Cheap Hour Building
Join Date: Mar 2011
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My experience...
check out this link to a video I made doing my hour building.
word of warning you wont be able to find it in 48 hours as I have to make it private (a mandatory result of not inviting the chief of operations to my leaving party!)
What a time we had!
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Australia
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Sounds great
Hey CG, sounds like you had quite an experience!
I am quite interested in how you got into a job like that and I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions? I take it you applied with a CPL, but how many hours did you have under your belt? Also, what made you choose Belize? It looks like such an amazing place!!
Thanks, PipeDreamer
I am quite interested in how you got into a job like that and I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions? I take it you applied with a CPL, but how many hours did you have under your belt? Also, what made you choose Belize? It looks like such an amazing place!!
Thanks, PipeDreamer
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: London
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I have just come back from a 10-day trip to Arizona to build hours. It is significantly less expensive than flying in the UK and (in Arizona at least) and flyable days/hours are more predictable.
I was based in Phoenix and the cost of flying there (Piper Cherokee 140) was about £83 per hour. (There would be cheaper options in the US but I was prepared to pay some extra for reliability.) When I added in the cost of airfares, hotel, car rental, travel insurance including flying cover, charts, dual check-out etc it came out at £119 per solo hour. This is much less than the cost of flying from my flying club in the UK (Piper Warrior £140 - £165 per hour plus landing fees at the landaway and transport costs to/from the airport).
Equally importantly, I could take a specified time away from work and be fairly confident I would get the hours I planned. I don't get paid for days I don't work so taking a week off to fly in the UK and spending some of it grounded because the weather is unflyable is expensive. For those who have more flexibility in their work hours, or who aren't working, the UK might be a more cost-competitive option.
In Arizona, I did 42 solo hours in 8 days. It is of course up to you whether you use your hours for productive learning or just fly back and forth from the same airport many times. I did high altitude and mountain flying, transits over Phoenix Internal Airport (very cool!) and through Class D airspace, flew into the Palm Springs Terminal Radar Services Area (TRSA) which has its own specific rules, and landed at 15 different airports to make the most of those "no landing fees"
There are some interesting places to visit too: flying over the Grand Canyon, through Monument Valley, and looking at volcanic and meteorite craters are memorable.
The types of flying I didn't experience were cross-wind landings and managing adverse weather, but I get plenty of practice with those in the UK
Getting hours in the US can be cost-effective and can be a good learning experience if you look at the total costs, time available, and type of learning you need.
I was based in Phoenix and the cost of flying there (Piper Cherokee 140) was about £83 per hour. (There would be cheaper options in the US but I was prepared to pay some extra for reliability.) When I added in the cost of airfares, hotel, car rental, travel insurance including flying cover, charts, dual check-out etc it came out at £119 per solo hour. This is much less than the cost of flying from my flying club in the UK (Piper Warrior £140 - £165 per hour plus landing fees at the landaway and transport costs to/from the airport).
Equally importantly, I could take a specified time away from work and be fairly confident I would get the hours I planned. I don't get paid for days I don't work so taking a week off to fly in the UK and spending some of it grounded because the weather is unflyable is expensive. For those who have more flexibility in their work hours, or who aren't working, the UK might be a more cost-competitive option.
In Arizona, I did 42 solo hours in 8 days. It is of course up to you whether you use your hours for productive learning or just fly back and forth from the same airport many times. I did high altitude and mountain flying, transits over Phoenix Internal Airport (very cool!) and through Class D airspace, flew into the Palm Springs Terminal Radar Services Area (TRSA) which has its own specific rules, and landed at 15 different airports to make the most of those "no landing fees"
There are some interesting places to visit too: flying over the Grand Canyon, through Monument Valley, and looking at volcanic and meteorite craters are memorable.The types of flying I didn't experience were cross-wind landings and managing adverse weather, but I get plenty of practice with those in the UK
Getting hours in the US can be cost-effective and can be a good learning experience if you look at the total costs, time available, and type of learning you need.
Join Date: Sep 2009
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Should also add that the flying above ^^ was not pre-paid, each flight was paid for after the flight. The only exception was to pay a deposit for the dual check-out (which is fair enough given that they only knew me as an email address and voice on the phone).
Join Date: Jan 1999
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Good deal
DiamondC
It sounds like you got a good deal, some time ago I posted on this forum that it is best to keep away from the usual suspects in Florada, your post seems to back up this advice as you had no pre paying and did not loose any money when you unable to fly.
It sounds like you got a good deal, some time ago I posted on this forum that it is best to keep away from the usual suspects in Florada, your post seems to back up this advice as you had no pre paying and did not loose any money when you unable to fly.
Join Date: Jul 2005
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More people need to look at Arizona... A Flight School I know and love, and always harp on about on here now have a Cherokee 140 (news to me, but I'm going out there later this month so will check it out for myself) which is $85/hour. That's less than £60 at current exchange rates. Their C172/PA-28s are around $100/hour, still a massive saving over the UK.
I'm all for promoting GA in the UK, and work at a school in the North of England where we have a very reasonably priced C150 (£100/hr) and C172 (£130/hour) with none of the membership fees and landing/approach fees normally associated with operating here.
It's sickening to think, that for 50 hours in our C150, you could do 50 hours in the States in the Cherokee, and have £2000 left over to cover your return flights, car hire, accommodation and food etc...
I'm all for promoting GA in the UK, and work at a school in the North of England where we have a very reasonably priced C150 (£100/hr) and C172 (£130/hour) with none of the membership fees and landing/approach fees normally associated with operating here.
It's sickening to think, that for 50 hours in our C150, you could do 50 hours in the States in the Cherokee, and have £2000 left over to cover your return flights, car hire, accommodation and food etc...
Join Date: Mar 2011
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Belize
pipedreamer:
Its been a while now since i was there but i have a friend who was there last year and he was under the old system which was great. But unfortunately the golden goose is gone as now i think they charge 4000 usd for a month of hour building which is much more than double what it used to be, also San Pedro is not a cheap place to get to or live in so budget 1500 usd a month minimum in living costs if you were to go and have a nice time.
Still.......
I cannot recommend it enough if you have the time and mindset, one of the most beautiful places in the world (the girls aren't bad either
) and probably the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on.
It depends what people are looking for, the hours don't count towards unfreezing your ATPL but i can tell from experience that the flying experience helped me get a skydive job when i returned, and now im flying a twin turbine in my second flying job just over a year after I left Belize.
All my other friends who went there are currently flying for a living
Its been a while now since i was there but i have a friend who was there last year and he was under the old system which was great. But unfortunately the golden goose is gone as now i think they charge 4000 usd for a month of hour building which is much more than double what it used to be, also San Pedro is not a cheap place to get to or live in so budget 1500 usd a month minimum in living costs if you were to go and have a nice time.
Still.......
I cannot recommend it enough if you have the time and mindset, one of the most beautiful places in the world (the girls aren't bad either
) and probably the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on.It depends what people are looking for, the hours don't count towards unfreezing your ATPL but i can tell from experience that the flying experience helped me get a skydive job when i returned, and now im flying a twin turbine in my second flying job just over a year after I left Belize.
All my other friends who went there are currently flying for a living
I pay £80 per tacho hour and £50 a month in the UK, and this is not so unusual away from the home counties. Unfortunately I missed out on joining a group for £1500 equity for £50 a month and £50 per flying hour. Cessna 150/152.
Last edited by abgd; 4th Feb 2013 at 00:50.
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abgd
I guess you are lucky missing out not he cheap C152 group, I doubt if they will have the money to cover the SID's checks on the aircraft when charging that sort of rate.
Last edited by A and C; 4th Feb 2013 at 08:05.
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Sapperkenno, we might be talking about the same place. In addition to the headline rate on their website ($85.00 per hour) you need to factor in:
(1) Sales tax, which in the US is not included in the list price of anything, even at the supermarket
(2) Extra fuel costs. They reimburse for fuel you buy at other airports at the cost you would pay at their home airport. If you did short flights (no need to fuel while away) or checked around for the cheapest fuel at other airports there wouldn't be an extra cost. I was on a tight schedule and was focussed on seeing interesting places, so just fuelled where needed and paid extra for the difference in fuel costs.
(1) Sales tax, which in the US is not included in the list price of anything, even at the supermarket
(2) Extra fuel costs. They reimburse for fuel you buy at other airports at the cost you would pay at their home airport. If you did short flights (no need to fuel while away) or checked around for the cheapest fuel at other airports there wouldn't be an extra cost. I was on a tight schedule and was focussed on seeing interesting places, so just fuelled where needed and paid extra for the difference in fuel costs.
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Fly-in-Spain
I'm currently hour building in the UK and have only managed 12 hours so far this year. A friend of mine in a similar situation told me about Fly-in-Spain and I was wondering if this is a good option? I have read various opinions about hour building in the UK being better experience and more favoured by the airlines however Fly-in-Spain claim to be CAA approved and are based in Jerez like FTE. I know there are quite a few similar threads but I was hoping to get some recent experiences and possibly some advice from those further down the commercial path than me.
Join Date: Apr 2003
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It is probably this;
Jodel D112 1/5 Share for sale based at Leicester airport, Wassmer factory built airframe 4420 hrs, Continental A65 engine and prop 500 hrs since major overhaul, aircraft well maintained and in good condition.
Friendly group with good availability, online booking system.
Running cost £45 month, £40 hour wet
Jodel D112 share for sale Leicester
Rod1
Jodel D112 1/5 Share for sale based at Leicester airport, Wassmer factory built airframe 4420 hrs, Continental A65 engine and prop 500 hrs since major overhaul, aircraft well maintained and in good condition.
Friendly group with good availability, online booking system.
Running cost £45 month, £40 hour wet
Jodel D112 share for sale Leicester
Rod1