The true cost of a PPL?
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Better alternatives
Hi Alex,
May I suggest you consider both gliding and flying in three axis microlights.
Gliding will be cheaper to begin with and will make you a better pilot when the time comes to 'fly power'.
The current crop of microlights are vastly better aircraft than the average club Piper or Cessna spamcan and are much cheaper to fly.
BP.
May I suggest you consider both gliding and flying in three axis microlights.
Gliding will be cheaper to begin with and will make you a better pilot when the time comes to 'fly power'.
The current crop of microlights are vastly better aircraft than the average club Piper or Cessna spamcan and are much cheaper to fly.
BP.
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Also, all the gliding clubs I know have a cadet scheme, which gives you cheap (sometimes free!) flying in return for helping run the flying side.
At my club our cadets are mainly forced to drive the retrieve vehicles - never any complaints from them, as where else can they spend the day driving and flying?
At my club our cadets are mainly forced to drive the retrieve vehicles - never any complaints from them, as where else can they spend the day driving and flying?
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Just be a bit canny recommending aircraft types.
He may be wanting to go onto commercial and the microlight hours although very good fun and worthwhile from a experence point of view unfortunately are worthless when being used to gain a commercial license.
He may be wanting to go onto commercial and the microlight hours although very good fun and worthwhile from a experence point of view unfortunately are worthless when being used to gain a commercial license.
However, at this stage - a lot of years away from thinking about commercial training, it's more important to get what flying experience is available to somebody under 16, than to worry too much about "in what".
I think still I'd look hard at gliding, having by far the best youth community in aviation - whether through a BGA gliding club, or through the Air Cadets.
I did once know a lad mind you who got very involved with his local microlight club, they helped him buy and rebuild a basic old aeroplane, got his PPL just after his 17th birthday, and instructor rating just after his 18th. Last I bumped into him, he was running his own flying school.
G
I think still I'd look hard at gliding, having by far the best youth community in aviation - whether through a BGA gliding club, or through the Air Cadets.
I did once know a lad mind you who got very involved with his local microlight club, they helped him buy and rebuild a basic old aeroplane, got his PPL just after his 17th birthday, and instructor rating just after his 18th. Last I bumped into him, he was running his own flying school.
G
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Stick with the gliding then until your 16 then start powered if you haven't seen any cadetships that you might go for.
In the mean time crack on with school and get some decent grades.
And if you don't think gliding is safe or fun.
G. It makes a huge difference to cost if they start too young, you have a huge saw edge of a learning curve and the ppl ends up costing a fortune and then they have the wrong mix of hours for courses. Where as gliding they can get over an hour of proper stick time for 40 quid and a whole days entertainment with the rest of the teenagers.
Gliding and power also opens up opertunities for hour building by tugging gliders. Gliding clubs tend to prefer fellow glider pilots to drive the tugs.
In the mean time crack on with school and get some decent grades.
And if you don't think gliding is safe or fun.
G. It makes a huge difference to cost if they start too young, you have a huge saw edge of a learning curve and the ppl ends up costing a fortune and then they have the wrong mix of hours for courses. Where as gliding they can get over an hour of proper stick time for 40 quid and a whole days entertainment with the rest of the teenagers.
Gliding and power also opens up opertunities for hour building by tugging gliders. Gliding clubs tend to prefer fellow glider pilots to drive the tugs.
Last edited by mad_jock; 27th Jul 2012 at 07:42.
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Budget...
Budget for 10G at least. I done it all on my own, paid for by me. You won't get much change out of that and it may cost a little more or less depending on where you train. But it's worth it!
There are also all the options such as :
1) Go for an experience flight if you haven't already. You might discover that you don't enjoy it. Better to find that out now.
2) Build and fly radio control aircraft if you don't already. Aim to progress to something reasonably sophisticated. There's plenty you can learn about aircraft systems and aerodynamics from radio control models, and in my experience most pilots dabble in it. And if you have a lot of time and money invested in a model you won't want to crash it either so there are lots of useful decision-making lessons to be learned there.
3) Simulators - flying instructors seem to loathe teaching people who have lots of sim-time. On the other hand, how many computer-literate cash-poor kids will make it to flying school without having done so? I certainly didn't.
If you do end up using a sim, try to be methodical about it and use it to learn procedures and navigation. Don't just burn simulated holes in the sky. Personally I don't think it hurt my flying, but there are real limits as to how much you can learn from them, especially when untutored.
1) Go for an experience flight if you haven't already. You might discover that you don't enjoy it. Better to find that out now.
2) Build and fly radio control aircraft if you don't already. Aim to progress to something reasonably sophisticated. There's plenty you can learn about aircraft systems and aerodynamics from radio control models, and in my experience most pilots dabble in it. And if you have a lot of time and money invested in a model you won't want to crash it either so there are lots of useful decision-making lessons to be learned there.
3) Simulators - flying instructors seem to loathe teaching people who have lots of sim-time. On the other hand, how many computer-literate cash-poor kids will make it to flying school without having done so? I certainly didn't.
If you do end up using a sim, try to be methodical about it and use it to learn procedures and navigation. Don't just burn simulated holes in the sky. Personally I don't think it hurt my flying, but there are real limits as to how much you can learn from them, especially when untutored.
Last edited by abgd; 28th Jul 2012 at 00:27.
2.Never tried, but already know about aerodynamics, and systems
Some famous physicist or other once said that anybody who states that they understand quantum physics, is deluding themselves
If anybody truly understands aerodynamics, I've yet to meet them - and I know a great many people with PhDs in the subject.
I do however understand your desire to get your backside off the ground, and disagree with those saying to wait. Find a way to fly, and enjoy it. Worry about the path to a commercial licence (or if you become less unambitious, military flying) later when you're old enough for the detail to be an issue.
G
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Find a way to fly, and enjoy it.
)
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Go to America, you can get a PPL for under £4000, you will just have food & flights to worry about! Much cheaper & the USA is far better for GA flying, no landing fees even in big regional airports, weather is generally much better as well.
Save up until you are 16/17 then go and have 5-6 weeks in the states having the time of your life!
Save up until you are 16/17 then go and have 5-6 weeks in the states having the time of your life!
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I've literally just about finished my PPL (final test within next couple of weeks). My total costs so far are:
Flight training and all 7 theory exams: just over £10,350
Headset: £266.95 (although you should be able to rent one)
Class 2 Medical Examination: £190
Air Comms Practical Exam: £75
I probably have about another £300-£400 to spend over the next fortnight, which'll take me up to about 55 hours in total upon completion of the test.
So for me it has been (including absolutely everything) about £11k. I suspect I've done it slower than average though. Whenever the weather wasn't good enough for what we wanted to do I decided to fly anyway and just do something else. If I had cancelled and instead only flown when we were working on new parts of the course (instead of revision) then I think I'd have the PPL with 50 hours.
So I'd say - as has been stated above - £10k is a reasonable budget, and if it ends up being a £1k more then it's not the end of the world.
Good luck with your training buddy!
Flight training and all 7 theory exams: just over £10,350
Headset: £266.95 (although you should be able to rent one)
Class 2 Medical Examination: £190
Air Comms Practical Exam: £75
I probably have about another £300-£400 to spend over the next fortnight, which'll take me up to about 55 hours in total upon completion of the test.
So for me it has been (including absolutely everything) about £11k. I suspect I've done it slower than average though. Whenever the weather wasn't good enough for what we wanted to do I decided to fly anyway and just do something else. If I had cancelled and instead only flown when we were working on new parts of the course (instead of revision) then I think I'd have the PPL with 50 hours.
So I'd say - as has been stated above - £10k is a reasonable budget, and if it ends up being a £1k more then it's not the end of the world.
Good luck with your training buddy!
