what to do re: training? (HELP!)

[empty pockets]

hey,

i graduate uni in just over a month and am lucky enough to be able to walk straight into a reasonably well paid job (a fortune for a skint soap dodging student like me!) starting in september.

i reckon that after deductions for living costs and loan repayments etc. i will be able to save around £500-600 per month of my salary. as i hope to become a commercial helo pilot, what would be the best way for me to spend this on training?

should i:

a] try to increase my budget a bit more and try to take one flying lesson every 1 to 2 weeks. this should take me about a year or so to do the PPL and would be a nice easy and steady rate at which to train. or:

b] save all the money and after 2 years decamp to oz and do the full commercial license for around £15k (exchange rate willing)?

flying helo's is the only thing i want to do for a living, and i plan to spend no longer than two years in my graduate job before quitting to start training. i dont mind saving and emigrating, but i would like to do something worthwile towards my training in the meantime so i dont lose sight of my goal.

I would appreciate your thoughts, especially from those who have been in a similar situation.

Cheers,
Phil.

[handyandyuk]

I found that when I was learning, flying once a week or once a fortnight weather dependant, was a comfortable rate for me. Less immediate pressure to absorb the instruction and a chance for my bank balance to recover slightly as I block paid every few months.
The full thing (the old UK PPL) took about 18 months and as I was working durning the week and flying at the weekend I was able to maintain an income while I was learning. You may well be able to take a large chunk of time off whatever job you have at the time and do it in one hit, but who knows what you'll be doing a few years down the line? I would say start as soon as practical - should you get round to going after a job flying, my guess would be someone who's been flying for the past 3 or 4 years might appear bore attractive than someone with about the same hours logged who's been flying for the past 6 months. But as I'm nowt but a mere PPL it would only be a guess.

[topcat450]

a small point, but if you opt for option 2...can you let me know before you decamp to oz...I could do with a job where I save 500-600 a month to put towards flying - go on...put in a good word for me :ok:

In all seriousness though, I'm trying (slowly) to do a similar thing fixed-wing. I saved for AGES until I had the cash to do the PPL course as quickly or as slowly as I wanted...now working still doing hours building when time, money and aircraft allow.

If you really want to fly its a pain waiting - but if you saved for say 6 or maybe 8 months then you'd have a nice cussion and you could start flying straight away..and if you get a day or two off...you can whack in 2 or 3 lessons in a day and not be hindered by the finance aspect - ie you'd be able to do more than the 1 hour every fortnight.

For me personally, I'd have hated doing 1 hr every fortnight... I loved someweeks afterwork I'd get 7 or 8 hours in a week...on top of work - but again it is personal choice, its your money :ok: