PPL training with night qualification !

[BA123]

HI, I have just completed my A-Levels and i am looking for flight schools in the US apart from Ormond Beach that offer a night qualification as part of the PPL course. Can anyone help me ? :rolleyes:

[Helipilot1982]

If your going for an FAA licence then most schools offer it as part of the course. As for the JAA licence in the US, i dont know!

I went to riverside flight centre in Oklahoma - very good but they are getting alot of students there now and it may take you a few weeks to get through. Give yourself more time when you are out there to get the TSA check done (FAA Licence only, not applicable to students doing JAA licences). I would recommend RFC for quality of instruction and value for money but you will need at least 5 weeks to complete the FAA PPL.

[mcgoo]

why apart from ormond beach?

[BlueRobin]

This document, provided on the CAA website, may assist your search if you want a JAR PPL.

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/SRG_FCL_APPROVEDFTOS.PDF

You will have to use your noggin to find the relevant page to look at and to recognise which FTOs are not in the UK. :)

[BA123]

I have been in contact with ormond beach recently and it does sound really good for the price but then again I have also read some bad comments about the school so I am considering other options. :confused:

[Slopey]

I went to OBA, and it is like everything else - it is what you make it. I, and all my house mates there had a great time. Others who didn't put the work in, didn't have enough time (you need 4 weeks minimum despite what they say), or arrived with a boatload of attitude, had a less good time.

PM me if you have any queries about OBA, or read slopeair.com - I blogged it onto there at the time (Nov 2005).

[BA123]

I have read your accounts of OBA on your website and it just seems to be the little things that are not quite right that are putting me off at the moment. Especially when spending alot of money to go there.

[IO540]

As a very general comment, there are potential problems with committing oneself to any fixed course of action, whether it is to do a PPL in 4wks in the USA, or learning to knit in 4wks in the USA.

You spend a lot of time pushing paper to get the TSA+Visa stuff done. The Visa in your passport even mentions the flying school by name, and while this can (I am told by someone here who never replied to my PM asking for more details) be changed without doing the whole U.S. Embassy thing all over again, there is the TSA stuff to - another $130 and a number of days down the drain just to change the school. Not really practical once you are already over there.

Where is the risk? Well, one problem is that you might get an instructor allocated that you don't get on with. Professional people for one tend to have an attitude that anything less than similarly professional is not acceptable (as any instructor will know!).

As I have written before, if one totally commits a 4 week chunk of one's life in the UK (to the extent of living in a B&B near the airfield) then - weather permitting - one can knock off a PPL here too pretty quickly. Florida weather is OK but far from 100% reliable. If I was going to the USA (as I have done, for stuff not doable in the UK for legal reasons) I would choose Arizona.

That said, a standalone FAA PPL (which cannot be done fully in the UK) is the way to go if the IR is a later ambition.

If I was doing my PPL/IR again, I would do most of the training in a decent concentrated session in the UK, and then go to the USA to finish it off, in the form of an FAA PPL. All UK training is allowable towards an FAA PPL or IR.

[Slopey]

BA123 - Just out of interest - what little things?

As IO540 says, there's plenty of places to train the US - California seems to get good reports.

Regardless what school you go to - if you get an instructor you don't get on with - ask to be taught by, or fly with, someone else - instructors don't take it personally - however, don't blame the instructor for your own shortcomings (I've seen a bit of that also, and that usually degenerates into an unfounded attitude against the school)

And yup - provided you can block off 4 weeks you can do it in the UK. I went to the US because of cost - up in Aberdeen, when FAS ran the show it was £129+Vat per hour + £18 landing fees, so it would have been much much more to complete the PPL here. Now that Grampian flying club are the only one there, it's £169 per hour + £18. EEEk! To say nothing of the Wx!

But if you're down south, with better weather and cheaper rates, you can probably do it more reasonably.

[BA123]

I am looking at getting the jaa ppl not the faa licence. Also just wandering but can anyone give me a basic order for which to gain a frozen ATPL. eg, ppl followed by .....? As slopey mentioned above I am wanting to attend the US more for cost reasons than anything.

[Slopey]

OBA do the JAA licence as do quite a few FTOs in Florida and across the US, so you should'nt have a problem there.

To get the ATPL, there are various ways to do it - either an integrated course from nothing, modular courses over time, or just by plugging away through hour building, ME/IR & CPL.

There's loads of really good threads on the Wannabes forums - but be aware you'll be looking at +£30k to get to fATPL level.

[BA123]

i will probably go for the modular courses over time as this would be more cost effective. Would you recommend , 1) ppl 2) hour building 3) multi engine rating 4) cpl/IR 5) MCC . In that sort of order ? :ok:

[Slopey]

Don't ask me, I'm happy with a PPL ;) I'll leave that to some of the more distingushed posters who've been there and done it :)

[BA123]

so is that all you are wanting then, a PPL ? fair enough. thanks for your advice anyway.

[Slopey]

Yep - I've already got a decent career in IT, don't want to spend the thousands to get the fATPL and then job hunt - although I'd have loved to end up in the RHS, it's just not going to happen (unless I win the lottery!).

I'll do the IMC next then I might do FI a few years down the line, and possibly the IR a while later, but that'll do me.

I'm enjoying flying for fun - I'd be worried that if I did it day in day out, I might loose the enjoyment out of it. :)

[givemeaname]

HI, I have just completed my A-Levels and i am looking for flight schools in the US apart from Ormond Beach that offer a night qualification as part of the PPL course. Can anyone help me ? :rolleyes:

The answer to your question about the night rating is simple. Night flying is
part of the requirements of a FAA PPL. With JAA night flying is only allowed
when you get an additional rating on top of your PPL.

You want to get a JAA PPL, so need to ask specifically for a JAA nightrating.

[BA123]

oba does offer the jaa night rating , its just i heard some bad comments about the place.

[mcgoo]

to be fair, you will hear bad comments about any place, everyone i was at OBA with had a great time except one guy who was expecting his airport collection in a limo, a maid service in the house etc etc all for price on the website, you have to be realistic, if you can take care of yourself, ie are self disciplined and don't expect a rolls royce for the price of a mini (some do, you would be surprised) you won't go far wrong, i got exactly what i paid for at OBA, a PPL with night qualification within 3 weeks, came back home did 1 hour at coventry and was signed off to fly the club aircraft, all that including accomadation in a piper warrior for just over £4000 all in.

[BA123]

yeah i suppose your right. And I definately wont be expecting a limo. :ok: would you of spent any longer there if you had the chance?

[IO540]

What is the latest on night flight in the UK (where, CTRs excepted, night is under IFR) on an FAA PPL (where the FARs require an IR to fly IFR) without an FAA IR?

One of many sleeping dogs in aviation law which nobody can answer definitively because the respective regs don't map onto each other.

[pumuckl]

I went to OBA in June 06 to get my PPL. I always only ever had 17 days to do it in and after speaking to AT on the phone and a few emails, I believed that I could do it. I did ALL the PPL exams before I went and I would recommend that to anyone. At least study for them before you go out there!

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and met some interesting people. Although 17 days is not a lot of time, my instructor was fantastic and I got the PPL (inc. night rating) in 45.0 hours and the 17 days (despite losing 2 days to bad weather - hurricane season and all). Did my flight test 2 days before I was due to fly home, so the last day was just spent making up the additional hours to get to 45.

Back in England I went to my local flying club, did a check ride (as any club would require of new members) of about 45 minutes with an instructor (stalls, circuits, PFLs etc) and was told that I was good to go. No retraining or extra training required AT ALL. They were very happy with my training and said I could hire an aircraft anytime I liked (which I have done since then!).

The RT is of course a bit different - and I can see that some people might find this challenging when they get back to England, but you soon get used to it. I suppose it helps being an air traffic controller. ;)

Cheers
p. :ok:

[mcgoo]

yeah i suppose your right. And I definately wont be expecting a limo. :ok: would you of spent any longer there if you had the chance?

yes, i'm going back there very soon for hour building, multi and cpl

[BA123]

I was just concerned about all the bad comments but they seemed to of cleaned up their act in the last few years. What was all the fuss about in the first place to do with Ormond Beach?

[bolty_1000]

check your pm's

[worldpilot]

OBA offers great value for your money. I was there last year and successfully completed my PPL with night rating. Apart from the weather, everything was OK. If you kow what you are there for, you won't complain. So go for it if you've the time and resources.

Good luck.

WP

[Kengineer-130]

I had the pleasure of visiting OBA last year (october to december!) for 6 weeks, and I got my JAA PPL, with night rating, and did 25 hrs hour building, and a couple of warrior hours as well. I was there at the same time as slopey, (hows it going dunx, hope you are well mate ;) :ok: ), and met some of the best people I have ever had the good fortune to meet :) . It IS hard work, it WILL require dedication, sweat, maybe even tears, but you get out what you put in. The ground school conducted by Echomike ( thats his pprune name ;) ) is second to none, and the instructors are more than happy to help you if you display the right attitude and put the work in :ok: . I have even just spent the weekend with 2 of the guys I met out there, more than a year later, and we all agreed that the time we had in Ormond was one of the best experiances we ever had. If you want any more information feel free to PM me :ok:

You get what you pay for, no more no less- but don't listen to the cry babys, go out there and form your own opinion.