Which Direction? NPPL or PPL
 

OK this is my first post on here in around 12 years - completely lost my old login details, but must've had thousands of posts as I spent most of my teen years on PPRUNE pursuing my dreams of a career with the airlines.

Anyway, not much flying later I'm now in a position to afford to get myself airborne and have logged 7 hours PUT on flex-wing microlights.

I chose this route initially as it's a much cheaper way (per hour) of getting up in the air, with the intention of then converting to NPPL(A) and then upto JAA/EASA PPL(A).

But I've started wondering if this is actually going to be more costly in the long-run.

I haven't fully given up on the idea of becoming a career pilot, but fancy breaking away from the NPPL to allow me to break away from the VFR rules as I like the idea of having the option to still remain flying when the sun goes down or the weather goes a bit crappy.

I was wondering if others have been in the same scenario, and any advice you could share with me?

Thanks,
Darren

Hi Darren,

I had the same quandary a few years ago and I quickly realized that there was little point in doing the NPPL over the PPL unless there was a medical reason for doing so. If you can pass a class 2 medical (or class 1 if you are going commercial) then go straight for the PPL.

Cost wise it will be very similar as you are very unlikely to pass the NPPL in minimum hours, you'd be closer to the PPL minimum anyway at least. Also should you wish to progress to CPL-ATPL later on you'd need to upgrade your NPPL first to PPL then progress onto CPL and so on.

I hope this helps? :ok: Good luck whichever direction you choose.

Cheers,
Dan.

The cheapest way to get a full PPL might be to train for the NPPL on a SSEP and then upgrade it when you meet the additional requirements. I think start to finish this can be cheaper than going straight for the PPL.

You would need to make sure the flying you do on the NPPL is on a SSEP and not a microlight so that it counts as 'good' time for the purposes of hour building towards the CPL. As Dan Vector says the advantage of this approach will probably dwindle if you overrun on the hours needed for the NPPL.

Every hour you fly in a microlight will need to be repeated in a SEP sadly, so learning to fly a flexwing first will be money down the drain, if you are going to go commercial.

Thanks for your replies, appreciate your thoughts.

Whilst the weather's poor and there's no flying anyway, I'm going to book in for a class 1 medical before any potential heartbreak further down the line.

I do enjoy the hands-on and 'open air' aspect of flex-wings, but I'm probably not doing myself many favours getting used to reverse controls!

Hi Darren, you can start an NPPL SEP course, then at say 25-30 hours convert to a full PPL course if you wish. Discuss this with your training organisation first.

That way you only need to finish what you find is best for yourself. You may tailor your License to suit the type of flying, and which airplane you will be using (+buying.) after your PPL.

There is often the discussion of how few hours are needed to maintain currency after PPL. However in reality most people who do the PPL want to fly at least 30 or more hours per year.

Hi Darren.
I went for the NPPL (A) simply because as an old fart of then 66 I was very unlikely to go commercial. If you have any aspirations further than UK only, daylight only, VFR only & restricted to better than 5K vis, possibly, ref EASA, restricted to Annex 2 non EASA a/c. then go full PPL.
I think (I may be wrong) that NPPLs (A) will not be allowed to fly the Flying school CofA EASA aircraft after they get the licence.??

Why waste time and money on an NPPL when you could have an LAPL for the same cost? - valid throughout Europe on all EASA and Annexe II aircraft below 2000kg.

Mind you, since the standard required at skill test (and, therefore, the training) is identical for all three licences, why bother with anything other than a PPL?

Try finding anywhere which has approval to conduct ab initio LAPL(A) training - and hasn't tried to pass on the absurdly excessive CAA ATO approval fee...