On my way
 

Hello all
I am 15 and ready to fly i recently went on a trial flight and it was amazing i am now hooked, i have 1.2 hours on my logbook. Is anyone else in the Blackpool ( UK ) area in my position as i am also thinking of buying a share in a Cessna 182. I am aiming to one day get a ATPL with a A320 type rating also one more thing does anyone know a flying school in the Northwest that does CPL and if possible ATPL.
Thanks

Hi there. Ive looked into buying into a group of people who own an aircraft and i have one or two points you may not be aware of.

If you are buying into a group then you cannot do your PPL on this unless the rest of the group offer to put your name on the aircraft and so basically say that the aircraft is yours. You can use it to add ratings onto a licence but not for the initial gain of a licence.

Im sure if there are any things i have left out i will be corrected.

Anyway good luck with the flying

Cheers m8

Hi
Thanks for the quick reply i will first get my PPL anyway before considering purchasing a share since new planes these days cost ........ a lot
Thanks

Ah well. Best of luck for the future, hope the flying goes well

cheers

I am going to sound like my dad...
 

Hi jet_breeze,

At 15 you have the advantage of youth on your side. Before you go rushing off diving into CPL & ATPL questions, have a good look around this and other websites that cater for wannabes.

Consider what subjects you should be studying at school, GCSEs and A-Levels for example. Consider what degree you should study after school. Consider choosing a University that has a University Air Squadron. Chances are you will need to earn some money first before you can get the required financing for a CPL/IR and ATPL ground exam course. A good education will always ive you something to fall back on if the flying doesnt work out.

Formulate a long term strategy for gaining first your PPL, 17 is the minimum age. If there is a local Air Training Cadets or Air Scouts group close by think about joining them. Consider joining a gliding club, it is much cheaper and you can build some very valuable flying skills for a fairly small amount of money, which will stand you in good stead in the future.

Buying a share in an aircraft such as a 182 is not a cheap proposition. First of all the rest of the share owners will need to approve you, and for someone so young insurance may be a problem. You will probably have to buy a share for around 8-10k plus monthly subscriptions for maintenance and a contingency fund, plus hourly flying costs (fuel, insurance landing fees etc). Your parents will need to increase your pocket money a bit!

Thanks for the answers guys, hope to see you in the skies soon.

Slow down!
 

Flypuppy is absolutely right!

Let's forget about all that "got all your life ahead of you" stuff - it's very easy for us old gits to say it, but much harder for you to believe it. Instead, let's get a bit more practical.

First of all, you can't take your skills test for your PPL until you're 17. So why rush into buying an aircraft which you can't use for 2 years? Ok, so theoretically you could have your PPL instruction on your own aircraft... but here's a much better idea:

Why not start lessons on a club aircraft. Because you won't be able to take your skills test for 2 years, there's no rush at all - you certainly don't need to stick to the absolute minimum sylabus. So you can try a few different aircraft along the way. By the time you reach your 17th birthday, as long as you've got the money for it, there's no reason why you can't have at least a half a dozen different aircraft types in your logbook. As well as the standard training aircraft (Warrior and C152 - which aircraft was your trial lesson in, by the way?), why not try out a C182. And a Piper Arrow. And maybe something like a Super Cub. Have a go at some aerobatics, maybe?

As for your commercial aspirations, you need to take it one step at a time. You can't get a CPL until you're 18. You would be well advised, though, to go to university after finishing school, possibly continuing your flying training part time whilst at uni, or possibly leaving it until after you finish and just flying for fun in the meantime. Whichever way you do it, when you eventually get your CPL, you will discover that jobs are very hard to find, and you will be extremely grateful to be offered a job flying a Cessna Caravan, let alone an A320! Of course it can be done, but you certainly don't want to be restricting yourself to a particular type. Even long term, if you restrict yourself to Airbus and refuse to look at Boeing jobs, you'll only have half the number of jobs available to you as the rest of us. So by all means dream about sitting in the front of that A320, but remember that it's a very long road, and that a B737 job, although just as difficult to get as the A320 job, shouldn't be ruled out as a long-term aim.

Good luck - but above all, remember that we're in this for fun, so enjoy yourself along the way!

FFF
---------------

As said above, you can gain an awful lot of very valuable flying experience through gliding, which you can do with the Air Training Corps while you are at school.

I meant from before that once i get my PPL i will buy a share in a aircraft, also the aircraft my trial flight took place in was a Cessna 172.
thanks

jet breeze

not to put a damper on things, but I would suggest you rack up a few hours on smaller aircraft before stepping up to the 182. Getting a PPL is a solid achievement, but there is little to be gained from going to such a high-performance plane so early. Just as when you learn to drive, you really learn to fly AFTER you have passed your test and have your PPL. Having to make absolutely all the decisions yourself is very different from having your instructor around to suggest what to do. Moving from a 160hp aircraft to over 200 will make a huge difference in your cockpit workload due to the extra speed and power, and probably not something you need being such a young pilot.

Go for your PPL, and by all means experience as many similarly low-powered aircraft during and after your training, but you should understand that a move to the 182 will be a big step up for someone with only a few dozen hours.

As the Dutch say, apparently, take things slowly. You'll save money flying 172s or even 152s and PA38s, and when you're ready, the money you've saved might help you move directly on to a retractable. I don't think the 182 was designed for training or hours-building. Keep it simple early, get some experience, then expand.

Good luck. It's great to hear such enthusiam from a young person. There's too much negativity on this forum.

abracadabra

Thanks for the advice abracadabra i suppose its better to take your time as you'll be a better all round pilot anyway i only got the idea from a share i saw on a website i'm sure there is plenty of other shares out there anyway.
Cya you in the skies.
Thanks again

abracadabra:

I dunno, I'm in the Seneca 200T these days,and I'm 17. It certainly is fun having 2 200hp engines on either side of you...much more security. Should one engine fail, the other one takes you to the crash site.

15 is a good age to start, but you can't solo till you've passed medical and your 16....go get a medical before it's too late.

jet_breeze, go for it if you think it's right. You obviously sound as if you have the money!:E

obk

or he has rich parents!

obk,

"These days"??? What were you flying before? 'Only' a non-turbo twin?

However, I didn't mean that jet breeze should think twice about the 182 because of his age, just due to the experience level he would have shortly after a PPL. There's nothing wrong with flying fancy stuff when you're young, just when you're inexperienced.

Theoretically you could be RHS 747-400 at 18...

jet breeze,

If I were as young as you, as indeed I once was and did, I'd go for a short stint in gliders. Once you're within touching distance of 16, start your powered flight training. Flying with an engine brings fantastic flexibility and provides for some great adventures, but there's definitely a little something to be said for flying without one.

abracadabra

C182/high performance, never thought i would hear those two in the same sentence. That extra 40 hp will make your cockpit workload unmanageable i'm sure....

Jet breeze, i think the most solid advice here is to do some gliding which is a great way to learn stick and rudder skills in a very benign environment, cheaply! Good luck

Thanks for the comments everyone its hard to keep track anyway i have considered gliding before and i tried once and didn't like the idea of us freefalling... slowly. I'm not sure whether to try the 182 at my flying school might be worth having a go anyway at the moment its trial and error until i get comfortable in one aircraft. About the comments on a two engined aircraft and engine failures i don't think of it that way i just pick the aircraft best for learning to fly.
Thanks

"These days"...erh, how else can I put it? "At this stage in my life as a pilot"

'Only'?? Why use 'only'? Unless that was part of the "These days" thing you assumed I was gobbin' on about?

I was on Pa28s/R2160's before.

Note: Had long ass day @ work :*

jet breeze,

Free-falling slowly is better than free-falling quickly, which you will be practising a lot of anyway for your PPL. Plus, don't forget that if you do it properly you won't be falling slowly anyway, although the training gliders do tend to be on the weighty side to put it mildly.

obk!

no offence m8, sorry you had a bad day.

abracadabra

Just a quick request to anyone can they show me a video link off the net of a takeoff and landing in a cessna or similar aircraft i miss it.
lol