Start PPL on the 28th
Discussion
And am rather excited.
I beat cancer last month after 10 months of chemo and surgery so life has a new look to it. My day to day job, although very good for the bank balance, is pretty boring (to me, maybe not to others) at best. Being the boss i don't get a break and never get to see daylight between 0730 and 1700. I come home at night and it's dinner, baby and bed before it all starts again t 6am the following morning. I used to be in the Marines and felt very at home in (and sometimes jumping out of) helicopters and planes. I always felt envious of those in the cockpit and regularly asked to take a look up front. Since then i've parachuted where possible and have even tried my hand at paragliding. The problem with the latter being that it's rather weather dependent.
So, PPL, it could be the key to my new future, outdoors where i belong. I'm doing my training with Bournemouth Flying Club and will begin on the 28th of Sept, weather permitting. PPL will be my first mission, but i intend to get the night and instrument tickets under my belt as soon as is permissible. Then, once i've got my head into it sufficiently i'll get my paying passenger ticket and hopefully wind down my current business to start doing mainland and channel hopping charters as a profession. Probably looking at 5 to 10 years before this happens i reckon.
Anyhoo. I'll keep this topic updated as i go. Wish me luck and if you have any advice feel free to offer it.
Eddie
I beat cancer last month after 10 months of chemo and surgery so life has a new look to it. My day to day job, although very good for the bank balance, is pretty boring (to me, maybe not to others) at best. Being the boss i don't get a break and never get to see daylight between 0730 and 1700. I come home at night and it's dinner, baby and bed before it all starts again t 6am the following morning. I used to be in the Marines and felt very at home in (and sometimes jumping out of) helicopters and planes. I always felt envious of those in the cockpit and regularly asked to take a look up front. Since then i've parachuted where possible and have even tried my hand at paragliding. The problem with the latter being that it's rather weather dependent.
So, PPL, it could be the key to my new future, outdoors where i belong. I'm doing my training with Bournemouth Flying Club and will begin on the 28th of Sept, weather permitting. PPL will be my first mission, but i intend to get the night and instrument tickets under my belt as soon as is permissible. Then, once i've got my head into it sufficiently i'll get my paying passenger ticket and hopefully wind down my current business to start doing mainland and channel hopping charters as a profession. Probably looking at 5 to 10 years before this happens i reckon.
Anyhoo. I'll keep this topic updated as i go. Wish me luck and if you have any advice feel free to offer it.
Eddie
Eddie
Sounds like a bloody good plan, glad you're on the mend.
I'm a very frustrated pilot and currently with my business I will probably stay that way for a while.
Would be good to have a thread detailing your experiences through the PPL process to keep us up to speed and make us all very jealous!
Good luck and look forward to hearing more
Sounds like a bloody good plan, glad you're on the mend.
I'm a very frustrated pilot and currently with my business I will probably stay that way for a while.
Would be good to have a thread detailing your experiences through the PPL process to keep us up to speed and make us all very jealous!
Good luck and look forward to hearing more
Edited by HoHoHo on Friday 12th September 22:28
PPL will work out somewhere between £9k and £10.5k depending on how i get on ref hours required and exams. The choices of aircraft i want to fly will also alter the price. I'll use the smaller aircraft at first to get my hand in and then when the Nav packages start i'll go over to larger, more expensive frames to aid stability when doing map reading. There are other costs too such as head sets and reading material......oh, and the obligatory Breitling watch. lol. The night, instrument and other tickets are a couple of grand extra each. It's not a cheap game but nothing worth doing is.
FYI, the full commercial jet line ticket is somewhere between £50k and £75k depending on your school. Although, BA have recently started doing scholarships again.,
FYI, the full commercial jet line ticket is somewhere between £50k and £75k depending on your school. Although, BA have recently started doing scholarships again.,
ecain63 said:
i'll go over to larger, more expensive frames to aid stability when doing map reading.
That's the first time I've ever seen a comment like that. Don't worry about it, 152, PA28, DA20, what ever you fly at that stage, stability will be irrelevant, your work load will remain the same. Same applies with the lumps and bumps. If it gets so bad you can't read a map at that stage (regardless of aircraft), best head for terra firma and find a nice pub...
Christ Eddie, I didn't know about your brush with CA mate 
Delighted that you've given it the brush-off obviously, the b
d.
If you leave the shop though, where am I gonna get my flipping Seamaster serviced next time???!!!
Well jell to hear of your plans. My Dad had a PPL, I've been lucky enough to have hitched rides in many interesting birds over the years, but despite wanting to, I've never got round to doing my own PPL. It's on the bucket list though!
The very best of luck old chap, and do keep us updated. You're not gonna bugger off to Indonesia and join the other Susi Air bush pilots are you???!!!
Delighted that you've given it the brush-off obviously, the b
d.If you leave the shop though, where am I gonna get my flipping Seamaster serviced next time???!!!
Well jell to hear of your plans. My Dad had a PPL, I've been lucky enough to have hitched rides in many interesting birds over the years, but despite wanting to, I've never got round to doing my own PPL. It's on the bucket list though!
The very best of luck old chap, and do keep us updated. You're not gonna bugger off to Indonesia and join the other Susi Air bush pilots are you???!!!
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Christ Eddie, I didn't know about your brush with CA mate
Delighted that you've given it the brush-off obviously, the bd.
If you leave the shop though, where am I gonna get my flipping Seamaster serviced next time???!!!
Well jell to hear of your plans. My Dad had a PPL, I've been lucky enough to have hitched rides in many interesting birds over the years, but despite wanting to, I've never got round to doing my own PPL. It's on the bucket list though!
The very best of luck old chap, and do keep us updated. You're not gonna bugger off to Indonesia and join the other Susi Air bush pilots are you???!!!
Thanks mate. No plans to jump ship just yet but with extra strings to my bow you never know what the future can hold. Delighted that you've given it the brush-off obviously, the b
d.If you leave the shop though, where am I gonna get my flipping Seamaster serviced next time???!!!
Well jell to hear of your plans. My Dad had a PPL, I've been lucky enough to have hitched rides in many interesting birds over the years, but despite wanting to, I've never got round to doing my own PPL. It's on the bucket list though!
The very best of luck old chap, and do keep us updated. You're not gonna bugger off to Indonesia and join the other Susi Air bush pilots are you???!!!
If you have the opportunity or inclination defo get your PPL done. So many guys and girls at my school have had their tickets from a young age and i am very jealous and gutted that ive waited until the age of 32 to get mine underway. Bet later than never.
Eddie
So, Day 1: (sort of)
Rocked up 0720 (0620Z) at EGHH for my fist lesson with BFC. The weather, to me looked good. A bit of low level fog, no significant wind and clear skies. A lovely September morning. However!!! My instructor, a 26 year old French guy with every licence imaginable (been a pilot with Air France since 17 years old!!!) turns up at 0830 and instantly tells me i'm not flying unless the weather gets better. The visibility at sea level was less than 1500m and for a first flight he wanted at least 6000m so that he could acquaint me with the local land marks / Visual References. The forecast for this amount of vis wasn't looking good until after 11am, by which point i had to be on my way back for the wife's birthday lunch.
So, what did i do? Well, i did get 2.5hrs of ground school cracked...... and a lovely bacon roll at the club cafe.
My intended aircraft for the day was a Robin HR200 so we spent time going through the 'A' checks and associated briefs. We also went through the lower level checks that you do if the 'A' checks have already been done (if you trust the A checks have been done right). We also looked at how to book out for a flight with the tower and how to read the real-time weather data. Fairly simple stuff so far.
Then, following a coffee we did a white board lesson on the local VR's, radio procedure, some reading and instruction of the tech log, looking through the aircraft's technical manual and looking at aircraft performance and ability. My instructor is also an acrobatics instructor so he was quite keen to tell me what we can and cannot do with the Robin. A note on my teacher, he's very hard on his students by all accounts. But, he's never had a student fail and every one has passed with a full pass, not a partial. He sets his standards high which is a good thing in my eyes.
No flying today then, but having done a bit on the book work we have booked to go out on Wednesday evening where we will do a 60 minute local acquaint with me doing the take off and landing. Yes, you read that right. On my first flight he wants me to do the take off and landing. He actually wants me to be in control at all times during my training in order for me to get the best learning experience. My kind of guy! Keen as mustard.
I'll update on Weds!
Beautiful morning for watching a sunrise but crap for flying / teaching!
Rocked up 0720 (0620Z) at EGHH for my fist lesson with BFC. The weather, to me looked good. A bit of low level fog, no significant wind and clear skies. A lovely September morning. However!!! My instructor, a 26 year old French guy with every licence imaginable (been a pilot with Air France since 17 years old!!!) turns up at 0830 and instantly tells me i'm not flying unless the weather gets better. The visibility at sea level was less than 1500m and for a first flight he wanted at least 6000m so that he could acquaint me with the local land marks / Visual References. The forecast for this amount of vis wasn't looking good until after 11am, by which point i had to be on my way back for the wife's birthday lunch.
So, what did i do? Well, i did get 2.5hrs of ground school cracked...... and a lovely bacon roll at the club cafe.
My intended aircraft for the day was a Robin HR200 so we spent time going through the 'A' checks and associated briefs. We also went through the lower level checks that you do if the 'A' checks have already been done (if you trust the A checks have been done right). We also looked at how to book out for a flight with the tower and how to read the real-time weather data. Fairly simple stuff so far.
Then, following a coffee we did a white board lesson on the local VR's, radio procedure, some reading and instruction of the tech log, looking through the aircraft's technical manual and looking at aircraft performance and ability. My instructor is also an acrobatics instructor so he was quite keen to tell me what we can and cannot do with the Robin. A note on my teacher, he's very hard on his students by all accounts. But, he's never had a student fail and every one has passed with a full pass, not a partial. He sets his standards high which is a good thing in my eyes.
No flying today then, but having done a bit on the book work we have booked to go out on Wednesday evening where we will do a 60 minute local acquaint with me doing the take off and landing. Yes, you read that right. On my first flight he wants me to do the take off and landing. He actually wants me to be in control at all times during my training in order for me to get the best learning experience. My kind of guy! Keen as mustard.
I'll update on Weds!
Beautiful morning for watching a sunrise but crap for flying / teaching!
Looks like a lovely day for flying to me but then I'd go flying even if you can't see where you're going
I can understand your instructors reservations about not wanting to take you up to go flying over fog though as the whole point at the beginning is to be flying visually with the ground which I doubt you'd see much of judging by that low lying fog. Still, at least you got some ground stuff done and had a good poke about the aircraft and you seem to have a good attitude as weather will be a big frustration to you at the beginning. Fingers crossed it plays ball for you next time!
I can understand your instructors reservations about not wanting to take you up to go flying over fog though as the whole point at the beginning is to be flying visually with the ground which I doubt you'd see much of judging by that low lying fog. Still, at least you got some ground stuff done and had a good poke about the aircraft and you seem to have a good attitude as weather will be a big frustration to you at the beginning. Fingers crossed it plays ball for you next time!
ecain63 said:
instantly tells me i'm not flying unless the weather gets better
That's something you're going to have to get used to, learning in the UK particularly at this time of year. It's a great opportunity to get ground school cracked though, particularly Air Law which is a) a very dry subject and b) something most schools insist on before first solo.Best of luck, keep the updates coming.
Ahh, zat must 'av been Jerome you were widtth </my bad French accent> - good pilot and top bloke, though don't be alarmed if he does turn up and say something negative about the weather, conditions, aircraft or anything else - I think that's just his style and his way of challenging you. He, like the other instructors at BFC will allow you to make your own command decisions when he feels you are ready to, as they should. My instructors had a slightly different approach in that they would normally just wait and see if I questioned the conditions.
To be honest, I think you may have dodged a bullet not doing your first lesson on Sunday out of EGHH - they had a big GA fly-in there which would have made things very busy, and probably also meant that you would have spent a lot of time waiting around on the ground (even if BFC only charge you 0.2 for taxying per flight - or at least they used to)...
When you do get up, enjoy it! There is some fantastic flying to be had in the area IMO, and some good landmarks too. Hengistbury Head (and the Needles on the IoW in the distance), Sandbanks (and the Purbecks beyond there) and Ringwood Lakes are all very obvious VRP's. Good luck finding Tarrant Rushton though - it took me a while before I could see it, and you'll probably find that is the way that you will normally be heading out of the zone into the local flying area! Look for some tree formations that look a bit like an aeroplane - they point to it...
I've got no idea if there is anything to worry about given your medical history - I don't profess to know much about these things - but any pilot, wannabie or not, will always tell you to get your medical done before making too many plans for the future. Without it (NPPL aside), you won't be able to take command.
The Robin's are good fun to fly and in the interest of cost saving, i'd stick to them for your training and convert to a PA28 once you have your ticket. I first soloed in G-BZLG, and passed my skills test in G-CBLE, so I hold fond memories of both - I hope they're still going strong down there!
Good luck for the coming months - flying through the winter can be a bit frustrating at times, but very rewarding when you do get that odd, crisp, clear Sunday morning come around. Send my regards to Graham, Sue, Paul and Dave if they're still around
Calum.
To be honest, I think you may have dodged a bullet not doing your first lesson on Sunday out of EGHH - they had a big GA fly-in there which would have made things very busy, and probably also meant that you would have spent a lot of time waiting around on the ground (even if BFC only charge you 0.2 for taxying per flight - or at least they used to)...
When you do get up, enjoy it! There is some fantastic flying to be had in the area IMO, and some good landmarks too. Hengistbury Head (and the Needles on the IoW in the distance), Sandbanks (and the Purbecks beyond there) and Ringwood Lakes are all very obvious VRP's. Good luck finding Tarrant Rushton though - it took me a while before I could see it, and you'll probably find that is the way that you will normally be heading out of the zone into the local flying area! Look for some tree formations that look a bit like an aeroplane - they point to it...
I've got no idea if there is anything to worry about given your medical history - I don't profess to know much about these things - but any pilot, wannabie or not, will always tell you to get your medical done before making too many plans for the future. Without it (NPPL aside), you won't be able to take command.
The Robin's are good fun to fly and in the interest of cost saving, i'd stick to them for your training and convert to a PA28 once you have your ticket. I first soloed in G-BZLG, and passed my skills test in G-CBLE, so I hold fond memories of both - I hope they're still going strong down there!
Good luck for the coming months - flying through the winter can be a bit frustrating at times, but very rewarding when you do get that odd, crisp, clear Sunday morning come around. Send my regards to Graham, Sue, Paul and Dave if they're still around
Calum.
ccr32 said:
Ahh, zat must 'av been Jerome you were widtth </my bad French accent> - good pilot and top bloke, though don't be alarmed if he does turn up and say something negative about the weather, conditions, aircraft or anything else - I think that's just his style and his way of challenging you. He, like the other instructors at BFC will allow you to make your own command decisions when he feels you are ready to, as they should. My instructors had a slightly different approach in that they would normally just wait and see if I questioned the conditions.
To be honest, I think you may have dodged a bullet not doing your first lesson on Sunday out of EGHH - they had a big GA fly-in there which would have made things very busy, and probably also meant that you would have spent a lot of time waiting around on the ground (even if BFC only charge you 0.2 for taxying per flight - or at least they used to)...
When you do get up, enjoy it! There is some fantastic flying to be had in the area IMO, and some good landmarks too. Hengistbury Head (and the Needles on the IoW in the distance), Sandbanks (and the Purbecks beyond there) and Ringwood Lakes are all very obvious VRP's. Good luck finding Tarrant Rushton though - it took me a while before I could see it, and you'll probably find that is the way that you will normally be heading out of the zone into the local flying area! Look for some tree formations that look a bit like an aeroplane - they point to it...
I've got no idea if there is anything to worry about given your medical history - I don't profess to know much about these things - but any pilot, wannabie or not, will always tell you to get your medical done before making too many plans for the future. Without it (NPPL aside), you won't be able to take command.
The Robin's are good fun to fly and in the interest of cost saving, i'd stick to them for your training and convert to a PA28 once you have your ticket. I first soloed in G-BZLG, and passed my skills test in G-CBLE, so I hold fond memories of both - I hope they're still going strong down there!
Good luck for the coming months - flying through the winter can be a bit frustrating at times, but very rewarding when you do get that odd, crisp, clear Sunday morning come around. Send my regards to Graham, Sue, Paul and Dave if they're still around
Calum.
Hi! Nice to have somebody on here who has been through the same school. Yeah, its JB who will be taking me through my training. For a froggie he's ok! The others sound pretty decent too.To be honest, I think you may have dodged a bullet not doing your first lesson on Sunday out of EGHH - they had a big GA fly-in there which would have made things very busy, and probably also meant that you would have spent a lot of time waiting around on the ground (even if BFC only charge you 0.2 for taxying per flight - or at least they used to)...
When you do get up, enjoy it! There is some fantastic flying to be had in the area IMO, and some good landmarks too. Hengistbury Head (and the Needles on the IoW in the distance), Sandbanks (and the Purbecks beyond there) and Ringwood Lakes are all very obvious VRP's. Good luck finding Tarrant Rushton though - it took me a while before I could see it, and you'll probably find that is the way that you will normally be heading out of the zone into the local flying area! Look for some tree formations that look a bit like an aeroplane - they point to it...
I've got no idea if there is anything to worry about given your medical history - I don't profess to know much about these things - but any pilot, wannabie or not, will always tell you to get your medical done before making too many plans for the future. Without it (NPPL aside), you won't be able to take command.
The Robin's are good fun to fly and in the interest of cost saving, i'd stick to them for your training and convert to a PA28 once you have your ticket. I first soloed in G-BZLG, and passed my skills test in G-CBLE, so I hold fond memories of both - I hope they're still going strong down there!
Good luck for the coming months - flying through the winter can be a bit frustrating at times, but very rewarding when you do get that odd, crisp, clear Sunday morning come around. Send my regards to Graham, Sue, Paul and Dave if they're still around
Calum.
GA day was on Sunday and i think you are right about dodging a bullet. A few people did complain after the event that the students got a bit of a raw deal as the instructors wanted to get to the open day. Things look good for tomorrow so far. I'll check the weather before i head over and hopefully get some decent flying done. I'm pretty excited to be doing the take off and landing from the off. Git my commercial medical booked so i'll see what they say.
I'll pass on your regards,
Update tomorrow,
Eddie
CharlieCrocodile said:
The HR200 is a great little aircraft, I did my PPL in one this year. It gets a bit cramped after a while so the QXC (Qualifying Cross Country) flight will get uncomfortable towards the end, but it's nowhere near as bad as a C152.
I did my QXC in a 152, at least on the QXC you have the other seat to put all your guff on, not as bad as doing a long flight two-up.Today i got my first flight cracked. Turned up at 1600Z and went through the required weather brief, booking out, aircraft checks etc. Pre flight checks took a while as it was my first flight (and somebody had left the oil level low so needed to top it up!!) but before i knew it I was requesting clearance to taxi and then on to the runway. As promised, JB made me do the take off and landing. I had command of the hand controls and throttle and he took the rudder as it can be a bit complicated for a first timer..... hand / foot co-ordination and all that. Verdict: With the weather being dead calm the take off was pretty easy. Keep the nose on the horizon until 1000ft and then left turn toward Hengistbury Head.
We made our way to Hengistbury and requested to transit along the coast to Sandbanks. It was a lovely evening so i got permission to take a quick snap (pic was taken over my JB's lap, im in the captains seat):
We got to Sandbanks and requested to transit through restricted airspace at 2000ft toward Tarrant Rushton. It's a 5 minute cross country from S'banks to TR and the scenery is quite lovely from above. Some good reference points noted along the way too.
Once at TR we were out of Bournemouth airport airspace so dropped down to 1500ft and turned right toward Ringwood, Via Verwood. Once at Ringwood we turned right again and managed a slow fly over of my house (not that my missus bothered to look). Then it was a sharp left heading toward Christchurch ready to sweep in to land at Bournemouth where we had set off 40 minutes earlier. As noted earlier I did the landing (hand controls and throttle). It's not as easy as the take off spookily enough but i didnt find it too difficult. My only fault was applying more throttle as we flared rather than cutting power to idle. Only a minor mistake and we touched down fairly softly with pretty decent accuracy and control.
So, lesson one done. I can see the technical aspects of this being far more difficult than the actual flying. There's a lot to take in with all the checks and radio gubbins but im sure with repetition i'll pick it up as i go. JB was more than happy with me and reckons i should have no issues cracking my PPL at the 45hr mark. Happy days!
Next lesson will hopefully happen on Saturday. Fingers crossed!
Eddie
We made our way to Hengistbury and requested to transit along the coast to Sandbanks. It was a lovely evening so i got permission to take a quick snap (pic was taken over my JB's lap, im in the captains seat):
We got to Sandbanks and requested to transit through restricted airspace at 2000ft toward Tarrant Rushton. It's a 5 minute cross country from S'banks to TR and the scenery is quite lovely from above. Some good reference points noted along the way too.
Once at TR we were out of Bournemouth airport airspace so dropped down to 1500ft and turned right toward Ringwood, Via Verwood. Once at Ringwood we turned right again and managed a slow fly over of my house (not that my missus bothered to look). Then it was a sharp left heading toward Christchurch ready to sweep in to land at Bournemouth where we had set off 40 minutes earlier. As noted earlier I did the landing (hand controls and throttle). It's not as easy as the take off spookily enough but i didnt find it too difficult. My only fault was applying more throttle as we flared rather than cutting power to idle. Only a minor mistake and we touched down fairly softly with pretty decent accuracy and control.
So, lesson one done. I can see the technical aspects of this being far more difficult than the actual flying. There's a lot to take in with all the checks and radio gubbins but im sure with repetition i'll pick it up as i go. JB was more than happy with me and reckons i should have no issues cracking my PPL at the 45hr mark. Happy days!
Next lesson will hopefully happen on Saturday. Fingers crossed!
Eddie
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