Hello from a new Member

A

alland

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Feb 21, 2012
Messages
136
Location
UK & Florida
Display Name
Display name:
alland
Hi guys & gals,

I couldn't find any specific thread where new members can introduce
them selves, so I hope it is ok to do it here...

I have just joined to-day, I am from the UK, but spend a few months of the year at our vacation home in Florida. (fortunate to now be semi retired)

I have a had a long time passion for aviation, and dreamed of one day becoming a pilot, well with the years going by while busy building and running my company, it has taken me a while to reach this point in my life where I now have the time to try and make my dream come true at the age of 63 !

I am currently just into my PPL training with Tailwheels Ect. who operate out of KGIF (Winter Haven FL.) I have passed my FAA written and have 10 hrs aloft time in my log book, when I return to Florida in Mid March I begin a 3 weeks accelerated course, which at the end of, I hope to have gained my PPL ticket (then I suppose the hard work will really start in order to keep learning and become a safe competent pilot)

I just wanted to share this with you all, I hope you will be able to offer me some good advice as I begin my aviation adventure....

I have a feeling I will be popping into the forum quite often for a little advice !!

Thank you
Allan.
 
Welcome Allen. It sounds like you have a good handle on it. The only advise I would offer is never give up.

John
 
John Baker said:
Welcome Allen. It sounds like you have a good handle on it. The only advise I would offer is never give up.

John
Click to expand...


Thanks John, I certainly hope can see it through and acheive my goal.
At my age I don't have the luxury of time on my side, I need to do this now if I am still going to get a few years in the air as a PIC.

I am still in a good state of health, but non of us know for sure if or when any health issues may creep up on us which would make it unsafe to keep flying.

One of the reasons I have done 10 hrs initial training time with my instructor before signing up for a full accelerated course, was so he could assess me and give me an honest opinion if he considered I (or rather my old brain) was capable of taking in and computing all the relevent aspects of the flight training that I need to be competent with if I am to be successful in acheiving my PPL.
 
Welcome aboard, Allan.

One of the cardinal rules of the POA is that you must continue to give us progress reports of your training. Then the rest of us must post our own comments about how slowly you are progressing.




It's nothing personal.
 
Matthew said:
Welcome aboard, Allan.

One of the cardinal rules of the POA is that you must continue to give us progress reports of your training. Then the rest of us must post our own comments about how slowly you are progressing.




It's nothing personal.
Click to expand...

:lol: No problem Matthew, I have broad shoulders, I can take the flak....;)
 
alland said:
:lol: No problem Matthew, I have broad shoulders, I can take the flak....;)
Click to expand...

Good for you. Your plan sounds like a lot of fun, actually.

It seems you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a POA member, so there will probably be someone around your area who will want to meet up sometime.
 
Welcome Allen... Winter Haven is a nice little place to learn to fly.....
You might want to suggest to your instructor that a meal at Chalet Suzenne would be great training for grass field operations.... Wonderful food too.. :yesnod::yesnod::)

Ben.
 
alland said:
I have just joined to-day, I am from the UK, but spend a few months of the year at our vacation home in Florida. (fortunate to now be semi retired)
Click to expand...
Welcome Allan. I am originally from Poland (but now a US citizen over 20 yrs.) so we both have European roots. You definitely picked the right country to begin your flying adventure.
 
Welcome to PoA, Allan! Sounds like you'll be in FL around the time of Sun'N'Fun!
 
Allan:

Welcome to Pilots of America, Aviation's Front Porch.

Good to have you in our midst. We'll look forward to hearing about your training and other adventures!

Best,

/s/ Spike
 
Matthew said:
Welcome aboard, Allan.

One of the cardinal rules of the POA is that you must continue to give us progress reports of your training. Then the rest of us must post our own comments about how slowly you are progressing.




It's nothing personal.
Click to expand...

LOL, this made me laugh.

Yes, welcome aboard Allan! I'm a student too.
 
Hello and welcome to POA Allen, We look forward to reading your post. Also the best way to introduce yourself is exactly the way you did it!
 
alland said:
Thanks John, I certainly hope can see it through and acheive my goal.
At my age I don't have the luxury of time on my side, I need to do this now if I am still going to get a few years in the air as a PIC.

I am still in a good state of health, but non of us know for sure if or when any health issues may creep up on us which would make it unsafe to keep flying.

One of the reasons I have done 10 hrs initial training time with my instructor before signing up for a full accelerated course, was so he could assess me and give me an honest opinion if he considered I (or rather my old brain) was capable of taking in and computing all the relevent aspects of the flight training that I need to be competent with if I am to be successful in acheiving my PPL.
Click to expand...

I started flying when I was 61, it took me years to get my ticket. I have one eye and bad lungs. Every year, the FAA medical center in OKC makes me go through a very expensive hospital level battery of medical tests. I then wait months for my medical to be approved. It is approved from when I first started the tests, so I end up with around eight months of flying time each year. It matters not that my tests show improvement over the previous year, they just add more tests to the mix.

Even if you are not in the best of shape, it does not necessarily mean you can not fly as a PIC.

Stick with it.

John
 
Thank you so much for the warm welcome messages guys, as a novice aviation Brit coming into your domain, they are very much appreciated.

@John Baker, well Sir, you are certainly an inspiration to all us "oldies" who are just embarking on our goals to become pilots.
Long may you enjoy blue skies and tailwinds...
 
gprellwitz said:
Welcome to PoA, Allan! Sounds like you'll be in FL around the time of Sun'N'Fun!
Click to expand...

Yes Grant, I certainly will be at Sun 'N' Fun, it will be my 3rd year.

I have already mentioned to my Instructor to keep Thursday & Friday clear in my training schedule so I can indulge myself at Lakeland.

Lets pray there are no Tornados heading through the state this year !
It was soul destrying to see the damage done last year, but also very heartwarming to see everyone pull together to get the show back on track.
 
alland said:
I am from the UK, but spend a few months of the year at our vacation home in Florida.
Click to expand...
Allan,

Could you please enlighten me how it works, you own a property in Florida but you are a UK citizen, I presume you are not a US resident (or are you?) how many months a year can you stay in your vacation property? Is there a limit? Could you essentially live in your property on a permanent basis?
 
olasek said:
Allan,

Could you please enlighten me how it works, you own a property in Florida but you are a UK citizen, I presume you are not a US resident (or are you?) how many months a year can you stay in your vacation property? Is there a limit? Could you essentially live in your property on a permanent basis?
Click to expand...

Hi olasek,

Correct I am not a US resident/citizen, as a UK citizen I can travel to the US for vacation or business related reasons only (if for business only if the trip is on behalf of work between a UK company and a US company) Entering the the US to simply live and work is a big no no without the correct Visa in place.

As a non resident we can stay for a maximum of 90 days in any one visit. We used to have to have a visa issued by the US Embassy in London, but for quite a few years now there is a treaty between our two countries and we can enter the US on a I-94 visa waver program.

We have been visiting Florida for vacation since the early eighties and now I am semi retired it made economic sense to buy our own vacation home,instead of renting as we had done previously.

We (my wife and myself normally visit the US for between 4 to 6 weeks a time to stay at our vacation home we spread our visits usually 4 times throughout the year, and never have any issues at airport immigration.
I suppose if we stayed for the maximum allowed 90 days and went out of the US, and returned again in a few days, that may set alarm bells ringing as it may suggest we were actually attempting to live in the US.

Maybe one day when we have fully retired we will look at what the requirements are for living full time in the US and try to get visas as it would be more attractive for us as we have been visiting Florida for many years and love the lifestyle, and the Florida weather, which of course would mean I could fly more often, as it is very difficult to plan a days flying in the UK because of the wet cloudy weather we have most of the year.

Having chosen to do my PPL training in the US, as a foreign national, I had to get TSA authorization,(a result of the atrocious 9/11 incidents) but it wasn't to much of a problem, once I had an approved flight school picked out it was a fairly straight forward process. All I had to do was get my fingerprints sorted at a TSA approved centre and sent to the TSA along with my passport ID, and my class 3 medical.

The online TSA guide through the process was very user friendly, and I had my authorization within a couple of weeks from starting the process. I wasn't required to get a special student entry visa to do my flight training in the US which many foreign flight students need to get, as my stay is primarily for vacation and not specifically for full time flight training.
 
Allan,

That's an interesting story - thanks. Seeing it from an outsider's perspective like that makes me that much more grateful for what I have here. And it impresses me that someone from outside the US has made the effort to do what you are doing. Good luck, and have fun with your training!
 
Welcome Allan. My first flight instructor's name was Allan and he was a Brit also.
 
Welcome to POA! I just became a private pilot last August and I must agree with that other poster, flying is awesome. Also, you will love it here on the Pilots of America website. Plenty of people here to support you and cheer you on. Post often.
 
PS - I recently met, in person, a nice POA German couple who came to the USA for their training (both man and woman are now pilots). They said they could rent back in Germany an "N" number aircraft. So if you get your PPL here in the USA and then go back to your country, do you have places to fly American planes?
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
No you silly goose. I mean when this pilot returns home, are there places near his house abroad where he can rent and fly American aircraft.
Click to expand...
They themselves said they could rent N airplane in Germany, why doubt them?
I know pilots in another European country that fly on N airplanes, nothing extraordinary about it.
 
olasek said:
They themselves said they could rent N airplane in Germany, why doubt them?
I know pilots in another European country that fly on N airplanes, nothing extraordinary about it.
Click to expand...
I think the question is not whether one can rent N-numbered aircraft, but rather whether there are N-numbered aircraft for rent!
 
gprellwitz said:
I think the question is not whether one can rent N-numbered aircraft, but rather whether there are N-numbered aircraft for rent!
Click to expand...
It would have been a lot better to ask this German couple about these sort of things when she had a chance, where, how many, etc., unlikely any of us here can provide such detail. :(
 
Last edited:
olasek said:
It would have been a lot better to ask this German couple about these sort of things when she had a chance, where, how many, etc., unlikely any of us here can provide such detail. :(
Click to expand...

What? I'm talking to the OP. I will wait for the OP to provide me with such detail. The couple I met was from Germany, the OP is not. Therefore I'm asking if the OP has plans to fly "back home."
 
Actually Kimberly, I am not sure if any FBO's in the UK have N' reg.aircraft to rent. In fact as my plan is to mainly fly in the US once I have completed my training, it is not something I have looked into.

Although at this time if I wanted to fly in the UK, I could still fly a UK (G Reg) aircraft VFR on a FFA PPL.
But that privilege will change when the proposed new EASA rules come into force later this year.

When that happens I will require a JAR-FCL PPL which is only available at a handful of Flight Schools in the US.

After April 2014, on current EASA proposals, all pilots whose operator is EU based will need EASA papers, on top of the State of Registry papers required under ICAO. This will make an FAA PPL not very useful, unless I can get an N-reg plane to fly in which case I will need it (as at present) but I will need an EASA PPL as well.

For me, I will probably not bother, because as I said my flying activites will be mainly when in Florida on vacation, but the proposed new EASA rules could well affect any US based FFA PPL pilots who may be intending on renting an aircraft while on vacation in Europe ?

Thats the way I read it anyway, but I may be way off base in my assumptions, I don't really know anymore than I have read on UK pilot forum boards.
I am new here on POA, so maybe this issue has already been covered in another thread ?
 
I've been in and out of Inverness, Scotland a few times. They have G-registered aircraft (but I thought I saw an N-number on the ramp once, too) for rent. "For hire" as they say across the pond.

I had thought about renting a plane and CFI for an hour:

http://www.highlandaviation.com/tariff.asp

But the prices for a PA-28 roughly convert to $275/hr dual, and $235 solo. So I'll have to settle for looking at pictures.

--

Those prices help explain why so many people come to the US for training.
 
Matthew said:
I've been in and out of Inverness, Scotland a few times. They have G-registered aircraft (but I thought I saw an N-number on the ramp once, too) for rent. "For hire" as they say across the pond.

I had thought about renting a plane and CFI for an hour:

http://www.highlandaviation.com/tariff.asp

But the prices for a PA-28 roughly convert to $275/hr dual, and $235 solo. So I'll have to settle for looking at pictures.

--

Those prices help explain why so many people come to the US for training.
Click to expand...

WOW... Inverness is a small airport with not much around... Their Warrior price is about twice the going rate anywhere else in the US...IMHO.
 
alland said:
As a non resident we can stay for a maximum of 90 days in any one visit.
Click to expand...
Thanks Allan, you shattered my misconception that somehow by investing in a property you gain some additional stay-live privilages.
 
N801BH said:
oops... I had Inverness Fla in my mind when I typed that...:mad2::mad2::eek:
Click to expand...

I was up in Inverness Scotland running my team in a motor rally last weekend....believe me it was nothing like Inverness Fla. ! :lol:

rsz_snowman_-4.jpg
 
Welcome aboard Allen.
Age is no excuse. I'm sure you're more than capable.
Flying in the UK is expensive. I did 3 hours in Scotland. What got me was the $108 landing fee. I expected the $300 an hour C172, and the $100 an hour instructor, but really, $108 to land back at the airport where we left from and the plane's based?!? On the other hand, I was mixing it up with A319s.
The guy I flew with was planning on coming to the US to do some additional training. His main reason was the expense but also a chance to get rated in a different airplane; a DC3.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top