PPL & CPL questions

[Berg]

Hi,

I've searched and read through many of the previous threads re pilot training and particularly the ways in which people have funded this. These have been very interesting and informative, however I'm still unsure about a few things and have some questions I'd like to put out there.

I'm very keen (and always have been) on learning to fly, however the high training costs have been a major hindrance, and have to this day put me off the idea. This is a big regret of mine given that I could've used the past 7 years of my working life to save money i.e. I could easily have financed at least a PPL with additional ratings during that time. Anyway, now 27 years old, I find myself at a stage where I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with my current non-aviation related career and looking for a way out.

I'm posting today in the hope that people out there might be willing to share their training experiences, especially those people who started the modular route in their late twenties and did so from a non-aviation related background. My main questions and concerns are as follows:

1) Rough length of time taken to complete the PPL (in the UK) when combined with commitments of a full time 9-5 job?
2) Once PPL qualified, what next? i.e. for some people, occasional pleasure flying might be the goal, for others (like myself) establishing some kind of flying career is the goal. So in order to do this, how far beyond PPL level do you have to go? Is a CPL the bare minimum level? NB. I would consider all flying careers from instructor through to airline work. What I am trying to do here is get a clearer understanding of all options out there, particularly those options that might minimise cost and time.
3) Implications of large gaps between training when doing modular route. i.e. for me, if I was to embark on a CPL after doing a PPL, it would probably take a good couple of years to save the necessary cash. During this time, how often would I need to fly to keep my licence valid? Also, what would be the best way to keep this flying purposeful and developmental, as opposed to merely doing flights to keep your licence valid??

I appreciate that the answers to these kind of questions will vary greatly from one person to the next and are dependent on individual circumstances etc, but any feedback would be a big, big help.

If you're still with me, many thanks for reading.

kind regards

[FlyingIsFun]

Hello there.

In my experience most people with 9-5's try to to book one hour lesson every weekend. With the average UK weather they will tend to lose one in every 4 or so. With the lack of continuity it takes longer than the 45hr min syallabus time. It seems to take this average person around 60-65 hours and maybe 15 to 18 months to complete from start to finish.

To go beyond PPL, you can do IMC, the future of that is under doubt at the moment.

If you want to go CPL and beyond you need 100 hours of P1 time, again working 9-5 and doing on average one hour per week, it will take you a year... you can work it out..

FIF

[CAT3C AUTOLAND]

Flying is Fun has given some accurate time estimates on completing your PPL. Whilst I was in full time instructing the quickest PPL I did in the UK from start to finish was 3 months. This was with 2 students, who were full time and went through in minimum hours. This was mainly achieved due to both guys who were committed and had a good degree of continuity to their training. However, if you are holding down a full time job, then as FIF said 1 year to 18 months is more realistic.

To share my experience, it took me around 12 years from no flying experience to airline pilot. I obtained my PPL in 1995 and had my commerical licence in 2004. The subsequent time was spent instructing and trying my hardest to get an airline job. The bits in the middle were spent at college, working full time, saving dosh and doing what I had to do to keep current.

Keeping your licence or should I say your single engine class rating current is pretty straight forward. You may want to consult LASORS for all the CAA info, but in a nutshell, you can revalidate either by test or experience every 2 years. There is certain criteria which you have to fulfill. Your licence is valid for 5 years. To renew this is simply a paper work exercise with the CAA followed by payment of course. Once you have gained your IR and Multi engine piston class rating, you must renew these every year, and you can only do it by test.

One thing you will find about this industry, is everyone has there own story to tell, about how they got where they are. Alot of my colleagues (new starters) within the airline I work for, are between 19 and 25 years old and have come straight from Oxford after to completing an integrated course. Quite a number of people, myself included were not able to afford this, therefore we went down the modular route, which took a little longer, however, from my own perspective, I learnt a tremendous amount along the way, and have developed numerous skills from the experience.

Anyway, I digress. If I was to give you some advice, and again this is not the right or wrong way to do things, I would try and go through the modular route with a fair amount of consistency. If you can, save up a load of dosh, say over the next 2 or 3 years, and crack on with the mission full time. If you are shrewd with your money, you can most likely do the whole thing at a reasonable cost, in comparison to some of the larger integrated schools.

I have said this many times on these forums, but after all the hard work, blood sweat and tears, if you heart is in flying, when you land your first professional flying job, it will be worth it and you will never work again :).

All the best with your quest.

[Berg]

Thanks for those responses, very useful!

Anyone else out there willing to share their experiences, especially if you've ended up in a flying career away from the airlines?

Thanks again