[gmgohara]

Hello

I am looking to undertake my PPL and being based in Bournemouth I am looking to do the training at the local airport.

Does anybody have any recommendations / experience of the training providers that can offer this at Bournemouth airport

Any advice appreciated

[David Wood]

I'm not sure which PPL training organisations are still operating at Bournemouth, if indeed any are. One thing that you will need to consider if training at an airport that is primarily focussed on commercial air transport is the impact that being something of a second-class citizen will have on your training.

The pros are:
It's local to you and therefore convenient
You will become very practised at working in controlled airspace
You will become very practised at 'proper' RT and confident in a radio environment

The cons are:
I believe that Bournemouth charge landing fees on each landing - and as a PPL student you'll be doing a lot of those! These costs can quickly add up. You need to check on that as I may be wrong.
You will spend a lot of time taxiing about, holding on the ground for other [more important] traffic and waiting for clearances to take-off. That can take a big chunk out of an hour's lesson and will impact your pace of learning.
Your circuits (when you get to the point in your training) will be huge and therefore your landings per hour will be small.
A downside of working in controlled airspace is the pilots can become over-reliant on ATC to 'look-out' for them.
Once you are trained, you will probably fly most frequently to/from much smaller uncontrolled airfields. You may find that quite a jolt after training at a busy international airport.

As you can probably tell, I'd caution you to take a broader view than just one of local convenience.

[Bald Sparrow]

Hi gmgohara

Do go for your PPL, you won't regret it.

Bliss (blissaviation.com) and Derek Davidson (derekdavidsonpilottraining.co.uk) are probably your best contacts for private flying. There are others dealing with commercial pilot training (apologies if I have missed out anyone else).

I don't think anyone, other than the commercial schools, will be doing many circuits at Bournemouth so you will probably go to a nearby airfield for those.
Training at an airport rather than a grass airfield can give you more confidence dealing with ATC but, as David says, be prepared to wait for commercial traffic although there isn't much now (Covid-19).

[dc3guy]

Hi there!

I train at Bournemouth! There are two schools that run different ppl courses:

Bliss Aviation - Friendly bunch with two planes, four instructors. Good if you’re looking for one lesson a month as they are busy

Derek Davidson -https://derekdavidsonpilottraining.co.uk/
Derek runs intensive ppl courses that last for 3-4 weeks and includes all landing fees etc. Smaller school with one plane but you get total focus on you instead of having to fit around other students.
Derek has a huge amount of knowledge and has been teaching for 50yrs. He also has an instructor that you’ll work with.

Regarding Bournemouth airport, David raises good points. From my own experience the airport focuses more on commercial training. Commercial traffic is rare, even pre pandemic there were only a few Ryanair/EasyJet flights.

RT - learning at Bournemouth means you’ll have no problem flying in to any controlled airspace. If you learn at a small grass strip you may get overwhelmed at larger airfields.

Waiting - yes you’ll hold a lot as there is traffic. But it’s interesting traffic! I watched a chinook doing ILS approaches a couple of weeks ago. Not something you’ll find at many fields.

Circuits - you’ll fly to Lee on Solent for them. That gives some great practice every time of entering and exiting airspace and travelling short distances to another field. Real flying, not just circling and landing.

Let me know if you want to discuss any more!

Mark