Volkoff I really mean no disrespect but your initial post is a confusing one. Most people know what they want to do before they start to spend i.e. they want to learn to fly for a hobby or to get about, or they fancy the idea of making a living from it.
Here are the main options:
1 Get your PPL(H) and leave it at that. You can now fly for a hobby or get about on private flights. No money can be earned by you but you can however get up to an equal share towards the cost of the flight out of your friends/family. Once you have attained this license you might enjoy flying so much that you decide that you want to move onto option 2.
2 "Upgrade" the PPL(H), after gaining a certain amount of flying hours and doing more exams and stuff, to a CPL(H) (or ATPL(H)) and theoretically earn money from flying. Although, as I understand it (in the UK), this is only really achieveable, initially, with an instructor rating, and even then...
3 An alternative to the above two options is to sign up to one of the forces, let them train you and pay them back by flying for them. I know nothing about this as I knew it was not for me.
There is another civilian option to consider if you know you want a CPL(H) from day one which bypasses the PPL(H) and is called the intergrated route. (The above combination of options 1 and 2 is called the modular route and is popular with people who know they want to fly to make a living from day one as well but want/need to do it to their own timetable.) On the intergrated route you go into a residential course with zero flying experience and come out with a CPL(H).
The above is all a bit loose but gives an idea to what you need to consider.
Get a class 1 Medical if you want to make money.
Last edited by Stringfellow Dork; 10th May 2006 at 21:55.