Originally Posted by
Whirlybird
However, I agree with dublinpilot - if you only have £6000 to spend on flying, ever, pack it in now. What's the point of getting a PPLand not being able to fly afterwards? What are you doing now? Flying. What will you do when you have your PPL? Fly. There is little difference.
So stop comparing yourself with others, and fly if you want to and can afford to, and stop if you don't.
Thank you for the advice, which I appreciate, although it isn't what I wanted to hear
The plain fact is that I want to, but can't really afford to. I'm flying now because I realize that, although I can barely afford to, I'll never be
more able to afford to than I currently am. I'm flying because I always wanted to fly, because my earliest memories are of wanting to fly, not because I can afford to do it on a long-term basis. Of course, if I win the Lottery or (hah!) get a big pay rise, that may change.
You're right, of course, in that if I can't afford to fly long-term, it makes little difference whether I can get a PPL or not before the money I can justify spending on this runs out.
As an aside, it was the introduction of the NPPL licence scheme that set me off thinking that flying might be something I could just about afford. If one can get and maintain a licence in 32 hours or so training plus six hours a year, that is something that even I could afford. But I now know that virtually nobody could learn to fly competently in 32 hours; and I suspect that one couldn't maintain competence in six hours a year. So why are these hours stipulated??