This time we meet again after a slightly shorter break, with a milestone that not all pilots go through in the same way. It’s about time building, that is, accumulating flight hours.
The first question is why, and the second is how. If you’ve chosen the modular path to a pilot license like I did, every subsequent upgrade of your privileges or adding new ratings requires a certain number of logged hours. Reaching that number “organically” is difficult unless you have some side job like dropping parachutists or flying sightseeing tours. That’s why flight schools and aircraft owners rent out their airplanes specifically for time building.
After completing my basic PPL training, night rating, and the AUPRT course, I flew very little—just about twenty hours as PIC (pilot in command). And only those hours count. I had set my next goal as MEP (multi-engine piston training), and the entry requirement for that course is 70 PIC hours. In other words, I needed another 50.
For years, I toyed with various ideas on how to do this time building. One plan was for a few of us to buy a used Cessna 150 and build hours more cheaply that way. As you can guess, all those “bright ideas” fell through, and in the end, the only solution was to find a school offering a reasonable rental.
Research is key here. If you live in Croatia, keep in mind that airplanes also fly beyond the border. Prices in Croatia for older aircraft ranged from €210 to €240 per hour, while I managed to do it for €140. The offer sounded too good to be true, but it turned out to be entirely legitimate.
A colleague and I found Skyhawk Aviation in Hungary, based at Tokol airfield (LHTL). They offer time building on the Pipistrel Virus SW121, starting from packages of 50 hours. The price is €140 per hour, including a safety pilot, fuel, home-based airport fees, and maintenance. Turnkey principle. Although the Pipistrel is a CS-LSA aircraft, the hours count the same as if they were flown on CS-23 machines (e.g., Cessna 172). On top of that, the airplane is new, well-equipped, and very advanced for its class. The logic was simple: rent an apartment on the outskirts of Budapest, take two weeks of vacation, and “rack up” 50 hours.
Communication with the school was excellent—fast and clear. Before making a final decision, we spent a weekend trying out the aircraft and meeting the owner. We flew a 20-minute familiarization flight, got all the information, and confirmed that both the school and the plane really existed. After two months of waiting, it was my turn.
I arrived in Budapest the day before my first planned flight. The apartment wasn’t ideal—three refinery chimneys in view and windows that didn’t open. But my plan was only to sleep there; the rest of the day was reserved for the airfield.
The first flight was an introduction—getting to know the aircraft, procedures, and checking my knowledge. The safety pilot prepared a route to Kecsked, some traffic pattern practice, and a return. Before the flight, I had a quick oral test on the aircraft’s basic characteristics, which I had to learn from the POH sent by email a few days earlier. That first two-and-a-half-hour flight passed in a second, and by the end of the day we set the “rules of the game”: I would choose the routes, prepare them in SkyDemon, share them with the group, and coordinate details with the safety pilots. The first leg with circuits didn’t count as PIC, but instead I logged familiarization with a constant-speed propeller aircraft (the blue lever from the previous chapter).
The special value of this program lies in the safety pilots. Each had a different background and flying style: one a young instructor with nearly 900 hours, another a test pilot working at Pipistrel, and the third the school’s owner. From each, I could learn something different and build my own experience.
By the second day, things had already settled into a routine. The safety pilots encouraged me to use every available tool—autopilot, SkyDemon, weather radar images—which was a real discovery for me, since I had learned PPL “by hand.” At first, I was fascinated by automation and neglected the basics, but over time, I learned to balance—use the tools but always understand what’s going on in the background.
Very quickly, I realized how valuable this time building was. It isn’t another PPL—the safety pilots aren’t there as instructors—but during 50 hours, you encounter various airfields, complicated approaches, and weather conditions that inevitably boost your experience and confidence.
We flew across Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. Routes took us past the Tatras, the Alps, the Dolomites, and Zagorje. I learned to plan flights around weather, monitor valley air pressure, and approach airports with heavy traffic and complicated approaches like Zell am See or Mauterndorf. I tried ILS and RNP approaches in Maribor and Poprad (of cours,e in VMC). I experienced mountain waves, when full power and nose-up still can’t stop the downdrafts pushing you down at 200–300 fpm. All of that gave me experiences I hadn’t had before.
In those 11 days, I also got a taste of what it’s like when aviation is a job—waking up every morning, heading to the airfield, and coming back home in the evening. A priceless experience.
Let’s sum things up slowly, so I don’t get too boring🙂
Time building is an experience not every pilot will have. If you decide to go that route, you have two options: fly alone or fly in a mentored program with a safety pilot. Both options have their pros and cons. If you fly alone, you’ll likely stay within your comfort zone, but you’ll also carry the whole mental load yourself, and the experience will be entirely yours. If you fly with a safety pilot, you’ll face more varied situations, get advice, and be pushed outside your comfort zone, but you’ll always share part of the responsibility, which can be a double-edged sword.
Whatever you choose, make sure to do your research. Ask about prices, what’s included in the package, and demand a detailed breakdown. If there are several of you, team up—larger hour blocks often mean better rates. Pay particular attention to “release” programs. In those, you fly solo, but only after getting instructor approval, and those instructor-flown hours usually don’t count as PIC, which is crucial, since time building is specifically for PIC hours. You could sign up for 50 hours of time building and end up with, say, 30 PIC hours. Not exactly ideal.
Also, check what’s included in the rental price. In my case, landing fees at non-home airports were not included and ranged from €3 to €25 per landing. For example, in Hosin in Czechia we paid €3, in Bolzano almost €25, and Maribor was among the pricier ones at €21. Most other airfields charged around €10 on average. Also, the amount of the fee depends on the MTOW of your aircraft, so keep that in mind as well.
Time building isn’t just about ticking off hours to meet the requirements for your next rating. If you approach it wisely, it can give you valuable experiences and confidence, and maybe even shape your flying style.
Thank you for reading, and I hope this information helps in your own flying adventures. See you soon—the ATPL theory course is next, and with these new hours, MEP training is on the horizon.
Fly safe!
