Learn to Fly Guide

How do I start to learn to fly?

The easiest and simple way is to find a flying club and go up with a trial lesson. This will probably cost about a hundred pounds and you will spend just long enough in the air to see if this could be for you. Don’t worry too much if the instructor is 'not your type' at this stage, remember, the instructor will be one of many that just happened to be free that morning and the flying club knew nothing about you until you turned up!

1. The old-fashioned technique is to follow the trail of the local light aircraft, you will eventually find the airfield entrance!
2. If you go into Google Earth and search for 'airport', they will be denoted by a small yellow aircraft. If you click on them you can get the name and go to their website.
3. On this website (under Navigation), there is an aviation chart of Southern England, you can download it and all the airports are shown as small purple circles (but not the ones with a cross, they are disused!). Next to them is the name, from there you can find their website.
4. Find a decent newsagent, buy a copy of Flyer or Pilot magazine, they contain adverts and loads of useful information.
5. Search the net but you will find that so many things are called PPL and there is so much emphasis on commercial flying training at the larger airfields such as Bristol, Cranfield and Oxford, I find that this is not a lot of help!

If you are lucky enough to have several airports within about 40 minutes drive, have a trial lesson at each one. Remember, at the trial lesson stage you establishing if flying is for you, looking at the facilities of the club, the atmosphere, the size, infra-structure, friendliness, type of people etc. Take the other half down on a Saturday, they will probably have a bar / restaurant, get to know a few people, ask questions, explain that you are thinking of learning, they will probably point in the direction of somebody like yourself further down the road. All your trial lessons count as flying hours, at the end ask the instructor for 'the times', as soon as you get your first logbook, you can write them in.

Quite a few clubs go beyond trial lessons and offer a small package combining a trial lesson with a bit more interest and fun, for example you get to fly yourself around the Isle of Wight or you can circle overhead your house or place of work. If you ask nicely, the club might even allow your partner to sit in the back! Trial lessons are usually run on a no profit basis and the instructor will probably not be paid for these so there is always a limit on what they will do.

Curiously, there is no minimum age for a trial flight or for that matter to commence flight training! Under the law, you have to be 17 to be issued with a LAPL or PPL and most clubs will have fleet insurance restrictions stipulating a minimum age for solo flight (typically 16).

Chances are, the best flying club in the UK for yourself is probably the nearest! The quality and maintenance of the aircraft is heavily regulated and tends to be very similar. The quality of instruction is generally more down to the instructor you choose, not the club.

How much will it cost to learn to fly? How long will it take?

Difficult to say exactly, many factors determine costs and timescales, however, budget about 10k for a PPL taking one or two years. There are two types of licenses for aeroplanes, the smaller LAPL Light Aircraft Pilot License and the full PPL Private Pilots License. Both licenses allow you to fly a single-engine (with pistons) aircraft. The LAPL is limited to a maximum all up weight of 2 tons (this is most light aircraft), 3 passengers and nice sunny days. The big difference is that the PPL does not have the weight restriction (so you can fly 6 seat aircraft) can have additional ratings added to it so you can fly in restricted visibility, fly twin engine aircraft, jet turbine engines etc. Both licenses have identical examinations and both licenses can have a night rating added, the big difference with regards to training is that the LAPL only requires a minimum of 30 hours whereas the PPL requires a minimum of 45, a considerable difference in both time and cost. Typically, a LAPL will be completed within a year (starting early in March) whereas PPLs usually run out of time in the UK due to bad weather over the winter period. After you have passed the LAPL and done some flying (minimum 5 hours), the LAPL can easily be converted to a PPL by simply doing at least 10 hours of additional training (plus the cost of a new license, upgraded medical etc), consequently, unless you are planning to fly larger or more complex aircraft, fly outside of Europe, fly commercially or in bad weather, the LAPL might have a lot to offer.

Having said all that, there are two small issues with the LAPL. Firstly, no passengers for the first 10 hours, consequently, if the appeal of gaining a license is purely for flying with your partner and you pass the LAPL typically near the end of the year, throughout the UK typical winter, you may find it difficult to fly these initial 10 hours without an instructor on board. Secondly, if you cannot fly regularly (say every week) throughout your training, you will probably not complete the LAPL in 30 hours and the training may start to drift closer to 40 hours, in both cases... what's the point! Fortunately, at about 12-15 hours into your LAPL training, you can have a serious chat with your instructor to establish if the 30 hour target remains attainable and if not, consider switching to the full PPL, especially since everything up to that point is identical (however, always consider this a possibility in your budget!).

Your personal weight can influence the cost of flying since everything aviation is all about getting off the ground! Smaller, cheap to fly, 2-seat training aircraft (such as the Cessna 152) have a typical weight restriction of about 25 stone (160Kg) for everything inside the cockpit that’s not riveted, bolted or welded. Consequently, if you are 5 foot something, weigh less than 12 stone and find a similar sized instructor, your aircraft training cost will be about £150 an hour, if you are in the 14-15 stone group you will have to learn in a much larger, 4-seat aircraft at about £190 (adding about a thousand pounds to the overall cost). Much above this weight, safety issues may arise associated with rapid evacuation out of a small space.

PPL and LAPL Ground School and examinations

Both the the LAPL and PPL have identical ground school and examinations. The ground school consists of studying and passing nine examinations. These are attainable for typical professional people with a reasonable education who are willing to put in the work and study but nobody finds them simple! Having said that, you don’t need A Level maths and physics to pass them (although that would be a big help!) just the dedication, interest and time to study. For most people, they will take about 6 months to pass spending many hours a week reading, watching videos and attending specific ground school tuition programs at your flying club.

Ground school can be expensive depending on how you go about it, the size of the club and what facilities the club offers. If you can learn 90% from videos and books, there is little point in attending a formal 80 hour ground school classroom, it may be better to get one-on-one tuition for just the parts you do not understand. If the school offers it, you can join a high speed revision session. There is always a fine balance, without a doubt, the more you know, the better and safer pilot you will become and effort put in learning on the ground at £20 pounds an hour may reduce your flying hours required at £180 per hour! Whatever ground school system works best for yourself, it will require lots of home study!

There are some rules and time restrictions regarding ground school examinations, you have to complete ALL nine examinations within an 18 month period (the clock starts when you sit your first exam) and complete your LAPL or PPL within a further 24 months. However, re-sits are allowed and even if you blow the 18-month rule, you can reset the clock and start again. There is a cost of about 20-30 pounds per exam sitting so a few extra hours of studying will pay off and you certainly want to avoid resetting the clock! Hopefully, PPLmentor.com should be able to help and assist you with your journey!

Hidden Costs obtaining a PPL

You may have done the maths and are wondering where the 10k figure I previously mentioned has come from! It’s all the hidden costs, these are:

1. The books and ‘kit’ you need to study from and use to fly such as the map, ruler, protractor, bag, log book etc. These can be purchased as a package, personally, I am a big fan of Pooleys. Your local flying club can probably give you a discount on the package price, this will cost about 250 pounds.
2. The actual flying test will cost about 400-500 pounds (you are paying for the examiner, aircraft rental for a few hours and a test fee).
3. The actual license will cost about 200 pounds to issue
4. The initial medical will be about 80-250 pounds (depending on what medical you go for, class 1 initial (under 40) is about £400, if you are over 40 and thinking of initial issue class 1 start saving!
5. The radio license is about £200

It soon adds up! There is a certain reality to learning to fly, chances are that you will be working and cannot get the time off, the weather throughout the winter may be Charlie Romeo Alpha Papa and the majority of booked lessons will get canceled. You might fall in love with a particular aircraft, it may be in maintenance for weeks, your instructor may go on holiday and you have formed a relationship and would rather not change… all these conspire against you meaning that you go rusty between lessons and constantly have to spend 20 minutes every lesson just getting back to where you left off. Consequently, the 45 hours at 180 pounds an hour is usually impractical and unattainable! Most reasonably proficient working professional people spreading a PPL over two years will complete it in about 53 hours adding about 1500 pounds to that 10 grand figure.

Not unlike many dedicated hobbies, after you have passed your PPL, there are countless additional costs, it won't be long before you want your own headsets, life jackets, a decent tablet upgrade with the latest navigation software, posh sunglasses, aviation jacket, subscription to the aviation magazines, maps and charts of France, foldaway bicycles... the costs never end! Flying is one of those hobbies where you do not need to be rich, but you definatly cannot be poor to enjoy the full benefits. It's not as bad as owning a stable block of Lipazzaners or an Ocean going Oyster yacht but definatly ranks third!

How safe is flying a light aircraft

Safety is always a primary consideration but as with all adventurous or exciting hobbies that require stepping out of the front door, people sadly die or get injured. Flying is well established around a strictly enforced safety culture and you should not believe the misinformed pub myths! A common one I hear is that if the engine fails or the aircraft runs out of fuel, it will crash to the ground and explode in a Hollywood fireball! I can assure that if the engine stops, it becomes a glider and you have plenty of time to find a nice field and land, keeping you well away from the dynamite storage warehouse adjacent to the nuclear power station that was designed by Gerry Anderson! Flying is as safe, adventurous or extreme as you want to make it. If you are an 80 hour PPL and buy a 250 Kt aircraft without proper training, fly in clouds without a properly equipped aircraft and instrument training, perform low level aerobatics as a impromptu laugh to show off to your mates, chances are, you will die prematurely! If you are sensible, flying is safe, bear in mind that statistically more pilots are killed driving to the airport than flying! A huge amount of your training is dedicated to keeping you safe and I can assure that behind the scenes safety is endemic to everything we do.

Once you get your license, the learning never stops and your club will be full of older more experienced guys, evidentially still alive who will be only too happy to help you explore new horizons keeping you safe and well informed.

What can you do with a PPL?

Learning to fly will undoubtedly become one of the biggest achievements you will make in your life! The personal satisfaction and pride cannot be underestimated. In a very short amount of time, you will have enough stories and experience to keep conversation going for the rest of your life! Chances are that you will gain many new friends and dinner parties will never be the same.

Your local flying club will organise fly outs to airfields that are about half an hour away, these can be a great way to start exploring, gain experience and of course add to those dinner time stories. Once you have your LAPL or PPL, the cost of hiring an aircraft tends to be cheaper because the insurance and maintenance costs are less.

Many people buy a share in an aircraft, usually 4 to 10 people share the fixed costs. Your local flying club notice board will have many shares up for sale as people move on to larger more complex aircraft or maybe even buy their own. If you fly with friends, they are allowed to share the journey costs (without it counting as a commercial flight) making everything more affordable.

Flying can enhance other hobbies, for example my wife is into horse riding, during the summer we used to fly to Jersey for a weekend and instead of hiring a car, we would be met by the local stables and two horses! Saturday night in Paris after a hard week at work used to be a regular event. As a member of the Corcheval Flying Club, fly in from Maidenhead, get my skis and boots out of my locker in the hangar and ski down! Take off Sunday evening, fly into the sunset, and meet all my mates in the flying club bar on Sunday night still in my ski gear! If you are a business professional and find it impossible to get a week off, flying can open up a new world of possibilities and additional hobbies.

You can use an aircraft on a PPL in connection with your business providing there is no renumeration. Don’t believe all the highly contrived Jeremy Clarkson rubbish that its quicker to drive, as soon as there is an expanse of water in the way, it is ALWAYS quicker by aircraft! The big advantage to flying yourself is that you fly from local airport to local airport, no 2 hour check in, no baggage control and at the other end you are classed as crew and walk straight through. Having said that for serious business where you HAVE to fly on a specific day and time, you will need an instrument rating and a fully de-iced, advanced twin without James May at the controls, but that’s another website, another story!

With a PPL (as opposed to a LAPL) you can tour places where passenger jets and tourists cannot venture, every Island has a landing strip and you can have great fun in Island clusters all over the world.

Once you have a few hours, it's not that difficult to obtain more ratings that enable you to fly in reduced visibility, this is essential if you ever plan to fly deeper into Europe or simply explore places further away because one day the weather will close in and you will be too far away to sensibly do a 180° turn and safely get back home.

If you have skills way beyond amateur DIY and are a bit of perfectionist, you can build your own aircraft! In the UK, the LAA (Light Aircraft Association) oversee and offer plenty of help and guidance, including training courses. Every year, first week in September, they organise the LAA Fly-in Rally at Sywell, this rally is also a large exhibition dedicated to personal aviation, put it in you diary!

Away from touring, exploring and going places, there is a huge fun world of vintage aircraft with its own clubs, meets and many fly-outs. It can be fun to explore other types of aviation and with the advances in battery technologies, there are loads of interesting opportunities on the horizon, all stemming from the basic PPL. If you are into freedom, the smaller microlight or auto gyro aircraft can be operated from any reasonable patch of grass. At the other extreme, if you are an adrenalin g-force junky and find Kingda Ka, Leviathan and Formula Rossa a bit lame and more for screaming teenagers, the world of aerobatics await!

I have only documented what I have done personally, this falls far short of all the possibilities. Flying an aircraft yourself is just an amazing, indescribable way of life and a unique privilege. You've got to try it!