Recommendations for an Amersham based rookie

[paulo]

A colleague at work is interested in getting his PPL. He's a family man based Amersham with car.

The two fields that spring to mind are Booker and White Waltham...

Booker
- BA - professional, price to match.
- Wycombe Aero Centre - don't know much about them. Flew with an instructor there ages ago and he was thorough about his ground briefing.
- Downside for booker; if you want to take wife/kids, there's Happy Landings, and, err, oh.

White Waltham
- Don't know anything about the schools there (apart from Mr Cassidy and his S-2A :D )
- Nice club house & lots of interesting aircraft & traffic for kids to see (and Dad!)

Any thoughts on schools at those fields?
Any other fields you can think of?

Quality of training / enjoyment is probably the number one thing as ever, but this guy likes his warbirds and classics, so a bit of 'scenery' on the apron will better lure him into our terrible addiction. ;)

[essouira]

As an instructor on a totally different airfield I have no vested interest but can recommend White Waltham as a great club with both a flying school and lots of keen pilots/interesting a/c. Also a good choice of runways which will be important when flying circuits. Nothing against Wycombe but there is a lot of gliding activity and not much in the way of interesting a/c around. Either would be a lot more fun than denham which has two schools but no club.

[Dan Dare]

Have flown from all three of the above during the last 10 years, and White Waltham is without a doubt the out and out winner (but don't tell anybody otherwise we'll get swamped with incommers and they'll put the rates up AGAIN!)

[A and C]

All of the above advice is good but dont let your man go the other way around the M25 , remember if he goes into a place with a lot of gold bars on young sholders he is about to get ripped off !

[paulo]

Are there any other PPL schools at White Waltham or is it just WLAC?

The prices are eye watering. The Porsches and Mercs in the car park obviously belong to the students (or the club owner ;) )

[Southern Cross]

Don't forget Denham - closest to Amersham. Either Denham School of Flying (Cabair) or The Pilot Centre. Both good.

[Grainger]

Yes - the facilities at White Waltham are excellent and Wycombe is fine too but Denham is just down the road from you.

Have to weigh the pros and cons for yourself - travel time vs. facilities and so on. The usual advice in this situation is to visit all three, talk to the instructors, and see which one will suit you best.

Once you get flying you'll be in and out of all three anyway. Have fun !

[paulo]

Forgot about Denham - looks a bit more affordable. Plus I guess there's the option to go up the M40 a bit to get away from London prices. Wellesbourne, that kind of thing. Bit more of a potentially wasted trip on dodgy weather days, but much cheaper.

[FNG]

Denham a bit low on atmosphere, perhaps? Waltham best for that. Wycombe very smooth and slick (I mean that as a compliment). Another option: Skysport. Upside is opportunity to learn on Beagle Pups/Bulldogs with excellent instructors. Downside: involves going to Elstree, which many people find lacking in facilities and friendliness.