caradoc
25th Jan 2001, 17:45
Can anyone suggest a good school in either the UK or US where I can do my PPL. I am looking to do it intensively i.e. 3 week course.
Any opinions on doing it in the U.S. Is this a good thing to do or will it be looked down on when I come to do further training or rent in the UK ?
I live in Suffolk
taildragger2
25th Jan 2001, 18:44
Hey Bud.
Im halfway through my groundschool and have a fair few hours and in my experience your best off finding a small personal school that offer good instructor to student ratios (ie) all their time is dedicated to you!
Try avoiding pilot factories like Oxford etc they just shaft you as money is their only intrest. Do ypu plan on working in the UK? If so do your PPL over here, its slightly more expensive but you must remember that this is a very important phase of commercial trainning as the basics you learn on the PPL will stay with you for the rest of your life!
I did my PPL in England then went out to the states for night , multi and hour building and friends of mine who did the PPL in the states regreted it later as the R/T environment out there is much less strict. In a nutshell if you can handle UK airspace you can deal with anywhere else in the world with but a few exceptions. Train in the states then try to fly over here and its like starting all over on thr R/T! If your prepared to travel to Carlise aerodrome theres an excellent little school called border air trainning with good A/C and a friendly environment.
The airfield is quiet but busy airspace isn't to far away. The field has a concrete strip, PAPI' and NDB/DME A couple of close by VOR's so you don't waste time or money being diverted to make way for big jets like you would down south. The scenery is beautiful, not to far from the highlands and on the doorstep of the lakes (watch out for low flying fast jets!!). If your intrested get back to me with your E-mail address and i'll sort you out with numbers etc.
The other thing to think of is accomodation is cheap up there, I had a room at a rural inn only 2Km from the field that's quiet for study and throws in hot meals + brekfast for £70 a week. One final point is plan for more like 5 weeks due to Wx and any delays you may have. Theres no need to blast through it as you'll enjoy it so much you want to take your time and get it right first time.
After that the states is the only way to go! I was renting a C150 for only $45 per hour wet in Vero beach FL. Antother thing you should bear in mind is buying a correspondance course from a facillity such as PPSC and studying in the States then come back and do an in house course when your done over there. This sounds expensive but if you order the Module 1+2 course and don't do the worksheets just study the cost off all the material will be offset against the course price so in effect your just getting the books a few months in advance for no extra cost!!! I wish I knew all this when I started this........DAMMMMMMMMMMMM...............................Tai lwinds