April 1, 2024 • 15 mins
Ever wondered how heavy your wallet needs to be to take to the skies? Buckle up, as I take you on a financial voyage into the world of pilot training. From the adrenaline-pumping trial flight that kickstarts your logbook to the nuanced selection of an aircraft that suits your stature and budget, like my trusty PA-28, I try to cover it all. I offer practical tips on how to navigate payments to flying schools while keeping your investment secure, and offer my take on the surprising costs that come with solo flights and ground school essentials. It's not just about the money; it's about making smart choices that keep your dream of flight a reality.
Strap on your headset and let's talk about the less-discussed aspects of becoming a pilot—the ones that hit your bank account. I'll take a look at the membership fees and hidden costs, the benefits of ground school versus self-study, and why a medical certificate should be at the top of your checklist. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten the joy that comes with this journey; we'll explore the importance of connecting with fellow aviators and seasoned pros who can offer a windfall of advice. So, join me as we share laughs, insights, and maybe a few gasps at the price of charts, while always circling back to the ultimate goal—flying safely and with sheer delight.
I'm a UK based private pilot (PPL(A), who started to learn to fly in my 50s. I passed (just), but every flight is a learning experience.
I currently own 1/5 of a Cessna 172 - but I am not sure which bit is mine.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Wayne (00:00):
Hi, this is Wayne, and today I'm going to try and give
you a little bit of breakdown asto how much does it cost to
learn to fly.
This is a question that getsasked time and time again and,
in all honesty, it's actuallyquite a hard question to answer.
Everyone's situation isdifferent.
(00:20):
Where you choose to learn tofly, how you choose to learn to
fly, what you decide to learn tofly All of these things are
going to have some bearing onhow much it costs.
So what I'm going to do is I'mgoing to go through what it
costs me and hopefully give youa few little pointers so that,
when it comes to working out thecosts for you, you have a
better idea as to what it reallydoes cost.
(00:42):
The first thing you need to dobefore you start to learn to fly
is go on a trial flight.
Go and find out if you actuallylike learning to fly.
A trial flight is basicallyhalf an hour or an hour.
I'd always go for the hour.
You an instructor in a plane ofyour choice.
Well, I say of your choice.
It's down to the school.
Really, you're not going to geta trial flight in a Spitfire or
a B-52, it's going to besomething simple a PA-20A, a
(01:05):
Cessna 152, something of thatdescription and the idea of a
trial flight is to give you someidea of what it really feels
like to be in a small aircraft,which is completely different to
a large, wide-bodied orsomething you might go on
holiday on and gives you anopportunity to play with the
controls.
The instructor is going to bebeside you.
They're going to be hoveringover the controls, so you're not
going to do anything that'sgoing to damage the plane or
(01:26):
damage yourself, but you getsome idea as to what it feels
like.
You get to look out.
You might even get acertificate and some pictures at
the end of it, and it's a greatthing.
The good news with a trialflight is generally the hour or
so that you've actually used asa trial flight is loggable,
because you had an instructornext to you, so you have just
done your first hours flying.
(01:46):
Trial flights vary in terms ofcost.
In my case it was about £200,so that was the first £200 I
spent and, quite frankly, thatwas the start of everything.
Next we have the biggest andthe most expensive part of
learning to fly, and that ispaying for an aircraft and
paying for an instructor.
Now the first thing I would saynever, ever, pay up front,
(02:08):
particularly if you're going topay large sums of money.
Flying schools are businessesand unfortunately in this day
and age, businesses do fail.
So please don't pay large sumsof money to a flying school,
even if they're going to offeryou a tiny discount and
sometimes it's like five percent, because if they fail, the last
thing you're going to get backis your money.
So always try and be a littlebit cautious.
Look at what they're offering.
(02:29):
The first thing you've got todecide is what type of aircraft
you're going to fly.
The two main groups are lowwings, things like a PA-28, and
high wings things like Cessnas,152s, 172s, etc.
The criteria are slightlydifferent.
One is more expensive than theother.
The PA-28s are more expensivethan a Cessna generally, but it
can vary depending on yourschool.
(02:50):
The reason I went for PA-28s is, quite frankly, I'm a larger
guy and sticking me in a 152with an instructor and enough
fuel to actually go flying wasgoing to be quite interesting,
so went with a pa-28.
Generally when you're hiring aplane, it comes with the
instructor, so you pay a singleprice for plane and instructor,
(03:12):
but it does depend on the school.
For me it was a fixed hourlyrate and this hourly rate is
based on what they call brakeson to brakes off.
So as soon as the aircraftstart moving, the clock starts
ticking.
As soon as the aircraft stopsmoving at the end of the flight,
that's when the clock stops.
Now, generally, my schoolbooked two hour blocks and you
(03:33):
expected to have the aircraftfor an hour in the middle.
So you had half an hour tostart, which was the time for
the briefing.
You then had an hour flyingtime and then you had half an
hour allocated for the debrief.
But again, your school might beslightly different.
All the booking went through anelectronic booking system so I
could book up in advance, so Iknew when I was going to fly.
Instructor wise, I was allocatedan instructor at the start and
(03:55):
for most of my training I hadthe same instructor.
Personally, I found that workedreally well.
You can spend a lot of time ina very small, confined area with
your instructor.
Get on with them.
If you don't get on with yourinstructor, talk to them or talk
to the school Changeinstructors.
Remember, at the end of the day, you're the one paying the
money for the lessons.
If you're not getting on withyour instructor, that's the time
to start to talk to people.
Further on in your training youmight find that other
(04:17):
instructors brought in.
We had mock tests.
We had instructors who wouldsign us off for particular
milestones like going solo.
Then you have an instructor atthe end who's the chief flying
examiner or flying examiner fromthe description who does the
final skills test.
That generally is not going tobe the person who's been doing
the instruction all the waythrough.
So total-wise, I was paying£224 an hour for PA28 plus an
(04:42):
instructor.
Bear in mind Elstree is based inLondon.
Prices are generally higherthan a lot of the other areas in
the country and if you want tosave money and you can then
consider aircraft like the C152,which was cheaper the minimum
requirement is 45 hours.
The average seems to be between60 and 80.
So when you're budgeting forflight costs, take that into
(05:04):
consideration.
I also have 1700 pounds of soloflight.
This was from when I was doingmy cross countries and my solo
consolidation and this ischarged at a slightly lower rate
because you don't have aninstructor next to you.
Next, we have travel.
Now my traveling time and theamount I spent on travel is
actually a nominal amount.
(05:25):
I live about 15 to 20 minutesaway from my aerodrome, which is
great.
It means I can jump in the car,drive to the airfield and be
ready to fly.
But it's something you need toconsider.
If you're going to spend anhour travelling to an airfield
and an hour travelling back,that's going to cost you more
potentially than finding anairfield that was closer but
slightly more expensive.
So take travelling time intoconsideration and also consider
(05:48):
whether you have to pay parking.
At the other end, some flightschools are in major
international airports andparking is not going to be cheap
, although a lot of theseschools will actually have some
deal with the airfield.
So you're not going to bepaying the same amount you would
if you're doing the short staycar park at Heathrow.
Next, £120 for flight schoolmembership.
(06:09):
This covers more of the socialside of the flight school.
Technically, it also coversinsurance for me when I'm doing
solo hire and it's a yearlypayment to the flight school.
It also covers some of thebarbecues and things like that
that they do for their members.
Next, we have landing fees.
Landing fees are the fee thatyou pay to land.
(06:30):
Quite simple, really.
Most airfields do have landingfees.
The larger the airfield, themore complex the airfield,
generally the more expensive.
I'm lucky the flight schoolthat I was with landing fees
were incorporated into thehourly rate.
So for flying in the circuitflying at my local aerodrome I
didn't pay any landing fees.
However, when I to land awaysthat is, flying to other
(06:50):
aerodromes and training at otheraerodromes, particularly for
things like doing my crosscountries I had to pay a landing
fee.
So next in my spreadsheet is950 pounds for exams and ground
school.
I basically went to an intensiveground school for five days and
managed to crack through all myexams.
I'd actually spent about threemonths doing book work with a
(07:14):
set of Pooley's books, but Iactually found that my ability
to absorb information is muchbetter when I actually have
someone in front of me and beable to ask questions and talk
about particular aspects.
There's a lot of online stuffout there now and a lot of
people go to various onlineschools for their training.
I was just at the point wherethe CAA changed from
(07:34):
old-fashioned question banks andpaper exams into full online
digital exams, so I had all ofthe new online stuff, including
some very quirky questions that,quite frankly, weren't written
very well and were basicallymeaningless, but I still managed
to crack through them in theend.
Would I recommend going toground school?
Well, for me personally, itworked really well.
(07:55):
I did do the book learningfirst, so I did go to the ground
school, effectively using theground school to bring me up to
speed and finish off a couple ofthe topics that I didn't really
understand by reading Pooley'sbooks.
I am aware that some people useground schools to try and cram
everything into a week and,quite frankly, I don't think
that's doable.
If you manage to pass an examin a week without having done
(08:17):
any background reading, is thatreally a good understanding of
the subject?
Personally, I don't think so.
Next up is £85 for the RT exam.
The RT is a practical exam forradio telephony and is done with
an instructor.
Moving down my spreadsheet,we're now into medical territory
(08:38):
.
Now trainee pilots have to havea medical and there's basically
two types.
There's a Class 1, medical,which is more intense and is
designed for people who aregoing into commercial flight, is
more intense and is designedfor people who are going into
commercial flight.
So if you're intending to doyour ppl and then go beyond ppl
into commercial, get a class onedone sooner rather than later.
If you're looking, as I was,just for ppl flying, class two
(08:58):
is perfectly adequate.
Covers everything that you needto do standard ppl flying.
One thing I would suggest is getyour medical done sooner rather
than later.
One of the problems that peoplesometimes find is they'll spend
summers of money learning tofly.
Then they decide to get theirmedical.
Most schools require you tohave your medical done before
you at least go solo.
They do their medical.
Something gets flagged up andthey have to stop.
(09:20):
So they've wasted all thatmoney learning to fly.
Now they've either got to havea break because they need to
sort out whatever medical hasflagged up, or worst case
scenario is the medical turnsaround and says, sorry, you're
not going to be able to fly.
It does happen.
So get your medical done assoon as possible If you're going
for commercial class one.
If you're not going forcommercial class two.
Something else to factor in asyou get older, the medical
(09:42):
requirements change slightly.
Once you're over 50, you nowneed a medical every year, and
every two years you need to havean ECG.
Other things to add to the listA chart.
You need a chart.
A chart is the roadmap of theskies and it's something that
you'll spend hours and hours andhours poring over drawing lines
on.
Generally, the schools canprovide you with a chart.
(10:03):
They're 18, 19 pounds but youcan buy them in places like
Pooleys.
Don't forget buy the chart foryour area.
There's three charts that coverthe UK.
They get replaced every singleyear, so a chart is only going
to last you a year.
So if you're going to buyanything second hand, don't buy
a second hand chart.
It's probably going to be outof date.
Whilst we're on the subject ofbuying things, I bought a flight
starter kit which was aroundabout 245 pounds, which was
(10:27):
basically a flight bag, a loadof books, a couple of rulers, a
protractor, a knee board and afew bits and pieces, and it was
a good start.
But there are cheaper ways ofbuying things.
But for me, it was a case ofbuying it, having it in one
package and then proceeding onwith my flying, coming towards
the end of my spending list.
And I have a headset and, yes,I bought a Bose A20, which is
(10:51):
probably the most expensiveheadset you can buy for flying.
It's noise reduction.
Yes, they're expensive.
I love them, as long as Iremember to switch them on.
They're great.
It changes your flying in somuch that you actually get to
hear better because you're notconstantly dealing with the
drone of the engine in thebackground.
You can buy cheaper headsets.
You can buy headsets that don'thave automated noise reduction
(11:13):
and most flying schools willactually allow you to hire
headsets from them.
So my suggestion possibly isthe first two or three flights
just borrow or hire the headsetfrom the school.
Then, when you're more certainthat you're going to carry on
training, then consider buying aheadset.
When you finally have done allyour training, the school will
(11:33):
turn around to you and saycongratulations, we want to put
you up for your skills test Now.
The skills test is somethingthat every pilot looks forward
to and possibly dreads, becauseit's the culmination of all your
training.
Once you pass your skills test,you have your PPL and have that
great little license.
You're paying for the flightexaminer and you're paying for
the aircraft.
Expect two to three hours offlying time and hopefully at the
(11:56):
end he or she will turn aroundto you and go congratulations,
you've passed your skills test.
You might have passed yourskills test, but now you've got
to fill in a whole pile ofdocumentation and send the
princely sum of £196 to the CAAand hopefully in two or three
weeks they'll send you a license.
A few tips here.
One, get your school to checkall your paperwork, because I
(12:18):
guarantee you'll manage to sendthe paperwork and something will
be missing, something won't beticked, and then you have a
delay getting things back.
And the way the CAA seems towork is, if there's any
possibility of something beingwrong, they restart the clock
and everything has to go back tothe beginning, and then you
have to go through the wholeprocess again.
One little thing I will say ismake sure, when you've done your
(12:39):
RT exam, the documentation forthat you send in at the same
time as the documentation foryour PPL.
That way you don't have to payan additional fee to have your
RT added onto your license at alater date and hopefully, if
everything's well, two, two tothree weeks, the CAA will send
you a nice little blue walletwith your license in.
Congratulations, you're now afully fledged pilot and now you
(13:01):
have to spend even more moneycarrying on flying, but that's
another subject.
The total for me has come to£28,326 and a few pence, which
is a lot of money, but the thingis that was spread over 14
months.
I enjoyed every moment of it.
Well, I enjoyed most of it, infact.
Yeah, I did enjoy big chunks ofit and other bits were hard and
(13:22):
I was tearing my hair out, butthat's the nature of learning to
fly.
The key is always budget formore.
My adage is double what youthink it is and add 50%.
And if you think that 45 hoursis the minimum required, 45
hours double.
That's 90 hours, add 50%.
The number of hours I did tocompress my PPL is quite close
(13:43):
to that.
It was within my budget.
There are a few other things Ihaven't mentioned that sort of
come into budgeting for flying.
If you're doing land aways, buyyour instructor a cup of tea.
Maybe they might like that.
Bear in mind.
Also, if you're going totravelways, buy your instructor
a cup of tea.
Maybe they might like that.
Bear in mind.
Also, if you're going to travelto and from an airfield, you
are sometimes going to get tothe airfield and find your
lesson is cancelled.
That's effectively a wastedtrip.
Possibly talk to your schooland talk about doing ground
(14:04):
school instead.
I also paid for a few otherlittle extras, like I had a
couple of apps that I use SkyDemon.
They were down as ancillarycosts.
Hopefully this has given yousome idea as to how much does it
cost.
Well, how much did it cost me?
And give you some pointers asto how much it might cost you.
I would go through everythingstep by step and try and work
out roughly what it's going tocost you and then budget for it.
(14:27):
One of the worst things you cando is run out of money halfway
through your training.
You'll find that if you spaceyour training out too much,
you'll end up spending more timegoing over what you did in the
last lesson and less time doingsomething new, which is
basically going to cost you morein the long run.
I aim to try and book twoflights a week, expecting at
least one of them to becancelled due to weather or due
(14:48):
to other reasons, and itgenerally worked out for me, but
it's always going to be down toyour personal circumstances,
don't forget.
Everyone's situation is goingto be different.
So just because I did somethingin a certain way and it's cost
me a certain amount doesn'tnecessarily mean it's going to
be the same for you.
Biggest thing is talk to people.
Get out there, explore, use theinternet, go and talk to
schools, go and talk to otherpilots, get personal
(15:10):
recommendations andfundamentally enjoy the journey.
I hope this podcast has helped.
If it has, please considerleaving a review and consider
following for more episodes onmy journey on how not to learn
to fly.
Don't forget please do not usethe internet for flight
instruction.
We'll only teach you how tocrash.
Thanks for listening and pleaseremember be safe and have fun.
Bye.
Hi, this is Wayne, and today I'm going to try and give
you a little bit of breakdown asto how much does it cost to
learn to fly.
This is a question that getsasked time and time again and,
in all honesty, it's actuallyquite a hard question to answer.
Everyone's situation isdifferent.
(00:20):
Where you choose to learn tofly, how you choose to learn to
fly, what you decide to learn tofly All of these things are
going to have some bearing onhow much it costs.
So what I'm going to do is I'mgoing to go through what it
costs me and hopefully give youa few little pointers so that,
when it comes to working out thecosts for you, you have a
better idea as to what it reallydoes cost.
(00:42):
The first thing you need to dobefore you start to learn to fly
is go on a trial flight.
Go and find out if you actuallylike learning to fly.
A trial flight is basicallyhalf an hour or an hour.
I'd always go for the hour.
You an instructor in a plane ofyour choice.
Well, I say of your choice.
It's down to the school.
Really, you're not going to geta trial flight in a Spitfire or
a B-52, it's going to besomething simple a PA-20A, a
(01:05):
Cessna 152, something of thatdescription and the idea of a
trial flight is to give you someidea of what it really feels
like to be in a small aircraft,which is completely different to
a large, wide-bodied orsomething you might go on
holiday on and gives you anopportunity to play with the
controls.
The instructor is going to bebeside you.
They're going to be hoveringover the controls, so you're not
going to do anything that'sgoing to damage the plane or
(01:26):
damage yourself, but you getsome idea as to what it feels
like.
You get to look out.
You might even get acertificate and some pictures at
the end of it, and it's a greatthing.
The good news with a trialflight is generally the hour or
so that you've actually used asa trial flight is loggable,
because you had an instructornext to you, so you have just
done your first hours flying.
(01:46):
Trial flights vary in terms ofcost.
In my case it was about £200,so that was the first £200 I
spent and, quite frankly, thatwas the start of everything.
Next we have the biggest andthe most expensive part of
learning to fly, and that ispaying for an aircraft and
paying for an instructor.
Now the first thing I would saynever, ever, pay up front,
(02:08):
particularly if you're going topay large sums of money.
Flying schools are businessesand unfortunately in this day
and age, businesses do fail.
So please don't pay large sumsof money to a flying school,
even if they're going to offeryou a tiny discount and
sometimes it's like five percent, because if they fail, the last
thing you're going to get backis your money.
So always try and be a littlebit cautious.
Look at what they're offering.
(02:29):
The first thing you've got todecide is what type of aircraft
you're going to fly.
The two main groups are lowwings, things like a PA-28, and
high wings things like Cessnas,152s, 172s, etc.
The criteria are slightlydifferent.
One is more expensive than theother.
The PA-28s are more expensivethan a Cessna generally, but it
can vary depending on yourschool.
(02:50):
The reason I went for PA-28s is, quite frankly, I'm a larger
guy and sticking me in a 152with an instructor and enough
fuel to actually go flying wasgoing to be quite interesting,
so went with a pa-28.
Generally when you're hiring aplane, it comes with the
instructor, so you pay a singleprice for plane and instructor,
(03:12):
but it does depend on the school.
For me it was a fixed hourlyrate and this hourly rate is
based on what they call brakeson to brakes off.
So as soon as the aircraftstart moving, the clock starts
ticking.
As soon as the aircraft stopsmoving at the end of the flight,
that's when the clock stops.
Now, generally, my schoolbooked two hour blocks and you
(03:33):
expected to have the aircraftfor an hour in the middle.
So you had half an hour tostart, which was the time for
the briefing.
You then had an hour flyingtime and then you had half an
hour allocated for the debrief.
But again, your school might beslightly different.
All the booking went through anelectronic booking system so I
could book up in advance, so Iknew when I was going to fly.
Instructor wise, I was allocatedan instructor at the start and
(03:55):
for most of my training I hadthe same instructor.
Personally, I found that workedreally well.
You can spend a lot of time ina very small, confined area with
your instructor.
Get on with them.
If you don't get on with yourinstructor, talk to them or talk
to the school Changeinstructors.
Remember, at the end of the day, you're the one paying the
money for the lessons.
If you're not getting on withyour instructor, that's the time
to start to talk to people.
Further on in your training youmight find that other
(04:17):
instructors brought in.
We had mock tests.
We had instructors who wouldsign us off for particular
milestones like going solo.
Then you have an instructor atthe end who's the chief flying
examiner or flying examiner fromthe description who does the
final skills test.
That generally is not going tobe the person who's been doing
the instruction all the waythrough.
So total-wise, I was paying£224 an hour for PA28 plus an
(04:42):
instructor.
Bear in mind Elstree is based inLondon.
Prices are generally higherthan a lot of the other areas in
the country and if you want tosave money and you can then
consider aircraft like the C152,which was cheaper the minimum
requirement is 45 hours.
The average seems to be between60 and 80.
So when you're budgeting forflight costs, take that into
(05:04):
consideration.
I also have 1700 pounds of soloflight.
This was from when I was doingmy cross countries and my solo
consolidation and this ischarged at a slightly lower rate
because you don't have aninstructor next to you.
Next, we have travel.
Now my traveling time and theamount I spent on travel is
actually a nominal amount.
(05:25):
I live about 15 to 20 minutesaway from my aerodrome, which is
great.
It means I can jump in the car,drive to the airfield and be
ready to fly.
But it's something you need toconsider.
If you're going to spend anhour travelling to an airfield
and an hour travelling back,that's going to cost you more
potentially than finding anairfield that was closer but
slightly more expensive.
So take travelling time intoconsideration and also consider
(05:48):
whether you have to pay parking.
At the other end, some flightschools are in major
international airports andparking is not going to be cheap
, although a lot of theseschools will actually have some
deal with the airfield.
So you're not going to bepaying the same amount you would
if you're doing the short staycar park at Heathrow.
Next, £120 for flight schoolmembership.
(06:09):
This covers more of the socialside of the flight school.
Technically, it also coversinsurance for me when I'm doing
solo hire and it's a yearlypayment to the flight school.
It also covers some of thebarbecues and things like that
that they do for their members.
Next, we have landing fees.
Landing fees are the fee thatyou pay to land.
(06:30):
Quite simple, really.
Most airfields do have landingfees.
The larger the airfield, themore complex the airfield,
generally the more expensive.
I'm lucky the flight schoolthat I was with landing fees
were incorporated into thehourly rate.
So for flying in the circuitflying at my local aerodrome I
didn't pay any landing fees.
However, when I to land awaysthat is, flying to other
(06:50):
aerodromes and training at otheraerodromes, particularly for
things like doing my crosscountries I had to pay a landing
fee.
So next in my spreadsheet is950 pounds for exams and ground
school.
I basically went to an intensiveground school for five days and
managed to crack through all myexams.
I'd actually spent about threemonths doing book work with a
(07:14):
set of Pooley's books, but Iactually found that my ability
to absorb information is muchbetter when I actually have
someone in front of me and beable to ask questions and talk
about particular aspects.
There's a lot of online stuffout there now and a lot of
people go to various onlineschools for their training.
I was just at the point wherethe CAA changed from
(07:34):
old-fashioned question banks andpaper exams into full online
digital exams, so I had all ofthe new online stuff, including
some very quirky questions that,quite frankly, weren't written
very well and were basicallymeaningless, but I still managed
to crack through them in theend.
Would I recommend going toground school?
Well, for me personally, itworked really well.
(07:55):
I did do the book learningfirst, so I did go to the ground
school, effectively using theground school to bring me up to
speed and finish off a couple ofthe topics that I didn't really
understand by reading Pooley'sbooks.
I am aware that some people useground schools to try and cram
everything into a week and,quite frankly, I don't think
that's doable.
If you manage to pass an examin a week without having done
(08:17):
any background reading, is thatreally a good understanding of
the subject?
Personally, I don't think so.
Next up is £85 for the RT exam.
The RT is a practical exam forradio telephony and is done with
an instructor.
Moving down my spreadsheet,we're now into medical territory
(08:38):
.
Now trainee pilots have to havea medical and there's basically
two types.
There's a Class 1, medical,which is more intense and is
designed for people who aregoing into commercial flight, is
more intense and is designedfor people who are going into
commercial flight.
So if you're intending to doyour ppl and then go beyond ppl
into commercial, get a class onedone sooner rather than later.
If you're looking, as I was,just for ppl flying, class two
(08:58):
is perfectly adequate.
Covers everything that you needto do standard ppl flying.
One thing I would suggest is getyour medical done sooner rather
than later.
One of the problems that peoplesometimes find is they'll spend
summers of money learning tofly.
Then they decide to get theirmedical.
Most schools require you tohave your medical done before
you at least go solo.
They do their medical.
Something gets flagged up andthey have to stop.
(09:20):
So they've wasted all thatmoney learning to fly.
Now they've either got to havea break because they need to
sort out whatever medical hasflagged up, or worst case
scenario is the medical turnsaround and says, sorry, you're
not going to be able to fly.
It does happen.
So get your medical done assoon as possible If you're going
for commercial class one.
If you're not going forcommercial class two.
Something else to factor in asyou get older, the medical
(09:42):
requirements change slightly.
Once you're over 50, you nowneed a medical every year, and
every two years you need to havean ECG.
Other things to add to the listA chart.
You need a chart.
A chart is the roadmap of theskies and it's something that
you'll spend hours and hours andhours poring over drawing lines
on.
Generally, the schools canprovide you with a chart.
(10:03):
They're 18, 19 pounds but youcan buy them in places like
Pooleys.
Don't forget buy the chart foryour area.
There's three charts that coverthe UK.
They get replaced every singleyear, so a chart is only going
to last you a year.
So if you're going to buyanything second hand, don't buy
a second hand chart.
It's probably going to be outof date.
Whilst we're on the subject ofbuying things, I bought a flight
starter kit which was aroundabout 245 pounds, which was
(10:27):
basically a flight bag, a loadof books, a couple of rulers, a
protractor, a knee board and afew bits and pieces, and it was
a good start.
But there are cheaper ways ofbuying things.
But for me, it was a case ofbuying it, having it in one
package and then proceeding onwith my flying, coming towards
the end of my spending list.
And I have a headset and, yes,I bought a Bose A20, which is
(10:51):
probably the most expensiveheadset you can buy for flying.
It's noise reduction.
Yes, they're expensive.
I love them, as long as Iremember to switch them on.
They're great.
It changes your flying in somuch that you actually get to
hear better because you're notconstantly dealing with the
drone of the engine in thebackground.
You can buy cheaper headsets.
You can buy headsets that don'thave automated noise reduction
(11:13):
and most flying schools willactually allow you to hire
headsets from them.
So my suggestion possibly isthe first two or three flights
just borrow or hire the headsetfrom the school.
Then, when you're more certainthat you're going to carry on
training, then consider buying aheadset.
When you finally have done allyour training, the school will
(11:33):
turn around to you and saycongratulations, we want to put
you up for your skills test Now.
The skills test is somethingthat every pilot looks forward
to and possibly dreads, becauseit's the culmination of all your
training.
Once you pass your skills test,you have your PPL and have that
great little license.
You're paying for the flightexaminer and you're paying for
the aircraft.
Expect two to three hours offlying time and hopefully at the
(11:56):
end he or she will turn aroundto you and go congratulations,
you've passed your skills test.
You might have passed yourskills test, but now you've got
to fill in a whole pile ofdocumentation and send the
princely sum of £196 to the CAAand hopefully in two or three
weeks they'll send you a license.
A few tips here.
One, get your school to checkall your paperwork, because I
(12:18):
guarantee you'll manage to sendthe paperwork and something will
be missing, something won't beticked, and then you have a
delay getting things back.
And the way the CAA seems towork is, if there's any
possibility of something beingwrong, they restart the clock
and everything has to go back tothe beginning, and then you
have to go through the wholeprocess again.
One little thing I will say ismake sure, when you've done your
(12:39):
RT exam, the documentation forthat you send in at the same
time as the documentation foryour PPL.
That way you don't have to payan additional fee to have your
RT added onto your license at alater date and hopefully, if
everything's well, two, two tothree weeks, the CAA will send
you a nice little blue walletwith your license in.
Congratulations, you're now afully fledged pilot and now you
(13:01):
have to spend even more moneycarrying on flying, but that's
another subject.
The total for me has come to£28,326 and a few pence, which
is a lot of money, but the thingis that was spread over 14
months.
I enjoyed every moment of it.
Well, I enjoyed most of it, infact.
Yeah, I did enjoy big chunks ofit and other bits were hard and
(13:22):
I was tearing my hair out, butthat's the nature of learning to
fly.
The key is always budget formore.
My adage is double what youthink it is and add 50%.
And if you think that 45 hoursis the minimum required, 45
hours double.
That's 90 hours, add 50%.
The number of hours I did tocompress my PPL is quite close
(13:43):
to that.
It was within my budget.
There are a few other things Ihaven't mentioned that sort of
come into budgeting for flying.
If you're doing land aways, buyyour instructor a cup of tea.
Maybe they might like that.
Bear in mind.
Also, if you're going totravelways, buy your instructor
a cup of tea.
Maybe they might like that.
Bear in mind.
Also, if you're going to travelto and from an airfield, you
are sometimes going to get tothe airfield and find your
lesson is cancelled.
That's effectively a wastedtrip.
Possibly talk to your schooland talk about doing ground
(14:04):
school instead.
I also paid for a few otherlittle extras, like I had a
couple of apps that I use SkyDemon.
They were down as ancillarycosts.
Hopefully this has given yousome idea as to how much does it
cost.
Well, how much did it cost me?
And give you some pointers asto how much it might cost you.
I would go through everythingstep by step and try and work
out roughly what it's going tocost you and then budget for it.
(14:27):
One of the worst things you cando is run out of money halfway
through your training.
You'll find that if you spaceyour training out too much,
you'll end up spending more timegoing over what you did in the
last lesson and less time doingsomething new, which is
basically going to cost you morein the long run.
I aim to try and book twoflights a week, expecting at
least one of them to becancelled due to weather or due
(14:48):
to other reasons, and itgenerally worked out for me, but
it's always going to be down toyour personal circumstances,
don't forget.
Everyone's situation is goingto be different.
So just because I did somethingin a certain way and it's cost
me a certain amount doesn'tnecessarily mean it's going to
be the same for you.
Biggest thing is talk to people.
Get out there, explore, use theinternet, go and talk to
schools, go and talk to otherpilots, get personal
(15:10):
recommendations andfundamentally enjoy the journey.
I hope this podcast has helped.
If it has, please considerleaving a review and consider
following for more episodes onmy journey on how not to learn
to fly.
Don't forget please do not usethe internet for flight
instruction.
We'll only teach you how tocrash.
Thanks for listening and pleaseremember be safe and have fun.
Bye.
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