Getting the best out of hour building.

[r44flyer]

Hi all,

I was hoping some people might like to share some pearls of wisdom with regards to getting the best out of hour building.

I want to use my time constructively, rather than burning holes in the sky. Of course, I'm still planning a few jollies to the seaside with my fiancee and friends etc. I am considering building in night and IMC ratings, but this doesn't really help me with PIC time, and it's the 100 of those that I need to concentrate on as I have credits to cover the remainder of the 150 required.

What can/should I be doing to prepare as much as possible for CPL and beyond? What 'type' of flying should I be doing? (My aim is career instructor, by the way.) So far I have told myself that it's a matter of 'simply' narrowing the boundaries and increasing accuracy.

I've got a comfortable time scale of about 6 months to work with, so I'm not desperate to cross the pond and stuff my logbook in minimum time. I'll be doing it all here in the UK, therefore, largely paying as I go.

Thanks!

[Lurking123]

Explore - lots
Fly different types (ie if you got you PPL on high wing, get low wing experience). You could extend this to a taildragger tick.
Learn how to trim an aircraft, properly. You may laugh but I just cuffed it until I had done my IMC.
Go abroad. France, Channel islands, Ireland.
Maintain your standards. Don't get suckered into GPS planning and flying without a plog. You will need to re-learn this stuff when you do your CPL.
Learn how to fly efficiently. Think about fuel consumption, power settings, cruising levels etc. Again, this is something you will ultimately have to consider.
Boring - but get familiar with the CPL/atpl theory course notes.
Enjoy.

[FougaMagister]

Good advice above. I would only add: when hr-building before CPL, learn to stick to CPL standards for timing, log keeping, heading and altitude. The CPL skill test "scenario" isn't hugely different from the PPL, but remember that acceptable margins are reduced. Getting used to them during hr-building will save you money during the CPL course!

Cheers

[B2N2]

Is your intention to best prepare yourself for the CPL skills test or gain as much experience that will be useful past that point?
Several things you cannot do in the UK;

Fly airways
Fly higher altitudes
Fly into large International airports
Build IFR flight time prior to the CPL


My recommendation would be the following:

Go to a reputable school in the USA
Get a very thorough Flight review/ check-out
Fly appr. 20-25 hrs on your own to school recommended destinations
Your Instructor is there to help, ask them to come up with a plan that slowly builds up higher faster and further with more complex airspace
Train for and get your US Instrument rating
Build the remaining time on an IFR flightplan
Since IFR flightplan time is what is logged in Europa land make an extra block in your logbook and log all flights on an IFR flightplan.


You will have received good and valuable training, have flown in different airspace in a different country, have gained an additional rating ( and 60-80 hrs of IFR PIC time) and have flown into large airports which are not accessible in Europe. :D

Just my 2 cents.......I'll get my coat...:}

[r44flyer]

Thanks for the replies folks, all useful advice.

[Nashers]

i agree with the posts above about sticking to the CPL standards. but enjoy yourself most of all.

im about a week away from my IR skills test but decided to go up for an hours jolly in an arrow today. had the red arrows fly right below me passing th white cliffs of dover!

have a look at the private flying forum as places like duxford put up dates that they have a fly in. great fun as extreamly busy so realy good experiance. i went on the first duxford fly in of the year. on the way back managed to get zone transit over head stansteds runway and tower at 1500ft!

do plenty of land aways and just explore. there are a few pilot mags out there which you can buy for about 3 pounds that have landing coupons in them. they easly save you the price of the mags. me and a friend took 2 aircrafts and just flew from place to place in formation with free landing coupons.

just remember enjoy enjoy enjoy. for me hours building was some of the best flying experiance of my life. for others they found it realy boaring as they more or less did circuts the whole time.