training for PPL
Moderator
With great pride for my colleagues, known and un [personally] known, I can say that I have no idea where the cheapest flight training can be found. It certainly must be somewhere, but I have no idea where, and am not looking. Similarly, a pilot presenting themselves to fly my airplane, who states that they sought out the cheapest flight training they could find, will be viewed with caution to fly my planes.
If you want to economize on your flight training, choose a school which is practical for you to attend frequent training, and go to each training session very well prepared! That's the best bang for your buck!
If you want to economize on your flight training, choose a school which is practical for you to attend frequent training, and go to each training session very well prepared! That's the best bang for your buck!
Welcome to this forum!
I am afraid yours is not a very good question. If you can stomach cheapo beer or cheapo wine or pizzas - I enjoy them all
! - do go for them.
In flight training, as in many subjects, the cheapest is rarely the best. And flight training is, or should be, a once-in-a-lifetime enterprise, so price should not be your prime decision factor.
That said: some clubs in France (and they are real clubs, contrary to some UK "clubs" that are commercial organisations in thin disguise) offer quite attractive rates, and a few even have English speaking instructors. You could consider making your PPL a summer holiday project, perhaps - even if France is no longer the nice country that it used to be.
As pointed out above by @DAR - who does know what he is talking about! - it is much more important to find a school that is not inconveniently distant, and has good availability of airfield and planes and instructors. And work hard for yourself, at home or wherever, outside lesson time. That will allow you to gain your PPL as quickly as possible, and there's a great money saver.
I am afraid yours is not a very good question. If you can stomach cheapo beer or cheapo wine or pizzas - I enjoy them all
! - do go for them.In flight training, as in many subjects, the cheapest is rarely the best. And flight training is, or should be, a once-in-a-lifetime enterprise, so price should not be your prime decision factor.
That said: some clubs in France (and they are real clubs, contrary to some UK "clubs" that are commercial organisations in thin disguise) offer quite attractive rates, and a few even have English speaking instructors. You could consider making your PPL a summer holiday project, perhaps - even if France is no longer the nice country that it used to be.
As pointed out above by @DAR - who does know what he is talking about! - it is much more important to find a school that is not inconveniently distant, and has good availability of airfield and planes and instructors. And work hard for yourself, at home or wherever, outside lesson time. That will allow you to gain your PPL as quickly as possible, and there's a great money saver.
Last edited by Jan Olieslagers; 5th Aug 2023 at 18:38.
If you're in SE England, please feel free to send me a PM. I'm happy to sit down with you and back up what has been said already and also to expand on why it's excellent advice..
As an afterthought: IF budget is a constraint, and IF your piloting ambitions are not very large, you could consider flying an ultralight (also known as a microlight in UK) such as the C42.
pro: affordable, widely available, performant and fun to fly
con: no upgrade path to multi-engine, IFR, night flying, complex, ...
At least that's the situation on the Continent, or in most continental countries. Things might be different across the Channel, I cannot say.
pro: affordable, widely available, performant and fun to fly
con: no upgrade path to multi-engine, IFR, night flying, complex, ...
At least that's the situation on the Continent, or in most continental countries. Things might be different across the Channel, I cannot say.
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Down at the sharp pointy end, where all the weather is made.
Age: 74
Posts: 1,684
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes
on
3 Posts
Sadly, I can. We have a microlight school on the airfield as well as a Declared Training Organisation (where we train people for the PPL). There is in the UK currently no upgrade path from the microlight licence to the PPL.
In my opinion, having flown the C42 extensively, it's nearly as good at teaching the basics of flying as the Cessna 150, but at lower cost. However, they both have severe weight limitations, so my 140Kg, 2 metre tall student won't fit in either whereas he happily fits in the PA28.
Actually, there WAS a path, but it depended on you having upgraded to a NPPL-SSEA several years ago, no new microlight to PPL upgrades.
TOO
In my opinion, having flown the C42 extensively, it's nearly as good at teaching the basics of flying as the Cessna 150, but at lower cost. However, they both have severe weight limitations, so my 140Kg, 2 metre tall student won't fit in either whereas he happily fits in the PA28.
Actually, there WAS a path, but it depended on you having upgraded to a NPPL-SSEA several years ago, no new microlight to PPL upgrades.
TOO
There is a simple upgrade route however from NPPL(M) - the microlight licence, to NPPL(SSEA), which actually provides the majority of what most PPL holders want - the ability to fly 4 seat light aeroplanes, in visual conditions, for fun, in UK airspace.
CAA are threatening an NPPL--> PPL upgrade route again soon, and they might actually do it.
So for somebody who just wants to fly for fun, has no ambitions to fly inside clouds, at night, on instrument approaches, microlights is a great route, just as it has been for 30+ years. Its how I started and I didn't find the subsequent upgrades to light aircraft, multi-engine, instruments etc. all that problematic.
G
CAA are threatening an NPPL--> PPL upgrade route again soon, and they might actually do it.
So for somebody who just wants to fly for fun, has no ambitions to fly inside clouds, at night, on instrument approaches, microlights is a great route, just as it has been for 30+ years. Its how I started and I didn't find the subsequent upgrades to light aircraft, multi-engine, instruments etc. all that problematic.
G
Also the recent change to the microlight definition means that the NPPL(A) with microlight rating now allows up to 600kg MTOM which opens up more scope for variable pitch props (permitted on microlights but rare due to weight constraints), retractable gear and autopilots for those so inclined.
