Calling all PPL pilots
Discussion
How many of you out there have a PPL ?
I am considering doing mine in South Africa and was looking at the pro's and con's of Florida over UK, SA or any other locations. All gossip and opinions invited.
What certification do I need for a UK licence + ability to fly on the continent - single engine / type ?
I am considering doing mine in South Africa and was looking at the pro's and con's of Florida over UK, SA or any other locations. All gossip and opinions invited.
What certification do I need for a UK licence + ability to fly on the continent - single engine / type ?
A PPL is internationally recognised. There are some rules preventing you from clocking up hours in different countries to contribute to the minimum required 45 - check with your flight school.
There is also a local (UK) PPL which requires less hours but is not internationally recognised - I wouldn't bother.
There is also a local (UK) PPL which requires less hours but is not internationally recognised - I wouldn't bother.
The poorer weather in this country means that it will take longer to do your training here than abroad. It will cost you more too, since the hourly rates here are twice what they are in Florida. However standards of Radio and airspace differ and if you do train abroad you would be wise to some time post PPL with an instructor in the UK converting to our way of doing things.
Have a look at the student forum at http://forums.flyer.co.uk for more information and opinion. Most people will tell you the way they did it was best. To buck that trend, I did mine in the UK but think I should have gone abroad. Lack of good flying weather, plus poor instructor and aircraft availability meant it took almost a year to do, despite making myself available full time. The argument that you should train in the UK if you want to fly in the UK is valid, but only to a point: I don't limit my flying to the UK. I didn't do my training in France or Australia but I've since flown extensively in their airspace. I'm currently doing the exams for a professional licence and intending to do the corresponding flight training in the US.
For your UK issued PPL you will need:
A medical examination by a CAA appointed bod,
Undertake a course of instruction from an approved school, of at least 45 hours (budget for 70) and including a solo 150nm x-country landing at two airfields en-route,
Pass 8 multiple choice papers: Air Law, Navigation, Meteorology, Flight Planning, Principles of Flight, Aircraft General Knowledge, Human Factors,
Pass a skills test with an examiner.
You will then be licensed to fly and carry non-paying passengers, almost anywhere in the world, in British (and most European) registered light Single Engine Piston aeroplane by day, provided you stay outside of cloud and in sight of the surface. Flying at night or in cloud will require additional training.
Learning to fly is up there with trying scuba diving as the best thing I did. If only the two were more compatible.
>> Edited by elfer on Wednesday 1st March 12:33
Have a look at the student forum at http://forums.flyer.co.uk for more information and opinion. Most people will tell you the way they did it was best. To buck that trend, I did mine in the UK but think I should have gone abroad. Lack of good flying weather, plus poor instructor and aircraft availability meant it took almost a year to do, despite making myself available full time. The argument that you should train in the UK if you want to fly in the UK is valid, but only to a point: I don't limit my flying to the UK. I didn't do my training in France or Australia but I've since flown extensively in their airspace. I'm currently doing the exams for a professional licence and intending to do the corresponding flight training in the US.
For your UK issued PPL you will need:
A medical examination by a CAA appointed bod,
Undertake a course of instruction from an approved school, of at least 45 hours (budget for 70) and including a solo 150nm x-country landing at two airfields en-route,
Pass 8 multiple choice papers: Air Law, Navigation, Meteorology, Flight Planning, Principles of Flight, Aircraft General Knowledge, Human Factors,
Pass a skills test with an examiner.
You will then be licensed to fly and carry non-paying passengers, almost anywhere in the world, in British (and most European) registered light Single Engine Piston aeroplane by day, provided you stay outside of cloud and in sight of the surface. Flying at night or in cloud will require additional training.
Learning to fly is up there with trying scuba diving as the best thing I did. If only the two were more compatible.
>> Edited by elfer on Wednesday 1st March 12:33
Glad it was of use. Also www.ukga.com has a good learning to fly forum.
How many hours a year do you need to fly to maintain your licence? I had a one-off lesson at Blackbushe a few weeks ago - absolutely loved it! They gave me all the bumpf afterwards about PPL costs etc. and I was suprised at how reasonable it was. But it isn't just the one off paying to get your licence is it? There are ongoing costs which I calculated to be roughly not much less than the cost of getting a PPL, every year - is this right?
Hope you don't mind me asking ,Cyrus, but have you got definite plans for what you're going to do with your licence? I know quite a few people who have gone to trouble and expense getting a PPL only to find they hadn't the time or inclination to make use of it.
Are you considering a CPL/ATPL at some stage?
>> Edited by ballcock on Wednesday 1st March 16:15
Are you considering a CPL/ATPL at some stage?
>> Edited by ballcock on Wednesday 1st March 16:15
ballcock said:
Hope you don't mind me asking ,Cyrus, but have you got definite plans for what you're going to do with your licence? I know quite a few people who have gone to trouble and expense getting a PPL only to find they hadn't the time or inclination to make use of it.
Are you considering a CPL/ATPL at some stage?
>> Edited by ballcock on Wednesday 1st March 16:15
Once I have it I want to type qualify on a 1/4 plane share. Has to be a 4 seater with possible floats (I'll take the rating) for lake / sea landings. I'll use it to make plane based tours of Europe even as far as the middle east + North Africa - why not ? I'll also fly to my holiday home in Switzerland - hence getting more use from the home because driving there for a weekend is too much, but flying from South of London in a reasonably fast plane in the summer is an exciting and achievable 3 hour trip. Leave work on a Friday afternoon and have dinner in my favourite restaurant looking at the Alps in the sunset - sweet. Plane share estimate circa £50-80K for a really good one + £3-5 K per annum, so less than the 996 Turbo and holds value a lot better too. Can probably sell the share for near that 10 years later. That's the plan (pipe dream?)but a medium term one clearly !
>> Edited by cyrus1971 on Thursday 2nd March 09:42
Costs a bloody fortune to do it here! Fortunately I had my company stump up £4k to train me and keep me flying 
Lessons start at £125 down in Kent and I was flying in Cessnas, then we got a Diamond! Oh the luxuary! The irony...you are (at various times) designing one of the most sophisticated auto pilots ever devised, shoving it in and out of builds, whilst learning to fly in a plane designed before autopilots had been invented then crossing over to a new type with dual autopilots and suddenly you have to say..."Autopilot? Well wtf do I do with this then?"
It made us giggle anyway
Lessons start at £125 down in Kent and I was flying in Cessnas, then we got a Diamond! Oh the luxuary! The irony...you are (at various times) designing one of the most sophisticated auto pilots ever devised, shoving it in and out of builds, whilst learning to fly in a plane designed before autopilots had been invented then crossing over to a new type with dual autopilots and suddenly you have to say..."Autopilot? Well wtf do I do with this then?"
It made us giggle anyway
It DOES sound a little pipe dreamy , Cyrus , but it also sounds like you've got your sh1t in one sock (if you'll excuse the expression!) with regard to price ,initial and ongoing .. Also, plane share is the best way to go .. if you don't fall out with your shareholders!!
IMO the biggest problems people come up against are time constraints , both in training and then finding time to keep the thing in the air.
>> Edited by ballcock on Wednesday 1st March 17:10
IMO the biggest problems people come up against are time constraints , both in training and then finding time to keep the thing in the air.
>> Edited by ballcock on Wednesday 1st March 17:10
I have a PPL, did it in the UK, cost average including instruction £110per hour.the weather is a problem here, lots of cancelled lessons due to bad visability etc so it ends up been time consuming, although I was doing 2 hours per day in the summer to rattle the required 45hours off.......have a plane now and to be honest It hardly gets used.............I am thinking of doing helicoper training as a helicopter would be more useful, ie no runway needed to land etc.......only problem is a helicopter and running costs are big ££££££ and a major commitment.
My 200 hours cost me around £25,000 back in 1991. Thats about $75k New Zealand dollars. Imagine burning a hole in the sky around NZ? I did and it was fantastic 
Imagine taking friends away on weekend trips in a hired Cesena to wine and food festivals, isolated islands, hiking trips etc etc. Enough blagging, The best plane I obtained a rating on was a PA28R Retractible with full IFR. More expensive, but faster so cheaper to fly overall.
Imagine taking friends away on weekend trips in a hired Cesena to wine and food festivals, isolated islands, hiking trips etc etc. Enough blagging, The best plane I obtained a rating on was a PA28R Retractible with full IFR. More expensive, but faster so cheaper to fly overall. POORCARDEALER said:
I have a PPL, did it in the UK, ...........have a plane now and to be honest It hardly gets used.............I am thinking of doing helicoper training as a helicopter would be more useful.......
Methinks you need to change your username. If you were trying for the sympathy vote you've blown it now!
nel said:
I have a PPL, did it in the UK, ...........have a plane now and to be honest It hardly gets used.............I am thinking of doing helicoper training as a helicopter would be more useful.......
Methinks you need to change your username. If you were trying for the sympathy vote you've blown it now!
Thats why I am poor............aviation is expensive!!
A thought just struck me .. friends of mine recently bought a cessna 177 cardinal between them , they specifically wanted one with fixed undercarriage .. purely because it was going to be only a matter of time before one of them forgot to check '3 greens' before landing .. Not a bad idea , i thought!
Check this place out www.43airschool.com/, I have a mate going over this month for a year to do his CPL/Multi I/R. They don't give prices on website, but they are JAR approved which means hours etc will count. Florida was the place to go with the dollar but I'm not to sure now. It's always worth while having a JAR PPL as you will run in to problems flying a European registered aircraft on a FAA PPL.
Don't forget there are CAA approved schools and examiners in the US and it is perfectly possible to come back with a JAR licence. If you were to go, you may as well do both FAA and JAR check rides whilst you're there. The JAR licence is the one to have for a European but the FAA ticket may come in useful should you later wish to fly an N reg abroad, or add an Instrument Rating without the 6+ months ground school that JAR require...
Florida schools approved by the CAA:
www.flyeft.com
www.naplesaircenter.com
www.flyoft.com
Check out the private flying and pro training forums on www.pprune.org for opinion on each school. Some schools have a better reputation than others. Just remember, wherever you go, UK, US, or SA, don't pay up front.
Florida schools approved by the CAA:
www.flyeft.com
www.naplesaircenter.com
www.flyoft.com
Check out the private flying and pro training forums on www.pprune.org for opinion on each school. Some schools have a better reputation than others. Just remember, wherever you go, UK, US, or SA, don't pay up front.
Had a quick look at that 43 website and cannot see they are approved by any JAR state. They certainly aren't approved by the CAA www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/SRG_FCL_REGISTEREDFACILITIES.PDF and www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/SRG_FCL_APPROVEDFTOS.PDF. They might be able to train to the JAR syllabus but you will be issued with a SA licence. With that you could still fly a G-reg 'plane in the UK but not abroad. You could however convert it a CAA-JAR licence by taking the 8 exams, any additional training necessary, and the flight test.
Don't rule them out but my advice would be to go somewhere where you come home with (at least) a JAR licence.
>> Edited by elfer on Thursday 2nd March 09:56
Don't rule them out but my advice would be to go somewhere where you come home with (at least) a JAR licence.
>> Edited by elfer on Thursday 2nd March 09:56
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