Well, after following this thread with interest i'll report that I did finally get up flying. I nearly got blown half way to Sweden but made it up and down again without any problems.
Now, without whinging i'll alight you all to the cost of this.
I'm currently a member of a great club in Lincolnshire that has very competitive rates for the hire of their Warrior II. I went flying for 1.8 hours and then added the landing fee to that. The cost? £144.80. The club can't help the cost as they have all the overheads etc. but to me, close to £150 for under two hours flying (in quite an old aircraft) is just a tad excessive. That cost comes from a myrid of sources that the clubs/schools can do nothing about.
When I come to do the hour building part of my modular course I shall be going to the States, just like everyone else does. Why? The cost obviously. The amount of business that UK based flying schools must lose because of students going to the US to build hours is phenomenal.
Too often UK pilots are expected to pay more for their flying while, more often than not, recieving a sub-standard service. When I go the States i'll no doubt be flying a shiny Warrior III with a moving map GPS. I'll be able to fly virtually every day and look forward to free coffee, leather chairs, comprehensive free weather briefs and a courtesy car. I'll pay less to do so and will lose nothing in my learning progression.
It's a shame that UK schools lose out in this way but I feel there has to be a seismic shift in attitude in this country before anything changes.
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