Clacton Aero Club

[Hangar_9]

Hi all,

I've saved up and i'm ready to start my PPL!
I have one query though. Having visited Clacton Aero Club i am wondering as to how they can be at least £25-30 cheaper (129/hour) than their nearest rivals and offer the same service?

Anybody recently flown/ learnt with the school who could offer some feedback?

Regards,
H9

[znww5]

Costs - probably they own the airfield and/or premises, so no rent, landing fees or hangerage to pay to a third party.

One thing most people will advise against, don't pay any more up front than you could afford to lose - or pay using the protection of a credit card if you have to. This is no reflection on Clacton, but applicable to any flying school - they can, and do, go bust.

Good luck with your training, I'm sure there will be somebody on here who has trained there and will be able to give their views on the club itself.

[TractorBoy]

One of the members of our group is an instructor at Clacton. If you want to, PM your details to me and I can forward them on to him and let him know you're thinking of learning from there.....

[rsuggitt]

Be careful to ask what 'an hour' means.... it could be brake-to-brake time, engine start to stop time, master switch on to off time, airborne time....

[Intercepted]

£129 pay as you go, or 10hr block at £122 per hour including VAT and landing fees is a bargain in my opinion. It looks like they charge on the datcom/hobbs, something that should be ok from an airfield the size of Clacton.

[AJ1990]

As a past student I have always highly recomended Clacton. They charge from engine start to stop but you'll often find that your one of the only students in the curcuit so your never left waiting on the ground for long. Feel free to PM me any questions you have would be happy to help.

[The500man]

It's literally two fields with a hut at one end and a footpath across the middle! It's good that it's cheap, and I found it a nice place to fly into and the club friendly. The runway is a bit on the short side though from what I remember.

[Momoe]

I did an intensive PPL course at Clacton back in 1990, lot of 'bottling up' before hand meant exams weren't an issue and flying was great.
Do go for the Super cub if you can stretch that little extra, great plane and a much better grounding than the 152/172, navigational exercises are generally easier as East Anglia has precious few TMA's or restricted air space (excepting Stansted).

[rmcb]

I did some hour building there - excellent for nav. - half your horizon is sea, half land. Most reassuring for initial 'idiot check' :)

Beware Fentons on the footpath, and avoid Jaywick. They eat furriners there.

[lotusexige]

What's a Fenton?

[Heston]

I dont know about Fentons,but he's right about jaywick
Essex resort of Jaywick named England's most deprived town | Society | The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/29/jaywick-essex-resort-most-deprived)

H

[cockney steve]

Back in the day, my first-ever flight was in an Auster, from a field opposite Butlin's Camp, down to the pier and back, it was ~ a fiver, in the late 50's a goodly sum, but we could earn that in a couple of weekends ,carting holiday-maker's luggage in our barrows,whilst they walked to their "digs"


FENTON...see youtube :) an out-of control dog doing a bit of Deer-hunting whilst his owner attempts to keep him in sight whilst ineffectually yelling "Fenton" ( would you cooperate if you'd been given a name like that? :} )

Jaywick, even then, was a shanty-town of beach-huts in which people dwelt all year......sort of a caravan park without the wheels.


From MCB's post, I assume the Airstrip is still in the same area- the flights were always over the sea and it was fascinating to look down on the Pier's open-air swimming -pool,and ponder the perversity of water-over-water.
I used it quite a bit, one year in a (failed) attempt to learn to swim. a function that still eludes me!

[rmcb]

Fenton: runaway labrador (I believe), incompetent owner, as portrayed at JESUS CHRIST IN RICHMOND PARK: ORIGINAL UPLOAD - YouTube

[Heston]

Ah that's cool. My first ever flight was also from Clacton, c.1970 by which time they'd upgraded to a C172. Guess the pier's still the same.
I also had a black labrador that was unstoppable in pusuit of anything bigger than a mouse. Good job we never took him to Richmond Park...

H

[shaun.s]

I completed a PPL course there a couple of years back, and left with a hugely favourable impression.

The hourly rate was per the tacho, but as somebody else said- it's a tiny field with little traffic, so no time wasted taxiing/holding etc.

Excellent instruction too.

Feel free to PM me if you want any more information.