Finishing off the PPL
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Finishing off the PPL
Hi all. I am currently sitting at 30 hours, and I am aiming to finish in minimums. I fly usually two hours at week, Saturdays mainly. My instructor says all i have left is controlled airspace clearances and diversions. After that, its a case of practise for skills test and the X country. I've done some solo Nav, longer than the required X country. Just need to do with a couple of landaways and thats me sorted on that front i think.
I have 4 days holidays from my work, and was thinking of taking four days after a weekend, and spend the weekend and the four days flying. 2 hours a day I think is reasonable to do in one day. (I usually do this when I fly on Saturdays). Any opinions on whether this would be an effective way to finsih up? I figured the consistency of flying every day (weather Gods permitting) would do me good.
The main reason for this is that I want to get onto the next step in my grand plan, the good old ATPLs. The sooner I can start them the better!
Thanks for thoughts all.
I have 4 days holidays from my work, and was thinking of taking four days after a weekend, and spend the weekend and the four days flying. 2 hours a day I think is reasonable to do in one day. (I usually do this when I fly on Saturdays). Any opinions on whether this would be an effective way to finsih up? I figured the consistency of flying every day (weather Gods permitting) would do me good.
The main reason for this is that I want to get onto the next step in my grand plan, the good old ATPLs. The sooner I can start them the better!
Thanks for thoughts all.
Blah Blah Blah
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I would not rush to fass to do the ATPL's unless you have a fair bit of cash to hour build. You need to remember you need 100 (or is it 150 or whatever the wierd combination is) hours to be able to start the CPL training. Once you sit the first ATPL exam you then have 18 months to finish up.
Last edited by gcolyer; 8th Jan 2008 at 10:43.
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From Lasors, an applicant for CPL must have completed 200 hours, off which 100 as P1 (or 70 if integrated), 20 as P1 VFR xc, 10 IR dual time, 5 hours night (at least 3 hours dual).
Controlled airspace is no problem - easy enough once you've done it once.
(Doing my reval at Inverness a week on Monday - the offer still stands if you're up for a sortie in the 172 after that
)
Controlled airspace is no problem - easy enough once you've done it once.
(Doing my reval at Inverness a week on Monday - the offer still stands if you're up for a sortie in the 172 after that
)
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I'm always a fan of flying slightly more intensively than the '2 hours at the weekend' style of training. You have less catch-up and refresh time that's essentially just wasted hours, so having several days off in a row to get as much done as possible is probably a good idea.
However, I'd say you'd be lucky if the weather doesn't interfere with those plans!
If you're aiming for minimum hours, you have to plan your remaining time well with respect to the weather, otherwise you could be waiting for QXC or test for weeks with no hours in the bag to practice before hand. Obviously in this situation you simply put your hand in your pocket and pay for more.
Start your ATPL groundschool as soon as you like after the PPL. Build hours at the same time, so in the circa-9months it takes you to do the ATPLs, you'll have the P1 time required to start CPL training.
However, I'd say you'd be lucky if the weather doesn't interfere with those plans!
If you're aiming for minimum hours, you have to plan your remaining time well with respect to the weather, otherwise you could be waiting for QXC or test for weeks with no hours in the bag to practice before hand. Obviously in this situation you simply put your hand in your pocket and pay for more.
Start your ATPL groundschool as soon as you like after the PPL. Build hours at the same time, so in the circa-9months it takes you to do the ATPLs, you'll have the P1 time required to start CPL training.
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I was kinda thinking of doing around 5hrs a month while doing ATPL to keep me ticking over. Would do more, but can only fly two days a week and figured I wouldnt have time due to ATPL study. Maybe I can fit more, but I will have to wait and see how study goes befroe planning loads of hours.
As far as the weather goes for me finishing off, I'm plannin a weekend plus monday tuesday, and the same the following week, so I spend 4 days each time, twice. That way if the weather dumps on my plans I havent lost it all, hopefully!
Slopey, I'm still up for a trip, let me know how the reval goes and when you're free. Look forward to it.
My instructor has said that 2 hours a day is about enoguh for student PPl level. What do other student PPLs think? Could you do 3? (thinking 2 dual and 1 solo each day i'm there) Thanks for thoguhts so far all.
As far as the weather goes for me finishing off, I'm plannin a weekend plus monday tuesday, and the same the following week, so I spend 4 days each time, twice. That way if the weather dumps on my plans I havent lost it all, hopefully!
Slopey, I'm still up for a trip, let me know how the reval goes and when you're free. Look forward to it.
My instructor has said that 2 hours a day is about enoguh for student PPl level. What do other student PPLs think? Could you do 3? (thinking 2 dual and 1 solo each day i'm there) Thanks for thoguhts so far all.
Pompey till I die
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I learnt to fly in an hour, I can remember that hour well, I was flying south abeam Biggin on the way back from Maidstone.
It was just unfortunate it took 20 hours previous to that hour preperation.
I agree completely with r44flyer. I took a week off work and flew every day for a few hours, and crunched another exam at the same time.
It certainly didn't feel like a week off work. At the airfrield for 09:30 to have breakfast and do my nav. Airborne by 11:00, back home that night at around 18:00. I'm convinced though it cut hours off of my training time, and in the end I got the PPL on the money, 45 hours exactly.
It was just unfortunate it took 20 hours previous to that hour preperation.
I agree completely with r44flyer. I took a week off work and flew every day for a few hours, and crunched another exam at the same time.
It certainly didn't feel like a week off work. At the airfrield for 09:30 to have breakfast and do my nav. Airborne by 11:00, back home that night at around 18:00. I'm convinced though it cut hours off of my training time, and in the end I got the PPL on the money, 45 hours exactly.
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How many hours you can take in a day is really personal preference, but also what you're doing, and how mentally fried you might be after it.
During mine, I had a few days with 2 hours in the morning, and 2 hours in the afternoon. For general handling/uneventful XCs, no problem.
Circuits left me a bit fried (with 7 others in the circuit!), so you could only take a few hours a day of those - if you're going to do 2 sessions - give yourself a nice break between!
During mine, I had a few days with 2 hours in the morning, and 2 hours in the afternoon. For general handling/uneventful XCs, no problem.
Circuits left me a bit fried (with 7 others in the circuit!), so you could only take a few hours a day of those - if you're going to do 2 sessions - give yourself a nice break between!
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Robbo,
Might be worth having your instructor do a pre skills with you. I had several hours to burn at the end of my training and I had my instructor do an informal pre skills to identify any areas that I needed to tweak. You'd be surprised how you get rusty on things you did earlier in the training. I then used a few days of back to back flying to brush up on these prior to my pre skills assessment , I took my actual skills test the day after.
btw , watch out for those Tonkas midweek
Pompey,
Personally I flew 3 hours a day during the first 25 or so hours but I dropped to no more than 2 after that. It's just a personal thing, I like time to plan the sortie, walk the aircraft and crew in at a leisurely pace . I also found that I was trying to fill the three hours for the sake of it. So I dropped back to 2 hours. The day went like this.... arrive at say 09:30 after a good breakfast for a first launch at 12:00 and then a second launch at 16:30 . This gave lots of time to review weather, notams, local airfield changes etc. I found I got more out of it as I had the time to plan - fly the plan in my head - fly it for real -debrief - reflect and plan the next sortie with lessons learned from the first fully absorbed......But in the end it's down to how each individual like to learn I guess, horses for courses.
Cheers
Squawk7143
Might be worth having your instructor do a pre skills with you. I had several hours to burn at the end of my training and I had my instructor do an informal pre skills to identify any areas that I needed to tweak. You'd be surprised how you get rusty on things you did earlier in the training. I then used a few days of back to back flying to brush up on these prior to my pre skills assessment , I took my actual skills test the day after.
btw , watch out for those Tonkas midweek
Pompey,
Personally I flew 3 hours a day during the first 25 or so hours but I dropped to no more than 2 after that. It's just a personal thing, I like time to plan the sortie, walk the aircraft and crew in at a leisurely pace . I also found that I was trying to fill the three hours for the sake of it. So I dropped back to 2 hours. The day went like this.... arrive at say 09:30 after a good breakfast for a first launch at 12:00 and then a second launch at 16:30 . This gave lots of time to review weather, notams, local airfield changes etc. I found I got more out of it as I had the time to plan - fly the plan in my head - fly it for real -debrief - reflect and plan the next sortie with lessons learned from the first fully absorbed......But in the end it's down to how each individual like to learn I guess, horses for courses.
Cheers
Squawk7143
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I did between 2 and 3 hours per day. Any more I thought was rushing things, and I was starting to feel a bit drained. The fresher you are the more information you can assimilate, so if you're at all tired you're not getting the best out of it. Little and often is the best way, I feel. It gives you more time to reflect on each flight, mull things over and subconsciously continue your learning, then you're back in the seat again to consolidate and move on straight away.
I was doing this semi-intensively, 2 per day for 2 weeks inc. weekends. Factoring in weather I did 20hours. An unavoidable break meant no more flying for a few months, but as I went back to the same regime it didn't take long to pick up and I had no more breaks til I was waiting for test, which was preceeded by the mandatory pre-test check flight anyway.
I was doing this semi-intensively, 2 per day for 2 weeks inc. weekends. Factoring in weather I did 20hours. An unavoidable break meant no more flying for a few months, but as I went back to the same regime it didn't take long to pick up and I had no more breaks til I was waiting for test, which was preceeded by the mandatory pre-test check flight anyway.
