I want to get my PPL, but not for a career... (Kent UK)
 

Hey everyone, i was recommended by a pilot i met in Bluewater to use this forum. So hello and thank you to anyone reading this, i'll be very grateful of any advice.

I'm 28, changing jobs, and have a small sum of money at my disposal. I'm looking to have a few hours (5?) of flying lessons, just for fun.

I know there are many well qualified pilots out there chomping on the tails of BA/Quantas/AA etc, so i'm not under any illusion that this is a career choice.

So my question: How would you spend the £1500?

I need to allocate this money very soon - yes, i've left it very late to ask!

Best wishes and thanks!

You should be able to get ~ 10 lessons at perhaps Lydd, Manston, etc.

Find a school that you like the feel of, apply yourself to the theory first, fly whenever you can regarding weather, three trips a day if possible, and do it all in the one week.

For your budget (10 hours @ £150) you could be flying solo, after that, see where it takes you.

If you have no desire to get a PPL you might as well blow it and go to Thunder City for an hour or two in a Lightning doing some aeros

It will cost a lot more than that to get Thunder City back in business.

However, Delta Jets could do a nice £1500 worth of passenger stuff I'm sure.


Going Solo, even if that's the end of the aviation life for the OP, is still the best value for money.

If you just want to fly for fun and your budget is 1500 UKP, you could blow it indeed on powered flying lessons and with a bit of luck go solo. Once. Twice if you're extremely lucky and well-talented.

As an alternative, you could also do something cheaper. Gliding perhaps. 1500 UKP may buy you, what, two years of membership fees plus 100 winch launches? Maybe even more - I don't know the typical fees in the UK. But you could definitely go solo within that timeframe and budget, and possibly even get your Glider Pilots License.

It just seems a waste of money to have to stop after you've gone solo. Once. Because that's when flying gets to be fun, instead of hard work.

Headcorn do training in the Piper PA 22 (Colt) for £117/hour.

The C152 is £145/hour.

Plenty of hours for your £1,500.

If you are prepared to cross the river, there's microlight training at Damyn's Hall. Some microlights are just the same as light aircraft but considerably cheaper. No price quoted, but this may be within your budget:

MICROLIGHT SPORT AVIATION

Go to Florida for a week in Jan and fly there.
Ticket £500
Hotel £500
Flying £500

Last time I checked £1,500 would buy you just under 4 minutes in thundercity's lightnings :}

C152 seems like the way to go!

Try to keep up
 

Thunder City has pretty much gone out of business.

For flying for fun, you really can't beat microlighting.

Not so time consuming per flying hour as gliding, and not so expensive as light aircraft. Safetywise, not far off what you'll get out of anything else.

In Kent these chaps are almost certainly as cheap and good as you'll find. £1500 should get you more than halfway through your PPL, and hopefully solo.

G

My advise....

Have a look at Old Sarum

Old Sarum Flying School

Join as a Pilot Club member and you can fly a very new AT3 for £124.

One thing to consider is most of the flying schools you will visit will have Cessna 150-2, Piper PA-28's etc. In most cases these are pieces of old junk, which were so aptly described by a non-aviation friend as aircraft with interiors like a 1970's living room and Hillman Hunter dials.

Honestly, from your description of what you want to do a very old Cessna or Piper will put you off flying for life.

I think a big consideration should be what type of aircraft do I want to experience flying in. Ultimately they all fly the same, but the experience will be vastly different.

(You could also try a Tiger Moth!)

...but far from enough for a PPL.

Remember that flying can be addictive and you might end up using your £1500 and taking loan of £7000 to finish your PPL :)

Hi,

I've just been making a similar decision. restricted amount of money, and just wanted to have some fun and try flying. I tried a couple of places and have ended up looking at 3 axis microlights. Training is usually around £110 per hour, which means that your £1500 will get you about half way through a course, and if you have the aptitude, its viable you could go solo within that. The microlight I'm learning on is a Eurostar, which as far as I'm concerned, is just a little plane, even with a heater!

Go for it, you'll love it. Spend your first £120 on a trial though, as that will give you a feel as to whether you want to carry on. You can find your closest school on the bmaa web site

British Microlight Aircraft Association,Home

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Great to hear you are in it for the enjoyment, excitement and challenge that aviation can offer. These are fantastic times to getting into leisure aviation, there are just so many opportunities out there and so much to try out.

What would I do if had a £1.5K budget no licence and wanted to find out about the experience of being a pilot? It’s simple book trial flights on as many different types of flying machine as my budget would allow – I would draw the line at bungee jumping but everything else would be up for grabs.

My suggestion is to work your way down the following list having trial lessons on each type to see which one you like the most.

Light aircraft
Flexiwing microlight
Helicopter
Hot air balloon
Gyrocopter
Glider
Para motor
Hang glider
Parachute

When you do have enough time and money to take it further you will know where to make the investment.

:ok:

Gotta say, I like Stephen's idea. I think it comes down to what you want afterwards. If you think you might want to learn and actually get a license, then microlights are going to be one of the cheapest ways to get a license (can qualify with less than £3000 total if very lucky). So, £1500 may well mean you get a long way through the training, and finishing it off is possible if you can find a "bit more cash".

If its just trying different ways in the air, then Stephen's suggestion is a great one, but consider that if you do want to carry one forwards, you start at the beginning as far as training costs are concerned.

As for light aircraft, you probably need to budget £8k or more to pass your PPL, which effectively means the £1500 doesn't go a long way towards it, and if you do want to carry on after, it may well be a strain!

Good luck

If you think you may want to keep flying I would recommend microlights :). Whatever you choose please keep us posted on how you get on.

JP1 - you might want to work on your navigation a bit. The OP said she's in Kent, which is not exactly local to Old Sarum. Experienced instructors I talk to are also not particularly complementary about the AT3; the C152 and PA28 may be old, but they seem to have much better handling.

Stephen Furner - if taking that approach, I'd add in 3-axis microlights.

she dreams of flying - Before you start, get a logbook so you have record of all of this.

G

Flying schools near you are located at the following airfields:

Damyns Hall

Medway

Stapleford

Biggin Hill

Redhill

Southend

Manston

Headcorn

Lydd

Rochester

(apologies to those I've undoubtedly missed out)

If you've never been to a flying school/club before, try not to be put off by the facilities. Most PPL schools are housed in rickety old cabins and often the aircraft are 30+ years old with a paint job from the days when yellow and brown were de rigueur. All the schools at the above airfields are fully licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority and conform to very strict standards, so while the 'look' might be a bit shabby (instructors included), you can rest assure that high levels of safety prevail.

Have fun!