I was right at the minimum for my night flight requirements, and had about 5 hours of instrument. From what I have seen this is fairly common around here (if anything, many do even less hood work).

I was nowhere near the minimum for total hours, though, as most of the time was spent on landings.

Perhaps my experience is extremely atypical, but based on this, I don’t see a huge savings for SP.

FYI, not to make this about me, but I was flying 2-3x per week, at a part 141 school. It was a very busy airport though - the tower would regularly force me to extend my downwind up to 3.5 miles past the threshold due to cross traffic.

Flying at night and under the hood are the primary differences between the private and sport pilot certificates. They are obviously quite different from day VFR flight, so it takes many students more than the minimum time to achieve checkride proficiency.

Another important factor is where a pilot learns to fly. Many private pilots learn at tower controlled fields with a fair amount of traffic, which adds to the time it takes to make a circuit of the pattern. From what I’ve seen, a lot of the sport pilot training happens at less busy non-towered fields where it’s possible to fly two or three times as many circuits that build the skill–and cut time–needed to solo.

Having new aircraft on the training and rental line does make a huge difference, especially to newcomers. (For further dicussion on this see my post on the Cessna Pilot Centers).

It took me over 100 hours to earn my ticket. I would’ve been eligible for SP before I had to stop the second time, might even have made it through the first time.

But my point with the cost isn’t one of preference, but of cost (shocker, eh). As a practical matter, which do you prefer… a PP in a 152 (that can then be used to impress people with an LSA) or a SP in an LSA for approximately the same cost?

There’s more than one right answer to that question, but I don’t think its surprising that many people would prefer the private ticket.

I’d still be really surprised if the difference in actual hours is 30-60. Do the few requirements that SP takes away really take 30 hours to execute?

Comparing new airplane costs with old airplane costs is never going to make any sense on paper, whether it’s for rental or purchase. The same exact calculus applies to cars and somehow people keep buying new ones. Where do you think old airplanes come from?

And really, how many rentals do you know of that are over 10 years old and not ratty old fleabuckets? Yes I know they are perfectly mechanically sound, but do you think your mom, your wife, or that new young lady is really going to be impressed?

I also really question the savings for exactly the same reason. Has there been any real study on what the average # of hours is for SPs vs. PPs? My suspicion is that the difference in cost is more like 25% than 50%.

A sport pilot certificate would meet my current needs perfectly. And earning one in an LSA would, in round numbers, cost me half of the $6,000 or more a private ticket would cost me. The remaining $3,000 would buy a lot of flight time for my weekend day VFR excursions.

To me, getting the SP only makes sense if you are one of a few narrow groups:
1. Buying an LSA yourself, and you know that it will meet all of your flying needs.
2. Medical requirements cannot be met, but you are able to meet the drivers license medical requirements
3. You want to fly the old-style “fat” and “trainer” ultralights

I can’t really see why a student coming in to rent a CTsw or Cessna 162 would choose SP.