Newcastle or Teesside?

[waveydavey]

I'm weighing up my options for doing my PPL, either at Newcastle or Teesside (St George flight training). I actually live in Newcastle but the difference in cost for 45 hours tuition is £1530 more at Newcastle. I Presume this is due to the aircraft they use and landing fees.

So, has anyone any experience of either/ both of these establishments? If the training is far better at any particular site that will sway it for me, otherwise it's just down to can I face a drive to Teesside in order to save some cash every time I fly!

[TOPJET973K]

waveydavey:

Great choice to do your PPL mate and I hope you have as much fun, enjoyment and sleepless nights as I did!

Well, The Northumbria Flying School at Newcastle is a well run establishment now - a fleet of 3 PA28's (2 x 160 & 1 x 140) with another 160 due from it's C of A soon.

Instructor wise you have a new full time chap called Andy who I met for the first time yesterday and he is a really nice guy, JC - who is into his 500th year of instructing - what JC can't teach anybody isn't worth knowing! There are also a couple of good part time instructors generally used at weekends and evenings.

The warriors are £100.00 per hour with instrutor/landing fees added at the end.

Newcastle Airport's landing fees are the stumbling block - £18.00 off peak and £25.00 peak. Peak times at the moment are between 10.00 - 11.00 hrs and 15.00 - 17.00 hrs but this second window widens later in the summer.

Ground school is well run, usually on a Tuesday/Thursday evenings and we also have a suberb social side with our new bar/restaraunt.

Other than that I can't add too much more and it would be unfair to comment on St. Georges at Teeside as I haven't been there.

Do you sacrifice petrol costs for landing fees - ??? :uhoh:


I would go with Newcastle but then that's 100% bias!


Good luck mate.

[GonTek]

I have broad shoulders so will take the flak for this :

I trained at EGNT and cannot complain at the training one little bit
and we now have a new FTO and Clarkys team are a great bunch of people, I agree Andy's a good FI and of course JC is the maestro.

But EGNV (Cleveland flying school ) is cheaper and they have nice aircraft and plenty of them, and my flying with them was all very good.
There is an easier way to get there and it took me 40 mins on a bad day.

I paid for blocks of hours and did a lot of flying per week and managed to pass in less than a year. If you can afford to do it I think you learn much faster that way and do not spend half the nxt lesson learning what you did before.
EGNV cost pay up front is about £4995
I am biased to neither club as they both have pro's and con's
But the con's have now left EGNT.......

[Maude Charlee]

Flown with both places (albeit checkrides rather than training, and it was Tees Aero as was rather than St. Georges), and nothing really to choose between them. However, Wings bar at NCL knocks anything MME has into a cocked hat.

[BigSteve81]

waveydavey,

I've flown with both NFS and St George Flight Training.

I was about 20hrs into my PPL when the Aero Club went under and went to St Georges due to it being the cheapest at Teesside.

I have to agree with Topjet on training at Newcastle, JC is a great instructor and having flown with nearly every instructor NFS and the Aero Club have employed over the last year, I have yet to come across what I would consider (with my limited experience) a poor one.
I wouldn't let the £25 landing fee put you off as they arrange the training times to miss the peak landing times to avoid the higher costs. I believe you can now go to Carlisle to do circuits to avoid the Newcastle T'n'G fees which will bring the cost down a little.

St George runs a fleet of PA 38s which are a little different to fly than the PA 28s at Newcastle. At Teesside when in the circuit you generally have the airfield to yourself, (in 3 hours of circuits I only ever had to contend with a Cessna and an Airbus) at Newcastle you can see five times that in an hour which can cause a lot of frustration due to orbiting when doing circuits. Also at Teesside you get unlimited free circuits!
I only ever flew with one instructor (Peter Gray) at Teesside and he was a nice chap, knew his stuff and always took time to explain things in depth.

What eventually got me back up to Newcastle was the travel time/cost and traffic.
The problems I faced were petrol costs, around £10 - £15 a trip. (add that to the price of the lessons and your getting close to the price of the lessons at Newcastle)
It generally took me an hour and ten mins to get there, and the same back. If there is a bad accident on the A1 add an hour to that (which can result in you missing your lesson if the accident happens when your going there) so a 1 hour lesson can potentially take over 4 hours of your time (happened to me once).
You've also got the problem if the weather is hit and miss and they tell you to come down just in case, you make the trip down there, after an hours driving, the weather turns bad and you made the trip for nothing (again happened to me once).
The last straw for me was when my car broke down one Friday and I had to cancel two lessons (Sat and Sun) as I had no way of getting down to Teesside, a quick call to JC at Newcastle got me in for the Sunday and I could get the Metro to the airport while my car was in the garage.
As you can see my decision to return to Newcastle when NFS started up was mainly due to the extra travelling problems that came with training at Teesside but living in Newcastle.


If your willing to put up with the travelling go for it at St Georges in Teesside, if not come to NFS at Newcastle, and like Topjet said we've got the all important bar at Newcastle.

If you havent already done so give them both a call and arrange to pop in and have a chat with an instructor and a look around at the facilities/aircraft etc and see what you think for yourself.

Hope this helps,

Big Steve

[NT42]

Hi,

I'm basically in the same position, however as I live 30 miles north of Newcastle, I haven't got the choice of Teesside. I'm going down to see Neil on Sunday, to sort it all out. But the figure quoted for the whole training earlier (£1530?) more that Teesside scared me a little. For anyone who has paid in bulk (if you don't mind), could you let me know of how much I could expect to be paying. I didn't realise clubs costs would differ so much.

Either way I'm sorting it on Sunday so I'll sharp find out!

Cheers,

JW.

[Bert Stiles]

One day they'll have the sense to bulldoze somewhere like the Nissan factory and build an airfield there. Tarmac and grass runways and a couple of hangars.

It'll be so much cheaper than Newcastle or DVT and you'll be able to fly out of hours - though not for training of course and the bar will be great and, and.... - though why you need a bar at an airfield is beyond me.

BS.

[Speedtape]

though why you need a bar at an airfield is beyond me.
Why, to swap tall tales of daring do and impress the other poor simpletons that frequent the place with your latest exploits:yuk: :yuk: :yuk: :yuk:
Gimme a break. Anyone that is truthful enough will tell you that now the best (and cheapest) place to do your PPL is St George. OK, JC is one of the best Instructors I have ever had the pleasure to meet. But the rest? Come on. I guarantee you that JC will not be able to give anyone his full undivided attention which leaves you having to deal with the others:rolleyes: Good luck if you are a new starter. With a bit more experience it's easier to sort the wheat from the chaff and suss when you are being fed BS :ugh:
Oh and they got rid of the decent aircraft at Newcastle and are left with an ageing, decrepid fleet that are way past their best. If you are happy to pay top dollar to fly crap then that's your perogative:suspect:

[GonTek]

Northern avaition charge £4995 approx on their website for pay up front. Use a credit card and you have insurance just in case anything goes wrong...

ST is right and straight to the point as usual CFS has a better fleet and they are well looked after, But NCL is handy .
The choice is yours.......

[bajadj]

I too was the victim of the aero club going mams up.. I`m currently waiting for my skills test at EGNC with Carlisle flight training who have a great (but not cheap) Archer. If you`re at the circuits stage Carlisle is really quiet and at seven quid a landing pretty cost effective too. worth a look in my book. and you don`t have to walk a marathon to pay your landing fee unlike teeside!!

JC IS the man though!!!

[principal railways]

Speedtape...
Do you know, and have you flown with, these Instructors at Northumbria Flying School you so casually dismiss?
Surely they have all done the required training as Flying Instructors and have passed the relevant examinations.
If CAA examiners are happy with them, what makes you think there is something wrong with them?

[TOPJET973K]

Steady on SpeedTape!

Northumbria Flying School's instructors are the nicest and most professional people around and like Principal Railways states, if the CAA examiners think they are good enough to instruct then I'm happy with that.

It's like an engineer who signs off the repair - if he/she says the aircraft is safe then thats good enough for me..

The bar - a great place to eat, drink and socialise and not always necessary to have been flying first. Theres a great atmosphere at Wings unlike the atmosphere (not) that existed perviously at Newcastle Aero Club.

[Happyeater]

Can only echo what most have said here about Newcastle and the instructors. Been flying with most of them and can honestly say that they're a great, professional bunch of people. I too considered Teesside when the old Aero Club went bust but the thought of an hour driving there and another driving back in both time (how valuable is yours?) and in all kinds of weather put me off.

The Club is friendly and done out nicely. Socially it has improved enormously and the new bar does excellent food all day. The chicken wrap is to die for!!!

If I lived closer to Teesside, I'd go there. I don't and I'm supporting GA in Newcastle.

[DrRedHead]

I understand everybodys point i was to faced with the decision in march of this year, but since the aero club in newcastle was in liquidation then i thought teesside is the place to go. I fly at St Georges with a guy called David, great lad and explains everything in as much detail as you like, i live in chester le street so it would take me about 20 mins to get to newcastle and i can get to teeside in around 40.

I am happy there i mean one of the advantages is that you dont have to pay for going around the traffic pattern as st georges have an agreement with the airport so since im soon to start the traffic pattern , WOOOO.

I have also flown with paul who is a good lad justs lets u do what u want i mean 60 degree bank turns on my 4th lesson, Bring it on. i have also flown with stephen and another paul who has now left.

I have had to occasion where i have been down and it has not been on which is a bit of a waste of 3hrs bt since i got the instructors no i can ring up and check so no more wasted trips

My opinion is if you live gateshead southwards keep st georges and cleveland flying schl in mind (weekdays cleveland is quite free so id suggest going then) . if you live newcastle way like jesmond etc northwards its prob a bit to far to travel and your probably using similar costs with fuel and stuff and your time.

Best idea would be to pop down sometime just say Chris Nelson suggested you come down and had a look and im sure they will give u a tour and explain a lot.

maybe i am biast as i have not flown at newcastle but i do intend on doing it sometime. But this is my opinion and i think the cost is a majour factor (since im only 17 and just learnt to drive) so thast why im greatfull of teesside

The Dr

[coning angel]

Not sure if he's still operating but last I heard he was. Ashton Aviation have a great little aircraft, full instrument fit and not a ragged old school a/c. Two people I spoke to have said it's a much better plane than any of Northumbria Aero club planes. I think they also have access to the Bulldog at Newcastle. I think Keith Lister is the CFI(fixed wing) there now and he used to be the CFI at Newcastle aero club. Also Andreas works there part time and he was ex-NAC.

As for the Wings bar, can't anyone use that? I was led to believe it was a public place?

[Maude Charlee]

Wings is members only, but there aren't exactly two gorillas at the door going "Your names not down, you're not coming in".