NPPL and proud!
Hi folks,
Just to add my 10 pence worth on a few issues discussed here...
Firstly - the comment that it was created by the training industry to tick boxes:
Well - as someone who'd been told all his life he'd never get a licence because of one weak eye the NPPL has enabled me (and, I'm sure, many others) to achieve a life long dream that was once a closed off realm. If I ever meet the person who came up with the idea I owe them copious amounts of beer!
So decision on which licence was an easy one for me!
Secondly - training:
Solo Nav - there does seem to be confusion here.
My instructor and CFIs interpretation of the rules (bearing in mind they hadn't done the NPPL syllabus with a student up until that point) was that I had to do an air test with CFI prior to any solo nav exercises (not just qualifying x-country).
I did this last December and it was a great experience. IMHO doing the Nav part of the skills test at that point actually makes a lot more sense than doing it at the end. And that test was the same as the Nav test for the JAR PPL.
Partly because I requested it - all of my testing/training was done to JAR PPL Standard (it appears to be pretty well the same anyway) - so included radio nav aids, instrument appreciation, etc..
We did try to do the full 150 nm JAR X-Country Qualifier - but ended up doing a slightly shorter route of about 130 nm due to availabilities/met on the day.
Apart from that - did the same as the JAR PPL and qualled after about 50 hours (although I did have a gap of nearly a year from first training to picking it up again - the money ran dry syndrome).
So qualled end April and happily scooting around since - with first pax flown (I think I'm still smiling from the first one!)
As to limits to UK airspace - suits me fine for now. Should be converted onto Warrior this week - then taildragger training on clubs Citabria. I have an eye on doing an aerobatics course after that. But I am looking forward in anticipation to this new European Sport Pilot licence and the possibilities that might bring.
Yes - I'd love to fly overseas at some point - but it's not the end of the world if I can't...
For me - the privileges my shiny new NPPL has given me are priceless...