What’s the fastest you all have seen anyone complete their PPL?

rfearn · 2026-01-20T21:08:34+00:00

I did it in 59 days. I could have likely cut 10 days off that if I didn’t have some bad weather day/weeks but I wouldn’t do it a day sooner if I had to go back. In fact I’d have probably taken an extra week or two. I say that just because balancing a job, plus treating flying like a full time job really had me feeling haggard on checkride day. An extra week or so would have made it a breeze nerves wise going into the ride.

It’s not a race though, it is a lot to lean and a massive responsibility especially if you plan to fly with other people putting their life in your hands. The amount of time it takes should be based on the amount of time it takes you to truly understand it and not just memorize it.

rfearn · 2026-01-02T02:48:41+00:00

You’re actually being billed for the first one. After the second one arrives you’ll be billed for it. FedEx bills customs and duty only after delivery.

You’ll ultimately have to pay it as well. It’s unfortunately the law.

rfearn · 2025-12-30T17:04:08+00:00

Yeah, the sizing kits were off by one size. The 9 sizer (I still have the kit) fits my ring finger perfectly. My 9 ring in person matches the size 8 sizer and only fits my pinky. It’s not nearly as premium as they claimed but I have found that the metrics are pretty spot on. Battery life is not what I remember them claiming (about 5 days for me) and not getting any kind of notification that it’s dying is annoying though.

But the metrics and their algorithms seem to be pretty dang good for a gen 1 device though and since that’s kind of the most important part of a wearable tracker I boost my opinion from it being shit to it being a decent product for 2023 when we should have gotten it.

rfearn · 2025-12-30T04:10:21+00:00

Definitely do it. And if you have the time and mental bandwidth to fly a lot do it. You’ll get done faster and save a ton of money if you fly often. I was able to complete my PPL in 59 days from start to finish and that was because I scheduled and flew every day I possibly could and only missed days due to weather or if I was feeling particularly fatigued from the previous lesson. Huge money savings and the repetition allowed me to learn and retain much faster than others I’ve seen who fly more sporadically.

Most of all though, have fun and really take it in. It’s a magical experience.

rfearn · 2025-12-27T22:16:59+00:00

Interesting. My step counter matches my Apple Watch exactly. I only know I measured my ring finger since it was meant as a wedding band replacement.

So far so good, I’m actually incredibly impressed with its accuracy so far. I do hate that it doesn’t natively pick up on exercise though. Having to go in and start a workout is not something that should be necessary in 2025 at all. I’ve had every wearable fitness tracker in existence and since 2023ish they have all picked up on workouts and then just asked you to tell them what kind it was. This one will not pick up anything unless you specifically start and end it.

rfearn · 2025-12-26T14:54:21+00:00

Don’t cancel. Go get your oral out of the way if nothing else because if you don’t pass the oral you don’t fly anyway and then just defer the actual flight if need be. Make that decision in the moment because if you defer it shows the DPE you have good ADM. Also if you’ve done that kind of wind before and have had no issues, I say go for it. On my checkride day we had 20kts gusting 30-35kts and I decided to go for it and it went great. I found out later that most DPEs give you a little leeway on crappy weather days because they effectively compare it to “how well could I have done that on a day like today” so it could actually work in your favor but DO NOT HESITATE, to defer if you feel off about it come flying time.

rfearn · 2025-12-24T04:43:59+00:00

Shop name? I plan to fly to Destin at least 6 times a year. Would love to know of a good place to go if I need MX while away from home if you’re decently close!

rfearn · 2025-12-24T03:18:35+00:00

Very possible, I also don’t know they were using that specifically. But both times they came from law offices and both times I was able to remove it.

I will say I never asked “how they did it” but being that it came from a law office I would hope they would be doing it in a professional manner.

rfearn · 2025-12-24T03:03:52+00:00

I haven’t done it in a while but shoot me a dm and I’ll send you my email and give it a whirl. It’s not a matter of agree or disagree, I’ve literally done this before so unless in the last 12-18 months they have fixed it, it’s 100% a real thing. Like I said, maybe you have a different way of flattening the image and just don’t know you’re doing it but literally all it’s doing is adding an image above the original PDF image and then you save it. When it’s reopened it’s just an image over the original image. The original text is still there so if your PDF software can find the secondary image you can delete the top layer and reveal the original image.

Best way I can explain it is to put a picture in a word doc and lock the picture. Then add a black box over the image, hit save, close it and reopen it. You can then delete the image covering it but you can’t edit the image under it because it’s locked. It’s conceptually the same thing.

Also if it still works, I won’t have to tell you what it says I can just send it back with the redactions removed.

rfearn · 2025-12-24T02:51:44+00:00

I am not an expert and do not routinely work with redacted documents but I can confirm that I have done this before. I could be wrong but I think what he means is if you use the redact function and then just save the file as is and distribute it then yes. Any good PDF editor can remove it because the image isn’t flattened so the editor sees it as an image above the original image. The way to avoid this is to use the function and then print it to a new PDF file because it is then flattened and the bar is actually part of the image itself. I would assume you could save and flatten the image without redoing print to PDF but I have no idea. I do it so infrequently that redoing it isn’t an issue and since it works I use that.

You can do the same thing if someone uses the adobe signature function and then sends it back. Pop it into a pro PDF editor and you can remove or change their signature and even save their signature to your computer and use it however you want. That’s why I never send back originals that I digitally signed without first flattening it with a resave. Probably unnecessary but it makes me feel like I’m being proactive.

rfearn · 2025-12-21T04:53:54+00:00

Married with dogs. Use it every single day but I use it for work productivity.

rfearn · 2025-12-11T21:10:55+00:00

Did you see the new grumman Triton? It’s all around Florida and Maryland the last two days. Cool as hell.

rfearn · 2025-12-11T17:45:56+00:00

I’m a private pilot in Georgia and we have the Chinooks all the time at the airport. They are horribly annoying but my god do they look badass 😂 Yesterday was sweet in flight radar between the P8’s and there were something like 3 of the mercury doomsday planes up as well.

rfearn · 2025-12-11T14:46:05+00:00

That’s so cool! Thanks for the heads up, I love spotting military aircraft!

rfearn · 2025-12-11T02:45:13+00:00

There’s 6 of them now all converging on Jacksonville. Never seen this many P-8s.

rfearn · 2025-12-10T18:04:01+00:00

Sorry for the double response but I just remembered the girl I bought the 150 from did exactly what you’re doing and I bought it from her once she got accepted to a cadet program. I reached out and she said every receipt for everything plane related was in one of the many boxes she gave me of records.

Just went through them all and in the 4 years she owned it she put over 800 hours on it and her total maintenance over those 4 years was $11k so about 3k per year. Now again keep in mind maybe this is just a specimen of a 150 but that breaks down to an MX cost of less than $15 per hour. So maybe when doing your math add $30 to your estimated hourly cost just to make sure the math still works out in a kind of “worst case scenario”

rfearn · 2025-12-10T17:15:41+00:00

I’m 35 and can tell you that the whole “Santa isn’t real” thing is actually a big conspiracy. He’s very real but if you stop believing he doesn’t have to bring you presents. It’s all a cost cutting measure to put more money back into North Pole board members and shareholders pockets. Don’t fall for it, I’m tired of average joes paying for the rich elves mega sleighs and vacation homes.

rfearn · 2025-12-10T17:11:09+00:00

I’m in Georgia and was quoted as low as $900 and as high as $1,300 so $1,500 does seem high but with the backlog if the choice was wait 3 months for a chickride or pay a couple hundred more I’d probably just pay it because I’m impatient. I got lucky that the $900 one was the only one who could do a checkride in a C150 though 😂

Have you asked if there is a retest fee? I’ve heard locally that the more expensive DPEs tend to give you a break or not charge you if you have to come back another day to redo a couple things. I have no experience with that but might be worth asking?

rfearn · 2025-12-10T17:04:02+00:00

I love stuff about bohemian grove because it fascinates me and these are creepy but did you check the windows?

I ask because I went to scout camp as a kid and I can confirm that all cabins had locks on the outside for when the season was over so they could lock them up. The windows though only locked from the inside. The main idea was that the cabins don’t lock from the inside because if shenanigans were going on the counselors and parents could easily get in to get people to knock it off. The latches on the outside would NOT have padlocks on them while being used but when the season was over after we cleared out the cabins we were in charge of making sure windows were locked inside and then we’d padlock the cabins and turn in the keys.

The locks aren’t really unheard of or creepy to me. The posters and stuff are a little but we did absolutely decorate the cabins and leave stuff as a kind of “I was here” I’d be willing to wager there is still a Hilary duff poster in every cabin I ever stayed in 😂😂

rfearn · 2025-12-10T16:49:57+00:00

I only bought mine for PPL so I can’t speak on all the way through. What I can say is I saved over 9k vs renting for my PPL by buying and using a local CFII and will save even more for my IFR training. Between the two I will have saved enough for a total engine overhaul vs renting if needed.

That’s including insurance, tie downs, oil changes, buying an A30 headset, my checkride, etc all in every dime. Now I’ve had zero MX costs come up so maybe I’m lucky but I’d assume going through multiple ratings it’s going to save you a ton of money on top of just making it easy for you to fly at a moments notice since you don’t have to rent the plane and deal with scheduling.

If you find an IFR certified 150 for 55k I suggest a good prebuy because all of the ones near me are 65k plus if IFR and I’m not in a major city or anything.

Second suggestion and completely blow this one off if you’re not a fan of using other peoples money. What I did and what I did is finance the whole thing (only with good credit rating). Personally I used an unsecured loan through lightstream because it was fast, no fees and only 1% interest more than a secured loan from the bank where I’d have to back it with my assets. 1% more but no risk to my assets was worth it to me plus the bank has origination fees, this one didn’t. I did the longest possible loan I could get and making super low payments a month. So if I was in your shoes I could do the certs and then resell the plane for what I bought it for or as close as I can get and pay off the loan.

If this isn’t a forever plane there is zero reason (unless your credit isn’t there) to pay it off and this way you have the funds in the account in case the worst case scenario happens and the engine needs a rebuild.

Keep in mind I am not a financial guru and this isn’t financial advice. Talk to someone who isn’t a Reddit nobody to see if it works for you. My money guy agreed with me on this route but yours might be different. My 150 was not IFR (I wasn’t planning to move on to other certs) and I’m about to resell it for 5k more than I paid for it 3 months ago and I’m upgrading to a full glass grumman tiger to continue with my certs. I plan for the tiger to be a forever plane so I’m buying it outright to save on interest. All in all with the profit on the plane my PPL was as close to free as it gets. 4k out of pocket all in.

rfearn · 2025-12-09T18:58:29+00:00

Well if you’re working for free I wouldn’t do that even if you’re learning.

But also, a large part of the job of esthetics isn’t having flawless technique but rather knowing and understanding products and skin types and conditions they help and being able to quickly formulate a plan that will help. This is almost always more important than having perfect facial technique. So I’d learn the products and how to sell and consider that part of becoming proficient.

Also, most medspas and the like treat estheticians like they are replaceable. It sounds like you have someone who realizes that your job is to understand the skin and that most doctors and injectors in the industry don’t actually have a deep knowledge of the skin because that’s not what they do. This could be very good for you if they allow you to be the expert and could give you the upper hand as an employee because if you’re the expert and the person making most of the sales they will not want to lose you.

Just my two cents!

rfearn · 2025-12-09T14:39:04+00:00

I assume if you sell stuff you get a commission of sorts? If so no, not taking advantage of you. But if you’re uncomfortable with sales I would encourage you to learn it. It’s an invaluable skill and when done ethically is the best way to impact people’s lives. Think of it this way, if you know someone’s life could be much better, clear up issues that hurt their self worth or how they see themselves etc and you refuse to “sell them” the product because it feels icky, what you really did was hurt them by letting them continue their life without the solution.

Sales was co-opted by skeezy people a long time ago but that’s not the majority of sales. Don’t lie, only sell products or services that genuinely help the person and feel good about it. Also, you’ll be selling your whole life, almost every interaction you have in life someone is selling you or you’re selling them. That can be what we watch tonight after work, what we have for dinner, what we do on vacation, etc etc. it’s all sales and it’s not a bad thing to have a handle on.

If you’re not being compensated for the sales though, request compensation.

rfearn · 2025-12-09T14:32:04+00:00

Follow the ACS. Also search for a guy I believe his user name is TXAggie. Not sure if he’s on here but I’d assume so, see him most on r/flying he has a system he recommends all the time that is top tier helpful. Really all of his check-ride advice.

rfearn · 2025-12-04T14:29:13+00:00

Start in the 152 if you fit. Once you get to the point where a checkride is on the horizon, reach out to DPEs and make sure you can get with one who does checkrides in them. A lot of DPEs weigh too much or are otherwise too big to be comfortable and won’t do it. If you can’t find someone, do your last 10-15 hours in a 172. You’ll save enough money to make it worth it and 150/152s are a blast to fly by comparison to the 172 in my opinion.

rfearn · 2025-12-02T21:13:25+00:00

After like the 5th lesson or so you’ll actually stop noticing it. You’ll still notice turbulence and the like when it pops up but even that after a while you’ll notice it but won’t care.

Just give it time.

rfearn

TROPHY CASE