Stapleford PPL Training and Trial Session

[Tim 2020]

Hello all,

My friend has recommended Stapleford for PPL training, and I tried to book a trial session. Because of the lockdown, Stapleford has been closed and only open for commercial pilot training. And I have phoned the reception a couple of times, no one has picked it up. Does anyone know if Stapleford is open for trial sessions and PPL training?

Any information will be greatly appreciated!

[beamer]

Whilst many flying clubs have re-opened, this is for solo flights only though there appears to be some latitude for Commercial pilots who are in effect furloughed at the moment. Trial lessons and instructional flying are not far away but we await some further guidance from the regulators. As of 4 July, driving instruction will restart and that may well be a sign of things to come in General Aviation.

[TheOddOne]

Great to see there's still demand for PPL training.

I'm not surprised no-one has answered the phone. I don't know in the case of Stapleford, but many places have furloughed or got rid of staff. Try e-mailing. You certainly won't get any dual instruction for PPL before 4th July. We're all waiting to hear if we're included in the general opening up, or excluded like gyms etc.

We're a small Club who rely on our answering machine.

When (or if!) we're allowed to resume dual instruction, we plan to call a few previous students first, who live locally and whose family background is known to us so that we can determine their status. We only plan to open up to our voucher holders once we are confident our Risk Assessments and PPE measures are delivering the desired outcomes. We're not selling any new vouchers at the moment but are extending all existing vouchers to 31st December, even if they would have expired recently.
TOO

[beamer]

FWIW, our club is manned everyday and we are flying every day weather permitting but solo only. The airfield is getting busier by the day and we have a lot of visitors on the ground who can enjoy our cafe, all subject to social distancing and some common sense of course.

[asyncio]

Hi Tim,
I see that North Weald Flight Training have just announced that they are definitely starting trial flights again on the 4th.
So you can try them if you are eager to get going.

If you are serious about getting a PPL, then it's generally recommended you try out a couple of the local schools before deciding who to go with.
So you'd probably want to check them out as well as Stapleford anyway.

[stapleford1]

Hi Tim. I can assure you we are open, currently only for Commercial Training, but PPL starting back in July. Unfortunately, we have some staff currently shielding, so sometimes phones don’t get answered, but please feel free to email our info address and we will answer.

[lcolman]

Hello all,

My friend has recommended Stapleford for PPL training, and I tried to book a trial session. Because of the lockdown, Stapleford has been closed and only open for commercial pilot training. And I have phoned the reception a couple of times, no one has picked it up. Does anyone know if Stapleford is open for trial sessions and PPL training?

Any information will be greatly appreciated!

Hi Tim,

Just been booked in for my PPL lessons that restart on the 4th of July at Stapleford.

I'm halfway through my PPL and highly recommend Stapleford for flight training. I fly with Sue and Aria and both are fantastic instructors.

Good luck!

[SteakAndAle]

I have also been waiting to start PPL, staring enviously at adsbexchange.com. Was pleased to see this morning that North Weald is planning to start back up on 4th July. However I note that DfT hasn't changed its GA guidance yet re. dual instruction.

But given that driving lessons will be OK from 4th July, one would assume/hope that this will soon be updated to permit flight training too? Seems reasonable given that the conditions are the same i.e. one instructor seeing multiple people per day, sharing a small box for >= 1hr. I'm not trying to be an armchair epidemiologist - flying forums have enough of those! :rolleyes: Just thought it was worth pointing out.

Assuming all goes ahead as planned I'll be interested to see what availability is like over summer, especially at weekends - presumably there's a backlog of students!

[asyncio]

The DFT has now confirmed the 4th July as the date for training to restart

https://twitter.com/AOPAPILOT/status/1276490500640473088

[SteakAndAle]

Excellent! In that case I am looking forward to sweating my bollocks off in a 152 cockpit, if this weather keeps up :P