How old do you have to be ...?

[Jools66]

Hi. This is a couple of questions on behalf of my 15 year old daughter who wants to become a pilot. She will be leaving school here in Spain in June 2009 when she will have just turned 17. As she is in the Spanish education system, she won´t have GCSEs, just a graduation certificate. Her plan is to apply to go to Stapleford, mainly because that is in the area we originally come from and we have friends nearby who she can rely on if needs be. My main questions are:-

1. Will the fact that she won´t have GCSEs be a problem?

2. Will her age be a problem? As the CPL is at least 14 months long she will be 18 by the time she could qualify, but can she start the training at 17? She will have some flying hours when she starts but due to financial restrictions not enough to get her PPL, so will need to take that first hopefully at Stapleford too.

3. Does anybody have any idea who would be the best organisation to approach for finance? I could guarantee any loan as I own my house outright but do not really want to mortgage it for her, I feel that she shoud be at least mostly responsible for it herself.

4. Is anybody reading this who is at Stapleford now? Could you give us an insight of life there? She is also planning to take her two horses to England with her, hopefully keeping them at the yard at the other end of the airfield with the owner´s horses as we know him, but if not we have other friends with stables and planes on a farm about 4 miles away. If we have to go for this option, would she get enough free time to look after them? (1 hour morning, 1 hour evening, minimum). What is the accomodation like there? She has a motorbike over here and I would have to find out what the law is for her to ride it there - Spanish licence, insurance etc. She will be too young to get her driving licence.

I hope there is someone reading this who can help. I´m just a concerned mum at the end of the day and it´s because of my love of flying that she´s got the bug. Once she gets there it´s down to her to work, but I just want to check everything out first. We are planning a trip to Stapleford to check it all out, but not until February and I´m afraid we´re just impatient and want information NOW!!!

[IO540]

I believe the following is true for both UK CAA and FAA licenses.

You can have lessons at any age.

Only lessons received after the 14th birthday can be counted towards a license/rating.

You can go solo at 16. At this point you are flying on the instructor's insurance, cannot carry passengers (except an instructor) but otherwise you can go where you like, within the UK.

You can pass the skills test (the checkride) at 17.

Education (or lack of) is irrelevant. For the European PPL she will have to pass around half a dozen exams which is hard if somebody is completely thick :) but if she can read and write and has a shred of common sense she will be just fine.

You mention a CPL and a PPL. I take it you mean a PPL. It does indeed take a year on average to finish a PPL in UK's weather (lots of cancelled lessons) but with luck it can be a lot quicker - especially if the student has been doing "informal flying" beforehand and knows the ropes.

[Jools66]

Cheers for that! She´ll be having lessons at Jerez over the next 18 months as and when finances allow so these will count towards her PPL. She does want to do the CPL afterwards as she wants to fly commercially. It´s great to know the GCSEs won´t be a problem, here in Spain rather than choosing your subjects at age 13, they give you a good grounding in the basics - maths, languages etc - then at 14 they start them off on physics, chemistry etc so they actualy should graduate in every subject. As she knows what she wants to do she can now go all out at physics as she knows it´s relevant to her future career.

[Flyin'Dutch']

Why come to blighty if she can do it all in Spain?

[Jools66]

She´s had a really bad experience here in Spain recently and wants to get away. I know the weather´s better here for regular flying but after what she´s been through that´s no comfort.

[IO540]

If she had a "bad experience" in Spain, she better wear a longer skirt if she wants to train in the UK ;) because the instructors are just the same.

Unless of course the bad experience is entirely different from what I am thinking of.

Personally, I would do the JAA PPL in Spain, because it will be done far quicker. Here in the UK, you can get lucky but more likely not, especially at this time of the year. If one flies every day, the retention is a lot better and it's possible to do it in 6 weeks or even less.

[Jools66]

Yes it is a different matter to what you´re thinking of but we understand what you´re saying. Regarding flying in Spain as opposed to England again I understand what you´re saying. I´ll try to get her as many hours as I can over here before she goes to England, but she´s absolutely adamant that as soon as she leaves school she´s leaving Spain so she´ll probably have to finish the PPL over there. Time and finances are the main obstructions at the moment, mainly time, the nearest flying school being 2 and a half hours drive away. Although this single-mindedness is a pain in the arse most of the time at least she´s determined to become a pilot so if she maintains that attitude throughout the course hopefully she´ll get there!