Hour building in Europe?

[Alpha Golf Mike]

Hello all!

I currently hold a JAR-FCL PPL-A license. My future plans are to educate myself to a pilot, choosing the modular route on a Norwegian flights school. But since this is only giving me a small amount of flight hours, I am thinking about moving to an other European country to build hours for a cheaper rate as the prices in Norway are quite high. What do you think about this?

[CS-DDO]

In portugal you can get prices of about 100/120euros per hour in a c152...maybe cheaper if you get like a 100hours package.
Dont know about the rest of europe, just to let you know!

Good luck!

[packo1848]

What do you mean by your modular route will only give you a small amount of hours? Are you referring to only having around 200/250hrs TT at licence issue? In which case I wouldn't bother paying for any hour building, but look for a job, whatever that may be!

If you're referring to hour building between PPL and CPL then crack on, but remember just because the flying is cheaper, it will not necessarily reduce your overall cost. Take into account cost of living in your chosen country, it may be cheaper to just stay in norway and deal with the higher cost per flight if you can live at home for relatively cheap/free.

[portos8]

Look at Eastern Europe. You have direct flights from Norway and some of the places are realy good for training. Done mine in Poland and it was excellent, especially the organisation i did it with. Good luck, you will love the time you are hour buiding so don't just wish your time away and burn of time. Go to nice places, try to stay places for a night, bring friends flying, it is all good experience!

[Alpha Golf Mike]

Hello all and thank you for your answers.

Packo1848 (http://www.pprune.org/members/375402-packo1848): I mean that after completing the CPL/IR/ME I will have about 200 hours something. The reason I want to build hours are that many airlines require a lot of hours, for example the Norwegian airline Widerøe requires 500 hours for only to look at my application.

I have been in touch with Fly-in-Spain and they are happy to offer me a price for a 500 hour package, and as far I know the accommodation is included within their prices. What do you think about that school? And now the € is quite low as well, and as far I know I think the overall prices in Spain are a bit cheaper than in Norway.

But another question as well, what certificates are required to fly in Asia? FAA/JAR?

Thank you.

[packo1848]

In that case why not get an instructors rating and try to find some instructing work for 500hrs or single pilot operations somewhere? I appreciate its hard to find work, but once you've got the licence you can get paid to fly. Why pay when you can be paid? Unless of course you have the cash floating around to do all these hours debt free.

Out of interest how much have you been quoted for the 500hrs?

As for the Asia question, I don't believe asia have a common authority like EASA, so it would depend on where you wanted to go. May be wrong though, certainly wouldn't be the first time :}

[Alpha Golf Mike]

Instructors rating of course! Completely forgot that. :ugh: Unfortunately there isn't so many people to educate where I live though... But I will get a FI-A license yes.

I haven't been given any prices yet, just sent them an email with positive feedback from Fly-in-Spain.

I can search more for for the Asia question.

[packo1848]

Instructors rating of course! Completely forgot that. :ugh:

Ok fair one, badly worded, the point I was trying to make was why pay for the hours. With 700hrs you may still find you need to pay for a type rating, which the cost of 500hrs would no doubt cover. But hey, I'm by no means an expert not having the licence myself yet, just throwing my 2p worth in. Will be interesting to see how it works out, good luck with it all.

[PitchandPower]

You might also want to check out Cyprus. There's a new school there with new aeroplanes and good prices. Good weather for PPL flying year-round

[RedBullGaveMeWings]

What's this school?
I got a quote the other day from a school in Cyprus and it was 15.000 euro on C152!

[500 above]

I can agree that Cyprus has fantastic year round VFR weather. Pafos is a better base than Larnaka. Beirut is 112nm as a land away, Rhodes is a popular trip.

VFR flying around the island is strictly controlled though, pilots stick to clearly defined routes. There are no extra practice instrument approach fees or extra airport charges for night flying in Cyprus, clock some of those hours up at night.

Food and drink is inexpensive once you are there. There is an array of hotels and apartments to choose from, going cheap this time of year. There is even a good bus service to/from Pafos airport for those that choose not to drive.

Pitch - I'm not aware of any new schools, though.

Pafos has Griffon Aviation and a one man band with a beagle pup called Walker Aviation. Larnaka has Aviator flight school and Tomahawk Aviation. RAF Akrotiri has a flying club for entitled people also.

[RedBullGaveMeWings]

Well, at least his offer wasn't that bad and to be honest I will take it into consideration at the end of ATPL theory.

[Alpha Golf Mike]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for all your replies, I will take it into consideration.