Exchange rates, training
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: San Diego/London
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Exchange rates, training
The current pound to the $ rate is awful if you're British. If you look at the trend over the last few years it seems to be on a general downward trend to. I think the current rate is 1.5:1 VERY different to the 1.9 back in 2008 when I went traveling!
The South African Rand on the other hand isn't doing so well against the pound (in whatever way you want to put it). As the cost of living over there is significantly cheaper than in the UK, what are people's thoughts about doing training over there?
To give you some perspective,
R 300 (£171) seems to be the average price of rent for a month and there are far less cheaper options available.
R 1250 (£72) per hour for aircraft hire on Slings, 152s, 172s and pipers hover around this mark too.
R 250 (£14) per hour for instructors (amazingly cheap).
One could envision a £30,000 budget covering absolutely everything with lots of safety room for extra hours and a lavish food budget. The weather seems to be more of an issue in SA though if you don't go in the right season. I've heard that the winter time is the optimal period.
For rough comparative purposes, an all inclusive package in the US with the current poor exchange rate is around $50,000 (£32,800). This doesn't include any margin of safety for extra hours and accommodation + general living costs are on average around $1000 per month ($657). The visa is also far easier to obtain that the M1 vocational visa.
Is South Africa the newest alternative to training in the US?
(There are many issues that I haven't addressed for lack of time, but on the face of it, I've calculated an estimate, albeit crudely of £10,000 difference in price).
The South African Rand on the other hand isn't doing so well against the pound (in whatever way you want to put it). As the cost of living over there is significantly cheaper than in the UK, what are people's thoughts about doing training over there?
To give you some perspective,
R 300 (£171) seems to be the average price of rent for a month and there are far less cheaper options available.
R 1250 (£72) per hour for aircraft hire on Slings, 152s, 172s and pipers hover around this mark too.
R 250 (£14) per hour for instructors (amazingly cheap).
One could envision a £30,000 budget covering absolutely everything with lots of safety room for extra hours and a lavish food budget. The weather seems to be more of an issue in SA though if you don't go in the right season. I've heard that the winter time is the optimal period.
For rough comparative purposes, an all inclusive package in the US with the current poor exchange rate is around $50,000 (£32,800). This doesn't include any margin of safety for extra hours and accommodation + general living costs are on average around $1000 per month ($657). The visa is also far easier to obtain that the M1 vocational visa.
Is South Africa the newest alternative to training in the US?
(There are many issues that I haven't addressed for lack of time, but on the face of it, I've calculated an estimate, albeit crudely of £10,000 difference in price).
