The benefits of pursuing a private pilot’s license are tenfold. And now, many hopeful Metro Phoenix aviators can reap the rewards that come with acquiring their own pilot’s license at FlightWorks. Based in Scottsdale, FlightWorks provides customizable training with FAA-certified high-time instructors via the luxury, CIRRUS SR22T aircraft.
The specialty-aviation programs and services offered by FlightWorks, don’t simply put people in the pilot seat. The programs also enable private pilots to join an elite, tight-knit, local aviation community.
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Many Arizona business executives and community leaders are part of the FlightWorks aviation community, comprised of a fleet of modern, sleek CIRRUS aircraft. One of the many perks for pilots-in-training at FlightWorks is access to this fleet.
“If you want to get your pilot’s license, you come to us to learn in a CIRRUS aircraft, owned by people who are a part of the community,” explains Ryan Strand, owner of FlightWorks.
Once pilots receive their licenses, they may continue to reserve any aircraft in the fleet, as much as they like or up until they decide to acquire one of their own.
“CIRRUS owners put their aircraft in the fleet because they’re not always flying them,” Strand says. “Then, they get to share in the revenue when someone else flies them. The general life cycle involves clients coming in, getting their pilot’s license with us in a fleet airplane, and then they realize the benefit of that particular airplane over anything else and eventually want to buy one.”
But having access to the fleet is only one of the multiple advantages offered by FlightWorks. Unlike a commercial flight school structured in a classroom with a standard curriculum, FlightWorks focuses on luxury, modern aircraft training — the Ferrari of personal airplanes. Pilots in training receive one-on-one training with experienced pilots, with additional services available, including instrument rating and CIRRUS maintenance (for fleet aircraft).
After training, FlightWorks pilots can rent the aircraft currently in the fleet, and virtually fly anywhere, from the comfort of a modern, luxury plane, with state of the art safety features. That is one of the incredible perks associated with earning your pilot’s license. You erase the common irritations and obstacles typically attached to commercial flights — long airport commutes and parking, waiting in long check-in and TSA lines, and being subjected to flight delays that are out of your control.
As a personal anecdotal example, Strand recalls a time when he and a friend both went to a wedding near Palomar, Calif. Strand’s friend flew a general commercial airline from Phoenix to Los Angeles, leaving around 11 a.m. “My friend obviously had to get to the airport at 10:30 a.m., and left for the airport at 10 a.m.,” he says. Once arriving at LAX, his friend then had to rent a car to drive to the wedding venue.
Alternately, Strand was able to leave earlier — about 9 a.m. — and fly direct from Phoenix into Palomar, arriving at the wedding destination four to five hours prior to his friend.
In addition to saving ample time and increasing fly-time comfort, there is another key benefit to obtaining a private pilot’s license: cost savings.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, “the first quarter 2022 fare was up 16.9% from the first quarter of 2021.”
“I try to get people to see the fact that because you’re going to be doing this for the next 20, 30, 40 years,” Strand explains, “the investment in acquiring a private pilot’s license — regardless of the airplane or how much it costs — is just a small piece of what you’re adding to your life.”
Adds, Strand, “ I try to get people to look past that and think about the value longer term, as opposed to, ‘Hey, once I get my license, I’m done.’ Because remember, once you get your license, that’s just the beginning. Now you have aviation a part of your life forever.”
Learn more about how to get your private pilot’s license:
Information: Flightworksscottsdale.com
8014 E. McClain Dr. #135
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
(480)305-0911
Contact: christine@flightworksscottsdale.com
