Medical Exam
The medical examination is extremely important. Receiving your medical certificate means you are certified and meet the medical standards for safely operating an aircraft. The medical exam must be done by an FAA-designated Airman Medical Examiner (AME). An AME can easily be found by visiting http://ame.cami.jccbi.gov/ or by calling the Aeromedical Certification Division of the FAA at (405)954-4821. For the exam, you will first fill out an FAA application and medical history form. Then the doctor will check your vision, hearing, balance, nose, and throat. Then he will finish up by determining that you do not contain any mental or neurological problems such as alcoholism, epilepsy, or a serious medical condition such as chronic heart disease. If you do by chance have a serious medical condition, you may still have the opportunity to become a pilot. In this case, you would need to discuss the matter with an AME to determine your options. Such as, you might always need to have another licensed pilot present. You won't need the certificate to start flight training, however you will need it once you start to fly solo. The medical certificate is also your student pilot certificate. It is valid for 2 years as you work towards your pilot's license. The cost of going through this exam can vary from about $60 to $75. If you are under 40 years of age, the certificate is good for 3 years. If you are over 40, it is valid for only 2 years.

Flight School
There are many schools and organizations that offer pilot training. When looking for a good flight school, you'll want to compare the facilities. Research the trainers that are available at each school, along with the safety standards, and the cost. Here are some ways to go about this:
*Visit your local airport (doesn't have to be a major airport) and talk to pilots and personnel. This is a good way to get info, and the people are usually very willing to give advice.
*Look online. There are many aviation-related organizations with searchable databases. Try the Aircraft Owners Association (AOPA). There are also flight training web sites, such as UFly.com.
*Get a copy of an aviation publication. A good recommendation is AOPA which offers 6 free issues of flight Training magazine. 1-800-USA-AOPA is where you can request a free subscription.
While researching, you'll notice that are two categories of schools: Part 141 and Part 61. These categories are very similar, and simply mean how the school operates.
*Part 141 means the school must adhere to and FAA-approved syllabus that specifies the order in which specific skills must be taught.
*Part 61 means the school covers the same material as 141, but can adjust the order to which the topics are covered.
One other difference between these, is that Part 141 schools have a 35 hour minimum flight time rather than the standard 40 hours.
An important aspect when looking at schools are the instructors. You'll want to speak with the instructors at the school to which you are considering to be sure they have taught more than just one student. Such things you may want to find out from the instructor are his/her references, and also possibly request a copy of the course syllabus and find out how you would be scheduling lessons.

Next comes the most important part. The Flight Training, and the Ground School Training

Flight Training
This is where you actually get in the airplane and practice various maneuvers. Each lesson lasts about 2 hours. Of those 2 hours, you'll have pre- and post-flight briefings, and actually only be in the air for about an hour. To achieve the Pilots License you must log at least 40 hours of flight time (while most students log 60 to 80 hours). At least 20 of those hours must be with an authorized instructor, and 10 must be flying cross-country by yourself (solo-flight). Of the 20 hours with an instructor they must include:
*3 hours cross-country flight
*3 hours of night flight, including one cross-country flight at least 100 nautical miles
*3 hours of instrument training
*3 hours of practical test preparation

Ground School Training
This is where you learn about the principles, procedures, and regulations of flight. All of the information learned here is to prepare you for the FAA knowledge test. This information is vital knowledge you will need in order to perform your duties as a proficient, safe pilot.

The final step are the tests.

Knowledge Test
This test covers the concepts you've learned during Ground School Training. The knowledge test consists of 60 multiple choice questions. Such topics that can be tested range from current FARs to air traffic control information, to cross-country flight planning. Achieving a 70% or higher is required to pass.

Practical Test
This is considered the final exam. The practical test consists of an oral exam and a flight test, in which you demonstrate your knowledge and proficiency as a pilot to an FAA examiner. This is exam is somewhat like getting your drivers license, you will be asked to perform certain tasks of which you have practiced and prepared for during your training.

Its a lengthy process, which usually takes about 4 to 6 months. And overall costs about $3,000 to $5,000. But once you have gone through all of these steps, and passed the tests, TaaDaa! you'll have you're Private Pilots License!!