How to pay for flying lessons?

Like many of you, I am a member of AOPA, but unlike most of you I still receiveFLIGHT TRAINING magazine. When I got my pilot??s license five years ago I asked to switch over to AOPA??s PILOT magazine instead. Needlessto say, wires keep getting crossed, and I keep getting FLIGHT TRAINING.

Resigned to that fact, I??ve decided to mainly stick to reading the letters to one of my favorite aviation authors, Rod Machado. In the July 2010 issue and interesting question was raised by a high school student trying to get his wings. The question to Rod, and his answer appear below:

Dear Rod:
I'm in high school and trying to find a way to help earn money for flight training. I recall that you wrote about this in one of your previous columns. Could you remind me how someone in my position can make some money to fly? Thank you, Jason

Greetings Jason:
OK, here are a few ideas that you might find useful.

An easy and quick way to make some money is to purchase smoke alarms and batteries in bulk, then sell them door to door. If each unit and its battery cost $7, you can mark this up 100 percent, which includes installation. It wouldn't be unusual for someone to ask you to install five or even 10 of these units in their home, and it wouldn't take more than 30 minutes to do this. Then you can service the batteries on these units every six months for a reasonable fee. What a deal. I know of one young man who made several hundred dollars the first weekend he did this, and he didn't even have to leave his neighborhood.

But wait, there's more. A few pilots on my Facebook site had their own recommendations:

Cathy Mighell suggested that you make inexpensive chocks from 4-by-4s, dip them in paint, and stencil individual aircraft numbers on them. These cost pennies to make and a set could sell for $20.

Tim Busch had a number of great ideas. He reminds us that many kids have learned a variety of things they can be paid to teach: school tutoring, music, martial arts, et cetera. Tim suggested that you can also collect old computers for free, upgrade them, then sell them for a nice profit. Additional ideas from Tim include buying and rebuilding garage-sale bikes for a reasonable profit or signing up as a credit card agent. This allows you to make a small cut on each transaction (many nickels and pennies can make a small fortune).

Mitch Cohen offered the idea of painting house addresses on sidewalks for a small fee. Stencils and spray paint are a cheap investment for the money made and the time invested. Mitch suggests that this would be an easy sell, since it enhances the homeowners' safety by helping the police or fire department find them in an emergency.

Excerpted from Rod Machado??s ??Since You Asked?? column in
AOPA ??s FLIGHT TRAINING ?? July 2010 - page 14

When I first started learning to fly, I was determined that such a seemingly frivolous activity should be paid for outside of my normal take home pay from my 9-5 job, and for the most part I succeeded. In the early 2000??s eBay was still young, so I ended up selling information products on CD. That worked out pretty well. However, this whole conversation got me thinking that many of you probably have great ideas of your own. So, I encourage you to post your ideas here in the forums.

Who knows, your ideas might just help a budding pilot literally "earn" their wings.