Landing Fees for CT and go around charge - UK
 

I’m currently working on my PPL and trying to understand how different airfields and flight schools handle landing fees during circuit training. I know that some airports charge per landing, while others have a flat fee that covers all circuits within a session.



I’d appreciate insights from those who have trained or are currently training. Specifically:

• Does your airport charge per landing, or is there a single fee for multiple circuits?
• Are go-arounds charged?
• Have you found it more cost-effective to do circuits at a main airport, or reposition to a smaller airfield to avoid high landing fees?

Just trying to get a general idea of what’s standard at different airfields. Not looking for “check with your school” response, just want to hear what others have experienced. Thanks!

It can differ at same airfield, depending on their contract with the organisation. As a PPL sole owner, at my Base airfield, a few years ago I recieved by mistake, the email invoice for a visiting Military Club aircraft. It was a fraction of my local charge.
For the number of landings I do a Landing Card is not economic.

Yeah. Was starting to get worried about paying £25 a TnG for my circuits but a airfield 20 mins away is £6.

It's entirely up to the airfield operator what charge is made. A farm strip might be anything from a 'donation' to a major field charging hundreds of pounds. Your own locality will dictate what's cost effective for you.

Most fields will charge by the landing. Resident aircraft usually get a discount. As a special offer they may include a package of circuits. Rarely if ever are charges made for genuine go arounds caused by unsafe approaches. Intentional 'Low approaches' however can attract a charge at larger fields.

In the case of major international airports there may be no landing fee at all, but a 'departure charge' depending on the speed and weight of the aircraft. Manchester was one example.

As you seem to be resident in North East Scotland your options are somewhat limited in that any transit time to the nearest small airfield might well outweigh the cost saving of staying local.

Aberdeen to be exact so a lot of traffic due to it being the busiest airport with helicopters for all the offshore companies. It’s a flat £25 fee. Trying to work out the most cost effective way. We have Longside which charges £6 a landing and Dundee at £15.

As you're training for your PPL, check with the flying school. They can have special deals for circuit training. You would have to pay your instructor for travelling to another airfield. They may be unwilling to train circuits at your desired airfield.
If your looking for the cheapest before starting, the cheapest PPL will be the minimum hours one. Not necessarily the lowest cost per hour.
Consider Aberdeen, Perth, Inverness. What's available at Longside and Insch at present? A 3-axis microlight licence might suit you.
Aberdeen runway is much longer than Longside, which has no ATC/ATIS most of the time.

Instructor suggested Longside weather permitting. It’s near Peterhead but that’s still a good 20-25 minutes from Aberdeen in a Warrior II, Dundee even longer at 40-45 mins. I’m trying to keep unnecessary expenditure away from the airports. Maybe it’s better flying further and spend more on meaningful exercises towards these airports for circuits. Was advised £13k for total costs for PPL but these hidden charges with the airports don’t sound like they are factored in.

When I was training at Fairoaks and Blackbushe the flight schools had an arrangement so paid the same per hour regardless of number of touch and goes. Maybe best to find somewhere that does the same near you and drive there if it’s not too far away, time vs cost.

It's easy to miss these but, from my experience (ex-Instructor), the information is usually there in the website where costs are discussed and we always discussed such things with prospective students including other things such extra ground school etc, etc. As SimonPaddo says, sometimes such cost are included in the hourly rate at their home base but for some others they come as additional costs - and you can add exams, flight tests etc, etc to the list as all those charges go to 3rd parties.

As with car insurance policies, you really do need to read all the print to know what you are getting into and not just go with the "headlines". So, in defence of most flight schools, "hidden" is one thing - not doing adequate research is something else. In your case, it may be that it was not discussed but I'd be quite, make that "very", surprised if it had not been mentioned as it has always been a "bete noir" when it comes to Flight Training! But, in the excitement of starting Flying Training, stuff you are told sometimes gets forgotten!!!! :ok:

Anyway, I hope you really enjoy your flying. I still remember my 1st solos (1st gliding then PPL) like they were yesterday! Mind you, I think it costs a bit more per-hour than when I did my various Licences. You pay more/hour for PPL SE Training than I did for my CPL/IR Training in a Twin!!!!!!! I sometimes think I'd like to go flying again with an Instructor (lost my medical a long while back) but I look at the cost of a 1 hour lesson in a C152....................................... :hmm:

Fly safe! H 'n' H

They do mention most of the costs. However the landing fees is what caught me off guard. Reading posts like 6-8 landings in circuit training and £25 for Aberdeen’s fee per landing I find that mental. Not surprised however as Aberdeen Airport are pretty much crooks with their business practices e.g., £7 drop off / pick up charge. Norwich still gets me howling with their £10 Airport improvement fee - been there since my teens when I left Norwich. The cost isn’t the issue it’s more ideal to be frugal with costs that I can reduce and avoid.

Loving the lessons. I used to be an absolute nervous person as passenger when a 737 gets caught up in horrible CAT but ever since having my hands on a yoke the fear has practically left and discovered it’s not being in control influence that caused that.

Absolutely! Keep the money for the "fun in the air" bit!!!!! :ok: And, as you say, when landing away it can vary significantly - depending on how much your custom is wanted by the airport operator!!!! :hmm: When doing circuits for my twin rating - we went to Calais from Biggin Hill! Used the transit to cover other stuff, and took advantage of cheap landing fees (and fuel) at Calais - not to mention availing ourselves of the Airfield Restaurant for lunch which was well worth a visit in it's own right! Shame the wine list was "out of bounds"!!!!!!!! :{

Fantastic and I hope your training leads on to great things too! :ok: Anyway, good luck and enjoy your flying!!!!!! All the best, H 'n' H

It's a long time since I've looked around PPRuNe headings. Living on memories I found myself comparing modern day costs with mine in the early 60's.

I recall being filled with angst being held at SEN's 06 holding point. It was costing me one and tuppence a minute. After I'd finished multiple landings, I vaguely recall having to pay half a crown for one landing. I'm certain that was the cost of landing at Stansted, having coffee with the guys in the tower, and buzzing off back to SEN. It's quite possible that there were no movements during the leisurely coffee brake.

1,500 quid was quite a lot to part with for a CPL, but somewhere between half and a third of a reasonable working man's house. A proper course was substantially more. Southend flying school ran a CPL course. We had a very nice blazer badge - at a price. Turn up when we wanted to, and arrange the written side with AVIGATION in Ealing, or Cass College near Liverpool St station in London. AVIGATION was a quid a day. Turn up when you wanted to, and ask questions when you needed to. Perfect system. Cass was 180 for a term, or year, with same deal. Just turn up when you wanted to. It cost me just over a pound for a 90 minute train ride - return. Since you had to do the whole darn lot again for the ALTP. (ATPL) when you'd got enough hours, it really was a huge burden when the flying side was perhaps at its most demanding. But at least we were earning by then.
At one stage in AVIGATION, I shared a table with Gordon Corpse. He had been a Victor captain, and now an ARB test pilot which included Concorde, so I'm told. That was some competition.

I started at SEN as a DC3 FO at £1,550 pa. A very few years later I was earning £2,222 pa (you can see how I remembered that) as a Viscount FO. 1970 BAC 1-11 FO £3,600 while the 707 FO's were starting at around 6,000. With flight pay, they were kings, and of course, captains were sky gods. Often quite an increase from wartime flight pay. Around 1971 a pleasant detached 3 bed near Braintree sold for around 4,600. Near to Luton, rather more.

I bought G-AXGE at around 3,700, and commuted to work for months, night and day. Even into LHR on some kind of landing card which meant I paid ten and sixpence a landing. I used to fly into Heathrow fairly often. Both night and day I was given a clearance Direct (home on the east coast) not above 500'.
I paid farmer mates at the pub 30 shillings a week to use a meadow near my home. I did many hundreds of landings, at first using paraffin in old oil cans, and then, sometimes, natural light. That was interesting. 55 years later I see it is, or was, for sale at 10X the price. Nothing with money makes any sense.

I recall saying to a FO one day that inflation is akin to an engineer going into work each morning and finding all his tools had assumed different sizes. A half inch AF spanner would now not quite fit the nut. Money is a tool, and for all of my 85 years, people have tried their hardest to make it valueless as something one can base one's future on.