Why is the UK so bad?!
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Why is the UK so bad?!
Hey everyone, not really got a point to this post but i'm hoping it will make me feel better to rant a bit......
Ok, so I've been waiting to do my QXC for umm.... 5 months now, ive done it dual once before that but as its been so long I have to do it again to make sure I know what I'm doing.
Two weeks ago, I wake up and its all good to go and I'm REALLY excited - but deary deary me my car decides it doesnt want to start today because the weather's so nice and that means I can finally go flying! So I end up having to pay a £60 three slot "no-show" fee because of having to cancle at such short notice... Then buy a new battery for £40...thats another lesson gone
Now, please tell me what i'm thinking is true. During these winter months the weather when frosty can be brilliant for navigation yeah? Crips blue skies and the ability to see for miles....??
Cos' at the moment I'm loosing my nerve, and a lot of money because the UK sucks for learning to fly!! Dont get me wrong, I love flying to bits and once I finally get back up there looking over the mountains above the poor sods stuck in traffic I'll remember why I stick with it....but as for now......
Please everyone, share your recent great flights with me. I need some cheering up!
Ian
Ok, so I've been waiting to do my QXC for umm.... 5 months now, ive done it dual once before that but as its been so long I have to do it again to make sure I know what I'm doing.
Two weeks ago, I wake up and its all good to go and I'm REALLY excited - but deary deary me my car decides it doesnt want to start today because the weather's so nice and that means I can finally go flying! So I end up having to pay a £60 three slot "no-show" fee because of having to cancle at such short notice... Then buy a new battery for £40...thats another lesson gone
Now, please tell me what i'm thinking is true. During these winter months the weather when frosty can be brilliant for navigation yeah? Crips blue skies and the ability to see for miles....??
Cos' at the moment I'm loosing my nerve, and a lot of money because the UK sucks for learning to fly!! Dont get me wrong, I love flying to bits and once I finally get back up there looking over the mountains above the poor sods stuck in traffic I'll remember why I stick with it....but as for now......
Please everyone, share your recent great flights with me. I need some cheering up!
Ian
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Don’t worry, you’re not alone. My QXC was postponed something like 13 times before I finally got to go – it’s one of the joys of flying in the UK. If it’s any consolation, my skills test was in the middle of January, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and we had about 50 miles visibility. Honest, it does happen!
Last weekend wasn’t much cop (not in Essex, anyway) - about 5 miles vis, and snow showers (great fun in a 152!)
On the other hand, the weekend before that was near perfect – some of the smoothest conditions I’ve ever flown in, and I could see Canary Wharf from Witham (40 miles or so).
I’m sure you know this already, but UK wx is just pot luck. Hang in there and you’ll get there in the end.
Last weekend wasn’t much cop (not in Essex, anyway) - about 5 miles vis, and snow showers (great fun in a 152!)
On the other hand, the weekend before that was near perfect – some of the smoothest conditions I’ve ever flown in, and I could see Canary Wharf from Witham (40 miles or so).I’m sure you know this already, but UK wx is just pot luck. Hang in there and you’ll get there in the end.
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You won't get two replies the same but here's mine.
I love flying, and have done 300+ hrs in 2 years.
But I really hated the training. The crap planes (all of them), crap instructors (not all but a lot of them), crap organisation (all of them), crap timekeeping (all of them), schools letting walk-in trial lessons from the local council estate push a long booked lesson out (pretty common), and of course the UK weather. It took a year and I would have to think very hard to recommend an instructor to someone who is a friend.
Then, flying around was just great. Still in the crap planes but one could at least choose. One can also get into a syndicate operating something a lot better.
It also became pretty obvious just a few hours into the training that an IMC Rating would be essential for going places, so I did that too. That transformed going to places in the UK, reducing the % of pre-planned flights scrapped on the day due to weather from perhaps 50% to 10%, and if your destination is a large place with an ILS that number could be even lower.
Now I am doing an IR, dead handy for European flying in less than sure weather.
Flying is a fantastic privilege. I just wish the "business" got a bit better organised and then it could attract people with some money, which, assuming decent management, might lift things up a bit. But most of it is stuck well and truly in a rut dating back to WW1, being run by traditionalists who believe that the initiation ceremony for a proper pilot with a hairy chest is 50 hours in a 2ft wide 1960s bent up coke can (a great fringe benefit for the instructor if the student is female, incidentally), and their anoraks with epaulettes, their stupid slide rules, horrid tales about GPS failures... did I leave anything out? Oh yes, the general difficulty in finding somebody in any general aviation related business who can be trusted.
I own a nice plane now so have relative independence and like to take PPL students up on occassions, to show them it's a whole different world up there, and how much easier flying, especially with GPS and other types of radio navigation, is in reality.
Regards UK weather, this is the worst time of the year. Proper cold winter days are a lot better. Summer is usually best of course (especially for trips into Europe) once you are flying yourself, but the frequent hazy days mess up lessons and solo flights for PPL students, causing much frustration.
I love flying, and have done 300+ hrs in 2 years.
But I really hated the training. The crap planes (all of them), crap instructors (not all but a lot of them), crap organisation (all of them), crap timekeeping (all of them), schools letting walk-in trial lessons from the local council estate push a long booked lesson out (pretty common), and of course the UK weather. It took a year and I would have to think very hard to recommend an instructor to someone who is a friend.
Then, flying around was just great. Still in the crap planes but one could at least choose. One can also get into a syndicate operating something a lot better.
It also became pretty obvious just a few hours into the training that an IMC Rating would be essential for going places, so I did that too. That transformed going to places in the UK, reducing the % of pre-planned flights scrapped on the day due to weather from perhaps 50% to 10%, and if your destination is a large place with an ILS that number could be even lower.
Now I am doing an IR, dead handy for European flying in less than sure weather.
Flying is a fantastic privilege. I just wish the "business" got a bit better organised and then it could attract people with some money, which, assuming decent management, might lift things up a bit. But most of it is stuck well and truly in a rut dating back to WW1, being run by traditionalists who believe that the initiation ceremony for a proper pilot with a hairy chest is 50 hours in a 2ft wide 1960s bent up coke can (a great fringe benefit for the instructor if the student is female, incidentally), and their anoraks with epaulettes, their stupid slide rules, horrid tales about GPS failures... did I leave anything out? Oh yes, the general difficulty in finding somebody in any general aviation related business who can be trusted.
I own a nice plane now so have relative independence and like to take PPL students up on occassions, to show them it's a whole different world up there, and how much easier flying, especially with GPS and other types of radio navigation, is in reality.
Regards UK weather, this is the worst time of the year. Proper cold winter days are a lot better. Summer is usually best of course (especially for trips into Europe) once you are flying yourself, but the frequent hazy days mess up lessons and solo flights for PPL students, causing much frustration.
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When your car breaks down you have a choice as to what to do about it.
One choice is to faff around trying to get the car fixed and miss whatever you were planning to travel to; the other is to abandon the car to worry about later and get on with your life.
Sure, in your case maybe you live too far from the airport to cycle, and there aren't any buses, and there aren't any trains, and you don't know anyone who could lend you a car or give you a lift, and a taxi would have cost more than the £60 you lost; I don't know how far you had to travel. But many people faced with a broken down car just get fixated on dealing with the car, and don't stop to work out whether it would be better to find some other means of transport and sort the car out some other time.
Me, I'd go flying, sod the car.
One choice is to faff around trying to get the car fixed and miss whatever you were planning to travel to; the other is to abandon the car to worry about later and get on with your life.
Sure, in your case maybe you live too far from the airport to cycle, and there aren't any buses, and there aren't any trains, and you don't know anyone who could lend you a car or give you a lift, and a taxi would have cost more than the £60 you lost; I don't know how far you had to travel. But many people faced with a broken down car just get fixated on dealing with the car, and don't stop to work out whether it would be better to find some other means of transport and sort the car out some other time.
Me, I'd go flying, sod the car.
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Gertrude thats pretty true actually..... Did get fixated on the car but only cos' it was the only way I could get there!
I'm actually quite looking forward to getting the IMC (I know I know, get the PPL first!) But knowing there is a way to ease the cancellations due to poor weather is pretty good motivation! Along with the freedoms, the views, the thrill!
I'm actually quite looking forward to getting the IMC (I know I know, get the PPL first!) But knowing there is a way to ease the cancellations due to poor weather is pretty good motivation! Along with the freedoms, the views, the thrill!
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once I finally get back up there looking over the mountains above the poor sods stuck in traffic I'll remember why I stick with it
By all means enjoy the private flying experience, but don't count on it being particularly reliable or efficient transportation.
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IO540
If you really encountered such bad instructors, then you should have had a serious word with the school. The UK has a reputation for the best quality of flight training around. I work for a flying club and an FTO which teaches instructors. I haven't encountered a really poor instructor yet, even those with whom I disagreed about the training scheme. I have had to check out several for the club I fly for. Where did you find such poor instructors?
I must say some of the rest can happen, though an unbooked lesson would never push out a booked one anywhere I have flown, and timekeeping is only bad when things go awry. Then if you are only willing to pay your instructors £10-£20 per hour for his or her time, someone who has expended a minimum of £50,000 to qualify, then your instructors will book to fly every hour they can. If they are then delayed there is no flexibility for your convenience. If you want better service there, then pay them a better rate. While I try to adjust my life to fly with every student when they want to fly, I certainly bend over backwards for my students who give me the extras, from gifts to simple respect and enjoyable company.
Neither organisation owns a small, 1960s "coke can", both offer tuition on very capable aircraft built in the 80s or 90s (although one offers a 1970s aircraft at a very competitive price - it is a pleasure to fly, though not so muh as the 1952 Chipunk I flew a while back).
If you've never had GPS failure, learn about GPS. It is not infallable, I know people who have ended up with blank screens. Even the US military admit it is not what most pilots imagine it to be (I do some consulting for a GPS manufacturer, so keep somewhat up to date on the literature in the specialist press).
The slide rule is a good piece of kit, better than an electronic equivalent in at least two respects if you bother to learn to use it properly. Radio navigation and GPS is a good backup. However you cannot rely on it, it can give false or poor readings, pilots who have not had full courses on instruments persistently use it incorrectly. When I give cross-channel checks I insist that one way the student uses no internal radio navigation aids (VDF and radar fixes acceptable) to show that they can cope with radio nav failure even outside of sight of land, just by following the plan, and to show that the plan works, so they don't blindly believe the wrong radio information. If I have a GPS (do on one plane I fly) I don't use map mode, as this induces terrible navigation techniques, as I have seen in PPL holders I have flown with.
I don't scrap any where near 50% of planned flights do to weathre, despite never flying on instruments (too out of practice to be safe) and flying around 30 hours a month. Over a year maybe 20% or so.
To actually answer the thread:
My students have maybe taken 3 or 4 bookings to get a QXC. The weather really does need to be ideal. However the same applies to reputable schools in most of the world. There is nowhere I know that has ideal weather - I did my PPL in North Carolina and cancelled a lot of days due to rain, and flew in Florida nicking bookings off grounded PPL students supposed to be solo.
If you really encountered such bad instructors, then you should have had a serious word with the school. The UK has a reputation for the best quality of flight training around. I work for a flying club and an FTO which teaches instructors. I haven't encountered a really poor instructor yet, even those with whom I disagreed about the training scheme. I have had to check out several for the club I fly for. Where did you find such poor instructors?
I must say some of the rest can happen, though an unbooked lesson would never push out a booked one anywhere I have flown, and timekeeping is only bad when things go awry. Then if you are only willing to pay your instructors £10-£20 per hour for his or her time, someone who has expended a minimum of £50,000 to qualify, then your instructors will book to fly every hour they can. If they are then delayed there is no flexibility for your convenience. If you want better service there, then pay them a better rate. While I try to adjust my life to fly with every student when they want to fly, I certainly bend over backwards for my students who give me the extras, from gifts to simple respect and enjoyable company.
Neither organisation owns a small, 1960s "coke can", both offer tuition on very capable aircraft built in the 80s or 90s (although one offers a 1970s aircraft at a very competitive price - it is a pleasure to fly, though not so muh as the 1952 Chipunk I flew a while back).
If you've never had GPS failure, learn about GPS. It is not infallable, I know people who have ended up with blank screens. Even the US military admit it is not what most pilots imagine it to be (I do some consulting for a GPS manufacturer, so keep somewhat up to date on the literature in the specialist press).
The slide rule is a good piece of kit, better than an electronic equivalent in at least two respects if you bother to learn to use it properly. Radio navigation and GPS is a good backup. However you cannot rely on it, it can give false or poor readings, pilots who have not had full courses on instruments persistently use it incorrectly. When I give cross-channel checks I insist that one way the student uses no internal radio navigation aids (VDF and radar fixes acceptable) to show that they can cope with radio nav failure even outside of sight of land, just by following the plan, and to show that the plan works, so they don't blindly believe the wrong radio information. If I have a GPS (do on one plane I fly) I don't use map mode, as this induces terrible navigation techniques, as I have seen in PPL holders I have flown with.
I don't scrap any where near 50% of planned flights do to weathre, despite never flying on instruments (too out of practice to be safe) and flying around 30 hours a month. Over a year maybe 20% or so.
To actually answer the thread:
My students have maybe taken 3 or 4 bookings to get a QXC. The weather really does need to be ideal. However the same applies to reputable schools in most of the world. There is nowhere I know that has ideal weather - I did my PPL in North Carolina and cancelled a lot of days due to rain, and flew in Florida nicking bookings off grounded PPL students supposed to be solo.
A little less conversation,
a little more aviation...
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I love flying, and have done 300+ hrs in 2 years.
But I really hated the training.
But I really hated the training.
whatever. The chance to fly, preferably aerobatics,
with pilots who have experience to spare and are happy to
share it...is an essential part of what we do.
When did you *stop* training?
Ed
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Send Clowns
I agree re pay; my instructors were paid between zero and £10/day plus £20/hr usually for flying. But a student doesn't normally have the option to adjust the pay of his instructor. Most JAA training, especially PPL, has to be done under an FTO, so no way to use a freelance instructor (anymore).
That shows you do a different sort of flying to me. Backup for what? Obviously you mean map reading (dead reckoning). Not if you are in IMC or above an overcast layer, in marginal vis (3k is PPL legal but not "VFR" navigable unless it's one's own back yard), over featureless terrain, over a lot of water, or are "unsure of position" to use the official euphemism for having lost the plot due to too many villages/lakes/roads looking too similar, forgot to wind up the stopwatch, etc I also don't fancy EVER being unsure of position in certain foreign countries. Screens do go blank so one carries a 2nd GPS.
Looking at the PPL training scene from the point of view of a relatively intelligent newcomer (has to be to do the exams, for starters) if he is on enough money to be able to fly long-term, he probably drives a car with a GPS in it, has been using calculators for some 30 years, and the whole scene does look like something out of a Battle of Britain movie.
Someone mentioned continual training. Yes, I like to fly with experienced pilots who fly IFR for real, not ATPL hour builder PPL instructors who, unsuprisingly given the nature of their job, rarely get a chance to venture past the nearest crease in their chart
These different positions are what feeds Pprune threads and they will never be reconciled.
I agree re pay; my instructors were paid between zero and £10/day plus £20/hr usually for flying. But a student doesn't normally have the option to adjust the pay of his instructor. Most JAA training, especially PPL, has to be done under an FTO, so no way to use a freelance instructor (anymore).
Radio navigation and GPS is a good backup
I also don't fancy EVER being unsure of position in certain foreign countries. Screens do go blank so one carries a 2nd GPS. Looking at the PPL training scene from the point of view of a relatively intelligent newcomer (has to be to do the exams, for starters) if he is on enough money to be able to fly long-term, he probably drives a car with a GPS in it, has been using calculators for some 30 years, and the whole scene does look like something out of a Battle of Britain movie.
Someone mentioned continual training. Yes, I like to fly with experienced pilots who fly IFR for real, not ATPL hour builder PPL instructors who, unsuprisingly given the nature of their job, rarely get a chance to venture past the nearest crease in their chart
These different positions are what feeds Pprune threads and they will never be reconciled.
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So I end up having to pay a £60 three slot "no-show" fee because of having to cancle at such short notice... Then buy a new battery for £40...thats another lesson gone
Maybe it is sheer coincidence that I just happen to have stumbled across the best school in the UK (must be going by reoprts here). I don't equate quirky (which this industry is) with incompetant or "crap" as some like to put it.
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Ian
If its any consolation my QXC happened first time but that was a few months ago however my Skills Test was cancelled four times but I passed it 10 days ago during the cold spell of crystal clear weather.....yipee !!
Stick with it - it will all come together at the time your least expecting it !!
OA
If its any consolation my QXC happened first time but that was a few months ago however my Skills Test was cancelled four times but I passed it 10 days ago during the cold spell of crystal clear weather.....yipee !!
Stick with it - it will all come together at the time your least expecting it !!
OA
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Ian Wannabe - Sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations, stick with it though, the feeling of accomplishment you'll have when you finally get your QXC done will be well worth the wait.
As High Wing Drifter says though, being charged for a no-show certainly does sound a bit harsh, especially as it was due to circumstances beyond your control. Reading between the lines it also sounds to me as though you're not entirely happy with the school you're learning with, maye this episode might be the catalyst for change...? Let's face it, we all fly because we want to and because we enjoy it, so even when "just" training, for gods sake make it as enjoyable as you can. If that means biting the bullet and moving schools, do it.
Anyway, moving on to your questions. Winter weather can be fabulous; two weeks ago I took my girlfriend up for her first go in the PA28. Beautiful clear skies, from 6000 feet overhead Cambridgeshire I could see Bury St Edmunds to the east, Peterborough to the north, and Northampton to the west. 60 mile wide field of view. No clouds. No bumps. Smooth as a baby's proverbial. It was beautiful. I wanted to stay up there all day.
But conversely, I look out of my window today and it's murky, grey, overcast. The trees a mile away are half hidden in the yuk. You get the picture...
I guess living where you do, you'll probably get worse weather than I do over here in the flat east. Unfortunately that's geography and mother nature playing games with you. You just have to smile, breathe deeply, and book yourself another slot. Trust me, it'll come good eventually, and it will be well worth it. Just remember the old adage: If we can't take a joke, we shouldn't have joined...
All the best.
BM
As High Wing Drifter says though, being charged for a no-show certainly does sound a bit harsh, especially as it was due to circumstances beyond your control. Reading between the lines it also sounds to me as though you're not entirely happy with the school you're learning with, maye this episode might be the catalyst for change...? Let's face it, we all fly because we want to and because we enjoy it, so even when "just" training, for gods sake make it as enjoyable as you can. If that means biting the bullet and moving schools, do it.
Anyway, moving on to your questions. Winter weather can be fabulous; two weeks ago I took my girlfriend up for her first go in the PA28. Beautiful clear skies, from 6000 feet overhead Cambridgeshire I could see Bury St Edmunds to the east, Peterborough to the north, and Northampton to the west. 60 mile wide field of view. No clouds. No bumps. Smooth as a baby's proverbial. It was beautiful. I wanted to stay up there all day.
But conversely, I look out of my window today and it's murky, grey, overcast. The trees a mile away are half hidden in the yuk. You get the picture...
I guess living where you do, you'll probably get worse weather than I do over here in the flat east. Unfortunately that's geography and mother nature playing games with you. You just have to smile, breathe deeply, and book yourself another slot. Trust me, it'll come good eventually, and it will be well worth it. Just remember the old adage: If we can't take a joke, we shouldn't have joined...
All the best.
BM
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I was extrememly lucky with the middle bit of my training and also that theres no cancellaton fee on the aircraft! I managed to do my solo QXC 2 days after my Dual one.
My club also do a priority booking things when someone is waiting to do a QXC, any member who has made a booking is always willing to give it up if the weather is QXC'able.
I think that a cancellation fee is very rude in that circumstance
The last few days in december always seem to be jolly good weather wise - so fingers crossed for you!
My club also do a priority booking things when someone is waiting to do a QXC, any member who has made a booking is always willing to give it up if the weather is QXC'able.
I think that a cancellation fee is very rude in that circumstance
The last few days in december always seem to be jolly good weather wise - so fingers crossed for you!
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Have to say I think the UK is a great place, anybody who thinks otherwise hasn't travelled much.
As for the weather, it's not always better elsewhere. Current USA flying weather has huge swathes of the country unsuitable for basic PPL training. Sure, there are parts that are fine, but the same goes for parts of Europe. If you lived in the East of the US when I posted this you would be grounded now (and the map linked changes, could be different tomorrow - hey that's the weather).
Have to say a lot of the flying schools described would be out of business elsewhere in the world, but in some countries UK flying schools would be the best around. Doesn't help you of course, but the grass is not always greener....
As for the weather, it's not always better elsewhere. Current USA flying weather has huge swathes of the country unsuitable for basic PPL training. Sure, there are parts that are fine, but the same goes for parts of Europe. If you lived in the East of the US when I posted this you would be grounded now (and the map linked changes, could be different tomorrow - hey that's the weather).
Have to say a lot of the flying schools described would be out of business elsewhere in the world, but in some countries UK flying schools would be the best around. Doesn't help you of course, but the grass is not always greener....
High Flying Bird
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I was very very lucky with my training, but was really helped by being a student at the time, so could fly any time any day, and having an instructor with his own business... who could also fly almost any time and day. Plus the group I learned with weren't that busy, as most people had their own aircraft. As soon as I was ready for the Qx/c, I went on the first good day we had.
BUT I did have to cancel or rearrange many lessons for various reasons. My car broke down, on a roundabout on the way to the airfield (I couldn't just abandon it and hitch to my lesson - too dangerous!). The weather interfered a few times too.
Stick with it and use the time to brush up on your R/T, do some reading, or cadge flights with more experienced pilots.
BUT I did have to cancel or rearrange many lessons for various reasons. My car broke down, on a roundabout on the way to the airfield (I couldn't just abandon it and hitch to my lesson - too dangerous!). The weather interfered a few times too.
Stick with it and use the time to brush up on your R/T, do some reading, or cadge flights with more experienced pilots.
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haha Beauman, I like the quote "If we can't take a joke, we shouldn't have joined... " Very true!
Not wanting to argue but homeguard was your post helpful in any way? If you fly you would understand my fustration and I simply came on Pprune as I have been doing for ages to talk to some people who know where i'm coming from!
I'm actually living my flying dreams through Alex Henshaws Sigh for a merlin at the moment whilst the clouds are black...
Not wanting to argue but homeguard was your post helpful in any way? If you fly you would understand my fustration and I simply came on Pprune as I have been doing for ages to talk to some people who know where i'm coming from!
I'm actually living my flying dreams through Alex Henshaws Sigh for a merlin at the moment whilst the clouds are black...
Ian
Three pieces of advice (and, yes, I have taken my own advice in the past):
1. Change schools
2. Stick with it
3. Change schools
I know I said change schools twice but it seemed so important I thought I would. If you're not enjoying it, it isn't worth it; if you're not happy with the service you're shelling out thousands for, move; if they charge you a cancellation fee for circumstances outside your control, charge them one for the slots they've cancelled due to weather.
It's horses for courses and I've hated places that others have loved and vice versa. Don't be afraid to move schools. I changed with only the skills test to do and after a thoroughly enjoyable hour at the time I'd booked it, on a beautifully maintained aircraft, I took the skills test on a beautiful, crisp winter's day where you could see forever and enjoyed it and passed.
You can move whenever it suits you, for whatever reason, at whatever stage. Be honest with the new school and you'll find the joy that you've lost will return.
Stick with it, it's worth it. It was 21 years 7 months between first taking control of an aircraft and that skills test I mentioned above, so I know what I'm talking about, but that's another story.
Three pieces of advice (and, yes, I have taken my own advice in the past):
1. Change schools
2. Stick with it
3. Change schools
I know I said change schools twice but it seemed so important I thought I would. If you're not enjoying it, it isn't worth it; if you're not happy with the service you're shelling out thousands for, move; if they charge you a cancellation fee for circumstances outside your control, charge them one for the slots they've cancelled due to weather.
It's horses for courses and I've hated places that others have loved and vice versa. Don't be afraid to move schools. I changed with only the skills test to do and after a thoroughly enjoyable hour at the time I'd booked it, on a beautifully maintained aircraft, I took the skills test on a beautiful, crisp winter's day where you could see forever and enjoyed it and passed.
You can move whenever it suits you, for whatever reason, at whatever stage. Be honest with the new school and you'll find the joy that you've lost will return.
Stick with it, it's worth it. It was 21 years 7 months between first taking control of an aircraft and that skills test I mentioned above, so I know what I'm talking about, but that's another story.
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I know I've mentioned this before but my brother managed to do a full JAR PPL, in Scotland , in Autumn......in 2 weeks. I accept that he had done some flying with me and is a pretty talented pilot but it is do-able in a very short space of time IF you have the determination, motivation (and money!) and you have a schools and instructor who is on-board. For my brother that meant one plane, one instructor all day every day.
Now I'm not encouraging people to go flying in unsuitable weather (becaese as an ATCO I end up picking up the pieces!!) but I do believe that too many instructors are too "whimpy" when it comes to going flying in "marginal" weather. I know there are implications for what the student will get out of a lesson when its pretty murky, and if its an early lesson when a good horizon is needed then fine cancel...but how many of you out there have been flying when its been pretty murky; I know I have many times, and I think it is good experience for student pilots to experience the problems of such conditions with the relative safety of an instructor on board.
Now I'm not encouraging people to go flying in unsuitable weather (becaese as an ATCO I end up picking up the pieces!!) but I do believe that too many instructors are too "whimpy" when it comes to going flying in "marginal" weather. I know there are implications for what the student will get out of a lesson when its pretty murky, and if its an early lesson when a good horizon is needed then fine cancel...but how many of you out there have been flying when its been pretty murky; I know I have many times, and I think it is good experience for student pilots to experience the problems of such conditions with the relative safety of an instructor on board.
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Hampshire
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Cancellation charges - change school.
Where I fly, you pay for the time you actually fly. Otherwise, it doesn't matter why you cancel a lesson (although no-one does it at really short notice without a good reason), you don't pay.
Our instructors are all really good, many retired airline staff and our planes are excellent.
Ian, as others have said, if you're not enjoying it, try changing schools. Sure, the weather is a major frustration - has been for me anyway. But, it will become less of an issue with experience and ratings.
Where I fly, you pay for the time you actually fly. Otherwise, it doesn't matter why you cancel a lesson (although no-one does it at really short notice without a good reason), you don't pay.
Our instructors are all really good, many retired airline staff and our planes are excellent.
Ian, as others have said, if you're not enjoying it, try changing schools. Sure, the weather is a major frustration - has been for me anyway. But, it will become less of an issue with experience and ratings.