NEVER PAY UP FRONT!!
That's exactly what I did, when I still had not found out about this forum. Yes, you take a chance, but you can get some fairly good deals too - see details below. I'm not exactly recommending it, just saying that paying upfront doesn't have to end up in a loss of money. In my case it's working out well: 25 h logged so far and counting, having used about 80% of my credit; and the included starter kit suits my needs perfectly.
Here is what I got for free, putting down in advance £ 6 grand of flight hours (an awful lot of money, I agree):
- 5% discount on the cost of the flight hour
- A decent headset (Avcomm AC-900 PNR)
- Reasonably sized flight bag
- The full series of the Air Pilot's Manuals (bar vol. 5 - Instrument Flight)
- The PPL Confuser
- Pooley's Flight Guide
- Pooleys CRP-1 Flight Computer
- Square protractor
- Long Ruler
- A5 kneeboard
- A5 flight log
- Pilot's flying logbook
- CAA aeronautical chart 1:500,000
- Set of four chart markers
- Aircraft's operating manual
If you know you are going to fly a lot or going commercial, then some items would probably need an upgrade (CRP-5, ANR headsets etc.) but I'm doing a NPPL, so the above is really all I need.
Soft landings.
Deeday