Hi ODS
Have been looking at this forum page for ages but just plucked up courage to post my first message - that's right a pprune virgin!
I was like that once - now look at me...
Firstly, welcome to Private Flying. Secondly, I'd say that if you are happy with UK and VFR-only then there's
nothing wrong with the NPPL - but you should be very careful about thinking that you could be finished in 32 hours rather than 45.
I read the Today's Flyer NPPL article on a rainy day recently and had a chat with my instructor about it, and his opinion was that he had only taught one student who could potentially finish in 32 hours - and he was a
very experienced glider pilot. Most (me included) could not do it in 45. For example, the syllabus in TF had the student going solo after 10 hours. Take a look at the recent 'how long to solo' thread, and you'll see that few people can actually do that (and AerBabe's a noodle-powered superhero anyway
). I took 18, so 'my' NPPL is already 40 hours. Ultimately you need to cover the almost the same material as a JAR-FCL PPL(A) student, and unless you are of exceptional ability you aren't going to be able to learn it any faster - I'd be very surprised if, once the NPPL is established, there turns out to be much difference in the time to finish the two licences.
Anyway, don't worry about posting more - I've asked every dumb question going while learning, and people still talk to me...