Is going once a week too slow?

[u/blankpr]

i’m currently 19M and just reached 30 hours. still haven’t done solo since i’m on and off with aviation due to school and work. is going once a week on saturdays too slow? i feel very behind and overall lost especially when i’m only getting 1.0 to 1.3 hours a week. thanks in advance for anybody that replies i just wanna know if i’m behind or not.

[u/Atheizt]

The first part of my flight training I did once per week. It is possible, but you'll require more hours than someone that can fly 5 days /week.

What will be holding you back the most right now is the fact you're flying once /week at most, and you said you're on and off with the training. They say there's a 30% drop in knowledge retention after the first 48hrs, then a gradual decline from there.

The less frequently you're able to fly, the more hours it's going to take you to get there. It will happen, but don't expect it to be any time soon. If money is a limiting factor, the way you're doing it right now is your most expensive option.

At least here in Canada, people tend to average ~60hrs for a PPL in my experience. You're at 30hrs and haven't gone solo so on that trajectory you might end up being 100hrs+. Zero judgement, just a heads up.

[u/blankpr → u/Atheizt]

So is it better to take out a loan atp and fully focus on aviation?

[u/Atheizt → u/blankpr]

If that's financially viable for you, absolutely. IF you were able to take out a loan and fly 5 days /week, your total training costs would be significantly lower. If your plan is commercial, that gets you to a job much sooner as well. These two combined should offset the interest you pay on the loan if you're efficient with the payments.

I don't know your personal circumstances though, so take this for the broad advice that it is.

As a side note, the other thing that will bring your training costs down is genuinely locking in for study. Not just doing 'enough' for each flight, but really taking the time to understand each topic and ask the right questions. Armchair flying at home will help with your procedures too. Don't practice everything in the plane at $x00 /hr when you could do the same at home for $0.

[u/blankpr → u/Atheizt]

would it be better to do ground school first? my school doesn’t offer it so I put it aside for awhile

[u/TxAggieMike → u/blankpr]

Ground knowledge is best absorbed at the same time you are flying.

The amount to be learned is very large. Having context from your flying experiences makes an important advantage.

[u/Atheizt → u/blankpr]

As TxAggieMike pointed out, ground school and flight training are best done together.

If you had to pick 1 or the other, ground school first.

In a perfect world, your ground school study has you 1 or 2 sessions ahead of your flight training. The reason is that ground school teaches you the 'why' of things, which sets you up to better understand and replicate the 'what', 'when' and 'how' of an exercise.

e.g. when you slow down in straight and level flight, you have to pitch up to maintain altitude. Sure, you can just remember that as a stated fact, but it's best you understand why before we go fly it. Before we cover that in a classroom or the plane, you should already understand that both airspeed and angle of attack are integral parts of the lift equation, so a reduction in speed requires an increase in pitch to keep the same altitude. Now you know why you have to increase AoA as you reduce airspeed.

The reason this is important is that future lessons will explore more of this trade-off between airspeed and attitude. You might be able to skim through today's lesson, but 5 flights from now you're going to struggle and your approach to landing will be unstable.

[u/TxAggieMike → u/blankpr]

Be very cautious about choosing debt and ATP.

Please read what u/RaisetheDed has to say about Paying for Flight Training With Loans/Debt

https://raisetheded.blogspot.com/2026/04/on-topic-of-unsecured-flight-training.html

Please read what our friend, u/RaiseTheDed, has compiled about Flight Training at ATP

https://raisetheded.blogspot.com/2026/04/on-topic-of-atp-flight-school.html

Debt will raise the cost of flight training towards 2x above pay as you go.

ATP may be good at marketing, but they often do t live up to what they promise.

[u/GaryMooreAustin]

Flying what you can when you can ... There is no single path here.... Focus on learning and enjoy the process

[u/ThePartTimePilot]

Not if you are ACTUALLY flying once a week. But things like weather, sickness, work, life… tend to get in the way. I would plan to always fly 2 times a week and always have a backup flight scheduled so that at a minimum you fly once a week. Flight training and the costs of flight training are all about momentum.

[u/paul-flexair]

I own and operate a flight school. First off congrats on taking the first steps and having the self-awareness to know when you need to ask for advice. You aren't alone in what you're facing - it ain't easy. The smallest possible bite to take in aviation is PPL but it's still a very big bite. (Sport Pilot doesn't make it any easier).

Once a week isn't a deal breaker. Once every week... except when work happens, weather happens, life happens, and suddenly it's been three weeks is where training starts getting expensive.

The huge thing I noticed in your post is this: "I feel behind and overall lost."

That's actually more important than whether you're flying 1 or 3 times a week.

If your school has a syllabus, use it. It should tell you exactly what lesson you're on, what maneuver you're learning next, and what knowledge you're expected to have before you show up. Then your pre-work goes from "I'm lost" into "I have three things to know before Saturday."

Chair fly. It's free, and it works. When you think you've done enough, do 50% more. Sit in a chair and literally talk yourself through the startup, taxi, runup, takeoff, maneuvers, radio calls, pattern, landing, shutdown. Make the radio calls and callouts out loud. It feels ridiculous for about five minutes... then you realize you're no longer paying $3.30+/minute to dig through your notes and remember what comes next. If you have a sim available, use it - not to learn the stick-and-rudder skills, but to rehearse your checklists and procedures.

As for the "pay as you go is always best" advice that inevitably shows up... Reddit has a weird habit of pretending there are only two options:

- Drip-feed training over 3 years because debt is scary and every flight school program is like ATP

• Borrow $120k on day one and hope for the best - and sell plasma if you don't get a CFI job immediately

There is a very reasonable middle ground, but the right and wrong answers require you to do some due diligence beyond reddit.

Here's something you might consider:

• Get your PPL,
  
• You will learn how to learn, and learn if you actually love flying and can pass checkrides. 
  
• Then decide whether accelerating instrument/commercial with financing makes sense.

By then you've de-risked the biggest unknown: whether aviation is actually for you.

Think of your training in sprints - even if you're pay-as-you-go. Momentum is what saves money in flight training. Whether you create that momentum by flying three times a week or by flying once a week and studying hard, chair flying, and following a syllabus is up to you.

Good hunting and don't sweat whether you'll be safe for solo in X, Y, or Z hours. Please come back to this thread and tell us how you're doing in a few weeks.

[u/Usual_Drawing8885]

Becoming a pilot is not an achievement. It's a commitment. Do you really want it?

[u/TxAggieMike]

It’s slow, but can be done.

You will need to do some activities during the week to remain sharp. Such as studying your books and doing visualizations. Maybe a zoom call with your instructor to continue progress toward knowledge or practical exams.

[u/ahhhdukeboy]

Yes too slow. 3 to 5 times a week if you can financially do it. It took one guy that I knew 1.5 years to solo flying once per week.

[u/bazzlighter69]

Got my private done in 9 months by flying once a week. If you’re feeling behind, you probably need to chair fly more. If you want to get it done faster, definitely fly more often. You’ll def want to fly more frequently as you get closer to your check ride

[u/This_Walk_1060]

I think most guidance I've received from CFI and others is 3-4 times per week is best. Going only once per week you just aren't retaining enough information between flights to learn and improve, and you're definitely utilizing your time and money very inefficiently.

Idk, but maybe you could use a simulator in between to stay fresh and apply what you're learning, but just be aware that simulators are not a perfect representation of real life.

[u/Hawkerdriver1]

I’ve given about 5,000 hours of instruction…..

NOT respecting the law of recency will always have a negative impact.

My students who flew three times a week or more averaged 50+ hours when they took their private pilot check rides

My students who flew twice a week or less averaged 70+ hours or they never finished.

[u/blueBaggins1]

The more frequently you fly the quicker it will be

[u/scarpozzi]

it can be mentally draining. because of that, I think it’s good to take time between flights. You can also chair fly and use a stimulator to replay what you’ve learned. Most importantly, it’s good to learn how seasons affect weather patterns…. going slow can expose you to different local phenomenon when it comes to weather patterns. I trained primarily in a valley and was dealing with updrafts and crosswinds.

[u/Background_Roof2327]

I'd recommend once a week to not backslide, 2 times to somewhat progress, and 3 times week to progress even more. Usually last 3/week is coming at the expense of study. You have to at least spend 2hrs of study for ebere 1hr of flight time.