Originally Posted by
SamPope5
Hello,
I am a modular student at a well-known ATO in the UK doing all elements from ground school to graduate services. I am facing issues in the hour-building phase. For the past three months, I have been at a fair weather base in a sunny country to build as many flying hours as possible. Things have gone the complete opposite of what I anticipated. Due to only having a UK PPL I am only able to fly this flight school G reg aircraft which they have replaced with EU-registered ac which I had not been told about before coming here. Accompanied by technical issues that need to be overseen by engineers in the UK and the increasing schedule of students needing to share the said aircraft I have only logged 34 hours of total flying time/20 hours PIC whereas I paid for 100 PIC hours and 10 hours dual. The issue I am having is my school does not provide hour building back in the UK and my visa expires in two weeks so will be returning back unable to start the CPL and facing the UK winter. The two options I have are to outsource the hour building to a flying club (I paid for hours on a DA40 and I will receive C152/Techanm flight time) and then come back to them or transfer to an integrated course and pick up halfway to PT1 to swiftly then transition to SE IFR flying and then onto the CPL, but this has been quoted at 9k extra fees which was a bit of a shock considering how much time and money I have lost with the last three months. I like my current ATO, but I am finding it hard to stay motivated I saved up and left my job to make this a reality, but I am finding myself stuck with two weeks left and returning to the UK without being able to start the CPL and my time and money has not got me to where I hoped when I started 10 months ago. I did not want to rush the hour-building phase as I had not flown in years and wanted to become proficient in the elements required for the CPL, but now I feel this is a race against the clock and hour-bashing rather than learning. I am considering transferring to integrated as this seems to be running more smoothly at my ATO and I can continue to shape my skills prior to the CPL course, but if I do I will have to use the money I set aside for a type rating if required in the future.
I am looking for any advice from those in the know. I only see those two options with said ATO being viable. If I were to hour build elsewhere I would probably lose a substantial amount from the contracted course fees along with the poor UK winter weather. Lastly, I like the idea of airlines communicating with my school graduates and would also like to have this opportunity so the pros and cons of each currently weigh equally.
Thanks
Unfortunately you ignored the golden rule and one main benefit of modular training which is to pay as you go.
Sadly this is just a money problem. Throw money at it and it goes away.