Flying schools around Bristol

[Emkay]

I want to obtain my PPL while doing my Aero Eng degree at UoB, but I'm struggling to find flying schools which offer competitive prices. So far I have found one offering £160 per hour (at Bristol Filton) and another for £184 per hour (at Bristol International), are these prices standard for PPL training? :sad: It seems to come at well over the £6000 figure I keep hearing for the whole PPL course...

[AlphaMale]

You'll struggle to get you PPL for under £6k in the UK.

I paid between £137 & £147 p/hr and managed to pass my test in less than 45hrs. 55 to 60 hrs is average so you might want to base your figures on that. Don't forget your medical, study material, exam free, RT test, skills test, headset, charts, landing fees, CAA issue fees etc

I think you'd struggle to get your PPL in the USA for £6k when you add flights and accommodation.

I guess you're looking at Aeros at Filton & B-F-C and Bristol International?

[Stratus Fractus]

Have you looked slightly further afield? It might be worth going up to gloucester. Alternatively there is a gliding club on the ridge above Cheddar - you might get some useful flying in there.

[blueandwhite]

When I worked at Filton I was learning to fly at Dunkeswell as it was close to home. Its not easy learning to fly anyway, being a long journey away makes it even harder.

I made much more progress when I transfered to working for Westlands on the Isle of Wight and Sandown was only 30mins away.

Good luck with the engineering I did it for about 30 years and still get a bit of a childish thrill seeing bits I designed go past at high speed.:ok:

[BHenderson]

Bristol Aero Club

[avonflyer]

Have a look at Kemble - several options there

[tggzzz]

Gliding is a low-cost way to get some flying skills, around £25/hour.

The training isn't trivial; skills acquired before going solo include flying near other aircraft (thermals, circuits), low-level aerobatics (spins at 1000ft), and engine failure (winch/cable/aerotow failure), and just looking out of the cockpit. Radio skills are required post solo.

There are three gliding clubs around Bristol, Cotswold (near Stroud), Bristol and Gloucester (also near Stroud) and Mendip (near Cheddar).

[MR.X99]

I would venture to say that the final days of aviation training in the UK are close. Denham Pilot Center will do 140 per/hour with a 152 and an instructor.
I would fully support the reintroduction of regulation if the training industry carries on the way it does.It doesn't seem to have much trouble telling young students what they want to here and taking 30,000+ only to end up in a mile long line for a start.
UK taxation and dwindling revenue sources are strangling most industries to death. The UK is bankrupt and squeezing everything to death.
My advise to young pilots,as much as I love flying I would not support a career in this industry unless operator start footing the bill with government. Hold on to your wallet and walk away.IMHO

[MR.X99]

Case in Point:$800 for a JAR CAT 1 medical is pure 100% ripp off. We are not astronauts .Further in my opinion paying for a type rating should be against the law.

The likes of Michael O'leary of Ryan Air would burn you in a heart beat,time for multi-million dollar man to pay if he wish's to play not an innocent kid and his family taking second mortgages out to get burned.Paying for a 737 type rating is the most absurd thing I ever heard.

[BroomstickPilot]

Hi EmKay,

If cost is an issue, I would suggest that you are better waiting until you can go off to the States to do it full time.

You should complete your FAA PPL within about four weeks, provided you do your ground exams before going. You can fly here on an American private licence (or that of any other ICAO country,) indefinitely.

Yes, you will have the extra cost of travel and accommodation, but you will also have the massive advantage of reliable weather (as long as you avoid the hurricane season,) and big schools with plenty of aircraft. The whole thing will be completed in a matter of weeks.

Five years ago, I returned to flying after a break of many years and had to renew a long expired PPL. I was recently retired and had all the time in the world and I had plenty of money to spend. It still took two years to get my PPL back.

This was mainly because of UK weather, (although changing clubs twice was also a factor): I had to book three times as many lessons as I needed to allow for all the lessons lost just through weather. And that was in Central Southern England, where the number of hours lost through weather is fewer than in wet Bristol. I definitely regret not going to the States.

What do you want to use your PPL for when you have got it?

Regards,

Broomstick.