The AOPA forums are ok, but there is no real reason to join AOPA as a paying member, as they don't do all that much of value in terms of supporting small pilots. There might be a boston-based pilot group on yahoo or something. We've had a few down here in DC over the years.

IMHO I believe AOPA does one very important thing that is worth the membership: They lobby for the right to fly, which the government is constantly trying to rein in and over-control. The offer many excellent safety programs, one of which (runway incursion prevention) should be mandatory for all pilots in my opinion. The magazine alone is worth the membership.

That's certainly a fair argument. VFR cross countries do give you great experience and they are a lot of fun. If you do choose to do your IFR training under part 141, I would definitely continue doing VFR cross countries throughout that process (take friends and family to get the $100 burger!).

Exactly!The best part is, the FBOs usually have a crew car that you can take for a day.

I'll still have to see what's available at my school, if either of them. A bad sign yesterday when I emailed them the question from a link on their site and got a mailer daemon return <sigh>. I'm going to call them in a couple hours when they open. Maybe we can swap services,,, I'll maintain their website and they can teach me to fly! :(

IMHO I believe AOPA does one very important thing that is worth the membership: They lobby for the right to fly, which the government is constantly trying to rein in and over-control. The offer many excellent safety programs, one of which (runway incursion prevention) should be mandatory for all pilots in my opinion. The magazine alone is worth the membership.

The magazine is ok and maybe is worth membership. But, as someone who has lobbied, let me say their lobbying efforts are terrible bordering on worthless. They went completely AWOL with the ridiculous air space changes in DC after 9/11 and just rolled over. An unforgivable offense in my opinion for they can never recover in my mind.

Definitely not defending what I don't know anything about, but after such an event like 9/11 I would look at certain things as a lost battle and bad timing to even attempt to argue or lobby. It may also make others look down on you for doing so since we all know the media could easily twist things around and make wrong of ones intentions. I always supported them for the magazine, my hat, my card (to feel important of course :() and the chance to win the Cessna of choice since that always seems to be offered :)On another note, I called the airport I was/am considering my training (KLWM) and they are a Part 61 school. So again, it is the only school close enough for me and saving the money right now is more important. Then again, anything can change in the future I always say.

I am currently a student pilot (34.7 hours so far...almost done!). I bought a share in a local flying club ($4000), and I train with a club instructor. When I was budgeting for my training costs, I budgeted for 60 hours, which put me at around $6500. The way things are going, I should have no problem finishing this thing in 50 hours or less, so my costs will be well under budget.I am training in a pair of Cessna 172's.For ground school training, I am using a combination of the Jeppesen private pilot kit, and the King Schools private pilot course (online).I am also a member of AOPA. I get both AOPA Pilot and AOPA Flight Training magazines, as well as using the AOPA forums.Once I complete my private pilot, I am going to focus on building up some Cross-Country PIC time in preparation for going for the instrument rating next spring.Good luck on your training! It will be worth every penny you spend!! -m@

Definitely not defending what I don't know anything about, but after such an event like 9/11 I would look at certain things as a lost battle and bad timing to even attempt to argue or lobby. It may also make others look down on you for doing so since we all know the media could easily twist things around and make wrong of ones intentions.

Except that they didn't do the worst of the restriction until on of the "Code Orange" events, which as we know now were largely faked for political gain.