[matthew_w100]

You must be bloody rich if you live somewhere in London that's an hour and a half away from a flying school!

[James33]

The Brevet de base is specific to France and allows you to fly within 30km of an airfield.

Anything else needs a specific checkout (passengers, landaway).

It will soon be phased out and replaced with the LAPL, and indeed many people are currently converting.

If you do want to do a brevet de base though, Jenny (an English instructor) is based at Saucats (my home field).

I think she reads this forum, but if not, PM
me and I'll put you in contact.

[Will1v]

I see. I was considering the BB as a way to get a foot in the door and log some hours to start with. Then go full PPL in a year or two. But it's true I wouldn't be able to fly in the UK, and I'm not sure if I can only fly around the airfield I passed the BB or around any airfield in France.

If I was to do the LAPL instead, that would take the minimum to 30 hours, which I probably have no chance of doing within two weeks , even if the weather was perfect every day and that I was fully available to fly twice a day. Especially since it's probably more than 30 hours in practice.

By the way, can I fly accross the Chanel with a PPL? Would it be possible to fly from London to Aurillac for instance?

Once again, thanks for your very helpful advice James33!

[James33]

Its 30km around your home airfield for the BB.

If you get a UK PPL, yes you can certainly fly across the channel.

[Paul_Sengupta]

You can fly around Europe with either a full (EASA) PPL or an LAPL.

[pilot_dimanche]

The French 'brevet de base' was old. It has facilitated plentiful young pilot's initiation for decades. As it migrates toward a LAPL " resticted ". (means resticted priviledges=no nav stay home airbase, 30Km max, no pax). LAPL (is EASA) favors cross areas equivalence claiming.

Your stepped approach plan to go for a first blocked period is sound.

Better discussed with the local aéroclub's instructor leader. Ask whether restricted LAPL is realistic as the stay period you have in mind. If not then repeat it, plan 2 trips.
If you travel from London, an other option would be to fragment periods, and in sunny season, go train to Lille's area aeroclubs.
At the end of your EASA PPL programme, you will agree that learning in two places is rewarding, not on the moment. I would only recommend to limit the number of different a/c types and instructors.

That's just my two pennies' worth.

[kingbing]

I looked into flying abroad. I too live in central London, making it around 90 mins from home to the nearest airfield (i don't have a car either).

It's quite a lot of hassle to do abroad unless you can devote a lot of time to it. I understand that all the exams have to be done in one country (even with EASA). I ended up biting the bullet at doing it in the UK (not quite there - I hope QXC in next 4 weeks). I've only ever traveled twice and not flown in the 39 hours flying I've done over a number of trips.

Cost-wise there is not that much in it (IMHO). I saved a decent starting chunk then continued to save as I started. Will have taken me about 18 months in all to get to PPL.