Any current PPL instructors please.

[Jaroon]

Hi, I'm a 43 year old former Airline pilot and flying instructor. I haven't flown for about 10 years and am now a train driver.

I'm considering renewing my instructors rating and regaining my commercial privileges (not my I.R!) with a view to doing a bit of weekend instructing as a hobby.

I'm in Derby so have a few local flying clubs I'll approach in due course but my first question is what is the current state of PPL instruction generally? Are weekends booked out like in my day or is the market mainly for those with commercial aspirations?

I may be able to bring my own students, 1 or 2, along to a club, what is the average hourly rate duel and solo on a two seater these days? My local place is £130 solo, £150 duel!! is this about right?

Any other infomation or opinion on this idea appreciated.

[Chuck328]

Jaroon said:

Hi, I'm a 43 year old former Airline pilot and flying instructor. I haven't flown for about 10 years and am now a train driver.

I'm considering renewing my instructors rating and regaining my commercial privileges (not my I.R!) with a view to doing a bit of weekend instructing as a hobby.

I'm in Derby so have a few local flying clubs I'll approach in due course but my first question is what is the current state of PPL instruction generally? Are weekends booked out like in my day or is the market mainly for those with commercial aspirations?

I may be able to bring my own students, 1 or 2, along to a club, what is the average hourly rate duel and solo on a two seater these days? My local place is £130 solo, £150 duel!! is this about right?

Any other infomation or opinion on this idea appreciated.

Hi.

I'm no where near you and like you I'm a very long time out from the GA scene. I pop in past my local place maybe twice a year, mainly due to a mate who owns some aircraft there.

From what I do know, your info ties with mine, all seems about right.

I know a few instructors who are struggling for work, one has taken a job at the airport I fly out of, seems things are still quite stagnant. The big jet boys aren't recruiting from the prop guys so much these days so the props don't seem to be taking from the flying clubs (I may be wrong though!). In fact there was a decent (and worrying) article in this months Log regarding future (lack of) prospects for prop drivers and stepping up the ladder to the heavy metal.

There will of course be some movement, it just appears to me to be quite slow.

Last I heard, it seems it's the wealthy and the wannabes who are flying GA. My old flying club went bust years ago due to the increased pricing, airport charges, fuel etc. That and fewer people taking the self improver route due cost and competition from the likes of CTC who are swallowing guys up at stupid costs to themselves, to put them in various jet airlines.

That seems to be about the size of it just now from my prospective, others may have a different view.

For you, I hope you do go for it. Airline and PPL instruction would be a valuable asset to any flying club, even if it is a few years ago!

Have you got back in the saddle yourself? Even if it was just an hours stooge with a current instructor?

Cheers for now.

[renmure]

What about Microlight instructing? Obviously of limited value to anyone looking to get into the commercial world but as far as recreational flying goes the new 3-axis microlights make Cessna's look like the old school bricks many of them are. At my airfield, with GA, gyro, rotary and microlight schools it is the microlight school which is busy all the time including many students who drift over from GA when they realise there can be a real end-point of owning and flying something that you can afford to own and fly.

[Jaroon]

Thanks for the replies. Honestly I can easily see the advantages of microlight flying but those things scare me, I had an bad experience some years ago when I was first on the scene after a microlight accident

I have absolutely no aspirations to get back into the airlines but that is useful information regarding the state of the industry. I was a self improver and at that time I'd say half the students at most clubs were working towards a commerical flying career.

I haven't flown at all for 5 years and that was only a buzz around. I've logged just under 4000 hours with about 1000 instructional and though I never really missed it (great at the time but I like to look a forward) I think it might be a good hobby to take up again and get my son into.

As it stands it would cost me a few grand to get current again with only a couple hours flying a month available so might not be a goer. I'll pop out to the local clubs for a cuppa but I've got a feeling I be meeting some hungry looking instructors.

[mattdaniels]

Jaroon said:

As it stands it would cost me a few grand to get current again

I'm sure you would do this without saying, but as a former PPL stude with a mix of different instructors (both "hour builders" and "old timers") can I urge you to prioritise the ground school side of things when you "get current" again. Flying is flying and doesn't really change, but the PPL syllabus, R/T (CAP413) and a few other things do, and there is nothing worse/more confusing/worrying as a student than being more up to date than your instructor and "corrected" to say something different on the radio, or having a debate about whether spin appreciation is in or out of the syllabus and what does or doesn't need counter signing in your log book.
Best of luck if you decide to go for it!

[Jaroon]

^^ I hope "Push the stick forward, houses get bigger. Pull the stick backwards, houses get smaller." Still works