How long for a Full Time PPL?
I've been having a debate with colleagues about the approriate duarion of a full-time PPL.
This is one opinion:
While a part-time student may well cope with two trips in a day, they have time between flying days to think through/prepare and consolidate what they have learnt. 2 trips/day may well be only 2 trips/week. However, the full-time student will get maxed out; there is so much to take on that they need downtime/ground time between flights to work on their checks, R/T and go over what they have learnt and what they need to do to prepare for the next flight that anything more than the occasional 2 flights per day is asking for trouble. 2 trips/day could be 10/week if the weather is good and that’s too much. One per day is a much more sensible plan.
Flying for 5 days per week, a PPL with 35-40 flights will therefore take 7-8 weeks, longer if the weather is not good.
More intense PPLs, involving 2 flights/day run the very real danger of the student either not coping, or coping but not really taking on board what they are learning, to the long-term detriment of their flying.
An alternative view is:
See how it goes…plan for 2 trips per day, expect to lose some due to weather etc, and see how the student copes. If they struggle with the workload, back off. 6-week PPLs, which is only 7.5 hours per week, are quite possible, although anything shorter is probably pushing it somewhat.
What is your experience and view and why?