Best place to start?
Hi, newbie here so, heres my first post!
Wanting to do my PPL eventually, in the midst of completing my IT course and hope to get a very well paid IT job that will pay for my training.
Had a trial flying lesson, and loved it sooo much, that i now want to train for my PPL and get my license with hope of one day expanding to other qualifications and get other licenses, but anyway one step at a time!
Looking at starting lessons next year some time, more or less will be next autumn i recon.
I live near Southend in Essex, and i don't drive, so i'm thinking Southend Flying Club is the best option, but there's something about the club that i am not too sure of, they seem to be a bit pricey and expensive, but i dont know if thats because the flying club is literally in Southend Regional Airport, Southend Airport is really easy for me to access and it makes sense to do it there as its accessible, but the price of the PPL is a little steep at the cost of over £7000, for the full course (all inclusive) and i need to buy my pilot gear extra to that.
On the other hand, i am really interested in Stapleford Flying Club. Me and my dad used to go there all the time when i was younger, and pop in for a drink and used to chat to pilots, watch the aircraft takeoff and land and just have a good nose around really. They seem friendly and its a nice little airstrip and has some really good facilities. I had my trial flying lesson there, took off a flew over my house too which was really good.
Stapleford offers the full PPL for just over £6500 (all inclusive) saving me £500 compared to Southend Flying Club, which is a big saving. I like Stapleford and id be happy to do flying lessons there (part time, weekends etc). But Stapleford is really awkward to access, as i can remember being near to motorways, no busses, trains but really out the way, its quite a green but nice area, but just so hard to access considering i dont drive.
So this lead me to think of London, i know London well, i used to live there, get a travel card and you can go anywhere, but i dont know the airstrips or flying clubs of london if any, i dont know if they are any dearer or any easier to access by public transport. Im really looking to find the most accessible flying club to do my lessons, but i just want value for money, im also (if the price is right) willing to pay all the fees upfront to make a further saving too, but this will prolong the flying lessons maybe back another year, but thinking this maybe worth it.
For now, i managed to buy from Ebay a good detailed book on the cessna 152 , quite technical but very detailed and interesting to read, also bought the Trevor Thom Flying Manuals 1-5 (1989 addition from ebay for about £3 a book) i know that they are out dated, but atleast i will get a very good and clear idea of the principles of flight, the flying, law, navigation, human factors etc before i actually go and buy the Latest Flying Manuals when i do the PPL course, for £15 for a set of Trevor Thom books is quite good value i think (even though they are old).
So the question is, really what do you think the best flight school is in London or Essex, is there any really good accessible flying schools around, or any cheap flying schools?
Am i aiming in the right direction do you think?
Any ideas for training etc, is there anything in the books i bought that i can study to get me a head start?
Id value your opinions.
Thankyou