On the Path to a CPL
Slackbladder
I recently completed my PPL(H) Oct 06 and am planning to continue on to do a CPL(H) in Canada. I started in Jan 06. I worked full-time while doing the course.
In my experience it is better to do the training as intensely as you can. In that way you consolidate your learning and therefore take less time overall, as the saying goes the longer you take the longer it takes as you spend time refeshing etc which means you spend more money.
I completed by PPL(H) in 65hours on the R22. I understand that this is average. The costs including all the incidentals like fuel, study materials and B&B overnight near the airfield etc. added up to £20,000. So basically £2000 and month. I flew on average every other weekend and tried to fly 4 hours (2 hours /day) over the weekend. To begin with this is as much as I could handle physically and mentally. (I was not much use on Monday mornings after a weekend flying.) Towards the end it was not problem doing 4 hours on a weekend, I also took a week off to do some of the solo flying and polish off some of the exercises.
I stayed near the arifield as I had a hour half drive each way to get to the airfield as I live in central London.
My recommendation would be to build up enough funds so that you can be sure that you can complete the training in a fairly short time say within a year. There is a fair amount of reading to do and if you have a full-time job and busy home life I think this is about the right balance.
I have subsequently kept current by flying once a month at least and I have got a R44 Rating. My next step is to go to Canada and start a CPL(H) course. I applied for immigration so by the time I complete the course I will be able to start looking for a job. The system is very different to the UK. Let me know if you would like to know more.
Good Luck, I can recommend my instructor, having flown with a couple of other guys who did not impress me.
Cheers
Shadey