London Flight Training

[nightshadecrisis]

Hi all!

I am brand new to this forum. I have searched quite a few different key inputs for answers before I am posting this.

I am an uprooted Finnish-American living in London who has told friends on a Friday night "I'm sorry, I can't hang out with you tonight, I am flying a 747-400 from Hong Kong to Jakarta (on flight simulator)"

I am finally in a position where I can start training for the PPL. I have looked around at a bunch of different programs around Greater London, and was hoping I might get some personal feedback to where any of you were able to get your flight training.

Ideally any recommendations for a school would be a place near enough to London that I could get to easily by train and foot (though I do have a driver's license I don't have a car, but am happy to walk up to 3 miles from the nearest train station if necessary!!)

It has been a dream of mine to fly and I'm extremely excited to finally be in a financial state capable of starting lessons. I guess my question is, does anybody have any recommendations for flight schools near London?

I would gladly be forwarded to another posting of similar questions if one exists. Thank you all very much!

-Evan

[The500man]

London is a pretty big place and there are plenty of places to train at, so it may be worth asking about places that are close to where you live or if anyone knows of any places near where you live, rather than if anyone can recommend somewhere "near London".

Airfields tend not to be convenient for public transport. Best I can think of is Biggin Hill. Bromley south is the nearest station (15 mins from Victoria) and there is a bus from right outside straight to the airport (320).

Biggin Hill also has 3 or 4 flying schools offering reasonable packages. It's not a cheap place to train though as landing fees can be a bit pricey, but one of the benefits to the place is full ATC and of course there is a very long hard runway.

Best thing to do is look at what's available nearest to you though since the weather can change even while your on the train!

[nightshadecrisis]

Thanks for the response!

Indeed, it seems getting public transportation to and from the airport would be an issue. I live in West London, so I was looking a bit at High Wycombe (being that it is 40 minutes from Paddington). I have read a lot about Biggin Hill, and will check that out and give some of the clubs there a call to see what their rates are like.

Would be great to have a bus go directly there from Victoria though. What are the landing rates normally? I have read that in the UK they can range substantially (from say 8 quid to over 30?) so I will certainly have to take that into consideration. Full ATC is a definite plus though. Thanks again for the response. If anyone has any other recommendations or personal experience with a place, I'm open for suggestions.

Thanks!
Evan