PPL Training North of Hadrian's Wall
 

After several months deliberation I'm about to embark on the first rung of the flight training ladder by obtaining my PPL. This is with an eventual view of becoming an AFI and then into commerical flying.

Having received info from most flight training schools in Central Scotland I'm attempting to draw up a shortlist of three to visit before putting my money where my mouth is.

Has anyone out there got any personal recommendations or constructive comments for flight training schools in Central Scotland?

Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Timfly and welcome to PPRuNe. I am sure you have many questions as you are about to embark on your PPL training so may i reccomend the Search on this site. Its pretty good and will answer most questions and save you a lot of time in the future. A quick example is this.....Search result....Click here
All i typed in was Scotland and this came up. Its also worth looking back a few pages. Good luck. :)

Of course, North of Hadrian's wall would include Newcastle Aero Club!

A pet peeve - darn sarf they think Scotland starts at the Wall (or Watford?) - first time I've seen it happen from oop norf :-)

Sorry, not familiar enough with schools in Scotland to comment constructively. As well as L's suggestion, try the club guides on the magazine sites, e.g. www.flyer.co.uk or www.pilotweb.co.uk

I could recommend Tayside Aviation at Glenrothes or Dundee (Perth too? Can't remember) on the basis that I did some extra training with them after returning with my new PPL from one of the pilot factories in Florida. I recall being struck by the professionalism of the instructors, and particularly the excellent condition of the planes (like... clean coloured oil when you inspect it... what's this?) Nice facilities too and run by nice people. Unlike the Florida place, which was run by the biggest w*nker I have met in my whole life.

Timbo
 

Hi Tim,

I went to the Florida to the pilot factory as its called (like that one!!) and done my ppl in 3 and a half weeks and havent looked back, and I saved a shed load because training over there is so cheap whilst here its expensive but its not everyones cup of tea, you need to go in with your eyes open and dont take any **** from anybody, thats what I did and I didnt have any problems!

Good Luck to ya whatever you decide ( oops starting to sound like the big brother bloke now!!!!!! ) ;)

Cheers
Deeks!

Hi Tim,

Sounds like your just behind me as I have started training recently at Cumbernauld. Looked at Prestwick and opted for Cumbernauld primarily due to location. Want to do the same career path as yourself and having looked into it, it seems the CPL and/or FI will have to be at Perth (Tayside Aviation plus one other up there). Can't compare Cumbernauld with anything as my choices were limited in Central Scotland anyway. Too soon to say if it was a bad choice but they are pretty friendly and the two Katanas (the ones the students use) are reasonably clean and are not rust buckets.

You'll wait a long time for a Katana to turn into a rust bucket!:D
I can recommend Tayside, having both trained at and worked for them in the past. Fine people, good selection of aircraft and training all the way to JAA CPL and FI. Add to that free landings at all 3 airfields and current CFS approval to teach RAF scholarship cadets and you have a pretty good training setup.

Yeah should've mentioned the free landings at Glenrothes, Dundee & Perth. I did some training at Scumbernauld and £6 a time really stacks up when you are circuit bashing.

Another vote for Tayside Aviation from me. Edinburgh, Glasgow & Prestwick are all too busy for PPL training, you'll spend lots of time (and therefore money) taxying and holding. That really only leaves the three Tayside establishments and Cumbernauld. Since you'll probably do 70+ landings in the PPL course the free landings at Tayside is a big bonus. A very important factor is to find an instructor who you get on with and then stick with him/her. Plenty of sob stories around about people who didn't get on with their instructors, but one man's meat is another man's poison.

Prestwick for me!!

The Prestwick Flight Centre only charges from take off to landing plus 5 minutes for taxying. You will also get experience of ATC which can be a lot of fun. We are also mooving soon to new purpose built accomodation beside the tower, this should happen in August.