Private pilots license

Johnnyweetabix

Johnnyweetabix

Well-known member
Hi all . So either it was top gun maverick or my impending 50th next year but I’ve really been thinking about sitting my light aircraft license . It’s something I’ve fancied over the years and as a kid really wanted to be a pilot.

Has anyone fellow posters done such a thing and has it been worjtwhile?

My wife right has said , ok if you want to do it then do it but what happens once you pass, you can’t go and and buy a plane - fair point.

I’ve dropped an email to Teesside flying school but thought I’d see if any of you had done anything like this.

Thanks
 
A couple of my mates are currently going through it with Eden flying school. If you want some info from them, drop me a pm and I’ll try and put you in touch.
 
Sammysmiths said:
A couple of my mates are currently going through it with Eden flying school. If you want some info from them, drop me a pm and I’ll try and put you in touch.
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I've heard of them and was going to contact them when I wanted to do mine, but I realised I've not got the time to do it and maintain it.

Same as my diving course, did that, loved it, passed the course and haven's been diving since (5 years).
 
Hap said:
There are quite a number of pilots who share access to, and the cost of, a private plane.
the guys at Teesside will tell you more.
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I think you can just hire them out too, at a fairly reasonable rate as well.
 
Biggest waste of time and money ever spent unless you like going around in circles, risking your life. There's nowhere to go and what you going to do when you get there , that airfield in the middle of nowhere, catch a bus or a taxi ?

I would think these days not much change out of 10K.
 
HundredRoom said:
Biggest waste of time and money ever spent unless you like going around in circles, risking your life. There's nowhere to go and what you going to do when you get there , that airfield in the middle of nowhere, catch a bus or a taxi ?

I would think these days not much change out of 10K.
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Risking your life, like driving on our extremely safe roads 🤔
 
HundredRoom said:
Biggest waste of time and money ever spent unless you like going around in circles, risking your life. There's nowhere to go and what you going to do when you get there , that airfield in the middle of nowhere, catch a bus or a taxi ?

I would think these days not much change out of 10K.
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If you've got a spare 10k and some time, then why not? For some it may be a 50k car and a 10k PPL, rather than a 60k car, or spending 10k on a holiday, road bike, caravan or whatever. Obviously for someone skint, it isn't the best use of funds but that might be a months wage to some, and the same to them as some lad in McDonalds spending a grand on a Canada goose coat.

There's nowhere to go? :LOL: You can fly anywhere in Europe. Have you not been on a plane, why do you do when you land in Spain, walk to your hotel, or take your car with you in your suitcase?

I debated doing for getting some personal enjoyment out of going to meetings in the South West (which I did quite a lot), could fly two of us there and back for about £500, it's about the same price as going on the train and would have saved almost half the time. Don't need to go down as much now though, as even the less tech savvy can use teams now.

People will enjoy it, that's if they have an interest in flying, and obviously a route into doing it as a job albeit there's no jobs (and not allowed to) for just having a PPL and you need commercial licence aspects too (and those jobs are very hard to get without 100's of hours). It's step one onto the ladder of being an airline pilot, but again, a ridiculously difficult trade to get into. It's a bit catch 22 for most, you need 100k to get an airline licence in most cases, but in most cases you only have access to that when you're old, and too old to train as a pilot.
 
Many can't hack it. It's a bit riding a motorbike in a cross wind but you've got up and down to worry about as well.
When you fly into thick cloud and start to lose perception it can be scary.
Landing is the difficult bit especially when you have to turn the throttle off the wind takes over !
Try it you might find it's a thrill !
 
Agree with others about the shared plane. Splitting the cost makes sense given how much you'll actually us it. You're lucky your other half is understanding, mine is trying to stop me getting my PPL. I had a training flight a few months ago and was instantly hooked. It's an amazing experience flying a plane.

I would recommend doing a taster flight first. My instructor said he can tell within 5 minutes who can make it. You either have a feel for the controls or you don't.
 
You might want to look at gliding as a much cheaper alternative, if all you want is to be able to fly. About £1200 does it at our local glider club on dunstable downs, though you have to work some of the fee off, over and above the £1,200.

It's a great, cheap way to get in to flying.
 
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Andy_W said:
Did he tell you that before you took control, to ramp the pressure up? :LOL:
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He did as happens. He also said that he wished his afternoon student (who was close to getting his licence) was as smooth as me. Which really surprised me, and anyone who has been driven in a car by me.

This was before I bottled the landing though. I assumed he wouldn't let a first timer do that and started freaking out when i was bringing it in, especially after I was hit with a huge crosswind. He took control to finish the landing as I was squeezing the life out of the controls at this point!

Still, that fail aside I was addicted there and then.
 
SmallTown said:
He did as happens. He also said that he wished his afternoon student (who was close to getting his licence) was as smooth as me. Which really surprised me, and anyone who has been driven in a car by me.

This was before I bottled the landing though. I assumed he wouldn't let a first timer do that and started freaking out when i was bringing it in, especially after I was hit with a huge crosswind. He took control to finish the landing as I was squeezing the life out of the controls at this point!

Still, that fail aside I was addicted there and then.
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I had a funny experience on my try out. We had just got off the ground, maybe 50 feet, and the instructor noticed my door wasn't closed properly. He said "Keep hold of the controls, keep the nose up and the wings level, for me - you have control..." He unfastened his safety belt, then squeezed and wriggled behind my seat, until he could open and reclose my door, then he wriggled back to his seat, buckled himself back in, said "I have control" and on we went as though nothing had happened.

We were dive bombing Whitby Abbey 20 minutes later. Fantastic!
 
Andy_W said:
If you've got a spare 10k and some time, then why not? For some it may be a 50k car and a 10k PPL, rather than a 60k car, or spending 10k on a holiday, road bike, caravan or whatever. Obviously for someone skint, it isn't the best use of funds but that might be a months wage to some, and the same to them as some lad in McDonalds spending a grand on a Canada goose coat.

There's nowhere to go? :LOL: You can fly anywhere in Europe. Have you not been on a plane, why do you do when you land in Spain, walk to your hotel, or take your car with you in your suitcase?

I debated doing for getting some personal enjoyment out of going to meetings in the South West (which I did quite a lot), could fly two of us there and back for about £500, it's about the same price as going on the train and would have saved almost half the time. Don't need to go down as much now though, as even the less tech savvy can use teams now.

People will enjoy it, that's if they have an interest in flying, and obviously a route into doing it as a job albeit there's no jobs (and not allowed to) for just having a PPL and you need commercial licence aspects too (and those jobs are very hard to get without 100's of hours). It's step one onto the ladder of being an airline pilot, but again, a ridiculously difficult trade to get into. It's a bit catch 22 for most, you need 100k to get an airline licence in most cases, but in most cases you only have access to that when you're old, and too old to train as a pilot.
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I have a PPL - I know what I'm talking about
Do you know what the landing fee is at a decent size airport ?
to fly IFR in Europe you will need that qualification and a plane suitably equipped - and deep pockets to hire one and 95% plus of the time it will be sat on the ground

land in spain ? what with a 737 ?
you cant fly people for money without a transport C of A and in most cases a CPL (= >100k)

and on and on

you heard of easyjet ?
 
HundredRoom said:
I have a PPL - I know what I'm talking about
Do you know what the landing fee is at a decent size airport ?
to fly IFR in Europe you will need that qualification and a plane suitably equipped - and deep pockets to hire one and 95% plus of the time it will be sat on the ground

land in spain ? what with a 737 ?
you cant fly people for money without a transport C of A and in most cases a CPL (= >100k)

and on and on

you heard of easyjet ?
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Ok, if you say so, seems a lot different to the accounts of the 200 pilots I've worked with mind, pretty much all of which started with a PPL.

Depends what you mean by decent sized, I'm not talking about landing at Heathrow FFS, just small/ private airfields (suitably sized to tiny aircraft), and I've heard some charge less than £10 (which does seem low), but wouldn't think £100 is unreasonable. It's not like someone is going to want to fly into Manchester and chuck them £5k.

I used Spain as the typical holiday destination of brits, assuming you'd flown there, like most have. But it was more the point of you get a taxi or whatever from your destination, not so much the actual flying there yourself. But no, a little Cessna/ Piper isn't going to get there in one hit, maybe two or three, but of course next to nobody is going to be doing that in a Cessna/ Piper, as the speed/ cost of it would make zero sense.

I'm aware you can't charge people to fly, without the licence, but you can take your family/ colleagues etc. That guy who who was flying Sala didn't have a commercial licence etc, only had a PPL I think, which obviously shouldn't have happened, he didn't have the night ticket either.
 
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