248SPG

Guys and Gals,

Since my Dad having a PPL and a share in a little Cessna many moons ago it has been an amition of mine to gain my own PPL and other ratings such as Night and ILS etc.

All I wanted to know is how much do you think it would cost to gain my PPL and how long would it take me??

Also has anyone done there PPL in the USA?? Apparently it is cheaper and better weather etc but I think they may be a little more nervous of letting foreigners do this nowadays.

Many Thanks

Steve
Steve

KiwiGTI

You will have no problems doing it in the US, you just have get the correct visa up front. They are still very wary of anyone who is of an arabic appearance though.

Much cheaper in the US, probably less than half, but I'm not sure that makes you a good pilot.

First you'll be flying in mostly perfect weather, with very uncluttered skies and uncontrolled airspace.

Second, you'll probably end up doing a block course, do your PPL in 3-4 weeks sort of thing.

Flying in the UK is very expensive, but it does prepare you better for adverse weather and flying around controlled and very busy airspace. You will save money in the US but you will also have to spend some back in the UK getting used to flying here.

The cost depends on you really, how good you are. Most people don't actually get their PPL with the minimum hours, it will usually take you 10-20 hours more to get to the required standard.

I'd budget £7-8K for a PPL in the UK, £4-5 in the US.

Flatcapdriver

Depends on how much cash you have to chuck at it. I completed mine five years ago and incorporated the night rating simply because I had spare hours that needed to be flown in order to make up the 45 hours required but this isn't normal, mainly because pupils don't fly frequently enough (time, money, weather) which stretches the course out - I didn't.

You'll struggle to get an IMC in time which is a very basic version of instrument flying which I think you're referring to but to be honest its treated like a 'get out of jail free' licence and essentially why its being phased out.

IFR on a PPL is onerous and expensive, so the best route would be CPL/fATPL but that is massively expensive and time consuming plus you'll have to factor in the additional costs of renting IFR equipped aircraft. Do you really want to go this route?

Flying in the US is do-able but better for hours building so I'd recommend either doing it in the UK £6-£10k depending on aptitude or try the RSA (wonderful flying/aircraft) or even Spain and then spend a good ten hours with an instructor in the UK.

248SPG

Thanks for the replies guys.

Was thinking of starting prob June/July so there is decent weather before I start to fly in questionable weather.

All the letters are quite confusing.

What I would like to do in lamans terms:

1. Get the basic PPL.
2. Get Night rating.
3. Then get bad weather rating so If I go away anywhere I can fly back without being grounded. This happened a few times and prob 10% of my Dads hours were accumilated flying other peoples aircrafts home when they got grounded somewhere and the other memebers of the club went to the rescue. Many a late Sunday night for me

Looks like I will have to pop along to a school and have a chat.

My nearest two are Blackbushe or Booker Airfield which is where my Dads plane was based.

Thanks again for everything

Steve