Hours in the USA towards UK NPPL/PPL

[neiljmorrison]

Hi all,

I'm hoping this hasn't been asked elsewhere (I have searched as best I can, I promise)!

I am looking to restart my PPL/NPPL (undecided which yet) after a long layoff. Had about 10 hours but was then made redundant - flying lessons and dole cheques do not go well together!

Having financially recovered I am about to start again. Now I travel to the US a lot with work and have grabbed a couple of flights over there given how cheap it is. I was wondering whether there was any advantage to my eventual UK license by doing this?

• Would hours with a US instructor count towards my minimum hours in the UK?
• If not, and assuming passing in minimum hours is unlikely, is it worth it for the extra experience I would get - even if hours don't officially count then would I be likely to save UK hours as I would be able to grasp things quicker with a bit of experience behind me?
• Can I put the US flown hours in the log book with the instructor comments?

On an unrelated note, I've been reading about the LAPL licence changes coming up. It looks as though it would come into force somewhere in the middle of my training. Is it worth waiting for it to be fully approved and then starting training based on that syllabus rather than the current NPPL/PPL?

Thanks for all your help!

Neil