BEST PLACE TO GO IN ENGLAND
 

Hello fellow aviators,

I´´m planinng to go this summer to somwhere in England in order to improve my english level and at the same time try to start my search of a position as a Flight Instructor (already rated).

Which are the places with more flight schools and more general aviation outfits...?

Also if there is a nice place to live in .... better.

Somebody told me about Bournemouth but I´m open to your advice and opinions.

Many thanks.

For population density, anywhere south, or east, of Birmingham - there are a lot of flight schools, and by and large flying schools in Britain are pretty good with enthusiastic instructors.

Bournemouth is a pleasant city, with a large airport with some flying training going on - but according to a friend of mine who rents an aeroplane out there, extremely quiet at the moment. Your best bet is probably around London, where there's plenty of non-aviation work, plenty of people to talk to to improve your English (with a dialect and accent that'll be universally understandable in an aviation context), and a lot of flying schools where you can look for work within an hour of the edge of London, so easy to travel for interviews and the like.

See if you can get hold of a copy of this month's "Flyer" magazine - it contains their UK "learn to fly guide", which will give you a good idea of where all the main schools are. Have a look at SkyDemon Light as well, which will help you find your way around UK airspace and airfields without having to spend any money yet.

It's only fair to say that there are a surplus of native English speaking flying instructors in the UK, so your English will have to be excellent, and your skills extremely good to beat them to the jobs that are available. There's also a bit of a suspicion of the quality of instructors qualifications gained overseas, that will give you problems.

G

Hello again,

First, thanks to Mr. G the E.

Your kind reply is really helpfull as well as the skyDemon tool. I´m agree with you that to be based around London area makes more sense in order to travel for any possible job interview or getting any non related aviation job.

I suposse that you talked about any town inside the M 25 highway (not sure). Anyway there are several airports around London, please, feel free to tell me wich one could fit me better in terms of general aviation and flight instruction.

Again, thanks for your time and attention.

The M25 defines the outer limits of London quite well - most of the airports we'd consider "London" tend to be relatively close to it, but could be either inside (Elstree, Biggin Hill, Stapleford, Denham..) or just outside (Wycombe, Blackbushe, Andrewsfield, Redhill...).

If you think of SE England as a region, with London in the middle, the M25 outside London, but a network of roads, railways and airfields throughout the region, you'd be thinking appropriately.

Most of these airports have one or more schools with instruction going on - unfortunately most are poorly served by public transport which may give you problems - but they are served! So being somewhere on the London underground system (which isn't all underground, most countries would call it a "metro") will give you a good chance of travelling to work, whether flying or non-flying. Being on the edges of London is likely to be cheaper. There's minimum wage work throughout the region for EU citizens, particularly in the service sectors which whilst not necessarily much good for aviation, would be good for your English.

As a crude rule of thumb, if an airport in SE England isn't an international airport, but does have an ATZ, there's probably flying training going on.

G

It´s a pleasure to talk to people like you.

Thank you, and you're very welcome.

G

Any other oppinions ...?

I agree with what Genghis has said. You might want to factor in accommodation costs as well which will be very high in the South East compared with further north. But if only coming over for the summer months, may not be as much as of an issue as longer term.

An ideal solution for you would be a busy school/club with attached accommodation (by which I mean a caravan....). Several do have adjoining fields for this purpose.

Sounds quite interesting the possibility of accomodation near the school... Please, could you tell me where to find that kind of accomodation near London in a busy school ...?

Thanks, Parson.

You've got Stapleford flight centre - that's a very busy flying school with accommodation on site, although that could be for their CPL/IR students.

http://www.flysfc.com

Hope that helps and best of luck with the search!

Shoreham on the South coast always busy...

Thanks again for the inputs

Good old Exeter always a popular place

Hi Pelayo,

I'm a spaniard FI rated (UK) living n working (non-aviation related) at SouthWest area also looking for a job opportunity. Send me a PM n we may keep chatting.

All the best mate.

Regards

In my experience if you go to Elstree's airport you can find a great place where to fly.You are close to London and find many flight schools with cheap aircrafts to rent. There is even this flight school which is very professional and funny to renew the SEP, get your PPL or have fun flying around London. They are friendly, professional, always ready to find a solution to your problems, they have many former airlines pilots working as flight instructors and nice airplanes.

When you have finished your flight, in few minutes your are in the city of London to have fun!