Hi all,
I've not long gained my PPL and I'm just about to start getting on with my hour building in the UK. With covid making things a bit more difficult and not being able to speak to instructors etc face to face much at the moment, I was hoping I could get some useful info on here.
As I mentioned, I'm looking to start racking up my hours now and I am planning to do this on a "pay as i fly" basis - ie, I am not currently in a position to purchase an hour building package. The downside to this I would imagine, is that not being signed up to a flying school "package" means that you don't have the same resources for guidance/mentoring etc as you make your way through the hours. Therefore, first and foremost I really need to understand what the expected "structure" is to hour building and how to log my flights in such a way that it provides ample evidence of demonstrating the experiences required to satisfy CPL issue when the time comes. A few Q's:
- Are there any resources available that show ideal expectations of types of flights covered during the hour building stages? I am aware of the CAA basic hours requirements for CPL but I would imagine these are not "ideal" to make most effective use of the time. For example, there is only one 300 NM VFR XC required - is this actually the norm or would most hour builders be expected to have logged say, 3 or 4 of these?
- How do you log your hours? Should I keep some sort of flying diary where I can record details of flights, rather than just the bare minimum log book entries? What should be included in this? Is there an official document for this purpose?
- Any other unwritten rules about what should be part of the hour building process, or suggestions that would be useful?
In essence, really I am just wanting to make sure that as I go through this process I am proceeding with a structure of some kind whilst ticking off all the requirements, dotting my Is and crossing my Ts - I don't want to be caught out at the end thinking I have completed it all, to be told "ahh you haven't completed X during the process".
Also, I'm based in Scotland and open to new ideas/opportunities for cost-effective hour building rather than just through my flying school. If anyone has any suggestions regarding this they would be most welcome! Wouldn't mind being a glider tug pilot on weekends but not sure how realistic that is!! :P
Thanks all!
