Best Value Hour Building (2023)

[RedDragonFlyer]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone here has good advice on where to hour build for a decent price an an EASA license holder. Most of the threads here on the matter were pre-Covid so are a bit out of date.

I have a few requirements:
- Be able to build hours relatively quickly. Say 20 - 30 per week. That means lots of VFR flying days. I'm looking to do it in the next few months so it'll be late autumn/ winter time.
- Have a good mix of airspace including access to controlled aerodromes and transits of class B/C/D airspace.
- Aircraft that aren't falling apart and have good availability.
- Perhaps not the cheapest, but good value and a place to gain good experience.

Obviously I am thinking about total price. Florida means licence conversion and flights to the States etc which all adds up. Not sure I fancy 100 hours of orbiting the Everglades either.

[Beaker_]

Whereabouts in the UK are you?

[RedDragonFlyer]

I am currently based in Bristol, but will need to take time off work to hour build I think. My schedule is too unpredictable to be able to commit more than a week in advance. I also don't have a UK license which adds difficulty.

Would probably prefer somewhere that I can go for a month or so and do 20 hours a week.

[Beaker_]

Ah yes... Sorry, I missed the bit about you being a non-Uk licence holder. I've heard of Cavok Avaiton who if I recall will dry lease you an aircraft for however long you need it and drop it off where you want it. That being said, I'm not sure if that'll work given your licence.

[Pilot x1]

I rented a Tecnam P2002-JF for 75 EUR / hour Dry with Fly EPT Spain. But I had to do the fuelling myself which was no big deal. Factoring in everything, it was good value

[A802]

In Barcelona you can get a p2002 for 120/h wet. Good if what you want is get hours flying around. Problems would be layovers or very long trips

[Genghis the Engineer]

(1) If you are a low hour pilot, 20-30 hours per week is NOT safe. You simply won't have the capacity to do that safely. Be sensible - 3hrs/day x 5 days a week is the most any low hour pilot can reasonably do.

(2) Very short notice won't get you much by and large - what you want needs prior arrangement.

(3) The cheapest option, frankly, is convert to a UK licence, then buy a cheap LAA aeroplane (having double checked the hours will be accepted on that type by your EASA authority), do a load of flying in it, then sell it on. For example there's a Pietenpol Aircamper for sale on AFORS for £10,500, which probably costs around £50/hr to fly. So say you were to buy that, fly 250hrs, then sell it at a bargain price of £8,000 to another hourbuilder - your hourbuilding cost you £60/hr, plus you'll learn huge amounts in your short period of ownership. A few syndicates might tolerate an hourbuilder as well: one I'm in (on a PA28 at about £100/hr) has had a few, all unproblematic.

(4) There are companies in Spain with hourbuilding packages - not hard to track them down, but you're still going to be paying well over £100/hr for the very cheapest packages, likely over £150/hr by the time you add up everything you really spent.

(5) Take the opportunity to learn as much as possible, it's not just about the number of hours in your logbook - it's about what you learned whilst flying them.

G

[Genghis the Engineer]

But I had to do the fuelling myself which was no big deal.

Hate to tell you this, but most GA, in most of the world, you have to do the fuelling yourself !

G

[meleagertoo]

Food and accommodation are a major additional cost when doing this away from home, as is transport.

I'd strongly endorse what Genghis posted above, that or buy a block of hours on a dry-lease C150 but above all house it within a sensible drive of home. Find a farm strip ideally, or pay for three month's parking at a small local club-field. Research which airfields don't charge landing fees if you uplift fuel. Messing about self-fuelling with mogas at farm strips might work with a Turbulent or a VP1 but not most light aircraft, apart from the hazard it's illegal to transport that much fuel in cans and awkward to store any excess.

[adrian.hall01]

I rented a Tecnam P2002-JF for 75 EUR / hour Dry with Fly EPT Spain. But I had to do the fuelling myself which was no big deal. Factoring in everything, it was good value

I’m going out there next month to fly the Tecnam. Can you get in touch, it would be good to ask a few questions if that’s okay.

Thanks