>>1886496I got my PPL in just over 40 hours in the span of a little over 2 months. It was at a pretty busy airport too, and they only had one runway when they normally have two, so a good chunk of that is sitting on the ground or shit like 5 nm downwind legs for rich fuck x's landing Gulfstream.
I flew at least three times per week and spent much of my free time studying, watching videos, practicing in sims, asking questions from airport friends, etc., while also having a full time job. Obviously I still spent time hanging out at the airport, playing vidya, drinking, etc., but for example when sitting in car traffic I'd listen to LiveATC, or listen to free ground school videos in the background, and so on.
A big thing that helped was that I've spent nearly my entire life interested in and constantly learning about mechanical things, with a good chunk of that in aviation. I also played flight sims a bunch, but it was mostly shit like DCS and IL-2 and I guess War Thunder and KSP if that counts.
I also had gone on plenty of plane rides with my friends for free who would let me fly and eventually takeoff and land, and I'd gathered about 10 hours of flying time (unlogged as they weren't instructors). Even after those flights I would look up what I learned to reinforce my knowledge of it, and would practice it in a sim. And even if I couldn't fly or was in a back seat, it got me used to the sensation of flight for free.
At the end of the day, as other anons said I think it boils down to people half-assing it, unwilling to commit in their spare time, taking long breaks, and not coming in with a prior background or general understanding. But I'm no instructor, so I can only really speak of my own experience and assumptions. I will say that starting flight lessons without doing the absolute bare minumum of preparation - just listening to the audiobook of the Pilot's Handbook you can find online - is a massive waste of money, and anyone who does so is a complete idiot.
