How much to fly?

By the time you get your liscense it would have cost about 4,000 dollars. That is for the Private Pilot course. So far I am into it about 2,000 dollars. It depends on your instructor and flight school. I have a price list for the Long Beach flying club and flight academy. Here is the website for them too. [url]ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/lbflyingclub/[/url] Are you planning on getting your liscense?

Try this link. www.lbflying.com

Hmm, I was thinking of getting a license and maybe going on to be an airline pilot, but as it is between 45000 and 60000 ($85000 - $113000), it is waaaay to expensive.

Do it through the RAF or some of the airlines are restarting their sponsorship programs. Visit a few airline website and see what's on offer. I spent about £36000GBP some years ago for my license and did a fair bit of training in the states at a JAA approved school. (PPL, IMC, Night, Multi and 100hrs) Did my PPL in 13 days due to the benefit of good weather!

When you say it took you 13 days, does that mean you just started and finished your 40 hours in 13 days, including all the lessons and solo flying, medicals and exams? Does anyone know the full amount to be a commercial airline pilot in the USA. Thanks a lot 😀

PH wrote:

Do it through the RAF or some of the airlines are restarting their sponsorship programs. Visit a few airline website and see what's on offer. I spent about £36000GBP some years ago for my license and did a fair bit of training in the states at a JAA approved school. (PPL, IMC, Night, Multi and 100hrs) Did my PPL in 13 days due to the benefit of good weather!

ONLY 13 DAYS?

Okay then, here's a question for you;

I'm faced with redundancy between the middle and end of quarter 3 this year. One option is to take a payoff cheque, if I do that I fancy a holiday.

1) Where abouts in the US would you recommend me to go for a holiday so that I could get a PPL?
2) Would I need to do anything when I get back to the UK (is there a difference in the PPL?)
3) Do you need to keep flying a number of hours per year to maintain it?

Thanks,
Dave

I found a nice flying center on the net, its part of Cabair here, which is a reputable flying school; they have a center in Florida. Cheap as well 😀 . I was thinking of going there after my exams. I believe that there is a small conversion exam which just teaches you the english way of doing various things, i.e. STAR appraoches etc, but depends how far you go. Not sure about the last question. 😀

Sorry to mislead.....13 flying days. Started on the 13th March and completed the skills test (PPL) on the 28th, therefore 15/16 days total. I did the ground exams as well in this time and it was extremely hard work. I had 0 hours in real aircraft but plenty of time on Flight Sim 98! For the PPL- My suggestion is to try and read the Trevor Thom books prior to undergoing the training....if you are looking at doing the PPL in a hurry. For a UK (JAA) license you need a JAA approved school such as Orlando Flight Training or Naples Flight Centre I am sure there are others but I know Naples is good. This is in Florida offering good weather, out of hurricane season, and lots of airports to use when doing cross countries/hour building. If you use a JAA approved school no conversion is required as you will be issued with a UK license. I had to do the RT test on my return but think some schools offer this in the states. Main thing is RT is different and so is the airspace.....as is the weather! Lots of pro's and con's....weak dollar a big plus at the moment, not sure about the hoops you need to jump through due to the security in the states regarding foreigners doing flight training (ask the schools). There are all sorts of rules regarding keeping current I am unsure what the limit is as I do more than a few hours a year. Please note this is for PPL only I did my CPL/IR back in the UK as well as the ATPL exams so I am unsure of the regs.

Does that mean that with all of the flying qualifications you have, i.e. the ATPL, you could apply to be a First Officer with an airline? Or are there more steps, other than building the amount of hours up? Cheers 😀 😀

Jo thats right when you finish training you have an ATPL known as a fATPL (frozenATPL) until you have 1500 hours and 500 hours multi-crew and again I am unsure if there is anything else you require before "unfreezing". So FO it is until you have the hours/experience for captaincy. It is certainly possible to get a job direct from training on the 320, 737 etc. Rare but possible. Please note everything I have written is "in a nutshell" suggest you contact a flying school or three to see what the latest regs are.

What does it mean by "frozen" ATPL. I've seen it everywhere but don't know what it means. Thanks 😀

It is frozen as you have passed the ATPL exams but have not got the flying experience in terms of hours on a multi crew aircraft. Once you have 1500 hours TT, 500 multi crew, "x" amount night etc etc it becomes an ATPL (unfrozen). Hope this helps

I learned to fly in Florida during summer and it is one of the best experiences of my life.
Don't go in summer though - the weather is isn't great as almost everyday you have to cancel afternoon flights because of storms. It also gets misty earl in the mornings, so there's an even smaller window for flying -- fine early on, but not good when you need to do long cross-countries and need a forecast of several hours of good weather to go.

Apparantly Jan/Feb is the perfect time to go in Florida as they have clear skies everyday so you get hardly any cancelled flights.
Also, watch out for too-good-to-be-true promises - most places will add a fuel and insurance surcharge, and I know where I went people were systematically told they could get in three weeks and not one person, out of about 15 that I met, actually did it. Average time was more like 5 weeks, so you need to allow for this before you go.

PH wrote:
Do it through the RAF or some of the airlines are restarting their sponsorship programs. Visit a few airline website and see what's on offer. I spent about £36000GBP some years ago for my license and did a fair bit of training in the states at a JAA approved school. (PPL, IMC, Night, Multi and 100hrs) Did my PPL in 13 days due to the benefit of good weather!

When I was 17.....few years back now, all I ever wanted to be was a pliot.

So i went for my entrance exams at my nearest RAF careers office, and I passed for pilot , great I thought, im gonna fly phantoms (told you it was a while ago), anyway i went for my medical, but i failed it!!!

I failed because I was CP4...which is Colour Perception 4 (colour blind) so my dream was shatttered because according to the RAF medical officer at RAF Wroughton Hospital, i was unable to see the difference between red and green lights on a runway!!

And here I am 17 years later serving as a submariner in the Royal Navy when the only lights the Royal Navy go by for navigation on the surface are Red and Green, left and Right...(Port & Starboard).

My advice for going for the forces, or betting your life on a certain race, is to be carefull my man....dreams can but be shattered by those who know less!!

Saying that though, submarine pay is much the same as "Flying pay " in the RAF, but we get a few extra's too, and @ the end of the day I still get to fly tornado's etc on a daily basis, only I choose my own sorties, and as long as im in there for my meals in the wardroom im much better off...

PS.....Have you ever flown a Tornado whilst being 200 meters under the North Pole??????.....I have...... 👏