Staying current - PPL

[sneetch]

I recently began PPL training with a view to a CPL. Unfortunately I couldn't get a class 1 medical though, so the CPL is no longer an option.

I'd stop, but the trouble is ... I've gotten to like it!! I would really hate to have to give it up now.
I'm thinking of continuing with the PPL and was curious as to how many hours (ball park) one should put in, say on a weekly/monthly basis just to stay current & safe.
Would really appreciate some advice :)

[FNG]

Sorry that you've been knocked back on the CPL, but welcome to the world of recreational flying. There are obviously many variables such as personal aptitude and complexity of aircraft, but I've seen it suggested (I think by Irv Lee), that after 4 weeks off flying, you notice that you are rusty, and after 6 weeks off, other people notice. Irv may have been speaking from his own perspective as a very experienced instructor, so the rest of us may get rusty more quickly. Some clubs have 30 day currency rules for renting, others 3 months (similar to the 3 landings in 90 days to take passengers rule).

I wouldn't feel either current or safe if I flew the legal minimum number of hours, which has always struck me as surprisingly low. Even if doing that made me safe, it wouldn't make me progress in flying, and the hobby would not be much fun without targets and progression. I try to fly at least fortnightly, and weekly if I can, but I'm an obsessed saddo.

[AerBabe]

Real shame about the CPL :( Plenty of fun to be had flying without one though!
My club has a 'one take off and landing within the last month to fly with a passenger' rule. Very sensible! I don't get to fly particularly often, as I'm a student, and have to work in my spare time to pay for it. I tend to not fly for a few weeks, and then do two or three flights within a couple of weeks - feels like I'm making more progress that way! If I don't manage to fly for more than a few weeks, I do notice that I have to think about what I'm doing a bit more. Guess it depends on what kind of flying you want to do - whether you're happy buzzing round the local area, or whether you want to go cross-channel, or something equally adventurous!
Have fun :cool:

[Evo7]

Good topic - I'll be interested to hear what other people think.

FWIW, my post-PPL budget will allow for about 30-40 hours a year, although an IMC will eat some of that at some point. Based on the rate at which my skills drop during a wet couple of weeks I'm not sure that I'd like to go too much below that - however, I'm not exactly experienced... :)

[Genghis the Engineer]

Currency - my personal experience is that I feel downright unsafe if I'm flying less than 25 hrs pa and start to feel I know what I'm doing most of the time past 40.

I've said this before, but if you're prepared to think laterally there are more ways than one to earn your living flying. Yesterday I was visiting a microlight school, who were complaining bitterly about how few people are qualifying as microlight instructors and how hard it is to recruit any.

Microlights and balloons share the same medical, so a microlight instructors rating or a ballon CPL are options. Both involve more than JUST flying, but you'd certainly get plenty of hours and earn a living.

G

[Who has control?]

I believe that getting the PPL is the easy bit, although it probably doesn't seem like it at the time! When you are training, there is a goal to aim at and you are mentally committed to spending the money, doing the studying etc.

Once you have the licence, the only thing making you go flying is ....you. And there are an awful lot of other things that need doing and prevent you from flying. I try to go one hour a month, but even that can be difficult, when the weather, the aircraft and the money do not coincide.

My advice to any brand new PPL is to think what you intend to be doing in 50 hours time, and then start saving for a share in your own aircraft.

[Whirlybird]

Getting rusty happens gradually. As a very new pilot, I noticed the difference after even a couple of weeks. Recently, after a gap of six weeks, I went up with an instructor (club currency rules) and my flying was fine until we started practising auto-rotations (like PFLs, but harder) - and I'd have survived, had it been for real, but the helicopter might not. :( And to put it the opposite way, when I was flying every day in the US, my flying was much better than after even a gap of a week.

But none of us can afford to fly every day. :( So it comes down to knowing what works for you. Everybody's a bit different, but on the whole, the more experience you have, the longer gaps you can have before your flying really suffers. How you do that depends on you. Last year I kept my f/w flying up by circuit bashing for half an hour or so about once a month, then going off on a long trip with a friend in the summer. I just about managed the 12 hours. I wasn't brilliant, but I was safe. But I was doing lots of helicopter flying in between, and some things (like nav and radio) are the same, so that probably isn't typical. But it's one way of doing it.

I'd say think carefully before buying a share in an aircraft. Unless you plan to do quite a lot of flying it can end up costing more. Work it out first.

[englishal]

Its a bit like riding a bike. You may not fly for 6 months, be rusty as hell, but after a couple of hours with an instructor you get the courage back to go out on your own, then after a few more hours you're back on form....so it is possible to have long breaks, just be prepared to fork out a bit more for an instructor every now and then.

I tend to fly in concentrated bursts, every 4-6 months I head to the US and fly maybe 20 - 40 hours in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I may or may not do a few hours at home, but it all depends on the weather. The last two times I have tried to go up, the weather has been *****, so I've had to cancel....of course its nice today, but alas other plans. I think it'd help if I lived nearer to an airfield, and maybe had access to my own aircraft which I could fly away over night without getting stung with minimum hour charges.....

Cheers
EA

;)

[camaro]

Pretty similar to englishal...

I tend to do a lot of flying over one or two months and then may go three months without doing any (depending upon cashflow).

At Netherthorpe we have a rule that if you don't fly for 28 days then you have to have a check ride with an instructor.

sneetch

The trick is to find something to do that keeps you interested....be it touring, aerobatics, precision flying or whatever.

One of the guys at Netherthorpe is really in to air racing, and having done a race with him last year it is certainly exhilerating!

Blue skies and soft landings to all....

Camaro:cool:

[SpinSpinSugar]

As above, I tend to do an awful lot of flying in a couple of foreign trips a year (mainly for cost reasons, and I hold a Canadian license). It DOES take a couple of days to get back into the swing of things after a break of many months, but then if you're doing 3-4 hours a day it all comes back pretty quickly!

Probably manage 60-80 hours a year, and try to add a rating for every trip. Pretty soon I'm going to start getting to the expensive ones though ;)

If we were all richer it would be a lot easier, eh?

[Who has control?]

Whirly,

I take your point about share costs, but I'd got to the stage where I was fed up with doing one hour local trips. I worked out that if I bought a share, the total monthly payments per year were equal to about 6 hours club flying. Or put another way, the years flying budget will buy 10 hours at the club or about 20 in the shared aircraft.

You have probably noticed that I have left out the cost of the share itself, but hey, I don't need a new car yet! And aircraft depreciate less than cars.

I read somewhere that a very high proportion of all PPLs give up at about the 100 hour mark, (which is about where I am), so that is why I went down the share route.

[poetpilot]

Sneetch, depending on why you failed your medical, is it worth looking to the US or elsewhere abroad, where conditions may be a little less stringent than Oz (is anywhere?), to see what the CPL options are?

Don't give up too easily. I did, back in the 70s - I was told my eyesight wasnt good enough (though it was ok for UK PPL Class II). What I should have been told was to go get an FAA CPL licence. If I'd done that I might have had a career in aviation rather than a spare-time addiction.

...But come to think of it, maybe I wouldnt have loved it as much as I do if I'd had to do it as a career......

Whatever, keep exploring all the possibilities, hang on to your dreams, etc etc

[Whirlybird]

Who has control,

The availability aspect is a good point. I've always been lucky in being able to get hold of an aircraft for a day or longer more or less when I want to. But I know you can't at a lot of places. So yes, in that case, buying a share makes a lot of sense.

[sneetch]

Thanks for the replies guys! Very helpful. Opinions/experiences on staying current seem to vary quite a bit from person to person ... naturally I suppose.:)