Hour building over a long period of time?

[Odai]

Hello,

I recently received my PPL and am now looking to hour build.

Due to personal commitments, I will be juggling the flying with the ATPL distance learning and my undergraduate Physics studies. Therefore, I am likely only to average about 1 hour of flying a week, maybe in 1.5/2 hour flights. So that may come to a flight every two weeks or so, looking to finish the 100hrs PIC within about 18-24 months from now. I'm not counting any training towards the night rating, and possibly the IMC rating.

My question is, is this a reasonable timeframe to use - from the perspective of improving my flying skills in preparation for the CPL, and also from that of a potential employer (whether it be the airlines, flight instruction, or any commercial work) who may be interested in my flight history? Or should I be aiming to fly more often?

Thanks

[davidbrent]

This is interesting, I tried a strategy similar to yourself, but after a while, and a fair amount of impatience on my part, i decided to cut my losses and go over to USA to knock it all out in a short period.

I think if you do this, as you will have a good environment and a good amount of time per session, you will be able to do more interesting, challenging and constructive routes. This will hopefully improve your overall quality of flying and skills as a new pilot.

Is it possible, with your current work/study commitments, not to just wait until you have an annual holiday or leave, and just go over to the states for say 2, 3 or 4 weeks and knock it all out in one go??

I believe this will improve the quality of the hours building and may infact save you money in the long run....

As for what Airlines prefer, my personal experience didnt have much bearing on me getting a job, but i am glad i did it over there, always look back on it as a great experience!

Best of luck, with whichever way you go.



737 Driver
2000 TT

[Odai]

Many thanks for your helpful response.

With my work/study, I will not be able to start the CPL/IR for at least another 2/3 years. There will be vacation periods were I could do many hours at once as you suggest - but then the issue is that I would end up hitting 100 hours PIC well before I could start the CPL and therefore there could be an extensive period where I am doing little or no flying, thus losing currency. Hence choosing an hour a week or so as a decent compromise.

With regards to the airlines themselves, all else being equal, would you say that the kind of timeframe I use is irrelevant? I've tried looking at the various recruitment sites for the airlines, and the only things I've been able to find are that the CPL/IR should be done together at the same place, a 90% average is needed in the ATPL theory exams, and some airlines also state a need for a certain number of hours in the past 12 months (I think 60 for Flybe). So apart from the last point, there doesn't seem to be anything about flight frequency.

[ElitePilot]

I wouldn't worry too much about a time frame for hour building just make sure you structure it to get the most out of the time.
Try and get as much exposure as you can though even by right-seating flights with people at you're club etc its all experience even if you can't log it.
When you do you're CPL/ME/IR you will have the hours in the last x months which I don't think will be a huge deal either.

I would expect in reality a gap between completion of fATPL and first job anyway so having a "backup" career to do till something comes up is a good thing.

[Black Pudding]

Some advice for you

Don't waste your money doing an IMC

Remember that when you do your first ATPL exam, you have 18 months to complete all

You need 150 total before you can commence your CPL training.

Once you have done your last exam, you have 36 months to complete IR.

If I am wrong, please correct me as it was a while ago and I have been out of the training side for a couple of years now.

So if the above is correct, you need to time your first ATPL exam so that when you do your last exam, you have nearly the 150 hours to be able to start your CPL training.

It's all about timing and the fact you took your time hour building will not be an issue at all. Just don't mess up the timing and cause you a problem later down the line.

I bought a share in a 150 and built hours up by taking people flying and sharing the cost. I did about 350 hours over 8 years. Great times and loved every minute.