where would you reccommend for JAA PPL(A)?

[sgarvey]

I've finally decided that i want to persue a modular course of flight training. Now my next step is to find a PPL course to suit me. Can anyone give me some information on ppl training they did, where they did it, and whether they would recommend it.

The price range varies greatly, obviously depending on what aircraft you do it on. this is caused also by the hidden costs. I want an FTO that will be straight with the costs and will include everything. My budget at the minute isnt very big so i'm looking for value for money really. Thanks and i hope i'm not annoying anyone by posting this thread.

Stephen

[YYZ]

Not annoying in the slightest, you say you only have a small budget? Does this mean you cannot travel too far and therefore need to study in Ireland or can you go to the UK/USA for a month?

Also before considering going for the PPL (you may already be aware?) the prices most schools quote are for the minimum hours required to pass and do not include the CAA test fees or your required medical which if you want a class 1 it is £400 or books/maps etc, most people take longer than the min 45 hours therefore there is an increase in cost.

Just food for thought

YYZ
:8

[silverknapper]

Can you name any you're looking at, that would elicit a response from people who have been at certain schools. Also will you be going full time?
I did mine in SA. Whilst it was a good experience living there for a while, in terms of value I would hesitate to recommend it. By the time you get there and live it works out about the same cost, especially if you can live at home. Don't get me wrong it is a good place but it is different flying here. And the school out there is a bit unstable at the mo in terms of JAA instructors. Given the time again I would have done it at a small flying club. I had a few lessons at Liverpool flying school before I left and couldn't recommend my instructor enough, a guy called Barry Jones. Top bloke and excellent instructor.
Try this on the private flying thread, also do a search, there are a lot of recommendations to be had.

SK

[sgarvey]

Well my budget for the PPL is whatever really, its just that i'd like to keep costs to a minimun and keep the extra cash for adding additional ratings etc. I already have my class 1 medical. received that last week so thats one thing out of the way. I'd be more interested in doing my PPl in the UK.

I was looking at the PPl offered by clacton aero club, EPTA and taylor aviation but im completely open to hearing about other schools out there.

[NinjaBill]

If youre looking for a good value school how about sherbun areo club. Its near leeds, and have c150s for £88/hr or warriors for £101/hr, and no landing fees at sherburn.

Its based not far from leeds, and its where im currently training from.

Either that, or ive heard good things about highlands flying club, nr aberdeen, their rates are similar. I think most people would sugest visiting anywhere you are looking to train, but this could significantly increase the cost if youre looking to keep it to a minimum

NB

[stuharri2002]

Hi,

I have just done my PPL in the san diego in the states, it is the best value for money. Course in a 172 cost £3000 which includes accomadation, including flights and materials the whole cost was about £4000. This is a great saving on PPL in britain, plus the one i did was JAA PPL.

stu

[mrbungle]

Hi sgarvey,

I'm starting my PPL soon in Weston. I have talked to a couple of schools there. The total they have quoted is the guts of 7k to 7.5k min hours.

I don't know your circumstances but I intend to keep working, for the next while anyway. I got my Class 1 about 2 weeks ago and am up for it !

You need to weigh things up, if you do it in the UK, weather, accomodation, living costs on to of the course fees, it'll probably work out the same as Ireland.

Read a couple of threads back, this one has been tackled before.

Laters.

[YYZ]

If you are not restrained by distance but do wish to learn in the UK then as mentioned Sherburn is good value and friendly with allot of members, however for even better value for money in a more personal environment I would go for Full Sutton Nr Leeds @ £84.00 Dual and no landing fees I would say your money would be well spent.:8

[sgarvey]

Thanks guys. I'm after ringing all those places up. i was very impressed with the Highlands Aero Club, they seemed very friendly and helpful and very inexpensice also. Has anyone done ppl training with them who can give me some feedback?? Thanks

Steve

[silverknapper]

Do you mean the Highland Flying School? Heard mixed reports, CFI apparently bit lazy but get job done. There is a flying school at Kinloss with an excellent reputation. As for flying up north, do it, it's amazing!

[strafer]

Sgarvey,

I'm not au fait with Highland weather up in Jockland but I'd be surprised if you'd get a lot of flying weather before spring. (If I'm wrong, tell me so politely. This isn't a Braveheart re-run:{ ).

If your looking for cheap, then it's got to be the USA, IMO. If I hadn't taken the Warrior upgrade, mine would have cost £3,500 for everything.

Mind you, another post, another opinion.

[HelenD]

I finished my PPL up at the Highlands flying school. I found it a great place to learn, they pushed me to finish and got me flying correctly curing the bad habbits I had. It is a friendly club many evenings after a days flying were spent in the bar with good camoradirie. The scenery you fly over is awsome and the landing fees for your QXC are £4 for each airfield, pretty good when some south east schools send you to airports with landing fees of £25.
I intend to go back there in the next few months to do my night qualification. The CFI is an examiner so as long as you dont fly more than a few hours with him and none in the last 10 hours he can test you which means you dont have to wait for another examiner to become available. All the instructors up there are very good and know their stuff so I would recomend it.

[sgarvey]

i dont intend on starting my training until spring anyway, ive a lot of things to get done before hand. i was keen on the states but i was put off by people telling me how it is still quite different from the UK even though they were JAA PPLs and that there was a lot of hastle when they came back. i do however intend on mayve trying to do some hour building over there. did you have any trouble back in the UK after doing your ppl in the states? i hear that the theory tests there are a lot easier than in the UK?

Steve

[Solo Hire]

Steve,

I would add to the others who have recommended Highland Flying School. I did my full PPL there in two weeks (OK, I did have five lessons before I went). Apart from being one of the cheapest PPL courses in the UK, there are some other key advantages worth considering:-

1. The weather is very stable in that part of Scotland - for those not familiar with it, you only have to glance at the Inverness METAR on days when you're fuming over the METAR for your home airport.

2. Inverness has a cross-runway, which means you can fly in almost any wind condition, (as well as getting practice at landing on little narrow things).

3. You will get few air traffic delays, so can do circuits for an hour without interuption (without landing fees)... but you will get odd days when you catch the traffic, so get occasional practice at dealing with it.

4. The planes are maintained in tip top condition, so you won't miss flights for "tech time".

4. Highland is a friendly place, because it's small, well set-up to cater for full-time PPL students (inc cheap accommodation), and will give you individual attention to detail.

On a general note, you will progress much faster if you go for it in a block. I found doing three sorties a day keeps you in good condition as it's self-revising. Passing in the minimum number of hours is the best economy you can achieve for yourself regardless of where you choose to learn (two weeks accommodation = £250? = 3 hours flying?).

Finally, finally - do consider going on a "ground school" and getting the examns out of the way, especially if you go in for a block-booking at somewhere like Inverness. It takes the pressure right off, makes the flying more enjoyable, and will allow you to compelte the PPL in a shorter overall timescale (with the financial benefits that go with it).

Good luck.

[paulo]

Just to temper Solo's post, some people find intensive good, some don't.

Whilst I enjoyed mine out in FL, I learnt more per flying hour when I finished off back in the UK flying weekly. 3 sorties a day is very hard - at the end of it you can find yourself exhausted and just want to sleep; no time or energy to assimilate.

[Pink_aviator]

YES SGARVEY

AND IF YOU FLY FROM THE HIGHLAND SCHOOL .

YOU WILL MEET ME "THE PINKHEAD SET QUEEN"
"THE PINKSTER"

DO NOT KNOW IF THATS GOOD OR BAD BUT I GET ON GREAT WITH THE INSTRUCTORS.

NEARLY QUALIFIED PINKSTER

[GaS_PaNiC]

Hi there, I have a friend who is keen to get his PPL under his belt as inexpensively as possible, and I already have my PPL, and want to build up a few hours before going to OAT to do my CPL. We're planning on going over to Florida next summer to do this at the same time, and was wondering if anyone could suggest a decent school in Florida? It seems a bit of a jungle out there, with a lot offering "packages" for PPLs that I'm not keen on....
I've considered three so far, and was wondering if there was anyone out there who had been to them?
Blue Skies Aviation - Venice, FL
Britania Aviation
and Ormond Beach (however im not too keen on ormond beach, I have first hand experience of that one!)
Any help would be appreciated!
(oh yeah and its my first post, i lost my pprune virginity :P)

[BEagle]

An Examiner may only conduct PPL Skill Tests on people he/she has flown with before only if those flights were safety checks or progress checks. The 'nothing in the last 10 hours' is an urban myth!

None of this applies to the NPPL.

[Charlie Zulu]

Hi GaS_PaNiC,

Personally I wouldn't recommend "hour build" in Florida.

Sure, it has nice weather (until the thunderstorms role in during summer months), nice places to visit, Bahamas close by etc... BUT it is flat. I mean totally flat. Flatter than the flatest thing. Been there, done that and got the T-Shirt.

However saying that I have been back this year for the FAA CPL/IR and would definately recommend Florida for training.

California on the other hand is fantastic for "hour building". I've been out twice and hired from Brackett Airfield in Los Angeles. The amount of different flying you can do is imense. From mountain and desert flying to landing at airfield 6,500' AMSL and below sea level all within the same day! You definately get to learn about density altitudes and the effects of katabatic / anabatic winds etc.

I've been out in both May and in October. Both times the weather was fantastic, normally pretty smooth air except over the desert and mountains. In the L.A. basin you will find you may get the "marine layer" that moves in off the Pacific coast during the night. However by 10am this is normally burnt off. This only happened a couple of times over the two trips.

The smog in the L.A. basin is pretty severe but still VFR conditions, but sometimes the sky and visibility is crystal clear! Just depends I suppose.

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu.