And what about touring motor gliders ?
A lot of gliding clubs have a motor Falke around the place which can cost about half the cost of a spam can. A lot of the early PPl training is just getting used to the controls and making it go where you want to.
According to the Derek Piggot books I've read, people aspiring to fly gliders might be well advised to get some powered experience so that they can learn the basic handling skills since you don't get much time to do this in early glider training.
TMGs are used by glider clubs to extend flights and to give the opportunity for touch and goes to consolidate landing technique. Apart from that, they tend to be a little unloved because glider pilots think that they're poor gliders and powered pilots scarcely know that they exist.
Whilst I consider gliding a fine and excellent form of aviation, I gave up trying that as a route because the early training is actually more expensive than powered on an hourly basis. Now that I've got a PPL I might return since I believe thatI'd be excused the fifty flights before solo that are normally compulsory.
My PPL cost about 5500 GBP including 63.5 hours flying.The test fee and land aways cost extra as did any training materials . The school I used has put its fees up, but I think they're still reasonable. If you're a more able student than me (probably) then you could be looking at less than five thousand.
I think it's worth choosing a training organisation that doesn't require extra fees for landings at the home field because the cost of circuit training could really stack up if you do a lot of touch and goes. I didn't have to pay extra for landings, nor was there a charge for exams.