PPL in Holland

[rowshk]

Hello everyone,

I am looking to start my PPL in the Netherlands, and wanted to know if anyone knows of any good flying schools over here. I am an Englishman living in the Hague, so would prefer somewhere reasonably close, although I am happy to travel if necessary.

Many thanks

[Katamarino]

Well Hello...

I am also an Englishman (well, half English!) living in The Hague. I fly at the Vliegclub Rotterdam (Vliegclub Rotterdam - Home (http://www.vliegclubrotterdam.nl))

If you have a car, its a 15 minute drive; if not, its about 45 minutes on public transport. Be warned though; stifling Dutch taxes and legislation seem to have combined to make Holland certainly the most expensive place that I have ever flown. All airports are towered too, so it's impossible to get the crucial experience of non-towered fields in the country; you might have to go down to Belgium for that!

The only other places that might be within range for you are Lelystad, which certainly has training available, and maybe Hilversum and Seppe; but I'm not sure if either of these last two have any training facilities.

If you would like to come flying any time, just let me know; it's always nice to have company and I fly quite regularly.

[BackPacker]

All airports are towered too, so it's impossible to get the crucial experience of non-towered fields in the country; you might have to go down to Belgium for that!

Well, Lelystad has a physical structure that tries to resemble a control tower, but it's definitely an uncontrolled field with just an operator handing out airfield information. In UK parlance, an A/G field. And places like Hilversum, Midden-Zeeland, Seppe, Drachten, Teuge and Budel don't even have something that tries to look like a control tower.

I fly at Vliegclub Rotterdam too, and I really like the atmosphere there. A large number of instructors will ensure that there's at least a few that you'll get along with. And with about 10 aircraft that are suitable for initial training, plus a few more advanced aircraft, you'll be spoilt for choice.

Another alternative would be to go to Valkenburg. It's officially closed but there's a gliding club still active that also does PPL lessons on SLMG/TMGs I think.

But honestly, almost all fields in the Netherlands, including the ones I mentioned above, have at least two competing flight schools at the field. So any place you want to go to will be fine.

[Katamarino]

Backpacker makes a good point, I was rather lazy with my terminology; I should have said no fields without a radio service.

The Vliegclub Rotterdam certainly does have a great fleet (even if they are down to only 1 C172 again :suspect:), and some excellent instructors! Like I say, you're welcome to come for a fly and see it for yourself :)

[rowshk]

Many thanks for the advice guys, has been a great help. Might see you around the aerodrome.

Cheers,

Ed

[rowshk]

Hi and thanks for the replies. My best friend actually wrote on my behalf, and this is his username and logon. So, I am really keen on starting to learn to fly, or at least to get a bit more info about it!
I live in Scheveningen, and would be really grateful if you would be willing to have a drink and a discussion about learning to fly etc. I usually knock around Scheveningen / Archipel, don't know about you.

Thanks and regards,

Bjarni Nash
+31 64 252 9043
[email protected]