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

Moderator: AndyR

#1876771
Hi all,

Another Rob here looking to join the ranks. I've been wanting to fly for many years now and having worked my way trawling though a lot of forum posts, YouTube videos, and a fair chunk of the APMs, I've decided it's time to get on with it. I'm very fortunate to be just about at a point my in career where it is plausible that I can scrape the pennies together and make the most of being young and carefree.

I live in south-west London so I think I've identified the fields that are under a hours drive for me are Denham, Elstree, Fairoaks, Redhill, Blackbushe and White Waltham. I think Biggin Hill and Wycombe Air Park would in theory be within range but look to be a bit on the pricey side - £45/landing at EGKB is a little beyond me :pale:

I'm hoping to spend a couple of weekends popping over to each of them to get a feel for them. I realise it's a pretty wide net to cast so if anyone has any suggestions of any particular schools/clubs to talk to, I'd really appreciate that. I'm confident that I should be able to muddle through self-studying all the groundschool myself and would probably prefer learning in a more laidback club style atmosphere if that makes any difference. Also if anyone might be around and willing to have a chat I'd love that.

I'm not in a rush to try and reach getting a licence and am happy to just enjoy the journey. I work 9-6 Monday to Friday so I will probably be restricted to weekends. From some very rough estimates I reckon that I could afford approximately the equivalent of 45 minutes per week of instruction in a C152 based on the current typical rates at nearby fields. That would allow me to get ~58 hours of instruction over 18 months. Does that seem like a realistic budget and rate of instruction for reasonable progression?

Looking beyond qualification, what would be a sensible target for hours in order to keep current and proficient? Based on the self-hire rates at training organisations at those fields it looks like I could probably sustain 1 hour a fortnight indefinitely after finishing training if I was to stick to something like a C152. Would that be reasonable? I would hope that I could increase the hours if I was able to find a share, but perhaps I should be considering looking into 3-axis microlights instead?

I'd really appreciate any thoughts!

Thanks,
Rob
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#1876793
Your projected rate of lessons and progress nearly exactly matches mine, though separated by more than thirty years. I started January and finished in the July or August of the following year.

Fewer hours required in those days, forty, I took a handful more. Fewer exams too.

Welcome Rob A

Rob P
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876798
Welcome @RobA

You've clearly done your homework so you have a great idea of what to expect wrt the studying and costs.

I'm based in NW England but I have a friend who is an instructor at Elstree. She says the circuit is a bit 'interesting' due to noise abatement etc but it's a popular school. Sorry, don't know about the others. Plenty of forumites will have useful comments.

Have you had a trial lesson anywhere yet, just to be sure you are happy in a C152? I am learning in one and it is SMALL!

You will have gathered that learning to fly is addictive. I am sure you will have a blast.
StratoTramp liked this
#1876803
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome :D

T6Harvard wrote: I'm based in NW England but I have a friend who is an instructor at Elstree. She says the circuit is a bit 'interesting' due to noise abatement etc but it's a popular school. Sorry, don't know about the others. Plenty of forumites will have useful comments.

Have you had a trial lesson anywhere yet, just to be sure you are happy in a C152? I am learning in one and it is SMALL!

You will have gathered that learning to fly is addictive. I am sure you will have a blast.


Thanks @T6Harvard! Yeah I've heard that the circuit there is novel, I imagine that regulars must end up being fairly good on keeping up with the landmarks out of the window.

Good thought about the size of the C152. My parents bought me a trial flight for my birthday one year as a teenager which was actually in a C152. I remember being struck by the size of the aircraft but don't remember feeling cramped, all I really remember is being awestruck by the whole experience and having a tremendous time. I don't think I've grown a whole lot since then, I'm only 5'6 and around 65kg, but I'll definitely make sure to try it out again before I commit to anything.

TopCat wrote:I'm sorry, we're all maxed out on Robs. Do you have another name?

At this point I'm not too fussy, I'll answer to most things. Perhaps I should swap to going by Bertie in the hopes I end up with valet to save me from myself.

Rob P wrote:It's a well known fact you can't have too many Robs


Having been the third Rob in my class in primary school and being a Rob who is currently managed by another Rob at work, I can attest to the fact there can never be too many recipients of such a wonderful name - unless you want make it easy to address one in particular .
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876811
RobA wrote:Thanks everyone for the warm welcome :D

Good thought about the size of the C152. My parents bought me a trial flight for my birthday one year as a teenager which was actually in a C152. I remember being struck by the size of the aircraft but don't remember feeling cramped, all I really remember is being awestruck by the whole experience and having a tremendous time. I don't think I've grown a whole lot since then, I'm only 5'6 and around 65kg, but I'll definitely make sure to try it out again before I commit to anything.

[ .


You'll be fine then! But do try a PA28 as well, if you can.
I was put off due to them only having one door but after being taken for a bimble in one (many thanks to @cessna571) I can very much see the appeal. Of course that was in the RHS so my access/egress was 'normal', IYKWIM . My new Instructor is probably praying that I'd swap to one..... he's approx 6' 3" and getting in and out of a C152 involves advanced Yoga.
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By seanxair
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876813
Hi Rob,

You could also try fixed wing Microlight, especially at your weight (I used be as light as you :( )

I flew a C42 while I got my licence a few years ago. Highly capable aircraft. Flew on a microlight rating for a few years and have since added a SSEA rating.

Have a look at https://www.bmaa.org/about-microlighting/fixedwing.

Good luck,

Sean
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876817
Welcome @RobA

I'm thinking about having to change my name to Rob as I've got a bit of FOMO.

As others have said, you should be fine in a C152. I'm learning in one and at 6ft and circa 15st, it's cosy but manageable.

Ref. your schedule, I had similar thoughts but that's gone a bit pear-shaped. I have been booking a lesson a week with the thought that weather, work or wife might scupper roughly every other one. I've missed I think 2 weeks since August so that plan has gone out the window. It's a 2 hour slot with typically 1 hour flying or sometimes 5-15min more. We did one that was also 1h35 mins. Try to factor in that you might need a buffer for the odd lesson that is longer. I'm yet to go solo, but once you get into the cross-country, you will definitely be into longer lessons. I'm also led to believe that if you left a couple of weeks between lessons, you will spend a bit of the next one recapping on the last one. I personally didn't find that too bad when I had to skip 2 weeks but everyone is different. The other thing that sneaks up on you is landing fees. I figured on circa £185/lesson but have had several bills that have been £100 more than that with a bit of additional time and 8 landings at £10 each. Just another newbie's thoughts.

Good luck with choosing your school - I looked at a few but only had one trial flight. I got on with the instructor well and he seemed keen to push progress (trial flight was a proper lesson and not just a bimble around). I spoke to a few other clubs but in the end, I went with the gut feel and so far have not looked back although I admit I have nothing else to compare it to.
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By Iceman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1876901
@RobA, where exactly do you live in SW London ? I’m in the Kingston Upon Thames area and fly variously from Redhill, Fairoaks, Blackbushe and White Waltham. Have also used Biggin in the past.

Iceman 8)
#1876912
Thanks everyone for your thoughts, I really appreciate it!

@Paul_Sengupta thanks for the heads up about LTFC at Fairoaks. I remember seeing them when I was scoping things out ealier in the year and was very impressed by the rates. Having a look again at their website they seem to have redone it and scrubbed any information about tuition and only mention those "in current flying practice." Hopefully that's not a bad omen, I'll give them a call and see what the situation is.

@T6Harvard a PA28 definitely sounds like a lot of fun. The single door doesn't put me off too much, but maybe that's just my naivety. I'm not averse to a good scramble and I remember seeing a video that showed that exiting via the windscreen isn't too hard if you really need too :lol:

@seanxair having spoken to one of my colleagues at work who did that too, I must say am somewhat tempted by going the NPPL(M) route. Like you say the C42 looks very appealing and it does seem to be a fair bit more affordable, but I am wary of potentially finding myself trapped without a clear path beyond an NPPL(SSEA) without forking out a load of cash. Although perhaps an NPPL would be perfectly adequate for my purposes? :think: I guess it's a matter of trying to figure out what I will want to do in the future, but it's hard to know that at this point before I've started. I just like the idea of keeping options open to whatever future ratings I may fancy.

@Milty Haha, oh dear, best laid plans eh. Having heard other people's experiences I was expecting about a 40% cancellation rate, I guess if I wind up with a 25% cancellation rate on ~1 hour a week bookings then I might keep somewhat on track. I'm planning to start off with a buffer of about 50% of cost of training and slowly burn through it over time so hopefully that should even things out provided I haven't blown it all by the time I get to cross country flights nearer the end. Good thought about the landing fees though. For rates where home landings aren't included I had only been budgeting for 1 landing per hour, which was clearly an oversight so thanks for pointing that out. Thinking about @Paul_Sengupta 's mention of comparing apples to apples, does anyone know a good rule of thumb for taking into account the effect of difference time counting schemes ie tacho time vs chocks on/off, etc? Does it make any significant difference?

@Iceman I live in Fulham, so I guess we have pretty similar overlap of convenient locations.
Iceman, Milty liked this
#1876932
Iceman wrote:With winter approaching, another factor @RobA is runway availability. Runways at grass airfields often become unusable in the winter.

Iceman 8)


Thanks, I'll put that down as a mark against Redhill and White Waltham then.