Fastest PPL in Europe?
 

Hello everyone

I'd like to have your opinion. I am currently working and I will finish my job in November to start my fight training. I have the choice of starting my PPL now in my country (the flight school announces 10-14 months to get it) but I would like to go abroad because I think it's much faster to get it in Eastern Europe or Spain. Do you know countries where I could start my PPL in November and get it fast?

Thank you :ok:

Are you really sure you want a "fast" PPL? The problem with getting a "quickie" is that you will be crap! You will have very limited exposure to weather, airfields and the environment you will be soon be operating in. Get it wrong, which will be simple, and you'll be featuring in a two inch narrow column on page 17 of a local rag. You won't make it into "Rumours and News" unless you do something spectacular. Do yourself a favour and take your time to allow some of the knowledge you will need to soak in.

For what it's worth, the flight school you have seen sound a reasonable bunch if they said 10-14 months.

What scares me is that the weather in Paris is always bad, and that in fact I will spend more time than 10-14 months ..

I know a couple of guys who have finished their PPLs in UK/Ireland within a month, but that's in summer time! During November, December low pressure systems dominate across the Europe bringing low clouds, rain, winds. Days are short. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying you will need some element of luck. I would probably be looking at Spain/Portugal

It is very realistic to do it in something like 2-5 months !

Depend of the weather and the money we can put in..

Did mine in Florida in October. 20.5 days and experienced strong wind, rain, bright sunshine, hot weather and thunder storms...

I did half of my exams before leaving the UK and that eased the pressure. Put the work in and you can achieve it. It wasnt easy...!

We used to get cadets through their training plus the add on to get full ppl within 3-4 months no problem.
Maybe quicker, memory fade, it was over 20 years ago!

I will maybe try to fly a lot during summer here!

A quick PPL is not a good idea.

You could try Fly-in-Spain in Jerez who can accommodate those on limited time budgets.

Make sure you sit your ground school exams before going there, these will take at least 100 hours of study or so. They'll be trickier to get through if you don't have any flying experience, as it's easier to recall things in the exam when you've practiced and observed them in flight training.

Also, make sure you get your Class 2 medical sorted, and try to get the RT exam out of the way as well.

This will all take at least 2-3 months, don't be fooled into thinking you can do it in a hurry.

As ShamrockF said, you can do it in Fly-in-Spain. I did it there in 5 weeks total. My mistake was to go there without completing all the study for the 9 subjects. I started 1 month before and still had a lot to learn, I thought I could do it in parallel but, if you want to fly as much as possible, the theory exams will slow you down. I completed all the hours needed before Skills test in 4 weeks and had to go to work, I then returned after one month and completed the 5 exams that I had left in one day and did my skills test plus NVFR as I had spare time.

So, just study all the 9 subjects (pooley books are awesome, combine with the android app for PPL exam questions that you pay some 10 euro and you're good).
Get your medical before you arrive, preferable in UK if you will get your UK license, it will be faster to receive your license as soon as you finish (got mine sent home in one month).
And try to get your R/T done few weeks before you finish in order not to delay your paperwork.

Good luck!

You've posted (originally) in the professional forum, so I take it you want to do a CPL eventually?
If yes, then your PPL is a stepping stone. This means you have more options, you're not limited to EASA. You CAN do a PPL quickly - ideally the quicker the better. It is much easier to progress if you fly every day, and taking more than 6 months to complete a PPL is frankly ridiculous if it's not by choice. Ideally you will build your​ skills lesson upon lesson: the longer you leave it between lessons, the more your skills will degrade and the more hours you will take to finish. Make no mistake, the bulk of your time will be spent on ground school studies: my advice would be to pass all your exams before you start flying. Then you can bang out your hours in a month. I'd definitely recommend learning in the US for an FAA certificate: the weather is better, it's cheaper and there is only one ground exam. You get a licence on the spot without having to pay for licence issue. It's a no brainer. Of course, if you only intend to fly privately in Europe, of advise you to do an EASA PPL in Europe.

I am currently training at a very well known school modular school in Europe and there is a guy who did his PPL and hour building in the US and he's struggling to keep up with flying "standards" and the European system. I don't really know what the differences are but this is not the first guy I hear had trouble transitioning to fly in Europe after training in the US. And I was about to go to the US.

By the way, I got my PPL at this school in two and a half months but I had a good instructor and weather on my side.

Maybe Fly-In-Spain?

The above point is a good one, and there are obviously some rogue schools around. I would hope that any flying deficiencies would be ironed out during the 25 hours of CPL training. In my case, I did all my flight training and hour building in the states, then had a break from flying of over 10 years, then got to EASA PPL standard in 5 hours..

I have been involved in literally huindrends of PPL all done in month in the UK.

The biggest problem is usually the students lack of drive to get the writtne exams done.

Any idea of the weather in East Europe from December to March? Plan to go to fly here during Winter...?

it depends what you mean with "East Europe", but really no 2 years are ever the same. If I'd had to generalize -starting from the top with Northern Europe - Finland, Baltics, North Poland - days are short, and cloud base is very low and thick around December, very few days with sunshine. Generally windy (not stormy thou), wet and miserable. January and February are the cold months with mostly clear skies, low winds but temperatures can and will drop well below -20°C. Outside clear sky days, it will be warmer (-10, -5ish) but could be accompanied by lots of snow. March can see literally anything, sunny warm days can mix with bitterly cold ones - heavy snow falls can come from nowhere.

down south from Warsaw, the weather can get more unpredictable, depending on the airflows, highs and lows, Hungary, for example can be anything between -15 to +15 in January. Last winter brought many, many days of really poor visibility/haze due to high pressure stagnating around the area. North easterly winds can bring cold and dry weather, anything from south will generate a milder, yet wetter pattern.

Balkans, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria are worth an entire separate article on them selves, for example, Bulgarian coastline will have it's own micro-climate vastly different from the rest of the country

I did my PPL at Wiltshire School of Flying, Thruxton, 27/7/1964, ( time 20.15) to 21/8/1964 (time 19.45). On non-radio, no flap, no brake, Jackeroo biplane taildraggers, modified Tiger Moths.
I then converted to the Chipmunk at the Scottish Aero Club, Perth, nearer home. Convertion took 1 hour 20 minutes, including radio, flaps, and brakes, and electric starter.
If you're renting after getting your PPL, they'll take care of your knowldge of local conditions. Go for the quick PPL. If you've good instructors, you won't have missed anything.
And if you don't have good instructors you'll have lost regardless of how long you take,

I broke the back of my training inside of 5 weeks, accumulating around 35 hours. I experienced varying weather even during this period (I am in the UK, after all) but it varied enough to not allow me to complete the training. My proficiency was through the roof, but was I gathering experience? Yes and no, I suppose.

I am about to complete my training in August (life has got in the way since I began) and I am somewhat glad for it. I have stayed current with theory and kept sharp with other's experiences, in the meantime. I have enrichened my knowledge which, in no doubt, will influence the way I fly. It's important under dual training to allow the experience to "soak in" - and not just to broaden your experiences of what the world will challenge you with (see adverse weather), despite how highly I recommend this as reason alone. Lessons on PFLs and the beginnings of Nav training, for example, will need time to set in. This is important. Don't become a checklist in yourself; an order of actions that you memorise but don't understand. Take the time to learn the "why" too.

For that, I just needed time.

If you're fully immersed, a fast PPL is good.

I got mine in 4 weeks and went to work for A.O.P.A. a year later and won all the offices quizzes vs pilots with 30+ years flying.