Concurrent FI & CPL Training
I'm re-posting this from the Pro Pilot Trg forum - I had a couple of responses - one from a guy who had actually done this so I know it can be done - but not enough to formulate a balanced conclusion as to its merits......so I thought I'd bring it to the experts.
I am about to launch onto both courses, consecutively.
But of course, at this time of the year, in the UK I am somewhat in the lap of the gods regarding weather. Cruddy weather means extended training times and when you're living out of commuting distance from anywhere conducting professional pilot training this incurs extra living charges which can be a decisive factor in your choice of training provider - at the moment I am having trouble locating reasonably priced accomm near my chosen provider, particularly as we are now approaching tourist season.
With the FI course, one has the advantage of a significant amount of GS therefore it is easier to reschedule flying and ground training as and when weather permits, not so much with the CPL.
But if both courses are to be run within the same 8 - 10 week period, why can't both courses be run concurrently, thus maximising any periods of good weather for the appropriate sections of flight training from both courses?
As the flight tests for both courses require a high standard of precision during the flight phase the way I see it I'd be getting 55 hours of flying training for each course, as opposed to 30 & 25. There is no regulatory requirement for me to have completed either qualification before the other and in theory I could undertake the FI course training then the CPL course training and afterwards undertake the two flight tests so in this respect I return to my original question. As I intend to undertake both courses with the same provider there is no financial loss to them.
My homework so far seems to indicate that persons undertaking first the FI course seem to find the CPL very straightforward as the level of precision required for the CPL has already been attained on the FI course. This again leads me to the conclusion that it would be of no harm if not beneficial to run both flight training phases concurrently, provided that the FTO maintains separate training records (which they do in any case) and that the training in the pilot's log book is clearly identified.
The good old British weather is so demoralising as far as training goes that I have considered (and still do) going overseas where the sun doth shine but I feel that I would be better off training in the environment I will be teaching, despite the extra cost....grrrrrrr - damned authorities!!!
Any opinions on this?
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