Learning to fly, or thinking of learning? Post your questions, comments and experiences here

Moderator: AndyR

User avatar
By george7378
#1501315
Hi everyone,

I'm new here, so I'll give a little intro:

I started flying when I was 16, and built up about 15 hours over a couple of years starting around 2008. I then hit the point where I needed to think seriously about taking the theoretical exams and flying far more regularly than I was able to at the time (due to school and more importantly money), so sadly I had to stop. I'm now 22, I've gone through university and have been working for long enough that I'm setting myself up to re-start training next year (possibly from scratch as it's proving hard to track down the confirmation of my previous hours from my old flight school, which may not exist any more!)

Anyway ... I'd really like to take the ground exams before I find a new flight school. This is so that I can arrive ready-to-fly with my medical and exam results and hopefully I can do all the flying intensively with no hold-ups. However, on the CAA website it says that I need a 'recommendation' from a flight school before I can take the exams.

So, is it possible to do the exams totally independent of a training organisation, or do I need to pick a flight school, get them to give me a recommendation, do the exams and THEN start flying? Also to expand on this, is it common to self-study or is it required to have formal ground school sessions?

Even if I have to take ground school, I'd like to self-study the theory as much as I can. I know that there are textbooks (in fact, I have a bunch that someone gave me during my previous lessons) but I'd like to get an Ipad app or similar online resources too so that I can study on the go and possibly during breaks at work. Does anyone have any recommendations for good apps/websites for EASA exam study?

Thanks very much for the help. I should also mention I'm in the UK and looking to get the EASA PPL.
User avatar
By davelee212
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1501355
As I understand it, you have to take the exams at a training school and they must be happy to you are at a sufficient standard before they set your exam. In my case, the examiner used to pick up an exam paper, ask me a few questions related to stuff on the exam and either let me take it or advise an hour or ground school to gen up on stuff.

How quickly do you plan on getting through your flying training?

Perhaps consider studying for Air Law, Operational Procedures and Human Performance first. Then find a school, start flying training and take those 3 exams immediately. Then study for and sit the other exams as you progress through your flying training?

Certainly for me, stuff on the Navigation and Aircraft Performance exams were much easier to understand with the context of the flying training I was doing.

For online questions/practice, I've found the following to be very good:
http://www.****.co.uk/
http://www.airquiz.com/

Book wise, I used the AFE stuff which was pretty good. There were some changes in Air Law and Ops for which there was a supplemental book (may be part of the main books now). I also used the revision books for quick, pre-exam cramming, not bad at about a tenner each I think.

You don't say where you are but they are just about to start running the groundschool sessions again for all exams at Andrewsfield (near Stansted). They're run by an instructor/examiner called Nigel Willson who's very good. I did all his courses a couple of years back. I think he does online tuition now too - he's got a website at http://www.easypplgroundschool.com/ that's worth a look.

Dave
User avatar
By davelee212
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1501356
ok - not sure why one of the links I posted for exam practice questions has been replaced by *****s. I won't re-post it as there's clearly a reason for the forum software having done that and I don't want to break any rules...

Dave
User avatar
By JonathanB
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1501359
Hmm, not sure - probably has an auto-donked word in the middle of the URL. Send me the link via the email button on my profile (click my pic then the @) and I'll see if I can fix it.
#1501415
There's no requirement to do the theory exams before you start flying and I think it will be difficult to get into a situation where you have progressed through the flying so fast that the theory exams are a barrier.

I suggest that you get established with the people you are going to do the flying with and do the exams as they advise.

Chris
User avatar
By Morten
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1501417
I would think that any of the PPL ground schools should also be able to put you forward for the exams and it would be strange for a 'flying' ATO not to recognise this. Just self-studying and walking in to an ATO to do the exams would probably raise an eyebrow but should not be the end of the world.

But I agree with Dave - you will get much more out of (studying for the) the exams by flying at the same time. Subjects like RT, Met, Nav etc. will make more sense - and become easier - once you see what purpose they serve. So I'm not sure I would support the notion of doing all the exams first and only then start flying.
As an aside, and I know you want to do the flying quickly, but exams have an expiration date.

And, finally, on the note of doing your PPL 'as quickly as possible' - unless you plan on flying as regularly afterwards, there is not much benefit to that. I think many would say that the PPL learning experience was some of the most fun they had - and that there is no reason to rush it. At the end of the day, you are already flying. And much of that is solo. The license is just one more step on the path of becoming a competent pilot and not an ultimate goal in itself.

Just my 2c.

Morten
Nick T liked this
#1501493
Thanks for the replies everyone,

How quickly do you plan on getting through your flying training?


I was looking at roughly 4 weeks. I appreciate that this might look like I'm trying to rush things, but I think the reason is that I'm a bit paranoid about ending up in the same situation as when I first started about 6 years ago. Things (mainly cashflow and weather) meant that I could only fly 1-2 times per month at most. This was OK to begin with, but it really wasn't feasible when I got to the point where I needed to be taking exams, getting my medical and keeping all the new stuff fresh in my head.
I've saved up more than enough cash to cover my training now so money wouldn't be a blocker, but I still don't want to end up in a position where I can't fly regularly enough to keep it a priority.

TLDR: I'd like to be able to take a short period of time which I can completely dedicate to flying, with no distractions or hold-ups.

I suppose that I could try and take Fridays off every week so that I can potentially get three days of flying per week without having to compress it into a single block - maybe that would be a more sensible approach now that I think of it. How did you guys organise your time so that you could fly regularly enough during training?

I think it will be difficult to get into a situation where you have progressed through the flying so fast that the theory exams are a barrier.


OK, that's good news :) All I have to go on is the content in the old textbooks I have, and some of these are easily 100+ pages if I remember right. I just thought that I'd have to dedicate a good week or two to properly learn all the stuff in some of these books, but perhaps I've been thinking there's more content than there really is. For reference, I've got some quite old editions of the Trevor Thom books. What was the longest you guys had to dedicate to studying for a single exam, and how did they fit in alongside your practical flying?

I think many would say that the PPL learning experience was some of the most fun they had.


Good stuff - yeah, I really loved the bit of flying that I did manage to do - so much so that I've been waiting for the right moment to get in the air again ever since :) I just want to make sure that I can give my flight training the priority that I think it deserves and hence I was looking at taking around a month where I could totally prioritise it, every day.

Thanks again for your insights :)
User avatar
By Jon G4LJW
#1506980
I think an intensive course of flying can be very good, but I found it very tiring. I did my R22 course in 4 weeks in California, flying 6 days a week. I had prepared the theory before going out there, and passed the theory during the first week (this was for an FAA certificate). In those 4 weeks it rained (slightly) on 2 days. I enjoyed the feeling of getting comfortable with the aircraft and the area by flying almost every day - but averaging 3 hours of flying plus briefing/debriefing does take it out of you! I think I would have enjoyed the whole thing a lot more by spreading it over 2 months.

If you're learning in the UK though, the weather is rather less predictable. I remember doing 2 weeks at Welshpool for fixed-wing training, and averaged 2 lessons a day Monday to Friday. But the combination of the hills/circuit height and weather did cut down some of the solo flying! After that block, I carried on by doing long weekends, and another Monday-Friday stint I think.