PPL in the U.S.

[Seanmul89]

Hi,
Interested in doing the PPL in Florida! I have some hours clocked here in Ireland. But I can get the time off work as I have days carried from last year and I am entitled to take 4 weeks easy with pay. So I see an opening to go over and for the experience also.

Has anyone here any experience from Florida? Where and what school would be the best for budget, good instructors etc? Plus the rate is terrible now from euro to u.s dollar. Any info be great thanks :)

[ChickenHouse]

I was quite happy with these two: Anglo-American-Aviation at Gillespie Field and Florida Aviation Career Center in St. Augustine. If I would go and do my FAA PPL again, I would choose Florida.

[sapperkenno]

Not in Florida, but Chandler Air Service in Arizona are a great school! Certainly worth a look, and there's an Irish ex-pat living nearby who rents rooms to students passing through.

[Whopity]

Don't forget that under European rules you will not be able to do anything with an FAA PPL in Ireland until you have enough hours to convert it to an EASA PPL!

[9 lives]

Also consider Canada for flight training, there are some great small flying schools, lots of space to fly, with generally less busy airports, and at a few places, you can train for a float rating as a part of your PPL training. At present, you will probably find a dollar exchange advantage too. An example of such a training organization is Lake Country Airways, in central Ontario, where I have done training. If you want to experience busy Toronto airspace and airports, fly south half an hour, if you want wilderness, fly north ten minutes!

[Seanmul89]

Don't forget that under European rules you will not be able to do anything with an FAA PPL in Ireland until you have enough hours to convert it to an EASA PPL!

Thanks for reply. The school I was talking to in Florida, EFT, they said the license I will receive is an EASA PPL for flying in Europe! It was like 11k dollars 45hours, accommodation etc etc.
I'm just seeing on this from experience of people who had a good budget, and was happy with the prices.

[creweite]

Take a look at Hollywood/North Perry airport, KHWO. There are several flight schools on the field, and a lot of nearby hotels for accommodation. The airport has a tower, and four runways, two N/S and two E/W. It is Class D airspace, under MIA Class B and adjacent to Fort Lauderdale Class C and Opa Locka Class D. It will give you experience of flying in high density airspace and in handling radio communications. Check out ATA flight school at: Friendly people.


South Florida Flight School | Learn to Fly | ATA Flight School (http://www.ataflightschool.com/)

[Ebbie 2003]

A strong recommendation from me for NS Aviation at North Perry/Hollywood.

Did my PPL with them four years ago.

Did it in one run, not cheap but very good.

In Florida west of Ft Lauderdale, very complicated airspace, four runways, very busy circuit, several flight schools incl the community colldge, a helicopter school a d constand banner towing and dropping.

I am not a natural but they got me through at 50 - circumstances meant I did not fly until 18 months after my check ride - bought a PA28 Archer in NJ flew a 450mile x-country as my first solo bar three t&g since my the chech ride, so the training stuck.

NS train on 172s

Would advise to get some training software so ready for the knowledge test.

Good luck with it.

[alland2012]

From personal experience I can recommend

Florida Flight School- ORIGINAL Accelerated Flight Training Program (http://www.tailwheelsetc.com)

And

Flight Training and Accelerated Flight Training - Orlando, Kissimmee, Florida (http://www.sunstateaviation.com)

Both operations specialise in overseas students and both do accelerated 2 or 3 week training courses 0- hours to checkride, hard work but achievable

Tailwheels actually have on site accomodation which works out quite well to help keep costs down.

[Rhino25782]

A lot of the recommendations above only apply to FAA PPL though.

There's only a handful (6, to my knowledge) of schools in the USA that are authorized to train you for the EASA license - to my knowledge, it's 6 in total: 5 in Florida and 1 (mentioned above, at Gillespie Field in California, AAA American Aviation Academy as it's now called).

Have you seen this thread? http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/278995-guide-obtaining-jaa-ppl-us-part-1-a.html

There is an ABUNDANCE of information this topic in there... Read it carefully and multiple times...

I've also written an account of my time there, you'll find it here: http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/506849-heres-current-review-american-aviation-academy-san-diego.html

Good luck and keep in mind that before venturing to the US, some paperwork is required at home. I'd suggest to plan at least 3 months for this.

[Martin_123]

I'm doing my training in Ireland - Wicklow wings at Newcastle, with the way USD is right now, I really see no point in going to US. Yes, the weather is not always there for us, but we do get bits of good weather as well (like this week for example) if you can get time off, you might as well knock some serious amount of hours and get your PPL sorted in no time and it might even be cheaper than in US. (45 hours + ground school + briefings will cost you somewhat shy of 9k.. if you buy bulk hours like I do, you can knock a grand off to make it 8k)

I was considering going to Florida myself but then I realized I dont wan't to put myself under that much pressure, to learn all the theory in such short time.. I decided to do my PPL in Ireland and then go to a flying holiday in Arizona/Florida in winter, when the weather here is bad

main benefits with club training is - you get to know people, you get contacts, people know you have a decent local skill for Irish weather so they have no problem renting you aircraft post-ppl for 100 eur dry or even cheaper. If you get your PPL in Florida, no owner will rent you their aircraft in Ireland before you do some hour building with school here...

you didn't really say what you plan to do post-ppl, if you want to go commercial, then it's a different story, but for GA flying, stick with Ireland, at least whilst the USD is where it's at..