Saving Hours and Money During Training

[flying_shortly]

Hi,

Just planning ahead regards my training... I want to save on hours and money as much as is possible.

1.) Do IR before CPL to reduce hrs needed to start CPL as a modular student.

2.) Do CPL xcountry during hrs building in C152?

3.) Apply for PPL and night rating together to save admin fee and hassle.

Have you any advice or extra tips or ways of saving money or hrs needed?

Would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

[v6g]

The single best piece of advice for saving money is to only train when you a reasonable chance of a job at the end.

[jonnyhock]

CPL multi instead of CPL single + Multi rating, save a litle bit on the course cost and you dont pay for 2 separate checkrides?

[pilotmike]

Do you think there might just be a chance that you're coming at this from completely the wrong angle?

Minimum hours and requirements are just that - MINIMUMS. The vast majority of pilots take considerably longer, so your question is likely to be purely academic and of no consequence.

At the end of the day, there simply is no substitute for experience - real flying hours, in all conditions, the sort that can only be built up by having an attitude that you WANT to fly as much as possible. In contrast, you seem to come across as wanting to do as little flying as possible, in other words, to have the very barest minimum experience when trying to impress at interview for your dream job.

Trying to change a well trodden and proven training route just trying to save tiny amounts of time and money is likely to backfire, and is not likely to achieve your goal.

As with much of life, in aviation trying to save a penny can often cost a pound. As experience is King, thinking as you do risks defeating your whole objective - to be attractive to an employer, and to be paid to fly.

Possibly investing more time, money and effort into becoming the very best that you can be might deliver better returns than specifically setting out to be the most inexperienced pilot in what is inevitably going to be a very deep pile of CVs.

[flying_shortly]

I can see what you're saying pilotmike but with limited resouces I only want the most economical way of achieving what I want. Of course, I want as much experience as I can muster. But expensive parts of the course I'm giving extra consideration so as to minimise costs. I should probably rephrase my title to 'minimum hours on costly parts of fATPL course'...

[compact126]

It baffles me that people keep investing so much money into a career that gives so little back. Do you people not follow the news?!

"But ever since I was 4 i've wanted to be a pilot."

So have I. Does that mean i'm willing to earn peanuts, have no job security and 60k plus worth of debt? No thanks, i'd rather have a CAREER and fly for fun. But then again, I don't get to show off down the pub and flirt with air hostesses. Damn.

[flying_shortly]

compact126, I appologise if this sounds rude but did you read my question correctly? I suggest you go back a read it! If I want your opinion about training and the timing of it I will be sure to put it in the title and my question.

Thank you!

[Put1992]

If you have a PPL with SEPL and then do your CPL multi, Can you still fly Single on your CPL if your PPL then expires?

[punk666]

1) Obtain an FAA IR which can be done in 14days in florida with a good school to help reduce the training time for the JAA CPL about 5-10 hours I believe or you can do it in the UK which you will have to do anyway.

2) "Drilling Holes in the sky" is pointless and you will learn nothing so everytime you hour build try and accomplish something new, for example CPL Xcountry or instrument flying practice or even going to a new airport..so the answer to your question is Yes do the cross country and try and complete any other flying requirement that is needed to obtain a new rating or license.

3) yes obtain the night and PPL together..it will save time.
i) Its a shame the night rating is not included in the PPL like the FAA does but then again the CAA will lose out on money.

[GearDownFlaps]

Nick any available copies of pilot and flyer etc etc and rip out the free landing fees for your landaways , 100 hrs of landing fees can add up

[Obs cop]

Flying Shortly,

I'm going to come at this from a realistic standpoint. Likewise my opinion is just that.

In short the money you can save by following a "cheaper" path can work but there is a huge risk it will seriously backfire.

1. The first opportunity is that you can complete your "night authorisation" as part of the 45 hours in your PPL. This is however completely down to your skill level, which without knowing you aptitude level you may or may not have the flexibility to follow this route.

2. The multi engine rating can be included as part of a CPL course or and Instrument rating. However, before you can undertake multi training you will need 70 hours P1 in oyur log book. It therefore follows that you will need to have done the bulk of your hours building before going near either course.

3. The IR is by far and away the harder of the CPL and the Instrument rating. Most people complete a multi engine CPL before the IR as the progression from amateur PPL VFR flying to professional CPL VFR flying (with an instrument appreciation - 10 hours of a CPL course is instrument flying!) to an IR which is a highly perishable professional airways skill set, is the more natural progression.

4. Your qualifying cross country must be done outside of the CPL or IR and so you don't get any saving there.

A couple of things to think of are a CPL without IR can get an instructor's rating and can then get paid to fly. A PPL with an IR can't earn money from flying. The instrument rating is only valid for 1 year and is expensive to revaldate/renew whereas a CPL is valid for 5 years. I would suggest you don't really want to spend too much time eating into the validity period of your IR if you can avoid it.

Now for the huge reality check..........

Your skills, currency, aptitude, attitude, chosen training provider and ability to cope with the pressure of exams will have a far greater influence on your cost saving than which route you choose!

For example;

1. Fail an IR or CPL multi engine flight test, you can easily add £1000 to your bill even if you didn't need significant additional training!
2. Fail an ATPL groundschool exam, you'll fork out £65 ish for each and every one you fail.
3. Two trainee pilot's I have had contact with have both needed more than 10 hours additional tuition to get through their flight tests. That's £2000 to £3000 possibly more, depending on use of aircraft or simulators!
4. Poorly structured hours building will make a CPL or IR much harder and therefore expensive than it needs to be.
5. Students and instructors can occasionally have personality clashes, and that can have a knock on effect with training and costs.
6. Expect to add big bucks if you go for a part time CPL or IR.

In short, your budgeting by jiggling the courses may save a few hundred pounds out of tens of thousands, and doesn't include a contigency (in most cases this is a few thousand!). If you can only afford the training by scrimping and saving a few hundred pounds off the total bill of £30k+ then I would suggest you can't afford what you are trying to achieve, because there is an exceptionally high probability you will simply run out of money before you get to an employable stage.

Just a few thoughts,

Regards,
Obs

[flying_shortly]

Ops Cop,

Thanks very much for that! Some useful info. and good tips there!

Will take what you say into consideration.