PPL/CPL in Florida!
 

Right fellas il get to the point, HSBC Bank in the UK gives out a Professional studies loan, you can get a max of 25 Grand (UK Pounds) that gets yea 50,000 Dollars at the minute with the going rates. With that loan they give you 6 Months without paying anything back from the point you take the loan out and after 6 Months you will start paying it back over watever years. Me and another fella were thinking of taking the loan each and going to florida for the few months and completing the PPL and CPL courses. We would come back home, back to the normal job for a while, do the conversion course in the UK and build some hrs. Theres 2 local people beside me with a Bell 206 and a R44 so i shouldn't have any probs building hours when i get my ratings on both aircraft. Does it sound like a plan to you guys with both licences??

Its just to dam expensive to do both licence's in the UK!

We were thinking of this school.
http://www.flyoft.com/helicopter_training.php

Any opinions greatly apprieciated, cheers lads:ok:

Sorry for making another post regarding florida, i didn't wana hijack anybodys post regarding this!

Are you sure about the HSBC Professional Studies loan? I'd heard they were, if not already, phasing it out.

Cheers

Whirls

Seems to exist on the HSBC website still, but you need to be a postgrad student to quality:

RC

Wel HSBC are still handing out information on the Professional study loans, i have a m8 from england who lives near a HSBC bank, he got info on the loan, hes going into them on tues, but their def not phasing out that loan, look at their website!

Hopefully it will work but you may find that they will not want to give a loan to somebody who is then going to take the money out of the country. I won't tell them I hear you say but they will probably want to see you enrolled on a UK course etc etc.

Yea i was thinking that actually. Can't see this working out, il prob just have to take out a normal loan and go and do it!

You will need more than £25k to get in a position to earn a living as a pilot, and when you are earning a living in that first job you are not going to be able to afford loan repayments. Trust me. I've seen plenty of people jet-off to become a heli pilot with loans.

As i said im currently working 5 days a wk and can pay it of if i wanted too, duno were you got the idea i couldn't pay it of! And again 25K sterling will cover both courses in florida then il do the conversion back in the uk!

Don't forget the "conversion" is not just a paperwork exercise. There is 13 b*stard exams and the JAA flight training and the JAA flight tests and the CAA charges. All been covered before in numerous pprune threads.

13 Exams for a dam conversion?? Flipn ekk.. How much is a conversion overall in the UK?

Why does it not say anything about 13 Exams in this?


• 3 hours R-22 at Cabair Flying Schools
• Incorporated FAA/JAA Differences, plus “Flying in UK/Europe” difference
• 2 hours skills test
• Aircraft rental for skills test
Cabair Flying School locations:
Rochester – Redhill – Bedforshire – Cranfield – Estree – Blackbush

That looks like a PPL conversion, not CPL/"frozen" ATPL. If you get an FAA CPL and want to convert it to a JAA CPL, you will have to either complete the 9 CPL(H) professional exams or 13 ATPL(H) exams.

Cheers

Whirls

Rite rite, wat way does it work in Austrailia? Do they include the conversion?

Exactly the same. And for South Africa. If you want, or have to, work in Europe, you'll need a JAA licence. Please read LASORS (it's downloadable for free) about licence privileges and conversions. I think you've got a lot of research to do.

Cheers

Whirls

If you are thinking of doing the conversion at home, why not just do it here in the US???

Talk to Bristow Academy in Titusville, used to be Helicopter Adventures. They can do FAA and JAA.

They can also get you a J1 or a M1 Visa. You are supposed to have one or the other to legally train in the U.S. You can also work for a while after your training is complete and build some time here while getting paid as an instructor...

Just a thought.

I applied for the professional studies loan from HSBC about 8 months ago now to complete my CPL and IR courses and got turned down.

They are no longer giving these loans out for pilots - i hate to say!!

If the course you want to do is not listed in their leaflet, you are no longer legible for this loan.

O crapp, dam that anyway.. Howd you work round it helipilot??

Davy07, one word of advice...learn to speak and spell in English.

Bristow does JAA at Florida but i was told that grounschool and exams were done at the Uk, Cabair if i remember correctly...

All the best

No, twice a year an examiner flies over from the UK to take the JAA ATP exams.
The exams are held about 45min drive from Bristow Academy

So M-Pilot, what about groundschool? I ask coz that´s what i was told by the student manager back in May so i thought for theory u had 2 options...self study and then attend exams at the Uk or go thoughg groundschool and exams at the uk aswell

Cheers,
Smike