Answers to your questions.
1. I received this email from sothend flying club for the IR conversion.
"""Sorry for the delay in replying.. CAA requirements are 10 HRS in multi
aircraft and 5HRS in sim plus check ride.
Course cost is #3725.00 plus fee to CAA of #637.00 and hire of aircraft
for check ride at #265.00/hr . The course fee includes landings and
instructor but for the check ride (quoted at solo rates) landing fees are extra."""
At some schools you can do 10 hours in the sim and 5 in the aircraft. Southends sim is not approved. That would bring the price down to below £3500 but I said £3500 to be safe. I know CAA fees are not included but the big integrated schools dont include them either!
2. JAA ATPL distance learning course.
http://nacgroundschool.com/dlcourse.htm
take a look US$ 1870 about GBP 1000. Does that answer your question about where you can do a course for that price. The big UK schools do not include exam fees either! That price includes the refresher if done in FL.
3. The MCC course for £1500. I will have to ask a guy at work where he did it as he told me about that price. Once I find out I will post it. I found one for £2300
http://www.multiflight.com/training/mcc.html
4. The CPL conversion, the CAA leaves it up to the school to decide how much training you need, I was quoted around £1000, again the big UK schools dont include CAA fees!
5. Living expenses, sorry I forgot it was free to live in England? The cost of living in the US is far cheaper than in the UK. I shared an apartment 5 mins from the airport, swimming pool, gym etc for US$200 a month. Food is also far cheaper. To get all the FAA ratings all the way to Comm IR multi takes about 4 months if you are really committed. You can also start studying for the JAA ATPL exams whilst there. You then return to the UK and get a job whilst finishing the distance course.
6. Lets assume it costs an extra £1000 pounds per check ride, in the US it is no where near that price (£400) but lets just say that for arguments sake. Thats £6000 so the total cost would go up to about £21,000 but remember most UK schools dont include those fees either. So you still have a saving of over £30,000. I am not trying to sell anything, I do not work for a school, I have nothing to gain from posting this. I just want people to be able to make an informed decision before paying over £50,000 to be in a position to apply for jobs that are very hard to get.
The savings are huge and you end up with the same license.
Travel costs to the us are not that much $400 return. It is cheaper to fly to Florida do 3 hours in a twin stay overnight in a hotel and fly back rather than do 3 hours in a twin in the UK.
Just thought I should add that in the US, you do not pay landing fees or approach fees or any other fee to use airfields. You can do approaches at international airports without having to pay a penny or phone them in advance. You would only be subject to that whilst doing the two conversions in the UK.