider certificate for over 30 years, but finally decided to add ASEL, especially now with basic med. So, I bought an airplane, a Cherokee 140. I’m also an A&P, so that helps immensely with maintenance.

    I look at it this way…. I can get my ASEL, fly for a few years, and probably sell it for what I paid for it, ( if I want to upgrade) bringing my hourly cost to fly down to very little over time.

    And as for insurance, of course it depends on the type of airplane, but for me, even without ASEL, and no recent flight experience of any kind, my liability and hull insurance is under 500/yr.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  6. avnldr on Nov 26, 2017

    Other things to consider from a CFI stand point are that when/if the student that owns an airplane has a Check Ride with an Examiner, the logbooks for the airplane will be carefully scrutinized. In particular things like Annual or 100 Hours Inspections and AD compliance. CFI’s should consider this as well, since it is not your airplane and your life is being potentially placed at risk if the aircraft is not well maintained. Bigger picture: it is good practice to keep your student-owner in touch with their maintenance records, etc.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.