As the requirements to be a drop pilot exceed the requirements for a CPL then you are as usual barking up the wrong tree.

I would also be interested to see your evidence of PPL drop pilots being paid.....

Do you need to Hour Build at all?
 

This is not strictly correct

You could immediately go straight on to an Intgrated CPL course.
This is a 150 Hour course, but (with a PPL) you can reduce it by up
to 50% of hours previously flown (up to max 40hour reduction if
no Night Rating / max 45 hour if Night rating held)

So, assuming PPL acheived in 45 hours + 2 hour Skill Test, only 1261/2
hours required on CPL course. Assume 2 hour Skill Test and
CPL could be issued with 1761/2 hours total flight time.

A Modular CPL course is only 25 hours long, but you must have 150 hours
before you can start the course.
A CPL will, however, only be issued once you have 200 hours flight time.

These 200 hours must have certain elements to them (hours PIC, Nav,etc)
so make sure you meet these as part of any "hour building"

The "Gotcha" on the Modular CPL course is that EASA currently require 6 hours
flight time in a Multi-Engine aircraft.

It has always been possible to instruct on a PPL! You don't even need a Class 1, but you do need CPL level knowledge.

structured training will always be more effective than wandering around hour building when the student has no real idea what experience they are trying to accrue!

Then why did you waste our time asking here?

cheapest way to build hours
 

Maybe because i love watching the know it all pprunners "battle out" their silly word games for entertainment

Whopity
 

Quote -structured training will always be more effective than wandering around hour building when the student has no real idea what experience they are trying to accrue!

While I agree with the statement I would suggest that we'll planned and properly flown navigation practice is not "wandering about" ( with no real idea ). It is in fact practicing the basic navigation skills and techniques that are required for the CPL skills test as well as the ability to operate an aircraft away from the club environment where their every move is supervised by instructors.

When one of the typical guys who rents one of my aircraft wakes up in the morning and he is half way down France he has to make all the flight preparations himself based on the information that he gathers, he is not mollycoddled by instructors who have to authorize his flights, because the guy is outside this protective environment this personal responsability builds airmanship skills quickly.

I regularly fly with the product of the big training companies and while their general knowlage and technical skills are high their decision making and manual flying skills are far below that of the guys who have reached the right hand seat via the self improver route.

Flying is about far more than the narrow acquisition of technical skills as without flying experience and airmanship it is not posable to properly and safely direct the technical skills.

It is due to the very narrow nature of the flying education path that you recommend that I find myself having to encourage, help and mentor the latest generation of magenta line heroes in the skills of raw data and visual flying.

Thanks A and C for intercepting and answering my question before even posting it! :)

I've been hours building on my own for a couple of months and while I've done the obligatory photo flights over the house, most of it has been flying thoroughly planned XC routes, tracking VOR radials, transiting controlled airspace, etc. I'd like to think I'm not "wandering around", I'm aware of the CPL requirements and plan every flight around improving the skills required for it.

I looked into these structured hours building courses but some cost double what I'm paying for the same amount of hours. I still get guidance "on-demand" from an instructor friend and occasionally poke a couple of FO friends that went modular for some advice. They all agree there's no point me paying for any structured hours building.

I agree entirely
However if they don't posses the necessary skills and nobody is training them, many of the hours flown will be "wandering about" because they don't know any better. If experience is gained over time the learning process can be good, but hour building by its very nature is trying to gain experience by cramming hours into the shortest time available, this seldom imparts meaningful experience. If an Integrated student can move straight into IR training, why should a Modular student be any different?

If you can't do an IR after 50 hours X-cty, perhaps being a commercial pilot is not the right career path!

Seems like you joined in, too

Doesn't it just, too! :ok:And it's fun, which is not a negligeable aspect of flying. Until you get a job doing it, which depending on what the job is, may change that aspect. So enjoy the hour building, it's the most freedom you will get.

Whopity
 

I think you are playing with words here, "hour building" is just that it is the process of accruing hours towards a qualification, the time scale is unspecified.

You also seem to think that instantly picking something up is the measure of a good pilot, people learn at different speeds and take different amounts of time to come to terms with different aspects of this business.

For me the two hardest things I have ever done in aviation where the IMC rating ( it was my first introduction to IF) and the Airbus A320 ground engineers CRS course ( the A320 pilots type rating was a piece of cake!). I am sure that others will tell a different story but I am sure that I would not have been ready to take on the full IR without a bit more time in the air than you suggest.

LAA
 

where are you based..?
I know there is a new LAA group setting up in scotland and North Weald using Rokospol Via 600kg..
good for touring and great for hour building.. glass cockpit etc

price be around £85 an hour or maybe less.

google, flyrokospol and you will see they sell the aircraft but i know they are setting up a members group at Cumbernauld or possibly Prestwick and maybe another aircraft at North weald nr London