Avoid these mistakes I made getting my Commercial Pilot's License 

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Got my PPL in 1994 in my 30’s, then life turned on a dime and I stopped flying for 2 decades. I got lost for a while but my love of the sky smoldered inside. Bought my first airplane in my 50’s, it was very hard getting back in the pilot’s seat of that beautiful 1957 Cessna 172. I later, transitioned into a Mooney, that was scary! I lost 60 pounds in preparation to start skydiving. I started skydiving in my 60’s, earned my instrument rating January 2023 @ 64. I recently Earned my B license in skydiving and I’m currently working on my commercial rating @ 65! I hope to earn my CFI, commercial multi engine ratings in 2024… Then who knows what’s next? I have multiple job offers already! Carpe Diem! DOC

Great lessons learned, Charlie

Excellent video.... Had not heard these tips anywhere else! Thanks so much for conveying these valuable lessons to us!

Congratulations. You continue to motivate and inspire me to keep pushing myself. Keep up the great work.

Appreciate this content. I'm currently studying for my commercial as well. Glad I'm not the only one who's had a hard time with the studying

Good stuff. I’m planning to start my commercial soon and everyone says it’s so easy etc but I’m highly skeptical and try to keep from falling in that mindset. Good to hear you talk about that aspect.

Really needed this video. Stressing hard trying to get through instrument. Seems like the road ahead is so long. Keep up the good work!

Congrats! I just finished my commercial a few weeks back and I can 100% identify with your comments about the frustration. The instrument rating came pretty easily for me but some of the commercial maneuvers seemed like they took forever to "click". Excited to see this next step in your journey and looking forward to the multi video you mentioned.

Congratulations man. This industry will always humble, generally right when you start to feel invincible. That said, don’t sell yourself short! I know pilots are often people with very high standards for themselves. We get upset when we don’t live up to them. Sometimes the hardest lesson to learn is to cut yourself some slack and enjoy your success!

I agree with you the commercial rating is tough. Well done!!

Congratulations and as always thanks for sharing your experience. Feedback like this can serve to motivate or dissuade some pilots to progress, either way it certainly helps with setting expectations on the basis of candid and factual information. Thank you…

Awesome, thanks for the motivation!

Great info! Thanks for sharing

Good points and congrats on earning your Commercial CERTIFICATE! 😊

Congrats and appreciate the humble and helpful nature of your videos. Very good quality too. Seems like you have the personality to make a great instructor if ya ever decided to go that route.

Good job with the honest pep talk at the end. I started commercial 10 odd yrs ago and quit. Decided to build an airplane instead, then come back to it when burning gas was useful to me. Fast forward, its now an ember again. But I never found training particularly easy, esp the IFR. Whew, that was like another masters degree to me. But I appreciate the no BS, "its hard, but doable - keep your eye on the prize".

Congrats!

Congratulations man, that's awesome. Hoping to start commercial soon. Just wanted to say your videos have been a huge help on my journey.

Congrats on getting your commercial!! Thanks for all of your videos of the path that you took. I would love to get my PPL and then commercial. It sounds like an exciting time to me!!

Congrats! You are very natural and authentic on camera. Love the transparency. Keep the videos coming! Thank you

Congratulations Charlie! What you said really resonated with me. I got my commercial and commercial multiengine instrument fairly recently as well. I have found it's getting harder for me to complete these check rides due to a very simple reason... having kids, a family, jobs, etc. It's important not to look to other's experiences and do a 1:1 comparison; like you said. Everyone's journey is different!

Wow, Charlie. This is great news. So happy for you! I do so appreciate your humility and admission that it was not a snap for the commercial rating. I am preparing for my IFR training which I plan to start just after Christmas. Am studying now for the "oral" part of the checkride. GROAN. I am trying to simplify the Instrument Pilot Oral Exam book into abbreviated/memorable ways. Will also go back through King (I do like them a lot) and will take notes this time, as per your advice. I did pass the written last December, so I've gotta get 'er done early in 2024. This video has encouraged me to focus and just do it!

Dude, thank you so much for this video! I am getting ready for my private check ride. Really good things for me to consider going forward to use my time most efficiently. Might even see you out in Addison in the future!

Congrats .. Keap the good things on .

Thank you for the video!

Excellent advice thank you 🙏

You need to come out to one of our Airplanes and Coffee fly-ins!

Congratulations!!!!🎉

Congratulations! I just got my commercial certificate in July at the age of 65! I agree with many of your points and here are a few more observations: I used the King videos for instrument and commercial. I did ok on the instrument written but I also used Sheppard Air to study for the commercial and it worked great for me resulting in a score of 100%! It is great for test taking. King is great for learning the material and I completely agree that you have to take notes. I took notes watching their videos as if I was attending a college lecture and those notes made a great study guide. Also, if you don’t take notes, the knowledge to answer the questions after each video is just in short term memory and then quickly leaves in a day or so. At least that was my experience. Taking notes helps solve that problem. I’m studying the King videos for CFI but plan to order the Sheppard Air courses shortly. I enjoyed all of commercial maneuvers and agree the power off 180 can be pretty humbling. I have a 172M with 40 degrees of flaps and I typically come in just a little high and then put the last bit of flaps in which brings you down in a hurry! If a little short, holding it just off the runway in ground effect can stretch it a little. I made a few mistakes on the check ride but nothing too bad. I think the key point is to quickly recognize if there is a problem and immediately start correcting it. One last point - call around and ask for a “gouge” for your DPE. I had never heard of it but busy flight schools keep a set of notes on what each DPE focuses on during the check ride and it can help you prepare for that DPE’s typical questions. Again, congrats on your license and for the great video!!

Congratulations! I’m still working towards my PPL 😀

Thanks for sharing!

Major congrats, Charlie! 🎉 This particular vid post of yours couldn’t have been better-timed. I’ve stopped and started my Commercial many times over twenty years. Many of the reasons were valid ones (I tell myself), but as time went on, I realized I just have a real lack of confidence, which translates into a fear of failure, and no push to finish. The last flight of this most recent rally to complete my certificate was AWFUL. I’ve been trying to claw my way back ever since. Hearing you express your own fears and trepidations, as well as reminding us that performance comparisons are destructive and pointless really struck a note with me. After all, we’re really only competing with ourselves. I also try to remind myself that I’ve gotten THIS far (including meeting the challenge of the Instrument rating), and that flying is supposed to be fun! I’m still anxious about resuming my training soon, but maybe a little less so thanks to your candor and willingness to share. Sorry for the long-winded comment! 😅

Congratulations, Charlie! Got my Commercial last year. It was challenging, but very rewarding. To anyone thinking about it... just do it! But do your IFR first. IFR will make you a much safer pilot, and Commercial will crank it up even further. Charlie, regarding your message about sticking through it... I wholeheartedly agree. Look through the time it takes and the challenges and setbacks to see the reward on the other side. It's so worth it!

Great job!! Youre really inspiring me to go get my PPL and commercial!

Congratulations Charlie! Great timing. I’m a few weeks away from my Commercial checkride.

Thank you. Very useful.

Congratulations Charlie! I just finished my commercial as well and could not agree with you more! The commercial ride is the furthest thing from a Glorified Private Checkride! Long nights, early mornings and doubtful times about how much you actually do not know. The one thing that is guaranteed is that if you put in the work and make a true commitment you will pass and you will do it in style!

So glad I found your channel. I was starting to feel like maybe I wasn't supposed to be doing this. Seeing person after person on instagram or wherever getting their CPL or Multi or landing and airline gig and seeing only the good parts and successes of the process was really starting to blow my struggles with it out of proportion. Here I am sitting, crying, staring at yet another equation that refuses to stick in my brain, feeling like my head is so full of info it can't possible hold a single word more, wondering why everyone else is breezing through this process so easy...I had to delete instagram because it almost influenced me right out of flying. I wish more people would talk about how difficult the process can be sometimes. Thank you so much for this video. Both for the tips (I crave learning from other people's mistakes lol) and for the reminder that this is hard and that hard things are worth doing.

Congrats 🎉

A combo of wide runway and RH circuit would certainly mess me up. I still get messed up from the left seat in a RH circuit. There are very few airports around here that have them and in my airplane at a certain point prior to base I lose sight of the runway. Both unusually wide and narrow runways mess up the precise perception of height for the flare. So if you pulled that off with the added stress of a check ride then holy crap you da man! I hope you got the bucket treatment after the ride. 😜

Congrats😎

Great video! I just got my CPL today.

What about Lazy eights, eights on Pylons, Chandelles, Slow Flight, Steep Power Turns, the rest of the maneuvers?

Congrats and thanks for this. I am working on my Commercial and definitely don’t feel it is easy…. Some of the maneuvers just aren’t clicking. If it is supposed to be dancing then I have two left feet! I am working full-time and wasn’t prepping as much as is really needed. I decided to take a couple of weeks off from flying to prep more.

Congratulation Charlie. CFI next?

Hey, I felt like that about my multi-engine checkride. Everyone was saying that it's an easy one. It did not feel like that to me. Although I was flying a Baron, which is a bit too much airplane for a multi-trainer.

Thank you.

I got my commercial for AG use back in late 90’s. The requirements were a lot different then, seams like we had to do 3 power off 180’s then. I was more concerned about doing those than anything else because one scratch there ended the whole check ride.

You might want to ammend your advice on double dipping. I asked my DPE about it and he said absolutely not. He also provided a letter from the FAA that clarifies this.

I have to agree with the others. The commercial was the easiest for me as well. Fun is the word that still comes to mind.

Congrats, i believe comm is about being safe and knowing what to do when things go wrong, oral isn't bad, holding out questions shouldn't be that difficult, not sure: answer: id call fsdo...power off 180's can be nerving w a stranger on board for sure, the rest of the maneuvers are fun, had one on my ride that wasn't in the acs, did it anyhow..... again congrats and welcome to the hired gun club!

I used King flight stuff for private pilot. Was not very pleased with the results on the written. Tossed his stuff in the trash and went and bout the FAA books . For testing went with Gleim study material. My test scores went from low 80’s to 97 string across the board. Passed private pilot. Then instrument oral. The Dpe I got was a senior captain At United. I remember doing all the questions while standing at a white board . Using markers, his comment was. Are you sure you’re not going for an instruction rating. When it came to my commercial ride. Written test score was a 98. This check ride was with a different examiner. In this oral, he the examiner brought in model air planes . So the questions started . He dug very deep in performance and safety. Also the requirements. Then he asked to see the logbooks for the plane. So we were almost half way through the ride. When he asked for the flight controls. I thought I had busted, but not. Next what happened was very different. He said teach me about 8’s around pylons. So I started to explain how the complete maneuver is accomplished, from start to finish. So he flew the complete maneuver. He then flew most of the way back to the airport. At some point in time he transferred the controls the aircraft back to me and before we landed. He goes, show me a short field landing. He also said call appoint I called the number. We came in and we went right on the number. It was a little bit on the hard side. Overall, I passed my commercial. After you gave me the white piece of paper, I ask him why do you have me teach you maneuver because I like to fly also. I finished off all my ratings at 47 and had one job offer. It was with a local spraying company and we were not staying in the United States. Because of my former secret clearances. I was going to travel overseas and spray paraquat on the marijuana. I politely declined. When I was in the interview, they asked me if I owned any guns. Hence the reason no one‘s coming for you. Flying to me has always been something of exhilaration and a challenge. Unfortunately, right now it is just way too expensive.

There is only one key thing in a check ride, have an instructor that has sent many students to the same DPE and the DPE does exactly the same thing on every check ride. My instructor was able to do exact replicas of the check ride before the actual check ride.

A DPE told me you can’t double dip for requirements. Your private pilot solo will not count for commercial requirements

Congrats on Passing

Congratulations

Thank you 1. didn't make note during the video courses 2. Print off some of the harder things to memorize and put them in places I would be forced to see them 3. Not double dipping 4. Didn't keep the goal in mind 5. Letting my guard down 6. Not practicing at a variety of airports 7. comparison

Can one build time towards CPL if the plane has a Private CofA?

How many days a week do you recommend for people to train?

I commercial dual xc's are supposed to be visual. Don't get caught by the dpe double-dipping on that one. Some might not catch it but why take the chance.

Hi, Do you know the national average amount of hours it takes to get your commercial pilot certificate. I know you need 250, but what is a realistic number to do it in?? Thanks.

Bravo

6:56 I'll be honest I have a leaner's lisnceMeaning I have an over 10 year old Leaner's permit/permit for adualts) Because I don't think I can pass the Florida Driver's lisnce exam... While it is hyper easy like drive around a parking lot then into a naborer hood and back and park... I need to work on my reversing while looking backwards more which I'm a good driver beyond that. So yeah I get why the Commerical can be said to be easy(Your doing the same as you would with the lisnce) which is the same as a driver's lisnce but yeah I know it can be nerwrecking too... Still congrates!

Who was your DPE?

Double dipping on the XC flights is allowed between instrument and commercial?

video ? I did not have a video I had a manual . So I read over and over . I am shit on written exams so I took this one 5 times before I got it . I'm not stupid , ok maybe some , but the flying part was easy for me . The instrument part was not hard either .

Its the same way that I stay motivated. I tell myself "no study, no fly".

Some good stuff in here, Charlie. But I have to say I don’t condone the double dipping of training requirements. While there are certainly things that can be done coincidentally with instrument training, like the 10 hours of instrument training required for commercial (as long as it’s endorsed properly) things like the day and night cross countries are intended to be training for COMMERCIAL pilots. This means that any training flights you did as a student pilot working toward your private does not live up to the expectations of a commercial level pilot and is not intended for that level of pilot. Hopefully you had a good instructor and they actually had a syllabus for your night cross country that taught you things expected of a commercial pilot. So many CFIs treat these flights as an excuse for a $100 hamburger run and it’s really a disservice to their students. So in short, when it comes to “double dipping” certainly be smart about your training and make sure you’re doing things like the instrument requirements and Taa or complex requirements while you train for your instrument rating, but don’t try to take short cuts by counting a night flight you happened to do 5 years ago when you were a student pilot flying with your instructor on a cross country. 👍

I thought this was stingray from cobra kai.

2:33 Where's this please? @AirplaneAcademy

Congrats!

Congrats!