Originally Posted by
WishesToFly
Although Ultralights are cheaper, It shouldn't be confused with being cheap however the cost. My local airfield offers a complete training solution for those wishing to gain a flying license in a CTSW Ultralight aircraft (which looks very similar to the the Cessna 162). 25 hours flying time with an instructor plus 25 hours briefing time for £3500, plus you have to pay for everything else such as exams, tests and equipment. However, I think that a student with no flight experience would benefit from 40 hours of tuition as a core package costing £5600 in total plus £140 per hour for each additional hour.
But at the same time another local airfield charges £150 cheaper for a 40 hour package but in a Cessna 152. Studying a for a PPL in a C152 is cheaper than Ultralight flying where I live (Essex)....
I dont understand the pricing!
The CT is actually probably a better sorted, higher performance aeroplane than the C162, and certainly higher performance than the C152.
There is a further difference, light aeroplane instructors are paid slave labour rates, because they can hour-build for their airline licences.
Microlight instructors are usually a bit better paid because they actually have to live off their pay and aren't marking time until they get an airline job.
After that, it's all down to market economics. But you can't really expect to pay much different, for an instructor + airfield + similar performance aeroplane. The real savings in microlighting is where you fly a true microlight - something that costs less to buy and run, not a hot ship that is only barely a microlight and outperforms most light aeroplanes.
Yesterday I had a very pleasant (if chilly) hour's flying in a Thruster TST which in total will have cost me about £40 including my month's syndicate payment. The real cost of a CT, or a C152, (or my share in a 4-seat light aeroplane that I was flying on new year's eve) would have been around double that.
At the end of the day, looking for short cuts isn't going to help. Learn on what you want to fly. If that's going to be light aeroplanes, learn on something like a C152. If that's going to be on high performance microlights, learn on a CT or a Dynamic. If that's going to be on basic inexpensive microlights, learn on an AX or a Thruster.
If you want to waste money, learn on something other than what you'll eventually fly the rest of the time, because the extra money will either come on conversion training, or your first minor accident.
Oh yes, and we are not in Australia, so they are still called microlights.
G