Hi,
Unfortunately I feel your question is going to lead to all sorts of finger pointing and "if you went solo in 10 hours then your school is irresponsible" type arguments.
You are also going to get lots of people posting, it's not about aptitude it's about the aircraft you learn in, the airspace around you, how often you fly, how lucky you are with wx etc.
It's true, there's lots of variables, yet I understand at the start of the PPL you need to know a cost and what to expect so all the hedging doesn't mean anything if you haven't even got a starting point.
So, taken with a massive dose of salt:
I passed my PPL, on the money, at 45hours (I'm told most do it 50/60 hours)
It cost me, probably, around 11k all in I would say, maybe a shade less.
I did this in just over a 9 month period, first flight was in late November 06 (28th?), pass was in early August 07 (2nd?)
As others are going to do to death here, I'd just itterate. I was lucky and didn't have to hardly any significantly long breaks due to wx. The longest I went in between flights was 3 weeks. I booked to fly once a week, but at times booked flying on the Satuday AND Sunday - that was tough.
I also took a week off work and flew every day, usually twice. That was Saturday \ Sunday \ Monday \ Tuesday \ Wednesday (cancelled due to wx got an exam done instead) \ Thursday \ Friday \ Saturday \ Sunday
Went back to work more tired than when I left. It was that time where I really learnt to fly, had I not of done it, then my learning time would be significantly longer. I still remember the hour I learnt to fly, it's just a shame it took 20hours of training to get to that 1 hour!
£5.5k does sound cheap, very cheap. Suspiciously so to me, but then I'm in the South East and everything is expensive. If you are in the stix oop norf then it may be possible.
The other thing, I've got to tell somebody at the start of the PPL, is 2 things I didn't realise.
1. This is a massive undertaking
There is significant home study, and exam preperation. I work long hours in IT and getting home each night to spend an hour or 2 reading is a tough commitment. It's really not easy, and things all did start to get a bit on top of me around May time whilst I was crunching for exams, working my ass off at work, and trying to get the flying hours in.
That doesn't include the week you spend getting out of work @ 18:30, to get to the airfield @ 19:30 to spend a couple of hours going through radio calls to get back home for 22:00. That's a long, tough day, to do for a week solidly.
Roughly I'd say you've got to accept that you are taking on a part time 'A' level, or maybe 3 or 4 GCSE's into your routine.
2. Flying is fun, but at times you will be SCARED
Sometimes flying is scarey. Sometimes you will be terrified. Don't want to put you off, but this isn't bowles that you are taking up.
Don't go for the cheapest training you can. What you are learning may well save your life one day. Treat as such. If the worse came to the worse do you want the bargain basement training ? Or do you want the platinum plated executive version ?
3. Flying is the greatest thing ever
You will NEVER be sorry you got that pilots license. Still to this day I think about it, or tell somebody, and it still sends shivers down my spine that I know how to fly
