Moving schools and dealing with payment

[Ian_Wannabe]

Hey everyone,

I've got a problem and was wondering if anyone else has been put into the same situation.

I'm a student PPL and i'm around 4 hours from my checkride, only in four weeks i'm moving to Leeds as i'm about to start university there.

If the summer was what its supposed to be, i.e great weather - then the completion of the course wouldn't be a problem. However with recent poor visibility, ive had so many lessons cancled that I'm seriously doubting that i'll fininsh in the four weeks I have left. This means that I have to move flying schools without fininshing the course.

My problem is that when I joined my home club back in October, I paid £2000 up front for 21hrs of flying lessons and i'm only about £1,500 (approx) through that money.

Has anyone else had to move schools whilst still working through the money paid up front, because my main concern is that i'll loose £500 for flying I havent done.

I realise phoning the club owner is the obvious thing to do, but I want to do my homework first to find out what the score is at other flying clubs - think of it as a backup plan :ok:

Thanks for your help in advance

Ian

[Charlie Zulu]

Hi Ian_Wannabe,

Normally a flying school should be just like any other reputable business and refund the money that you have on account.

However there could be a side issue here whereby you paid them £2000 for 21 hours of flying at a slightly reduced rate. Ie, normally it is £100 an hour but they've included an extra hour as an incentive for you to pay up front.

In this case they have probably been charging your account at a slightly reduced rate so if you decide to ask for the remainder of the money back they will probably change the hourly rate to that of the normal hourly rate before returning what is then left (probably a little less than what you have now available if you were to use the rest of the money at the flying school).

Hope this makes sense!

Good luck with the Univesity course and the skills test for your PPL!

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu.

[FlyingForFun]

Will you be heading back home for the holidays? Maybe you'd like to leave your account open and use it to go flying when you come home???

FFF
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[knobbygb]

I'd have thought you'd manage 4hrs + test in 4 weeks. Get some intensive lessons booked while you have time. Book three times as many as you need and always at least 2 hours at a time. Also book at least 3 flight test slots if you can.

Having worked in Leeds for a few years and observed the students (in more ways than one) and their habits, I'd say you'd probably fall foul of the '8 hours bottle-to-throttle' rule for your entire time at uni. ;)

If you do leave it until you get to Leeds, have you decided where to fly from yet?

As for the money on account, you are probably in a better position than anyone else to judge the moral standards of your current school. If it's a club as you say, with a membership, they'll probably want you to stick around and rent aircraft from them after passing, so I'd have thought they wouldn't want to rip you off. CZ's point above is worth watching though.

[Sensible]

If you are 4 hrs away from your checkride now, in four weeks you will be 5-6 hrs from your checkride. Currency is all important. Go back and try to complete your PPL now. Theres every chance that you will be able to complete before uni if you are minded - then you won't have to risk a part refund or have to resume your training from an unfamiliar airport.

Good luck!

[Ian_Wannabe]

Hey

Thanks for your help everyone.

CZ - Your words make sense, i'll talk to the owner and see what the score is there - thanks :ok:

FFF - I will be coming home, but I doubt i'll be flying as I cant afford to pay for two memberships, and then only come home for say a week every now and then :{


knobbygb - Yup i'm considering the obvious leeds/bradford - or the nearby airfield that seems a bit quieter - Sherburn
But I have no idea what they're really like, so if anyone has any suggestions then please let me know!

the rest - yup, i'm hoping on a good week where i can fly every day and get it boxed off so I can move onto Leeds with a shiney PPL. But i'm trying to cover my tracks if the gloomy weather stays with us

Thanks for your help everyone, if anyone can suggest a decent flying school apart from leeds/bradford please let me know

Cheers