Funding a PPL(H)?
 

I am currently in the process of selling my pride and joy, a pristine Series 1 Lotus Exige to fund my PPL(H), however I did read somewhere that a grant can be obtained from a government body here in the UK to assist with the cost of training.

Is anyone aware of this or is going to have to be goodbye to my 'toy'?

Oh, and if anyone fancies buying my Exige give me a shout!

Sounds like a Career Development Loan. £8k at favourable rates.

Although I'm not sure that you can put it towards a PPL. Should be okay for the CPL though.

You can get a career development loan, upto 8000 grand interest free for upto 3 years, then u start paying it back. Neil at Northumbria Heli's will be able to tell you all about it.

Good luck.

A career development loan is unlikely to be available for a PPL unless you can demonstrate that it is part of modular training towards a commercial licence but even then, I'm sceptical.

You may want to look at GAPAN website for some sponsorship schemes.

Other than that, I am not aware of any Government support towards aviation training.

Cheers

Whirls

Career development loan can be used for ppl if you plan to go on to be a cpl. (;)) Not sure if the lender will still be doing it now though. Ask your instructor as i'm sure he managed to get one at some point. i did but it was a long time ago.
Pity the NVQ scheme stopped, 23% off training costs! More if you were a higher rate tax payer too.
The days of £104/hr all-in for an R22 SFH are a distant memory. The fuel alone is nearly that now I bet.

My advice is don't sell your car to get a ppl whch you may hardly ever use.

K77,

Thought you're halfway through your PPL according to the amount of posts and especially your own threads regarding heli flying/training/clothing/whatever. Now you're just starting this thread. Beyond me why.

the C in CDL stands for Career. I researched the pros and cons.
It's definitely cons regarding PPL funding as your 'question' stands.
How you're gonna fund the rest of training as I presume you wish to go on to CPL training and flying later on.

'Favourable interest rates' aren't exactly favourable if you look at it closely.
Govt agency pays for the interest during your training and there's month or so after the 'training' when you start paying back.

In other words, if your course isn't going to be lengthy, 'free' interest is going to last only short time. Also, the rates advertised by three UK banks providing CDL, RBS, Cooperative and another one (check Direct.gov.uk) seem favourable when you're going to do one year course and repay the amount within a year (or less) as it'll be about HALF of the time you're paying interest.

Last time I checked (couple months ago) it was in the region of 12-13% pa ie AER or EAR or whatever acronym it is for average interest rate over the total period, is 6-7%.

So if you're going to get PPL H funding from CDL, it'll be say 3-5 months on the paper and all gets approved (maybe), you're going to repay it until two years after getting the cash, AER/EAR/APR/?? would be around 10%.

Does that sound favourable rate? Well, unless you're claiming in the application it'll take 1 year to complete the course...

CDL is also subject to OK credit rating as the commercial banks don't have to provide the loan. It's no charity business as you see it now. They get higher interest paid than they might have from £8k loan to good credit history customer. I'm not sure if a person would get CDL when already indebted heavily.

I still see CDL as a good thing for someone needing to 'finish up' funding for CPL, FI or part of IR (H) cost.

I'll give you 50 bucks for your Lotus

The CDL is only interest free for 1 - 3 months after your course finishes; the theory is that having completed the course, you're now earning more as the new skills make you a more valuable employee. There were only three banks who did the CDL (last I checked), and I believe it's down to 2 now. Whether a given bank / branch will give you a loan depends on the person you talk to. The max amount you can borrow on a CDL is £8k.

HSBC do a 'professional development loan' (or they used to), which will loan up to £25k unsecured, depending on your credit rating; it's basically a personal loan with the deferred interest arrangement of a CDL. Some branches consider pilot to be a professional career, some don't - you will need to agitate and possibly try a few different branches.

There are a few bursaries / scholarships around, but they're almost all aimed at under-25s. The ones that aren't age-limited are generally limited to £2k or less, and are usually aimed at something specific (type rating, etc). GAPAN's website is a good place to start, as is the Air League.

The only way to get industry sponsorship for a PPL is to have a parent who owns the helicopter company.

Some folks have managed to claim back the VAT on hour-building between PPL and CPL, and on the CPL, but being able to do this depends on what you're planning to do with your CPL. I believe it's basically not possible to claim back the VAT on a PPL. There are some very comprehensive threads about on claiming back VAT.

The preferred route is to save up before starting the course, as having to reduce your flying to (say) once or twice a month is generally detrimental. That said, almost nobody actually does this, as they get hooked, want to start ASAP, then think about the funding around month 3. So you're in good company.

How
 

do you find some parents who own a helicopter company ?

I tried

www.adopt-me-I-want-to-fly.com but no joy :p

MartinCH,

Thanks for your comments!

Yes I am into my training but at the moment i'm only able to have lessons when the money allows..........if I could get a few grand together then I could have an intensive course of lessons instead of one everytime i've got a spare £250 plus I don't want to get so far through the training and run out of money!

Hows your training going?

K77.

Glad to see you've made a start K77, hope its going well. Where did you end up and did you plump for the R44 or the R22 in the end ?

If I knew the answer to that one, I wouldn't be telling you, as I'd be too busy filling in adoption papers! :ok:

Hi Head Bolt,

Yes, went for the R22 in the end, couldn't afford the R44 i'm afraid...........still at an early stage as the main problem has been the terrible weather we have had up here in the North East all year conspiring against me.........I plan to do some intensive training during the summer months though when my car sells.

K77.

I did the exact same thing, she was my pride and joy...but she had to go...i loved that car...I eventually got a business plan together and convinced the local HSBC to give me 25k, but i had to use my house as security.

Old Skool.............and was it the right decision?

knievel
how many hours have you done to date

knievel

and a picture of your car?? :D

nice looking car... :ok:, if can't have one, the "other" is enough ;) - at least for me

Apache vs Lotus

best of luck, with you decision... it's always a hard one

CS Hover,

Can't seem to upload one.........or maybe I don't know how to!

Great video, shame its a Series 2 Exige and not the hardcore Series 1 like mine!

K77.

Hello again Knievel 77

I believe I posted this on one of your earlier threads about the cost of training .... :rolleyes:

I found it helped to have all the cash in the bank 'before' starting, then
you dont have to do what you are doing now .. its hard mate I know !! ... A grant for a PPL(H) probably is not going to be the best way to obtain your recreational flying licence ... Maybe sit for bit and get a bulk of dough together, then do a bulk of flight hours, 5 hours a week for example, it will reduce your training hours and the cost in the long term.. I am sure your instructor/s and flight school would agree with this ..

Ding Dong,

Yes I think that IS the way forward, hence putting my 'toy' up for sale.........that will gross me £25k then I can start an intensive training routine.

K77.