PPL...yay or nay?

[glaciermints]

Hello :),

An oft-asked question on this site I'm sure! So I'm a medical student from Essex, studying in London and I'm interested in pursuing a PPL.

Bit of background- I've been fascinated with planes since I was a kid. I got really into scratchbuilding radio-controlled planes and flying them- I seriously enjoyed that. Of course the goal always was to fly actual planes, but the scratchbuilding kept me entertained for years. So I got involved with the university's pilots club, and have done a few simulator sessions and one trial flyout at Elstree, which I loved! Had I not wanted to become a doctor so badly, I would've gone into Aeronautical Engineering or something!

Sooo I'm gonna try to get help with funding the PPL, but if not, my parents are pretty happy to help and encourage it. I'm not too sure however, as I know it's a hugeee cost investment (relatively). Any advice on what I should be considering before going ahead? I would like to get a bulk of the licence done this summer as I'll have 4 months off, if not completing the license altogether.

Sorry if this is a bit vague...I haven't got too much of a plan yet as I'm just considering it, but any advice would be much appreciated!

[JRK]

Make sure you know what your goals are. Totally fine to pursue a medical career and be a GA aviator enthusiast in your spare time. In fact, I used to have a client who was a very reputable gastroenterologist surgeon and had PPL+IR and owned a small airplane. Was very happy in both worlds. The problem is if you are actually not sure if you want to fly, or if you want to make flying into a professional career. Remember, that once you are in that environment, you'll be around people 99% of whom are pursuing it as a profession. The flight schools/training centres are also in the business of preparing mainly professional pilots, so they might be naturally inclined to sway you in that direction (more money for them).

So, if you have no confusion in that regard - you know you want to make a medical career and flying is just something you are found of - then go for your PPL and enjoy it! If, however, you consider a possibility of trying your hand at professional flying, then I'd encourage you to first do a very thorough research about the whole profession in the current market conditions, before making any long-term decisions and financial commitments. And try to be as level-headed about it as possible while you do: it is very easy to get all watery-eyed at the sight of a big jet taking off, but keep in mind that any profession (including medicine) always looks more glamorous from the outside, than from within.

Best of luck!
JRK

[ShamrockF]

It's great there's no rush on you. You could use this summer as a chance to take a few introduction lessons and get a bit more familiar with it.

Once you're qualified and working you'll have a lot more money to be able to pursue it as a hobby. Many medical professionals enjoy private flying and I hope you do too.

Best of luck,

[Kriekos]

You can always just study the theory (books should not cost more than a few hundred euro's) and see if you're still as passionate about it afterwards and still willing to spend the money.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Glacier.

I did aeronautical engineering at university, and around the time I graduated decided I really wanted a PPL to enhance my pleasure and understanding of the subject. Like any other graduate, I had very little money.

My solution was microlights - I found a local microlight club, and learned that way - a bit cheaper per hour, a lot less hours to qualify. It worked (in my case, about 1993 from old Sarum, in a 3 axis microlight). I later added flexwing microlights, light aircraft, and then a commercial licence and instrument rating, and most recently an aerobatic rating - clearly I'm never satisfied - but the initial start on microlights worked out really well for me and was *just* affordable, which light aircraft at that time wouldn't have been. For me as a new aeronautical engineer, it did also massively enhance my understanding of my work - for that matter, it still does, I'm just a much more senior aeronautical engineer in my late 40s now, whose (somewhat greater now) flying knowledge still gets called upon daily.

If not microlights, I would look at gliding, which can be very affordable if you go to the right place (prices vary a lot from place to place in gliding) and a continuous learning process - a lot of people get massive satisfaction from gliding competitions, which is a very serious sport.

Please take my word for it as somebody who has flown a lot of different things, none of these options are "inferior" or "superior" in terms of the aesthetic or learning experience. As your career is medicine, you don't care what sort of hours you're building, so any arguments about that shouldn't matter either.

G

[150commuter]

Nothing wrong with pursuing a medical career and being a private pilot. I have a junior hospital doctor (an orthopaedic surgeon) in my C150 group and he did a large chunk of his training with the London University Air Squadron while a medical student (though he completed his PPL after qualifying). He loves to fly as a complete contrast to his day (and night!) job.
We also have a couple of commercial pilots in our group and they love to fly our humble C150 for the same reasons- It's just fun.
If you decide to go down that route rather than the professsional aviation route it might be worth looking for instruction somewhere that focuses on private flying rather than training the next generation of airline pilots. I did my PPL at Clacton Aero Club and if a flying school/club advertises things like tail wheel conversions and its instructors don't dress up as captains you kind of get where they're coming from.. Having said that, at least one of our commercial pilots started out with the intention of just being a private pilot so where you start isn't always where you end up!
I'd suggest visiitng a few clubs and just getting a feel for them before committing.

[rudestuff]

Nay. Because you even had to ask the question.