Ppl

[Coke611]

Hi guys. Does anyone know if there is any way to make the PPL course cheaper? I'm 15 years old, and I have always wanted to fly, but the one thing thats stopping me is a £5000 cost for a PPL course.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Coke611

P.S - did anyone go to the north weald aerofair this weekend?

[Tocsin]

Well, _nothing_ about flying is cheap...

Here are a few ideas:

1. Join the Air Cadets - free flying a few times a year, and (usually) good instruction on ground subjects.

2. Later, try to join Aunt Betty's flying club [university section] - the University Air Squadrons are excellent training grounds (I hear), but require high standards and committment.

3. Consider cheaper forms of flying, for example gliding and microlights.

4. Consider the new National PPL - but only after you have checked out the costs of transferring to the JAR-PPL if you want to go flying as a career.

5. Find rich and feckless relations! (I'll be subbing _part_ of my daughter's PPL after she's done her GCSEs).

Hope those un-connected thoughts help!

(Edited for innumeracy...)

[poetpilot]

1. Try to get a part-time job at an airfield - counter work, washing planes, anything that will get you near them and with them. This could lead to passenger rides (from which you'll learn lots) & possibly discounted training flights or flights in lieu of payment. It's a long shot, but why not try?

2. Air cadets as mentioned before, can get you on gliding courses.

3. Ask clubs about junior membership - may not keep the hourly costs down but may keep membership costs down. Or even join as a social member and slowly/diplomatically blag flights - but be careful to forge relationships rather than just going round being a nuisance ("'ere mister, can I have a flight" doesnt tend to go down too well after a couple of times. Better to show interest and offer help rather than just hang around begging!).

Whatever, dont let go of the dream ! And dont neglect school work either - that may be the key later to either having enough nowse to get through the groundschool, and/or getting a decent enough job to pay for the flying !

[Tiger_ Moth]

If you are just interested in getting the PPL however you can and you dont want to have flying as something you do each weekend or whatever then the cheapest way is probably to go to America and do the whole thing in 2-4 weeks, although you'd have to convert the license when you got back. It would still work out cheaper though, maybe £3000 and maybe you could get your parents to pay for the plane there and the accommodation on the basis that its your holiday?

Get "Learn to Fly Guide" which is published by Flyer magazine each year and should be out soon. It is very useful and lists every flight school in the UK with prices and info etc.

Some schools offer a discounted price PPL if you pay for it all upfront.

Get a job as soon as you can ( I dont know how close you are to 16 but you can still get a paper round now and do limited hours in other types of work). When you are 16 try to find a job for the summer holiday ie 6 weeks full time or something like that, that's what I did. It ruins your holiday but you rake in the money. Then get a weekend job when you go back to school and maybe you'd have enough money to start the summer after when youd worked full time. Anyway you go about it you'll have to do loads of work to get enough money to fly.

Good luck!

[notice]

Although they give some useful tips, it's amazing that people like Tiger Myth are still repeating the silly story 'you'd have to convert the license when you got back'(from the US).

It would be necessary, if you made the stupid mistake of doing the FAA course, but the main advertisers are British, have always offered CAA/JAA PPL courses and are now approved for them, unlike anywhere in the UK, which is only registered by the CAA.

Everyone cannot get their hands on £3000 but it is much less than £5000 and very much less than it could end up costing if you started on a piecemeal 'lessons' basis.

Another route to avoid is the proposed NPPL, if it ever happens.

[Evo7]

Another route to avoid is the proposed NPPL, if it ever happens.


Are you going to tell us why?

[Irv]

Notice: You had a go at TigerMoth, but you seem to believe that a conversion is required for an American (FAA) PPL. (it's an option, but not a must). The question is only about a private licence - why would a conversion be required from an american licence?

Anyway, main message is: Well done for getting interested so early, get involved, and keep opening 'openings' as mentioned (work at airfields, air cadets, etc) - it will work out in the end.

If you are confused by some abbreviations when starting out like this, try:
(Link edited out. Please see the post on the Popham thread for more deteiled rason.)
which tries to outguess what you need to know about them.

[poetpilot]

Check out South Africa for PPL courses too. Their exchange rate is favourable at the moment (prob more so than the US, though I'm going on hearsay rather than anything specific).

[Julian]

There are a couple of US based FTO that offer a JAA PPL for about £3000, dont forget to add your flight (£250ish) and accomodation(£15-20/night) plus food/beer £10-20/day.

The main advantage is that if you pick your traiing area carefully you can fly perfect conditions so no hold up, likewise dependant on where you fly you can also get pretty bad condition - California is a prime example!

If you did happen to go for the FAA PPL you are entitled to day VFR in G reg back in the UK. If you get the JAA PPL then pop does the FSDO and get an FAA PPL in about 10mins and free! It will be restricted to any criteria on your UK PPL so you must carry them together.

Irv - Are you back from South Africa yet? How was it?

Julian.

[leshodge]

I got my PPL when i was 17, i got half of it through the RAF Flying Schol and the other half of which im still paying off my debts for. I borrowed, and scrimped and saved. Im now 18, have a PPL, and a night rating. Hard work, but undoubtedly the greatest acheivement ever. I really would recommend it to anyone! its awesome, and my girlfriend loves it too!;)
Though i hate the colour of the license cover, anyone else think its a bit anticlimactic? :)
Anyway, good luck, join the cadets, ive been in for five years, its not great but its a means to an end remember.
Later
Lee

[Irv]

Julian: Yes, I'm back, see other thread from Englishal http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=501569#post501569
Good fun - I took part in the SA National Nav competition. One of the new SA PPLs on my seminar turned around my plea to get them to think of a short term ambition for the next 8 months (however major or minor it might be) and 'just do it'. He decided that the SA Nav comp was his ambition in his 1st year as a PPL, and as he thought I also should have an ambition, I was going to be his Nav for it. (What could I say?)
The point of putting all that above is that it just shows what you can do as a new ppl with good planning and a decision to self improve in a relatively safe environment - obviously he got an awful lot out of it!

Leshodge: Cadets:" its not great but its a means to an end."
Well, don't forget that's your view of your own squadron - Coke611's local squadron might be 'buzzing'

[Coke611]

Thanks for all the help guys - I'll try and get the money in for some hours!


Cheers, once again,


Coke611 (Louis Coke)

[paulo]

Lee - yup, totally agree about the license. I think the CAA must have a got a job lot of 'turd brown' vinyl. :rolleyes:

I did think about buying one of those leather holder thingies, then decided doing that would be heading down the slippery slope to epaulettes and gold bars. :)

[andrewc]

I was given a leather holder for my 'CAA-vinyl' by a friend
and it didn't half raise my spirits about the thing...

The CAA had managed to delay its delivery just one day
beyond a visit that I was taking to the US so I couldn't
get a US license endorsement.

They complain about the FAA but at least it has the
mission statement of 'encouraging GA' while ours
feel all they need do is regulate it.

-- Andrew

[Grim Reaper 14]

My first thoughts would be similar to Irvs. I would say that an interest at your age can only be healthy, but I would caution you against jumping straight in with a £3000 course. Try and make sure that it's really what you want to do before committing all that money. Once you're sure (and believe me it won't take long!), do the usual routes of getting into the air with whoever you can , whenever you can.

With regard to the courses in SA, the FTC course includes all accommodation AND food, as well as the usual exams, 45 hours flying etc. so the price of £3500 (+£4-500 for a flight) is all you need to have. Granted it's only a saving of a grand on your initial figure. Ormond Beach in the US do a £2995 (JAA) course over 3 weeks, but I can't speak to it knowledgeably. Maybe someone else can give you a review?

Best of luck, and don't forget to tell Santa that you want a PPL for Christmas!!

Grim:cool: