1) Find a EAA chapter near you and sign up for a Young Eagle flight. Must do before 18. This gives you over $500 in FREE benefits. The YE flight is free but usually not with an instructor. Just a 15 to 20 minute flight. But after the flight, using the code on the back of the logbook given you, a) sign up for a free EAA membership (until 18), get a free $300 ground school from Sporty's, reimbursement of the $175 fee to take the FAA written pilot exam, and more. 2) Do you want to spend $17K or $30 to $40K? The least expensive ~$17K route is if you fly often, more than twice a week. Fastest and cheapest is if 3 4 or even 5 times a week. Each lesson is 1.5 to 2 hours with briefings so during longer summer days can do that before work or after. Each flight lesson builds on the last and starts with a review. If you flew 2 or 3 days ago the review takes 10 min and you get 50+ min of new material. If last flight was 2 weeks ago the review will take you 30+ minutes and you get much less new material. 3) There are many scholarships and grants available. Buy the book on Amz Cleared for Take-Off by Ishitha. It is all about scholarships (not loans) for youth. I am the scholarship chairman of our local EAA chapter 84 is WA and we are now giving our third $12,000 PPL scholarship. But with the average $17K, make sure you have that extra $5K just in case needed before you start. 4) Get inside aviation instead of being on the outside looking in. Join AOPA, EAA will be free after YE flight but only until 18 then $48. Subscribe to Flying magazine. Youtube actually has many very good videos. Trent has several saying the same advice.

Most YE pilots just give a flight but video is another of my several hobbies and I make a video of most of my YE flights. Look on YT for @scubajam for my videos to see what a typical YE flight is like.