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bstratt

bstratt

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We have friends who live in England who we travel with extensively, including sometimes in my plane. The wife had remarked before about always having wanted to learn to fly and lamented never having had the opportunity. She's over here now for a week visiting without her husband. She told me last night that they had discussed it and agreed for her to come to the US to get her PPL and she wanted to know if there was a flight school around that would get her a PPL for a flat price. I told her that I didn't know of one but that she may prefer to pay as she goes in case she backs out or the school goes under, etc. She is turning 60 this year (she'll kill me if she reads this), but she's a 'young' 60.

She's talking of coming back in June or July, and basically flying every day, all day, in order to get her license.

Ideas? Anybody know the requirements for converting your PPL to a UK license? Should she get her license here, i.e. take the knowledge tests, etc, or simply learn to fly here and then go back to the UK to take the knowledge and flying tests?
 
I have one suggestion: if she can't stay "over here" as long as she wants to do the whole enchilada, she might try mixing up the US and UK ratings... I met a Brit in California last summer who had earned his UK PP, but was in the States racking up hours towards his UK commercial checkride (which I think is more like a US ATP). He was crashing with friends for free, living on sandwiches, and saving a boatload of money to rack up some serious time... he head something like 50 hrs to do in one month, and was flying whatever he could get his hands on from that school, from the Champ to the 182.

Your friend's situation is different, but my point, vague as it is, is that there may be a way for her to do some of her training, maybe her solo XC stuff, in the US, towards the British certificate. It sounds crazy until you consider that it can be cheaper to do that, even after airfare and lodgings, etc. And the British pound is beating the crap out of the US dollar right now...

Another thing to look into is maybe doing the training in Canada-I'll bet transferring such training to the UK license might be simpler than US-UK.
 
She can stay for awhile as she'd probably be staying with us but she was hoping to get it done in 4 weeks or less. She only wants PPL. At the current time she has no interest in Instrument or Commercial.

While Canada is cheaper than the UK, it is more expensive than here. I had estimated based on an avg of 75 hours to get the PPL that total cost for her would be in the range of $10,000 to $12,000 (including tests, books, headset, etc) which is 5,000 to 6,000 pounds. She tells me in England it would be close to 20,000 pounds. A significant difference.
 
bstratt said:
She can stay for awhile as she'd probably be staying with us but she was hoping to get it done in 4 weeks or less. She only wants PPL. At the current time she has no interest in Instrument or Commercial.

While Canada is cheaper than the UK, it is more expensive than here. I had estimated based on an avg of 75 hours to get the PPL that total cost for her would be in the range of $10,000 to $12,000 (including tests, books, headset, etc) which is 5,000 to 6,000 pounds. She tells me in England it would be close to 20,000 pounds. A significant difference.
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I don't know much about them, but a "ticket mill" like American Flyers might be a good idea for her; they're nationwide.


http://www.americanflyers.net/
 
rottydaddy said:
Your friend's situation is different, but my point, vague as it is, is that there may be a way for her to do some of her training, maybe her solo XC stuff, in the US, towards the British certificate. It sounds crazy until you consider that it can be cheaper to do that, even after airfare and lodgings, etc. And the British pound is beating the crap out of the US dollar right now...
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Heck, all the more reason to do the whole thing here. There are even flight schools here that will not only do all of the US training, but will also do a JAR transition course, and then when people get back to Europe all they have to do is take a checkride. IIRC the school even had JAR-qualified CFI's who would provide the signoff.

Another thing to look into is maybe doing the training in Canada-I'll bet transferring such training to the UK license might be simpler than US-UK.
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The requirements should be the same for any ICAO country - Why do you think it'd be easier from Canada?

rottydaddy said:
I don't know much about them, but a "ticket mill" like American Flyers might be a good idea for her; they're nationwide.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I highly doubt there's much "fun factor" in one of those pilot mills. :( For someone who is doing it for fun rather than a rating, I'd hate to see her go somewhere that'll beat all the fun right out of it. :no:

I say, send her to Tony Condon! :yes:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Heck, all the more reason to do the whole thing here. There are even flight schools here that will not only do all of the US training, but will also do a JAR transition course, and then when people get back to Europe all they have to do is take a checkride. IIRC the school even had JAR-qualified CFI's who would provide the signoff.
Click to expand...

Do you know of one?
 
flyingcheesehead said:
The requirements should be the same for any ICAO country - Why do you think it'd be easier from Canada?
Click to expand...
I dunno... (looks at shoes). I'm probably wrong, as you point out.

Unfortunately, I highly doubt there's much "fun factor" in one of those pilot mills. :( For someone who is doing it for fun rather than a rating, I'd hate to see her go somewhere that'll beat all the fun right out of it. :no:
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Another good point, but I was thinking expediency, not fun. My personal experience with a typical FBO/flight school was that it was not expedient, and certainly not always fun. :D
Had I showed up with enough dough to bang out the PP in 4 consecutive weeks, they would have been eager to do it for me, but I doubt they could have pulled it off, scheduling-wise.
But there are a lot of schools out there, most of them better (I hope).

I say, send her to Tony Condon! :yes:
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Ditto...:yes:
 
Don't forget that she'll need to go through the TSA's grinder, too. That'll certainly make it less fun.
 
Oh i appreciate the kind words Kent but i really hate doing 'guarantee' flight instruction like this. I get enough of that with college kids who are moving at the end of the semester etc. i guess i just prefer a more low pressure flight training environment.

barry, i noticed last night that livingston aviation up in waterloo does class somewhat simiilar to what she is looking for. the instruction i s a base rate and then you pay for whatever the airplane cost comes out to be. www.livingstonaviation.com
 
tonycondon said:
Oh i appreciate the kind words Kent but i really hate doing 'guarantee' flight instruction like this. I get enough of that with college kids who are moving at the end of the semester etc. i guess i just prefer a more low pressure flight training environment.
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Oh, I just figured you'd make it fun for her, and you probably wouldn't mind going on some longer cross-countries so she could do some sightseeing too.

I'm sure Kate would be happy to. :D
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Unfortunately, I highly doubt there's much "fun factor" in one of those pilot mills. :( For someone who is doing it for fun rather than a rating, I'd hate to see her go somewhere that'll beat all the fun right out of it.
Click to expand...

Having finished up my private and received my instrument from american flyers, I think that it is still "fun." However, AF does strike me as a bit pricey.
 
scit106 said:
Having finished up my private and received my instrument from american flyers, I think that it is still "fun." However, AF does strike me as a bit pricey.
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When I was talking with schools to teach at, AF struck me as one of the least desirable to want to work for.
 
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