Hour Building in US or UK?

[Rouceyyy]

Hi guys, looking to start my flight training next year sometime, and i just have a question. Would you recommend doing the hour building in the US compared to the UK? And if so what other parts of training would you recommend to do in the US and what would be better to do in the UK? Feel free to add as much detail and information as you can as it would benefit me greatly in my planning when it comes to starting and finishing my training. Cheers.

[Beaker_]

I have no experience of flying in the US so can't comment on that particular bit. However, I would say there is a certain benefit in doing at least some hour building in the area where you intend to undertake your training. No harm in getting familiar with the local area :)

[paco]

Just be aware that the US allows you to count Captain time under really weird situations, and you might not be able to count it in other countries. Otherwise, hours are hours, and as cheap as possible will do.

[meleagertoo]

Any saving in flying to the US, living in motels, eating all meals 'out' and using taxis to get around may be less than you might imagine. It does depend on how many hours you want to build and how quickly, but remember you also need to prepare for the flight tests and be thoroughly familiar with UK procedures, nav and met. You can lease blocks of hours - usually dry - on light aircraft surprisingly cheaply here. Finding a local airfield/airstrip to base it at while you fly off the hours and live at home may be almost as cheap. You can often dodge landing fees en-route by researching where they waive them if you uplift fuel too. You'll learn next to nothing useful for the tests in USA ("hours are hours" is not a helpful or accurate suggestion imho) as procedures and style of flying is so different and you will certainly pick up habits frowned upon here which you'll need to lose before coming in front of CAAFU so a substantial amount of time will need to be allocated for preparatipn for the tests over here.
Personally I think that unless you need to build hundreds of hours you're possibly better off overall doing it at home and/or touring Europe.
There's a lot of research to do!

[Beaker_]

Actually, on the topic of the general cost of living in US, it's become really noticeably expensive in the last 5 or so years. The cost of food in supermarkets is shocking and the quality has certainly declined. As for hotels... It's easy enough to get a decent enough Premier Inn or Travelodge cheaply in the UK, but a cheap hotel in the US can be quite a shocking experience!

So with that in mind, I'm not sure it's the bargain it once was. I could be wrong though!

[AlwaysWondering]

I looked into going to the US quite a bit, but decided against for a few reasons (Mainly price with the USD being so strong and living costs in the States being so high).

The pluses are clear. Lots of the country has great flying weather and you can fly a considerable amount of hours even in December/ January when you'd be stuck on the ground in the UK if you go to places like Florida or Arizona. The GA scene there is big so there are lots of places to fly and visit giving a great amount of variety. A lot of places will allow you to have an aircraft full-time so there is no fighting with PPL students and other hour builders over slots. That means you can hour build fast. I know people who have, sensibly or not, done 40 hours per week. Importantly, there are no landing fees at almost all airports which gives you great freedom to go different places and explore. Prices can be a lot cheaper than Europe and you can get Cessna 152 for as low as $90/£70 per hour wet if you really search.

Though there are also a lot of negatives. Firstly, the cost of living there is surprisingly high. In Florida, even budget hotels can be $100 or more per night in the quiet season. At spring break/ US school holidays, prices surge much higher than that. You can find hotels in most British/ European cities for half that. Go to Southern Spain, and you are more likely to be looking at the equivalent of $30 or less per night for somewhere decent. Food/ restaurants/ Ubers are not cheap. All of these things will soon add up and may mean spending a lot more than you think. Schools targeting European hour builders are also on the expensive side. I've spoken to places charging $180/ £140 per hour to rent a plane - you could do cheaper in the UK! You really have to look for those good prices! There is also the downside of following a very different style of flying than in Europe. Comms procedures/ procedures in general are really going to suffer as things are very different (and tend to be much more 'lax' there). Also, it's a good idea to hour build some hours where you'll do you IR and CPL skills tests to be more comfortable with that airspace/ those aerodromes which obviously you won't get in the States. Then there are different rules. For HB, you need to ensure EASA/ UK CAA ones for logging hours and not FAA ones.

[SWBKCB]

Based on the weather recently - the US.

[paco]

meleagertoo - insurance companies don't care about quality, although chief pilots might

[maximus610]

If your goal is CPL/ATPL with at least IFR commercial activity, go for an FAA IR SE straight after PPL and then build IFR hours as much as you can...There are pretty cheap and decent IFR-equipped Cessnas around US.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I've got UK and US licences, and whilst British have flown a lot in the USA.

I think that flying in the USA is a fantastic experience, well worth it for the learning and, frankly, the sheer fun of it.

Last major course I did in the USA was in Florida in 2019 and when I added it up, it saved me little or nothing compared to doing a similar course in the UK. On the other hand, it probably didn't cost me any more either (and as it was an FAA course I had to do it there anyhow).

So, I'd not talk you out of it, but do ensure you've done a reasonable amount of flying in Britain before your CPL course. The UK and US do not do everything the same way.

If you do go to the USA: Florida and California are great, and popular - but also particularly expensive. Arizona and Nevada are a pretty good bet for a unique flying experience, good weather, and hopefully a bit more affordable.