cheapest flying schools in UK for PPL

[Guyduke]

Hei Guys,

Im tryin to start my pilotting this year, and searched the internet for several places, everythin seems to be a little expensive, as far as i have read in this forum it seems better to go with modular which would suit my situation right now.

can u offer me some advice on which place to select and how to go about the first PPL course??

cheers

[Nibbler]

You can't take a PPL skills test unless you have the minimum of 45 hours flying training so....

Some non-geographical rule of thumb advice might include looking for a flying school that operates diesel PA28's or C172's as they are cheaper to learn in.

An RTF or FTO close to your home base to cut down on fuel bills and increase the chance of basing yourself at the airfield which can be an aid to learning and provide additional flying opportunities.

Be in a position to be able to pay for the whole course (not up front though!) so you can fly as often as the weather allows. Invariably people who learn this way take fewer hours to complete i.e. they do it in 45 hours rather than more and it's usually a lot quicker in terms of time scales.

Buy only the required PPL kit and course books but try to buy from ebay or an ex PPL pilot - look at the noticeboard / ask about at your local airfield(s).

Try and befriend a pilot who is keen to share their knowledge and experience together with a little cost sharing flying. Whilst this is not official training and does cost you a little more, you can learn a great deal which will improve your overall performance and confidence in your actual flying training.

Stop going to the pub :E

Others may be able to add their own cost saving ideas...

[Jan Olieslagers]

-) "Modular" AFAIK does not apply to PPL, only to ATPL study.
-) Excuse me for grumbling but I cannot resist recommending you to polish up your language, it might help to make a better impression at some of the tests you are to take. Not to mention those round here who might like to be of help.
-) Before anyone else says: beware of choosing your flight school by cost only. Sometimes it is dearest to buy cheapest.

[flybmi]

Number one lesson in aviation: the cheapest way is very rarely that cheap.

While I appreciate the financial difficulty, sometimes if you spend a bit more to get the best training that you can afford it will save you money, time and headaches in the long run.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Oily Jan, you beat me to it!

[glidingdoc]

Sturgate in the vilage of Upton near Gainsborough. Brilliant training, nice people. Cessna 152's

[flyingpony]

You can't take a PPL skills test unless you have the minimum of 45 hours flying trainingNot true, you can take the skills test as long as you have the 25 hours dual and 10 hours solo, with 5 hours x/c, etc.. as long as your instructor is happy.

In terms of saving money at PPL level, if you can join a club with reasonable rates and voluntary instructors, you could well save yourself some money and save yourself the bother of a club checkout when you move on to experience building.

As Nibbler says, buy only what you need and when you need it. Also, clubs tend to have the books around somewhere, I know a few guys who never bought them, just studied in the club house on weekends, etc. And the more you hang around the airfield, helping out, making tea, the more offers you will get to fly as a passenger!

[Pilot DAR]

I share the view expressed by Jan and Agaricus. If you want to be taken seriously in a professional industry, present yourself the way you'd like to be considered.

Remember, when you ask someone to provide their service to you for "the cheapest", you are suggesting to them that you are not willing to pay them fairly for their time. Many people earn their living keeping planes in the air. Those among them, from whom you really want to learn, won't give their time away as "the cheapest". The high regulation imposed upon aviation by our respective governments, results in a lot of people having to do a lot of work to keep the plane ready to go. If you would like to fly, their's is the cost.

You might as well get used to it now, flying costs more than most other activities. Your training will be less pleasant if you, and the people around you, feel that you're after the cheapest all the time.

[Mickey Kaye]

If you know what you are doing and are well motivated you can get a PPL with top notch instructors for under 6 grand all in.

Mind you thats not down south.

[Genghis the Engineer]

You can do much better than £6k.

If you want to learn to fly powered, and have very limited money,then you are exactly where I was when I'd just graduated from university.

I'm firmly of the opinion that your answer is the same as mine. The overall cheapest way to learn to fly is to do your NPPL on microlights at a nearby microlight school.

The hourly cost is slightly less, there are only 5 written exams rather than 7, and the minimum hours to get your licence are 25 compared to 32 for NPPL(SSEA) or 45 for PPL(SEP). And yes, these are real aeroplanes, as safe as anything else flying with less than 2 engines. outperforming many common light aeroplanes - and you might actually be able to afford to keep flying after you've got your licence.

It's how I started, and worked extremely well for me. 20 years later I have 4-figure hours, a commercial licence and an instructors rating: but I started on microlights, still fly them for fun, and would recommend the route to most people.

G

[billiboing]

Hinton Pilot flight Training

Zero to NPPL (SEP) 3520.00

Pay as you go- NO UPFRONT

Zero to JAR PPL (SEP) £4950

INC VAT, landing fees, ground exams, and either 32 or 45 hours.
Experienced instructors- not hour builders

[BackPacker]

everythin seems to be a little expensive

Understatement of the year? In any case, welcome to aviation.:ok:

On a more serious note, if your first question is "what is it going to cost?", are you sure you want to get involved in aviation?

If you're going onto the professional track, the cost of your PPL (which, by the way, implies you're going modular) is only a tiny fraction of the total cost of your ATPL training. Of course it pays to be looking for a good deal, but the quality of training and stability of your training provider is probably more important. And in any case, you might want to do some aptitude tests and get a class I medical first. Otherwise you might be sinking money into an undertaking which is never going to generate any money.

If you are going to fly privately, it's not just the cost of the PPL that's going to matter. Sure, 6K for a PPL is a big amount of money but you've got to consider that you're going to spend *at least* 2K annually after that, just to remain reasonably current. That is 2K, at least, that has to be available, no questions asked, each and every year, in the family budget.

And honestly, 2K per year will not pay for a lot more than a local bimble each month. If you want to go further than the three or four nearest airfields, plan on a lot more.

If you want to fly for fun but a 6K PPL is already a problem for you, then you seriously need to consider some alternatives. An NPPL on Microlights, for instance. Or gliding. Equally rewarding, but a lot less expensive.

[Mickey Kaye]

steakandchips

Talk us through that one I've looked at the prices at Hinton Pilot flight Training and it states 135 quid dual for C150/PA38.

So how does it come in at 4950 all in for a JAR PPL?

[mrmum]

Mickey, have a read of this thread;
http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/469627-ppl-3800-a.html
It's quite an interesting way of doing it, I'd never thought of it, don't know how well it works, but it certainly looks cheap on the face of it.

steakandchips, from reading your posts, you seem to have started up quite recently. Have you actually done many PPLs using this method? How does it work out in practice with real world customers?

[Mickey Kaye]

So the devil is in the detail.

Don't get me wrong this is a fantastic price and frankly the way I would do my PPL. However if someone is aiming for a CPL ticket after their PPL then the majority of those TMG of those hours can't count. So for some students it might not be such a bargain.

However I would stand by my comment that it is possible to get a PPL in traditional "group A" aircraft with top notch instructors for under 6 grand if you know what your doing.

[billiboing]

Mickey Kaye,

You asked us to talk you through a PPL price.

Firstly we cheat.

We use motorgliders- Grob 109 and Dimona as well as Slingsby Venture for the basic training - their fuel burn is much lower and hence the training rate is cheaper. The Grob and Dimona perform as well in the cruise as the Cessnas which we also have

We do a PPL on the TMGs and then do the difference training to SEP. That way you end up with with a JAR SEP PPL much cheaper.

Hope you follow this.

[M H Emon]

Not true, you can take the skills test as long as you have the 25 hours dual and 10 hours solo, with 5 hours x/c, etc.. as long as your instructor is happy.

In terms of saving money at PPL level, if you can join a club with reasonable rates and voluntary instructors, you could well save yourself some money and save yourself the bother of a club checkout when you move on to experience building.

As Nibbler says, buy only what you need and when you need it. Also, clubs tend to have the books around somewhere, I know a few guys who never bought them, just studied in the club house on weekends, etc. And the more you hang around the airfield, helping out, making tea, the more offers you will get to fly as a passenger!
If I take 25 hour for ppl, is it support to take next cpl ?

Hinton Pilot flight Training

Zero to NPPL (SEP) 3520.00

Pay as you go- NO UPFRONT

Zero to JAR PPL (SEP) £4950

INC VAT, landing fees, ground exams, and either 32 or 45 hours.
Experienced instructors- not hour builders
What is the difference between jar ppl and normal ppl?

[charliegolf]

What is the difference between jar ppl and normal ppl?

Simply put, JAR PPL is the 'normal' PPL. NPPL (National Private Pilot's Licence) is a national UK licence, more restrictive in what the user can 'use it for'. No overseas trips, no night flying, no instrument rating for example. But it can of course be a stepping stone to JAR PPL.

CG

[Fl1ingfrog]

The above is wrong in a number of respects. There is no such thing as a JAR PPL. I think you mean an EASA PPL, as it is currently known. The main difference is that the National Private Pilots Licence is an abridged course and the licence gained has several limitations compared to the EASA PPL. It is not acceptable for use outside of the UK airspace without prior permission, such as flying to Southern Ireland and France which are subject to some conditions. You may add a night rating to a NPPL.

[Maoraigh1]

Just a basic PPL, who's had many check-outs, and had to repeat most training after 21 years unable to afford flying.
,The cheapest PPL will be done with the best instructors, and with the fewest breaks between lessons.
Many people take more than the specified hours.
I'm glad I learned to fly young, even if I had a time when I didn't/couldn't afford it.

[charliegolf]

The above is wrong in a number of respects. There is no such thing as a JAR PPL. I think you mean an EASA PPL, .

To be fair, I knew that but was responding in kind to Emon, who had asked about another post. I don't think there's much misinformation in that bit. I didn't know about the night rating, fair enough.

CG

[fitliker]

Have a budget for pre and post flight briefings and debriefings . Run away from any school that does not do them . My first flight school I went to didn’t even shut the airplanes down between students some days . WOFTAM .

[Big Pistons Forever]

In my experience the amount of money you spend on your flying training is almost wholly related to how hard you work on your training. Unfortunately my experience is that many of the ones who wanted cheap training only wanted to achieve the absolute minimum standard to pass the flight test and were not willing to put the work in so that every flying hour was used to their advantage.

On my 15th Birthday my father gave me a PPL ground school kit which was basically worn out when I got 10 hours of flying training as my 16th birthday present. On the first flight my instructor and I walked up to the Cessna 150 and his first words were "this is the propeller". I said yes I know it is a McCauley 69/48 which means it has a diameter of 69 inches and a pitch of 48 inches. I still remember the look on the poor instructors face.

I was and am a total aviation geek but I was 100 % prepared for every lesson, did all my homework, chair flew all the exercises at home, and showed up for lessons with a written list of questions for my instructor .........and finished in exactly the minimum flying hours allowed for the license. When I became an instructor myself I did not see that level of dedication from many students and most students were not ready in the minimum hours.

[fitliker]

An excellent example of the six Ps taught at most good Tech Schools and Gunnery Ranges .

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance :)

[Richard Dangle]

Hey Op,

If you have read all the replies above you would be forgiven for thinking "hey that's a lot of very diverse and sometimes contradictory advice"

In fairness to all the posters, they would be all be offering good, well-intentioned advice, based on their own experiences, which may or may not pertain to your circumstances. And it is the nature of internet forums to get a little combative oft times.

It's a good resource though...like I say, lots of good guys who have been there and done that. You could help them out a bit by adding a little more detail. Like...

Where you live?
Your age?
What your budget or financial plans are?
Most of all what are your goals and timescales?

Other things would help, but that would be a start.

I'd offer one piece of advice right now though...if you planning on a professional career in aviation, do one thing before you spend a single penny. Have a thorough medical from a compentent doctor who knows what your plans are.

Many a professional flying career has ended in the doctors surgery and, surprisingly often, only after significant wonga has been flushed down the crapper.

[TheOddOne]

I can only echo RD's advice. We always tell people to go and get a medical, right after their Trial Lesson, if they express an interest in continuing.

I well remember one young lad, son of an ex-RAF pilot who had an illustrious career with the airlines, who was absolutely distraught to find out that he couldn't get a professional licence, due to a medical problem. However, he hadn't done much flying and being young, got over it.

TOO