dontpressthat:

Don't take what I said to heart,

I am very well aware of what you have to endure in England as I have flown there quite a lot.....

I'm sitting at home on Vancouver Island in a snow storm bored out of my mind....

I was hoping one of you Brits would note my comment on immigration as high density traffic....we have the same problem here with the " Multiculturalism " P.C. crowd in our government looking for votes while the country spirals into utter chaos trying to pay for it.

Maybe my sense of humor is not noted here?

We're just a bit slow sometimes....

BRL said ...
Where's the fun in that? :E

:ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

what was wrong with my answer??:eek:

It took me 1 year. There was a 3 month period when I booked every day (i.e. 90 bookings) and I got just 3 flights done, due to the weather.

The OP says he can fly weekends, which appears to rule out the U.S. option.

Snowstorms chuck... we used to have those here years ago!! I think mr blair sold our snow rights to the up north folk as part of his super green eco global carbon footprint reduction strategy.

Its just so unfair, Why cant we have fun weather!!

Oh and no offence taken or intended previously..:ok::ok:

DPT

I started in Feb '07 and finished at the end of July. Bar a 2-week holiday, I was available 7 days a week for over 5 months, aircraft availability was good, my FI was available 5 days a week, and I passed my test first time on about 50 hours. It still took aaaaaages...

Mind you, we did have the wettest Summer on record didn't we? :rolleyes:

Well I must be a record then - 13 years to get my SEP!!!

Started December 1994 at Booker with a birthday flight. Took 3 paperrounds at the time to save money to afford a flight every couple of months. Eventually moved over to gliding (1997) after about 12 hours of SEP as i just could not afford it. Got distracted by gliding until 2001 when foot and mouth stopped X country flying. Saved up some cash and took a SLMG rating. Retrained as an engineer after the 911 downturn in flightdeck recruitment and again couldn't afford SEP time. Managed to scrounge a few hours here and there but kept up the Gliding and SLMG. Finally got round to converting (via TMG) to SEP in August this year (just short of 13 years). Of course the distraction from SEP in that time amounts to about 120 hrs SLMG and about 800 hrs gliding, including 2 years as an instructor....

Just an alternative to the who dunnit it quickest....

FB

At the risk of contributing to the thread drift I'm interested why you would only consider the US as an alternative to doing your training in the UK?

I was reading this thread just as an ex-UK student walked past the computer, which prompted me to make a comment. She is completing her CPL & multi ratings here and a brief discussion has revealed the cost is approximately half that of the UK (Intitial multi rating is not much more than 1000 euros). Looking at the UK prices for aircraft hire etc it would seem similar differences exist for someone wanting to do their PPL....

New Zealand is also quite a varied country in terms of its landscape - we have spectacular mountains as well as some quite reasonable expanses of flat land. Our weather is probably a bit less flight-inhibiting than what I've seen described for the UK but not so different that you'd wonder where you were if you were to come here! We have quite a few country strips along with some reasonably busy international airports (admittedly nowhere near as busy as the UK) so there is a good range of flying available to students and seasoned Pilots alike. Also the people are great :-)

As far as I know, from the number of UK-based people I've met through aviation, there is no problem with regard to transfer of licence but obviously one should check all that out beforehand!

Perhaps the US-based schools advertise very extensively in the UK than do other countries? Obviously the US is much closer but if you're looking for an alternative that could perhaps be a little more like home, and at a reasonable cost, NZ may be worth a look.

I have had to learn to fly three times.

PPL in Scotland 1.5 years. I was in my early 30s

PPL(M) in Scotland/England 1.5 years. I was in my late 30s.

PPL(SEP) in Florida a leisurely 2.5 weeks. I had about 20 hours to upgrade. By that time I had about 100 hours on microlights. I was in my early 40s.

Everyone on the Florida course was doing the course in 45 hours or so. The continuity of flying helps immeasurably. You could do the same in the UK in summer if you got a good spell but folk don't usually fly two or three times a day. The Florida schools are geared to getting you past your test in the allotted time but I have heard of folk having to go back, maybe they didn't meet the standard.

I might add South Africa to that as well. Thing is though I don't know of any JAA schools outside Europe that are not in America, I don't even know if any JAA schools exist outside Europe and America.

If there are then they keep fairly quite about it.

Confused About Times
 

While I was at Leming when it was still a flying training school, the RAF and Navy Pilots seemed to fly every day despite our English weather, though Dishforth and Topcliffe suffered more from the Vale of York fog. What is wrong with us flying two three or four flights a day and getting stuck into a thorough flying training programme. Surely it makes more sense to get the hours in while you can rather than flying once in a blue moon?:confused: Ok there was one Trainee from Uganda who should never have been let out on his own with anything more technical than a balsa wood glider to throw into the sky but most of them seemed to thrive on it. (Does any one else remember the Bulldog taking off from the taxiway at Dishforth after a woman in high heels decided to wander accross the airfield pushing a pram?) Think that was the first short field take off I ever saw.

Thank you to everyone who replied to this post. It certainly has given me plenty to think about and there were some really interesting view points which I had not considered before. I particularly like the point that flying training is something to be enjoyed and not rushed through as well as Tiger's idea of hiring the plane at a £ rate you would expect. I was strongly on the side of the US but have moved back towards the UK on the premise that I can find a good flying school that won't cost the earth. Cabair have quoted around £7500.

Many thanks

Social

26 weeks.
That was every weekend committed to it for that period of time during the summer of 1990.
Wet days were spent in books.
Sunny days were spent in the air.
Don't bother with the US. Start your groundwork now, get the exams out of the way and go for it in April. You will be qualified by the end of August.
Don't go to the pub and don't buy a pilot's watch. Buy a decent headset and get to know Trevor Thom like a teenage boy gets to know his right hand. Stay concentrated. There will be days when you wonder why the hell you started it. DON'T give in.
When you have your licence you will be complete and will be able to experience a unique thing whenever you want to.
If I died tomorrow I can safely say that my flying will have given me the most contentment I could ever have found and there's not many who can say that.

Fournier boy said
Erm, excyooooose ME!

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=216764

26 years, anybody?

:p:p

Took me from 08/01/06 until 29/09/07 to complete the JAR PPL in Scotland with a week's worth of flying from Dunkeswell (whilst on holiday - managed about 5 hours due weather).

This period was interspersed with weeks and occasionally months of no flying due to a variety of reasons.

I completed in approx. 53hrs - longer than some - shorter than others but who cares.. Once I was flying consistently it became a lot easier.

Just looking forward to meeting new folk and visiting new places with this wonderfully extravagant hobby!!

RudeNot2

Kevmusic - Interesting thread to which I may contribute.

For the interest of others here some time ago one of the local instructors had a student complete a PPL from whoa to go in just on 2 weeks. More recently one of the overseas students completed his CPL in exactly 90 days. Given some of that was during our winter he did well methinks.

Quick answer
 

9 months, 45 hours on the money. Flying mostly weekends but took a week off work and went full time.