PPL in London area

[ea340]

Friend of mine in UK is looking for a good school or club in the London area for the PPL. Any suggestions this guy mid forties not looking for a career

[Rodent1982]

I'm currently training at Classair in biggin hill. Great small club. The have a PA-38, a Cessna 172 and a Robin 3000.

Classair Flying Club, Biggin Hill (http://www.classair.co.uk)

[wsmempson]

If you do a search on this site, this topic seems to come up pretty regularly and, having posted at length on this in the past, I am going to simply re-paste what I put before.

"I learnt with BAFC in 2003/4 and, having visited various schools on nearby fields and taken trial lessons with at least two others (including one national chain that seems to feature lots of hour building teenaged boys in white shirts and gold braid) and came to the conclusion that BAFC were the best outfit around, by some degree.

The fleet of Warriors is immaculately kept by the in-house engineering department (I can't remember any of the fleet going 'tech' during my course) and the instructors are either career instructors or semi-retired airline pilots trying to give something back to GA.

Dick Thurbin was the instructor taught me, and his common-sense, relaxed style got me through the course very effectively indeed. I'm sure the other instructors are great, but I took the decision early on in my course to try to stick with one individual - for the sake of consistency.

At Booker, there is a full tower, rather than information or radio - so the r/t is more of a challenge; this is great preparation for the future as, if you can cope here, you'll cope anywhere!

My advice to anyone about to embark on a PPL is to do the rounds of the various schools and have a good look around before committing yourself to one school - take a trial lesson at the final three you're considering, as this will be money well spent in the long run.

I like White Waltham very much (I'm a member down there and enjoy the bar and club atmosphere a great deal) but reckon, as a school, BAFC are still the 'gold standard'. "


PM me if you want further advice or info.

(BY THE WAY, I'M NOT ASSOCIATED WITH BAFC OR ON COMISSION...!)

[Juno78]

Another vote for BAFC at Booker - I haven't flown with them personally but my father did his PPL with them over the past couple of years, and I visited and he took me up in one of their PA-28s in November last year. Very professional-looking operation, nice people, planes look in great shape, and I wish I was learning through an airfield with proper tower myself. If I was close enough to use them (unfortunately it'd be at least an hour and a half drive for me, possibly even two) I'd definitely be learning there.

[airgirl]

Give Surrey and Kent at Biggin Hill a try. They are a very long standing club with an excellant reputation. We have got largely 'career' instructors (instructors whose career is teaching people to fly not hour builders), have got a C152 and 4 Piper PA28's. A very friendly club where you will be made welcome. Also, Biggin, whilst a bit pricey for landing fees, is a good airfield to learn at because of the mix of traffic there. If you learn there, you will be able to cope at most GA airfields you are likely to visit.

Give them a call or pop in to see them at the weekend, very friendly.

[ea340]

Thanks all will pass the info along :ok:

[Beethoven]

Having sampled most of the clubs around the north/west London area for one reason or the other (usually check flights or revalidations) I would certainly check out he Pilot Centre at Denham. It's a small club/school on the other side of the airfield to Cabair and is very pleasant if a little quirky. They have the usual aircraft for PPL plus a Citabria for aeros. They also seem to be quite a bit cheaper than the competition without compromising quality.
Having said that, both the schools at Wycombe are very good and it goes without saying that West London Aero club at White Waltham is excellent, though the prices there do make my eyes water a little.

Beet.