flying schools in cambridge

[FNG]

Baz, you could try sending a Private Message to Tiger_Moth, as he did the PPL on limited funds over a two year period, although he may not have been paying rent at the time. Others here who have done the PPL whilst students include Aerbabe. It might be possible to obtain a dogsbody job at a flying school (my first job, aged 15, involved scraping birtd!!!!! off and putting oil into knackered Cessna 150s at Birmingham Airport). Informal places like Bourn (friendly but clapped-out) might be a better bet for this sort of thing than slick and shiny Cambridge airfield, but you never know. If you offered, for example, to clean the oil off the Tiger Moths (a dirty job that needs doing after every day's flying), they might be pleased. These places need smiley people at their booking desks, so that might be worth a try. Failing that, try selling your vital organs over the internet.

Taking time over the course has many virtues but, as pointed out above, one negative aspect of this is that you have to spend time refreshing what you previously learned, particularly in the pre-solo phase. If you can scape up enough for blocks of lessons that may alleviate this problem.

I know little of the ATPL world, but do not think that where and how you obtained your PPL is of great interest to airline recruiting people (although it is possible that training on a Moth might make you stand out from the Cabair crowd, and it ought to give you superior stick and rudder skills).

By the way, law can be dull, as you know, but lawyers earn more than pilots, and can still go flying at the weekend. There is more to life than money, of course, so good luck in your training.

EDIT: Another idea: try contacting the people who offer pleasure flights/trial lessons (eg Classic Wings at Duxford, Avia Special at Waltham, whoever it is at Sywell) seeking work as a meeter-greeter/strapper-in/prop-swinger/refueller. I did that one summer, not for the (paltry) money, but because I got free Tiger Moth flying on positioning flights.