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Old 23rd February 2009 | 08:44
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BackPacker
 
Joined: Feb 2007
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From: Amsterdam
as well as 100% good weather.
Don't bet on it. Spain, Florida, California and Canada all have their seasons with bad weather although generally the weather is easier to predict, both short and long term, than UK weather. Pick the right period if you decide to go abroad.

i would end up expending money in acomodation, transportation and flights.
Yes but that's normally offset by substantially lower flying costs. Do the calculation.

How long would you recon it could take me to obtain the license bearing in mind the WEATHER??
This greatly depends on your time and attitude.

If you go for an intensive course like the ones abroad it is doable in three weeks, assuming good weather and approximately three hours flying per day. And since you do nothing but flying training day in day out, you can expect to be ready for your exam by the time you've got about 40-45 hours.

On the other hand, if you pick a fixed one-hour timeslot on Saturday at your local airport, with no option of moving it to another day if the weather is bad, or the aircraft/instructor not available, you'll probably need a year and a half to two years, and maybe something like 60 hours in total. You can forget a lot of things, and lose a lot of motor skills, when you don't fly for three-four consecutive weeks because of the weather.

If you want to do a part-time course quickly, make sure you're flexible and your instructor is too. As soon as the weather looks nice, take two hours off work, phone up the instructor and go fly. Don't plan on a once-a-week fixed timeslot.
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