The Boy wants to fly!
 

Since he could order his first rusk my son has expressed a desire to fly for a living, worryingly, the enthusiasm hasn't worn off and I'm toying with the idea of setting up a trial lesson for him.

He's 14 in October, and with me being a bit out of touch with the PPL licensing rules, could you tell me if there's a minimum age at which he can start flying lessons proper.

I think I'm right in saying that he can't obtain a licence until 16, but do you guys have an opinion on the value of starting a PPL course before then, and if there are any organisations in East Anglia that have done so previously?

Cheers.

P.S. Ive posted this here in the hope of (with respect to others) getting replies only from the people at the sharp end every day of the week.

He can start instruction at 14, solo at 16 and hold a licence at 17. Both my sons can't wait 'til they're able to learn and both want to solo on their 16th birthday. Two years of dual will be a bit frustrating for them though.

Any club in East Anglia will be able to oblige. I used to fly a lot in that region and all of the clubs were good, but that was a while ago and I can't recommend one from recent involvement. But experience suggests your most local club may be the best - especially as he won't be able to drive yet!

I don't believe there is a minimum age for commencing instruction, but I may be wrong. The minimum for solo is certainly 16, and the only requirement for that is to have a valid medical certificate (and be under the guidance of a qualified instructor). If you can find it, all the information is on the CAA website, but it's not very user fiendly (I was going to change the miss-spelling on that, but the word is strangely appropiate.........)

The Cambridge Aero Club has succesfully taught teenagers (and many others) to fly for some years - give 'em a call on 01223 373214.

A

Was going to check for you on the CAA site, but the connection I'm on is too slow and I lost patience. All you need to know is on

http//:www.caa.co.uk/docs/175/Lasors_Section_C.PDF

from LASORS section C

"An applicant for a JAR-FCL PPL(A) shall be at least
17 years of age but some of the required
qualifications for the grant of the licence may be
gained earlier. Applicants should ensure that any
qualifications gained earlier will still be valid at the
time they plan to apply for the grant of the licence.
The validity periods of training, examinations and
flight tests are covered in this section.
Student pilots may act as Pilot-in-Command from
their 16th birthday provided they act only in
accordance with instructions given by a flying
instructor, hold a valid JAR-FCL Medical Certificate
and, generally, fly only in UK territorial airspace.
There is no minimum age for dual instruction, but
any received before the age of 14 is not countable
towards the experience requirements specified in
this document."

Thanks NinjaBill, that's cleared it up for me too.

A

I have had a few 16 year on the day solo's. Great for the kid but a nightmare if the mother is along to watch.

First one i made the mistake of going inside, never again, stay airside until the wee numb nuts is on the ground.

MJ

From my experience let him have just the odd lesson until he is 15 1/2 years old. Then work towards first solo at 16.

If you are not careful he could end up doing a lot of flying before first solo which i think doesn't look good if future instructors or employers look through his logbook.

There are some that say he could crack on with nav. or I/F, but flight training does have a natural flow of building confidence to deal with the increasing work load, which jumping around the syllabus doesn't help.

Many thanks all - useful info', much appreciated.