Frustration
 

Out of the last 8 lessons I have booked I only managed to get 3 because of the weather. I book a days holiday and get all excited - light the blue touch paper and then..............nothing. Too windy, low cloud, goats on the track!
Looking out of the window in central London it looks to be a beautiful sunny, cloudless morning although very cold. Log on to Denham weather station and the cloud is at 800ft - good job I didnt book a lesson for this morning. It is all very frustrating and I wonder whether I would be better concentrating on the ppl exams and then booking a holiday somewhere warm in the new year where I could be sure of getting the lessons. All very frustrating.

It's entirely down to luck. I started my training in September last year and flew every single week without a single missed lesson through the winter - even in the heavy snow we had in February.

I then had two or three cancellations in 'spring'!

I did mine a few years ago on Fridays and the weekend.
I''m sure just using the weekend you would get some flying in and save your hols.:)

On a pessimistic note welcome to the reality of flying light aircraft.

Dont we all think, from our experience with commercial carriers, that aircraft fly whatever the weather? That is a long way from the mark with light aircraft; you will find it will take time, experience and more qualifications before you can fly on most days.

On an optomistic note we might be running into a good time of year. We often get settled bright days around now so with luck you will bank a series of lessons before the weather gets too cold and the lessons are cancelled because no one has bothered to remove the frost from the wings. :)

Good luck - it is worth it in the end.

About 10 years ago my son undertook a course for his PPL, which was something he had long dreamt about. Everything went very well until his QXC. A/c unserviceability, poor planning by the club, his working shifts, weather problems, moving house, etc., meant that he booked 13 times before managing to do it. He flew from Southampton to Bristol - all OK. When he got to Exeter the wind had changed aso it was outside his limits and he had to divert back to Southampton without landing. Sadly, that was the end of his PPL as he gave up after that..

If you want to make any serious progress over the typical western Europe wintertime, you've got to be flexible.

1. Learn to read the weather charts. Particularly the ones that show fronts etc. a few days ahead. (I personally like the animation from Sembach.) This will show you which days are promising, which are not.

2. Make sure you have the cellphone of your instructor(s) and an arrangement with them that you can call them at, say, 24 hours notice to book a lesson.

3. Make sure you have an understanding with your job/significant other that you can go flying when the weather is good, and catch up the lost work/attention when the weather is bad.

If you just hang on to your weekly lesson which is scheduled months in advance you can indeed expect half or so of them being cancelled in the upcoming period. But if you're flexible you'll find that there's plenty opportunity for flying.

Last year I managed to schedule a flight a few hours after a heavy snowfall. CAVOK with no cloud whatsoever, 30 km viz, cold air, high air pressure and the whole of the Netherlands covered in white. Except for the runway which was duly plowed. Beautiful.

I have known a few people who waited months for their QXC. 6 months in one case; the instructor would not let him go anytime on the hazy summer days.

An appalling indictment of the training system, that pilots cannot fly in less than great visibility...

This time of year, training tends to get interrupted by heavy frontal weather. I managed to get just 3 lessons in during oct nov dec 2000, and I was booking a lesson every day!

However, right now, Thursday & Friday, the weather in southern UK is fantastic. CAVOK, and nothing at altitude either. Fantastic for long trips into Europe, VFR or IFR. Hardly a cloud over the Alps. I'd cram in a few lessons.

Wait until you chew your fingernails down waiting around for your skills test !

Out of curiosity, if your lesson is cancelled, do you still go to the school/club and use the time you had set aside to fly to read the aircraft manual, do some ground school,read the flying order book, ask the instructors (who will be on the ground due to weather) to clarify anything you are unsure of, and the many other important, but maybe not as much fun, aspects of learning to fly.

Depends on how far you have driven, I suppose :)

It may be a good idea to learn to read the MSLP charts, which takes only minutes, and book lessons only for days when there are no fronts forecast.

Precisely the reason I went stateside and did it all in 5 weeks. :ok:

However, if you think it's bad just now - just try keeping current after you've got the licence! That's almost more difficult with the wonderful UK weather (especially up my way) :hmm:

If the weather is good, can you not do at least 2 in one day? (i.e 4-5 hours flying)? I would.....

I found flying after getting the PPL much easier than before, because the PPL training did not use a GPS so solo flying (on the instructor's license) in say 5km haze was out of the question, whereas post-PPL is was a great flying day, with the skies relatively devoid of traffic ;) A great liberating experience, and a shame one doesn't get a taste of it pre-PPL.

Currency is something else; one needs the time flexibility, and the budget. Living/working close to the airport is a huge benefit.

Being able to deal emotionally and practically with frustration and the ability to do mental arithmetic are the only two essential prerequisites to training to become a pilot. ;);):}

That's the old school approach, sure...

what's the new one then?

I started my course first week of October 2009 and completed it in March 2010. Yes a fair few lessons were cancelled - I would guess around a third to a half perhaps - but I can prove it can be done through the winter in the UK. The trick is to book more lessons than you need to allow for the cancellations. You will need some flexibility I'm afraid.

The old approach is that only men with a proper hairy chest and an infinite endurance for hassle, and acceptance of total authority (as promulgated to the great unwashed by the unchallenged organs of the Safety Politburo ( CAA, GASIL, GASCO ) should be permitted to enter Aviation.

We should consider ourselves fortunate that we do not have to travel annually to London to the Royal Institute of Navigation and bow in front of portraits of the Great British Men, painted in the glorious days when the sun never set on the British Empire, who had socks full of sand stuffed down the fronts of their trousers, while we are served tea in useless little china cups with handles too small to get one's fingers into.

........aaaahh, in the days of old, when men were bold and toilet paper hadn't been invented ........

RISE

(a ripoff of that rather sickly Cessna advert currently running)