Reply With QuoteWhite Waltham have a great reputation, lots of info on their site that will answer most your questions but course rates are at https://www.wlac.co.uk/aircraft-rates/
They are close to Maidenhead.
Random topic, but was looking for initial thoughts on getting a PPL. No doubt there are people on this forum who are pilots so wanted general pointers on how I might best go about this, apart from the obvious one of going to flying school.
some questions i have specifically:
- A good school in SE England near SW London?
- perhaps an instructor that you can recommend?
- likely time required to achieve getting a ppl in the uk
- likely cost
- is it worth taking time out in warmer country with better weather to achieve this in a more concentrated way ( maybe cheaper?)
- how much flying time required per year to maintain a licence and keep proficient?
- any other thoughts!
Thanks
R
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
White Waltham have a great reputation, lots of info on their site that will answer most your questions but course rates are at https://www.wlac.co.uk/aircraft-rates/
They are close to Maidenhead.
Ian (Chartman69) on here has a PPL - might be worth a PM?.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I think the minimum hours is 12 per year to maintain a PPL but I honestly can't imagine how a low hours GA pilot stays remotely proficient with that.
My background is military then commercial aviation. I've flown SEP but never in a civilian GA capacity. If I were looking at doing my own flying again, I think I'd be tempted by gliding.
The Flyer (magazine) forums seem very active. Might be worth firing any questions that way to get the best up-to-date advice.
Last edited by Christian; 10th October 2021 at 20:39.
White Waltham is a nice grass field. You can learn on Tiger Moths and progress through if that’s your thing. I did a few hours Aeros there a couple of years back.
My father learnt at Fairoaks which has number of schools (or it did).
As far as I remember is takes about 80hrs to learn on a average with a 10 hrs minimum per year currency check for basic PPL.
I went to Canada about 20 years ago and got a fair way (30 hrs) towards PPL but I was young (19) dumb and run of of cash and stupidly gave it up.
It’s on the list of things to pick up.
Last edited by Sinnlover; 10th October 2021 at 20:48.
Try to decide in advance what you want to do with this licence. This will have a significant bearing on where you should do your training.
Visit as many suitable schools as you reasonably can that are close enough. Talk to them and look at their aircraft.
If you are funding your training from capital rather than income (the best way) tell your preferred school that you want to achieve the licence in the shortest possible time, subject to your availability, and satisfy yourself that they can go at the rate you want.
Never pay up-front.
Someone I used to work with learnt his flying in Australia during a years elective as a Doctor. Costs were cheaper and you could guarantee the weather and practice landing/taking off all day. Long way to go tho. Spain perhaps?
I learnt to fly when I was 18 courtesy of HMG. Personally I wouldn’t go overseas to learn, no point learning to fly somewhere with clear skies and low wind! Flying in the U.K. can be more challenging. The air space, particularly in the South is busy too and learning to negotiate that will be really important. Others will I’m sure have more up to date info on your other questions.
I gained my PPL a few years ago...it's now lapsed and I'm no longer flying.
Iirc its 12 hours a year...no where near enough to remain proficient.
Also there are restrictions around passenger carrying again iirc you need to have done 3 take offs and full stop landings within 28 days.
Weather is the big part of flying in the U.K but as mentioned its much better to have learnt whats going to catch you out while you have the luxury of an instructor.
If it’s purely for fun and confined to uk (maybe with some EU flying) the NPPL licences is a cheaper option. More restricted in terms of ratings but with a NPPL SSEA you can still fly with 4 seats up to 2000kg at 50-75% of the PPL costs (potentially)
I am a part time NPPL Microlight instructor based at Peterborough and again, if it’s just as a hobby, the modern 3-axis microlights, with the new 600kg weight limits are amazing bits of kit.
thanks everyone for the raft of info and ideas - plenty to get me started.
@jpshell, used to spend a lot of time at Peterborough as was one of those that ruined pilots' days out by skydiving over them.. so know it well. ;)
Posting Permissions