Post-PPL Flying

[fattony]

Now I'm up to mid-thirties in flying hours, I've starting thinking about how I will continue flying after I get my licence. Using the club's aircraft isn't the most cost effective way of gaining experience but a lot of shares and non-equity groups seem closed to newly qualified pilots. So my question is: what is the cheapest and most flexible way for a new PPL to get experience in light aircraft? By "most flexible" I mean good availability and the ability to land away overnight.

I've read a few threads on what to do after you get your PPL but I've not managed to find a thread on how to go about doing that stuff, although I'm sure it must have been discussed.

[Rod1]

Join the LAA, go along to your local strut and find out what is going on in your area. Many shares are open to newly qualified PPL’s. I got my first share within 5 hours of passing my PPL and the only restriction was that I few with a member of the group for the first 10 hours on type, in addition to a checkout with an instructor.

Rod1

[thing]

I've found the best way to keep the cost down and go places is to take mates. I have a few 'die hard' flyer friends who jump at the chance to share costs etc. The other thing to do is find someone else at your club who has maybe just passed their PPL and do some mutual stuff, you fly there they fly back sort of thing. That works well. Find someone you get on with though.....and make sure they know that when you're PIC then you're PIC and same for them when they are in the LH seat.

Edit: As for availability I've never not been able to get my hands on one a/c or another. The first thing I did when I got my PPL was get checked out on everything for that reason. I'm surprised by guys who say 'Oh I only fly the 28 and it's not available.' The others have wings on too.

[RTN11]

A group is the best way, but as you say many are not open to low hours guys. Often the insurance is set at 100 hours, but you may be able to join and then arrange to fly with another group member to build your time until the insurance is happy.

When hiring from a club, they will often have something tucked away for solo hire and is not part of their normal training fleet. The PA28 and C152 are their work horse training fleet, and will usually be fully booked for training. There will then often be something a bit nicer, maybe a C182 or AA-5, TB10 or even an arrow, which could be available for solo hire only.

This means it will not be subject to the strict slot times of training aircraft, and usually the school is happy for you to take it away overnight.

These aircraft will usually be an extra £10-£20 an hour, but will fly much faster so if you actually want to go somewhere it would end up costing you less.

[piperarcher]

I would echo what thing said. Find some other pilots who also arent in a share and do some flying with them. This is something I regrettably only did when I got into a share.

I often found that my flying 'zone' was a 45 minute radius from my airfied. If I flew out somewhere for 45 minutes, then I had to fly back for 45 minutes, and that was 1.5 hours rental time I had to cough up for on my own. When I started flying with another pilot (and presuming I was sticking to my 1.5 hour budget), suddenly I could go twice as far and that opened up all sorts of possibilities. Not only do you get further for your money, you might also pick up some good (or bad) tips on flying.

For me, it was a departure from the "WWII" stuff as Peter calls it, into some more challenging longer-distance navigation using instruments as well as GPS and finding out what works for me :)

[peterh337]

Try to put a bit of "utility value" into your trips.

I can more or less guarantee that burger runs, most of which can be driven in a similar total time, will lose their gloss eventually.

From the UK, popping over to France is great value because it would be a huge hassle conventionally. And there are plenty of nice places to see. Even Le Touquet is nice, on a nice sunny day :)

A half decent spamcan can make a fair distance into France, from southern UK.

The birds also appreciate "foreign" trips, over anywhere in the UK ;)

My first significant foreign trip was down to Biarritz. Really nice, but I busted a French TRA on the way back... they were not on the charts back then, and not in the notams either.

Some trip reports here (http://www.peter2000.co.uk/aviation/). The Crete 2004 VFR one shows a lot of detail on VFR planning a long trip.

[Aspiring Pilot Alex]

After passing my PPL I was offered the chance to have an insurance share in one of my school's C172. I paid an upfront fee to cover the cost of the share, which is valid for 1 year. This took the price from £125 per hour to £60 per hour. I only have to fly 12 hours to break even. I get cheap flying and don't have the burden of paying for anything if something goes wrong. I think there should be more of these offers about. Availablity is good too, I mainly flying during the week and the club uses it at the weekends, so this setup is great for me.

Alex

[fattony]

Some great info there. Thanks guys!

[Ds3]

Keep looking at groups too, I'm in a similar situation being not far off my PPL and have found a non-equity group that looks just perfect for me - monthly fee then low hourly rate and access to four aircraft.

They're happy to let me join, after usual check rides etc, so suitable groups are out there. I can't wait to get going, now that I've got a plan I'm really excited about getting my PPL and having access to (relatively) cheap flying.

[foxmoth]

Often the insurance is set at 100 hours,

Whilst the insurance may be set at 100 (or another fixed figure) hours it is often possible to pay a supplement and add someone below this, the member requiring this normally pays the supplement.