Flight trial lessons

[Robertkc]

I'm looking to give an aspiring pilot friend of mine a 'trial flight lesson' voucher for Christmas (they've never flown before). Can anyone provide any advice/tips/recommendations for good places to do this around the London area? I have looked at Biggin Hill so far.

Any help would be much appreciated. :)

[Twiddle]

Pretty much any flying school will offer trial lessons, decide whether he would be more interested in seeing his house (in which case you'll want to pick the closest to him) or whether there is some other point of interest he wants to see.

If he really wants to take lessons then again, pick the school that he's most likely to fly from.

I think loop have a list of flying schools (not sure whether it's an independant list that anybody can go on or whether its advertisers only www.loop.aero (http://www.loop.aero))

Given the issues with various schools, make sure it's more than £100 and pay by credit card....

[Robertkc]

Pretty much any flying school will offer trial lessons, decide whether he would be more interested in seeing his house (in which case you'll want to pick the closest to him) or whether there is some other point of interest he wants to see.
The main purpose is to get a feel for what flying is like with a view to a PPL, so view isn't that important.
Given the issues with various schools, make sure it's more than £100 and pay by credit card....
Sorry for being ignorant, but can you expand a bit on the 'issues'?

Many thanks.

[east_sider]

Try Stapleford, up the M11 just inside M25:

http://www.flysfc.com

[Twiddle]

Various schools have gone out of business, no different in this industry than any other, but if you pay by credit card and the value is over £100 then you are protected (I think that's the lower limit, it could be 50).

But don't let that comment put you off, it applies to anything purchased in advance.

[Twiddle]

Which town does your friend live in?

Then we might be able to give you some realistic choices of clubs that are near where they live.

[Robertkc]

Which town does your friend live in?
Right in the middle of London (zone 1).
Thanks again.

[Johnm]

From Central london White Waltham at Maidenhead would be good, excellent club and regular provider of trial lessons www.wlac.co.uk

[VFE]

Denham is a nice airfield - pretty quiet during the week but more lively at weekends so has a good balance. Check out the FTO's based there.

VFE.

[modelman]

Don't pay anything upfront ( or not much anyway).
Get on your PC,make a homemade voucher (plenty of clipart around to make decent job).When your pal is ready,go along yourself and pay ( or phone through your card).No risk and cannot go out of date.
Also,you are not tied to one FTO as can usually just turn up and go at many airfields.

MM

[Nil Flaps]

G'day Robert,

Regarding other people's comments about paying in advance for a trial flight, I can't see any problem.

The cost is minimal (as compared with other flying costs) and seeing as it'll be given as a Christmas present it's fairly unlikely the flying school will go bust by then. Crimbo's only 24 days away for Chrissakes! I had a voucher that wasn't redeemed until 2 months later - no worries at all.

However, assuming your friend gets bitten by the bug and plans to continue flying, I wouldn't recommend that he then paid for his entire GFPT or PPL training up-front as a package to ANY flying school, no matter how big or how long they have been established, simply because of the time it can take to complete; the longer his training takes, the more chance there is that his chosen flying school could go broke. Possible, but an unlikely, unlucky and completely unpredictable scenario. You can only rely on personal recommendations about flying schools but no business advertises the fact they're slowly going under, so don't lose sleep over it.

If he does continue with it, advise him to pay as he goes. Undoubtedly he'd get a better, cheaper deal paying up-front for a job-lot of lessons, but when you're talking about costs in the thousands, I certainly wouldn't be risking it.

I hope your budding pilot friend enjoys his present. I bet he will. I started flying thanks to a Christmas present last year and not only is it the best gift I've ever received, I'll always be grateful to my family for making me take up something I'd always dreamed of but never thought possible. Reassure your mate that it is possible, he doesn't need to be a genius, tell him to be diligent with his homework and to stick at it, even when a lesson or two doesn't seem to be going his way.

Do that and like me, he'll love every last bloody minute of it. Good on yer Rob, it's a fantastic Chrissy prezzie....your mate's gonna love you forever :ok:

[VFE]

The idea of not paying for a voucher is certainly a good one when it comes to these agencies (won't name names!). If you must buy a voucher make sure you get it direct from the FTO themselves but even better, do what modelman suggests. The problem doesn't so much lie in the FTO going bust but in your mate realising after 6 months that he hasn't yet been up and then the good ole UK weather interfering - next thing you know the voucher has expired and everyone gets all fizzy over the phone.

Seen a few TL's go belly-up for that reason alone and at the end of the day it's the person buying the pressie (ie; You!) who loses their hard earned.

VFE.

[tangovictor]

if Oxford isnt to far out ? a pleasant drive anyway, with other attractions to see / do, try http://flycb.com/
less than £100 and very friendly people, excellent flying, great views etc

[Whirlybird]

A "homemade" voucher is a good idea. If you have the time, why not check out the websites of all the local flying schools (all those mentioned on here), print out details, and give them to your friend along with the voucher, so that he can make his own choice. Or contact Loop (www.loop.com, or something similar; do a search) and get their list of flying schools.

However, if this is too much work or you don't fancy the idea, you're not taking much of a risk buying a voucher. But do warn your friend not to leave it till the last moment to redeem it. We got that happening all through last summer at the school where I instruct - people with Christmas present vouchers about to expire, and now we were booked up or the weather wasn't suitable. "But I didn't want to fly in the winter", they'd cry. Tell your friend that cold clear winter days are the best flying weather there is, and he'll get a far better welcome from any school at that time of the year. In the summer many flying schools are rushed off their feet and many instructors are exhausted. Not everywhere, before someone pulls me up on this, but quite frequently. It's to a large extent a seasonal business, so that's life.

[Mad Girl]

All I can say is that I'm glad I belong to my club and not a lot of others that are mentioned on this forum.

My aeros TL gift voucher was bought at the end of March last year, but due to weather, personal issues etc I didn't take the lesson until the end of November (8 months).

When I expressed concern that I was going to go past the 6 month deadline because of wx issues (despite immediately re-booking every time one was cancelled) they told me not to worry as the wx was not my fault and as long as I was prepared to wait - they'd honour the voucher - and they did.

I was even taken up for a 5-10 minute spin in the aeros airplane when the wx wasn't really good enough.... to do a couple of rolls - gratis - as they didn't want to disappoint, but wanted to show me why the wx wasn't right to do the full session.

Now that's what I call determination to deliver a service :ok:

[VFE]

Most places will honour a gift voucher after expiration if the weather has genuinely played a large factor in the lesson not going ahead. However, if someone calls up with a voucher with only two days left to expire, expecting us to turn somersaults with a super-packed schedule of regular students then they're expecting a bit much but we generally try to work around it for which we often get little or no thanks.

Ignorance is often played upon when in reality most honest people will admit they've simply forgotten about the gift or as is also often the case, been too scared to use it! The 'good ole boys' impression people have of genuine flight training businesses is rather antiquated these days because at the end of the day it's a business like any other. I won't expect the Esso garage to honour my 2p/litre voucher after it's expired - why do people think that we're any different?!

VFE.

[Twiddle]

You didn't buy (at least not directly) your 2p off a litre voucher.....

I can understand that it's a convenient way of making additional margin, I'd guess there must be at least a 15-20% non redemption rate?

[VFE]

You didn't buy (at least not directly) your 2p off a litre voucher.....

I can understand that it's a convenient way of making additional margin, I'd guess there must be at least a 15-20% non redemption rate?
I guess there must be but it's always clearly stated what the expiration date is so like I say, the ignorance part doesn't really cut it with me. As for the Esso voucher scenario, I bought my fuel at the garage due to the offer of future discount via the voucher... sorry, I'm getting pedantic now but I didn't argue when it was declined for being out of date. :O

VFE.

[Whirlybird]

I think most schools will honour their vouchers if the weather has been the problem, and many will try to fit people in even if they've left it a bit late. The problem arrises with the vouchers from Virgin or the other middlemen. The schools simply can't honour these after the expiry date; they don't get paid for them if they do. But some people seem not to understand that. :(

[Robertkc]

G'day Robert,
Do that and like me, he'll love every last bloody minute of it. Good on yer Rob, it's a fantastic Chrissy prezzie....your mate's gonna love you forever :ok:
Nil Flaps,
Thanks for the encouragement. I've actually been doing a lot of research on this over the last week (thanks to everyone who has replied with such helpful advice/suggestions). There does indeed seem to be a plethora of choice.
I've narrowed it down to Biggin Hill as there are several very well established schools there including one that a distant Unlce of mine was a member of for about 30 years (Surrey & Kent).
Thanks everyone! :ok: