Intensive PPL with on-site accommodation in nice location?
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Intensive PPL with on-site accommodation in nice location?
Hi chaps,
I'm at the end of my tether researching possible places to get my PPL next year.
Currently Denmark based, where training at home is out of the question since it's €300/hour for an ancient Warrior and an hour's train/bus ride each way to the airfield - so I'm looking to travel abroad.
I'm more or less willing to go anywhere in the world (Australia included) to do a 4-6 week residential PPL where I can live on or very close to the training center.
My caveats are that I don't want to have to hire a car for the whole time I'm there, nor spend an outrageous amount of time on public transport getting around. Ideally the accommodation should not be ****, and if they provide their own food/canteen then so much the better.
I suppose you could say I'm looking for the integrated ATPL version of a PPL, minus the uniform and zero job prospects!
In my quiet moments I dream of some friendly little place on the beach with a small shack I can live in and cheap, plentiful food all round.
Cost isn't particularly limiting (budget around €14,000). My main concern is that it's a good experience with minimal commute and minimal hauling around shops for food on public transport.
Your insights welcome!
I'm at the end of my tether researching possible places to get my PPL next year.
Currently Denmark based, where training at home is out of the question since it's €300/hour for an ancient Warrior and an hour's train/bus ride each way to the airfield - so I'm looking to travel abroad.
I'm more or less willing to go anywhere in the world (Australia included) to do a 4-6 week residential PPL where I can live on or very close to the training center.
My caveats are that I don't want to have to hire a car for the whole time I'm there, nor spend an outrageous amount of time on public transport getting around. Ideally the accommodation should not be ****, and if they provide their own food/canteen then so much the better.
I suppose you could say I'm looking for the integrated ATPL version of a PPL, minus the uniform and zero job prospects!
In my quiet moments I dream of some friendly little place on the beach with a small shack I can live in and cheap, plentiful food all round.
Cost isn't particularly limiting (budget around €14,000). My main concern is that it's a good experience with minimal commute and minimal hauling around shops for food on public transport.
Your insights welcome!
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These bootcamp educations are well available in the US, but you might not be happy with a FAA PPL in Denmark, so I assume you talk EASA part-FCL license?
At such price tag there shouldn't be any problem. A good friend of mine from Fåborg was planning to do his part-FCL PPL at Hanover airport this or next year. There is a local school flightcenter-hannover.de I heard very good of, as it offers a well balanced mix of FI being the bushpilot sort and airliners as well. They train mainly on Aquila A210 and learning to fly with CTR will give you much confidence in radio ops as well.
I have no update on his efforts, but maybe you both synchronize?
At such price tag there shouldn't be any problem. A good friend of mine from Fåborg was planning to do his part-FCL PPL at Hanover airport this or next year. There is a local school flightcenter-hannover.de I heard very good of, as it offers a well balanced mix of FI being the bushpilot sort and airliners as well. They train mainly on Aquila A210 and learning to fly with CTR will give you much confidence in radio ops as well.
I have no update on his efforts, but maybe you both synchronize?
You could try Stuart Morton at Limoges, France
PPL flight training in France - Stuart Morton
PPL flight training in France - Stuart Morton
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Intensive PPL with on-site accommodation in nice location?
We'll do it for you at York Flying School at Breighton, in the North of England. Get a tent and stay on the airfield. £125/hour if our prices stay the same - to fly, not stay, in a C150/152. No need for a car. No landing fees. 4-6 weeks should easily be enough time, even for British summer weather! We've had someone finished up in 14 days of training before.
Nice club environment, and an interesting place to fly from.
Nice club environment, and an interesting place to fly from.
Take a look around Benešov, CZ. There's rooms for rent at the field and the food AND beer are ok and ridiculously affordable.
Not so sure about availability of English speaking instructors, though, but it seems worth an enquiry.
And yes the scenery around is nice enough, rolling hills and woods and the river Vltava ("Moldau") of Smetana fame, and the fabulous city of Praha only a short train ride away.
Not so sure about availability of English speaking instructors, though, but it seems worth an enquiry.
And yes the scenery around is nice enough, rolling hills and woods and the river Vltava ("Moldau") of Smetana fame, and the fabulous city of Praha only a short train ride away.
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Be great if you could find a school in Mexico that dishes out US PPL's
It's cheap accommodation, quality beer and food, hot chicks, brilliant weather and cheap gas down there.
It's cheap accommodation, quality beer and food, hot chicks, brilliant weather and cheap gas down there.
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I don't know the ins and outs of easa etc.
I can imagine you could make it to the USA for fall and expedite your training before winter.
Everyone seems to go to arizona, california or florida. But there are many other places in the US where you could get a decent hotel / motel right at the airport and take lessons.
consult: airnav.com
put in a town or city and check out the airport (in the US) and they list the FBO and hotels with distances to the airport.
Maybe check out exotic places like champaign illinois or many other little places where the cost of hotels is low and the planes aren't too expensive.
I think there are some requirements to check into about security.
I can imagine you could make it to the USA for fall and expedite your training before winter.
Everyone seems to go to arizona, california or florida. But there are many other places in the US where you could get a decent hotel / motel right at the airport and take lessons.
consult: airnav.com
put in a town or city and check out the airport (in the US) and they list the FBO and hotels with distances to the airport.
Maybe check out exotic places like champaign illinois or many other little places where the cost of hotels is low and the planes aren't too expensive.
I think there are some requirements to check into about security.
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We still don't know which variant of PPL - US or EASA. From the initial post I assume EASA, so all these "make your US PPL" may be wrong headed. There are advantages to do the US PPL, most prominent if you go IR, but this is only a catch until 2015, when EASA planes are to be flown by a full EASA license, not only validation.
BTW: just yesterday I heard of somebody finishing his part-FCL in Szeged at Fly-Team Hungary, maybe HU is an option?
BTW: just yesterday I heard of somebody finishing his part-FCL in Szeged at Fly-Team Hungary, maybe HU is an option?
Hungary might be even cheaper for food/accommodation than CZ. A possible issue in both countries might be that not many people have even the slightest bit of English. Make sure to have an instructor with good English (or another language that you speak, German perhaps)!
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Hungary and Czech are quite similar in many aspects. Czech is a bit more expensive, but a bit easier with english. Hungary is a bit cheaper and the english skills sufficient to survive. I worked in both countries for a while (Prague and Budapest were definitely easy with english, but in smaller towns you may have to ask a bit around). You get used to radio after a short while, in both countries you can fly on english radio ops. Tower and Info usually are able to speak quite well english and the few vocabs of the traffic circle you learn in a matter of hours. If you are going for LP Czech is easier ;-).
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Don't come to the UK for an intensive course!
Hi oneredpanther,
Whenever someone posts on Pprune seeking a location for an intensive course there is always someone who suggests coming to the UK. Don't do it. The UK has a 'returning polar maritime' climate, (i.e. cloudy and wet with a summer maximum rainfall). And it is at its worst in the North and West of the country.
In fairness, you can just perhaps be lucky. In 1960 I did my own PPL in only a few weeks at Barton near Manchester. But I was very, very lucky. After I had completed my course it then proceeded to rain for weeks on end. If I had started my course ten days later it would have taken months to complete.
In the mid 2000s when I came to renew my licence - this time in the relatively dry South East of England - I had to book two to three times the number of lessons I wanted because more than half of them had to be cancelled within 48 hrs of flying because of adverse weather. Renewing my licence took nearly a year.
In these circumstances if you come to the UK you could end up returning to Denmark weeks later with your course far from complete and facing the choice, either of doing half of your training in Denmark, or else of making multiple further visits to the UK.
You need to go somewhere with a 'continental' climate, (i.e. dry).
I would also suggest it should be somewhere where there would be no shortage of instructors whose native language is English. If I was a native Danish speaker, (as I assume you are,) I should be most uneasy about learning to fly in English from an instructor whose own native language is, perhaps Czech or French. The possibilities for mistakes and misunderstanding would be worrying.
I reckon any of the following should do - but stay well away from the West coast in each case; Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United States.
Good luck!
BP.
Whenever someone posts on Pprune seeking a location for an intensive course there is always someone who suggests coming to the UK. Don't do it. The UK has a 'returning polar maritime' climate, (i.e. cloudy and wet with a summer maximum rainfall). And it is at its worst in the North and West of the country.
In fairness, you can just perhaps be lucky. In 1960 I did my own PPL in only a few weeks at Barton near Manchester. But I was very, very lucky. After I had completed my course it then proceeded to rain for weeks on end. If I had started my course ten days later it would have taken months to complete.
In the mid 2000s when I came to renew my licence - this time in the relatively dry South East of England - I had to book two to three times the number of lessons I wanted because more than half of them had to be cancelled within 48 hrs of flying because of adverse weather. Renewing my licence took nearly a year.
In these circumstances if you come to the UK you could end up returning to Denmark weeks later with your course far from complete and facing the choice, either of doing half of your training in Denmark, or else of making multiple further visits to the UK.
You need to go somewhere with a 'continental' climate, (i.e. dry).
I would also suggest it should be somewhere where there would be no shortage of instructors whose native language is English. If I was a native Danish speaker, (as I assume you are,) I should be most uneasy about learning to fly in English from an instructor whose own native language is, perhaps Czech or French. The possibilities for mistakes and misunderstanding would be worrying.
I reckon any of the following should do - but stay well away from the West coast in each case; Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United States.
Good luck!
BP.
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Also, before someone pulls out the "you need to retrain to fly in Europe if you do your EASA PPL in USA", you have to do the same thing if you do it in the UK.
UK is as different from Denmark as US is from Denmark.
UK is as different from Denmark as US is from Denmark.
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Thanks for the additional replies gents!
It's the EASA license I'm after.
I'm actually British, stationed in Denmark indefinitely! So while the UK is home to me, as others have said the weather is a bit of a no-go.
Some places will rent a 172 for EUR 165/hr so that seems reasonable. For some unknown reason they like to train in more expensive Warriors or Tobagos- almost double the cost when you factor in tuition.
The more I look into EFT the better it seems to look. Happy to hear counterarguments of course
We still don't know which variant of PPL - US or EASA
If I was a native Danish speaker, (as I assume you are,)
Can you afford the cost of flying in Denmark after you have passed?
The more I look into EFT the better it seems to look. Happy to hear counterarguments of course
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When you say Denmark 'Based' do you have plans to move away once you have completed your PPL? Do you have a more local airfield to fly from once you have you licence ? Stay away from the UK for an intensive course, the weather is not reliable enough, you could end up falling on a bad week/month and spend a lot of time drinking coffee/tea. Get yourself off to florida !! 
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I only have one thing to keep in mind, when going EFT. FL is a great place to fly, airfields are large-paved-easy, you are able to spool down hours after hours quite quickly there and the weather is almost always nice, BUT - this is exactly the drawback, especially when talking piloting in Denmark.
I am currently based Northern Germany and frequently flying into Denmark (some real great places there!). Weather is a great issue, strong crosswinds upon landing are common and the typical DK airstrip a short small gras mogul slope. My bet after following some chaps Florida education in recent years: you will need significant extra training when coming back from FL to handle small fields. Our fellow US guys tend to train landing approaches with slightly higher landing speed, about 5-10 knots in excess to what we train in Europe. If you do this at Kegnaes International EKKI on 36 downslope 1300ft gras you are in the water, or at Femoe you may hit the restaurant (oneway RWY).
Sorry for such an advice, but if you plan to fly in Denmark, get an education which clearly enables to. If you have some doubts about that, I'll come and take you to some demonstration in Denmark ;-).
I am currently based Northern Germany and frequently flying into Denmark (some real great places there!). Weather is a great issue, strong crosswinds upon landing are common and the typical DK airstrip a short small gras mogul slope. My bet after following some chaps Florida education in recent years: you will need significant extra training when coming back from FL to handle small fields. Our fellow US guys tend to train landing approaches with slightly higher landing speed, about 5-10 knots in excess to what we train in Europe. If you do this at Kegnaes International EKKI on 36 downslope 1300ft gras you are in the water, or at Femoe you may hit the restaurant (oneway RWY).
Sorry for such an advice, but if you plan to fly in Denmark, get an education which clearly enables to. If you have some doubts about that, I'll come and take you to some demonstration in Denmark ;-).
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I only have one thing to keep in mind, when going EFT. FL is a great place to fly, airfields are large-paved-easy, you are able to spool down hours after hours quite quickly there and the weather is almost always nice, BUT - this is exactly the drawback, especially when talking piloting in Denmark.
I am currently based Northern Germany and frequently flying into Denmark (some real great places there!). Weather is a great issue, strong crosswinds upon landing are common and the typical DK airstrip a short small gras mogul slope. My bet after following some chaps Florida education in recent years: you will need significant extra training when coming back from FL to handle small fields. Our fellow US guys tend to train landing approaches with slightly higher landing speed, about 5-10 knots in excess to what we train in Europe. If you do this at Kegnaes International EKKI on 36 downslope 1300ft gras you are in the water, or at Femoe you may hit the restaurant (oneway RWY).
Sorry for such an advice, but if you plan to fly in Denmark, get an education which clearly enables to. If you have some doubts about that, I'll come and take you to some demonstration in Denmark ;-).
I am currently based Northern Germany and frequently flying into Denmark (some real great places there!). Weather is a great issue, strong crosswinds upon landing are common and the typical DK airstrip a short small gras mogul slope. My bet after following some chaps Florida education in recent years: you will need significant extra training when coming back from FL to handle small fields. Our fellow US guys tend to train landing approaches with slightly higher landing speed, about 5-10 knots in excess to what we train in Europe. If you do this at Kegnaes International EKKI on 36 downslope 1300ft gras you are in the water, or at Femoe you may hit the restaurant (oneway RWY).
Sorry for such an advice, but if you plan to fly in Denmark, get an education which clearly enables to. If you have some doubts about that, I'll come and take you to some demonstration in Denmark ;-).
If your associates are displaying in-capabilities in handling airport landing runways, then this surely must be attributed to their immaturity in applying safety factors to AFM performance information for landing purposes.
A pilot and the airplane always work as a team and the pilot must map his/her capabilities with that of the airplane to derive the performance information needed to successfully land the airplane and come to a complete stop. In essence, the pilot must take the AFM into consideration and align all the necessary variables to achieve a positive landing outcome.
WP