learning to fly

i have recently retired at 65 and would like to learn to fly unfortunatly it
is quite expensive, i live near guildford, any ideas of the cheapest options
there must be some variations in club prices

Alan, sorry to relate that flying is always just as expensive as it ever
was---"very", and "too". There are indeed variations in school prices, but
there are also variations in both the quality and nature of schools.

Do not fall into the (common) trap of seeing learning to fly as a means to
an end. Learning to fly is an adventure in itself. The course might take you
a year and you should enjoy every minute of it. Never again will you enjoy
such intense attention from your intructor, so use it and suck him / her dry
of all knowledge!

You ought to determine how far you are prepared to drive (especially on a
marginal day when you might turn up to find flying cancelled), then find all
schools in that radius. Then visit them all and see which one you like.
Just visit them, have a chat to the intructors, have a coffee. One of them
will suit you a lot, many you'll get on with and one or two you'll hate.

Go with the one you love.

Don't pay them in advance! You are not a bank and who knows what'll happen
to you / them over the next 12 months.

You could pop over to America and do the lot in 4 or 5 happy weeks. But then
you'll come back to an english winter and scare yourself witless !

And when you have finished the course join a PFA owners group and fly a real
[plane for very little money. It can be done.

HTH

David












"Alan" <alan.luker@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:3ExYg.11303$69.10779@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
>i have recently retired at 65 and would like to learn to fly unfortunatly
>it is quite expensive, i live near guildford, any ideas of the cheapest
>options there must be some variations in club prices
>

In article <HzR6o5BNZJNFFw1k@nevis-view.co.uk>, Surfer!
<surfer@127.0.0.1> writes
>way.
>
>Yes, was going to suggest gliding as it is cheaper than flying - though
>neither are (usually) easy to learn for us older folks.
>

That depends on the value you put on your time.

You can book an hours power flying and be reasonable certain that it
wont use up more than an afternoon or a morning.

Not so easy with gliding.

--
Mike Lindsay

>I was envious of the blokes who arrived, rigged their gliders, took a
>winch launch and came back 4 or 5 hours later all for the price of the
>launch. When I think of the cost of 4 or 5 hours in our group's
>Cessna......
>
>db

All for the price of a launch? What about (a) cost of insurance, (b)
cost of annual C of A, (c) cost of capital invested in the glider and
equipment?

Unless you do a lot of hours in the glider, it's likely to cost more per
hour than your C152 time.


--
Mike Lindsay

3/5/8 are all ok but i prefer not to spend more than i need, i am told that
i can get a PPL in America for a good price, has anyone done this and was it
worth going all that way also, what was the quality of the tuition

"david" <david_perry@btconnect.com> wrote in message
news:gv2dnYSdX9tRfajYRVnysw@bt.com...
> Alan, what is your likely budget?
>
> Could you afford up to 3 grand?
> Up to 5? 8?
>
> All in one go? A hundred quid a month?
>
> Some idea here will greatly help find a cheap solution!
>
> David
>
>
> "Alan" <alan.luker@virgin.net> wrote in message
> news:3ExYg.11303$69.10779@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
>>i have recently retired at 65 and would like to learn to fly unfortunatly
>>it is quite expensive, i live near guildford, any ideas of the cheapest
>>options there must be some variations in club prices
>>
>
>

"Alan" <alan.luker@virgin.net> wrote in message
news:yMsZg.26693$Fx4.406@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...
>
>
> 3/5/8 are all ok but i prefer not to spend more than i need, i am told
> that i can get a PPL in America for a good price, has anyone done this and
> was it worth going all that way also, what was the quality of the tuition

I learned in Norfolk, took a tent, camped on the airfield and flew whenever
it was possible. Half the PPL was done in well under a fortnight. If the
instructors know you're always available they can work around the weather,
it's rarely bad all day so you can either start early or wait til late but
you get a couple of hours in most days.

Most small airfields are quite accomodating, if you've got a caravan or
camper van they'll let you park there while you're doing the course. It's
quite a rewarding way to do it, you spend the whole time completely immersed
in the club environment and don't have to travel 1000s of miles to do it.
The guy that owned the club where I learnt now runs another club on a small
airfield in East Anglia. If you're interested email me and I'll send you
the contact details. I happen to know that he's got caravan on the
airfield at the moment so with a bit of sweet talking he'll probably let you
stay in it if you do an intensive course

Rgds

Andy R

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:15:00 +0000, Canalbuilder wrote:
> Whatever you choose to do, enjoy flying. And surprisingly flying a light
> aircraft can have less environmental impact than driving (this is
> important to me).

That *is* surprising - how do you work that out?

My flexwing does 2 gallons per hour at ~60mph, i.e. around 30mpg.

That's comparable mpg to a medium sized petrol car - but of course the
flying is (for me, as for most private pilots) all unnecessary leisure
flying, so it's completely avoidable pollution.

"Andy R" <andrewr@ukhome.net> wrote:

>There's a finite amount of oil around, whether we burn it for fun, or
>restrict ourselves and let every third world nation on earth burn it for us,
>is largely academic. When it's gone it's gone so let's enjoy it. I can't
>see it making any difference to the planet whether it's been burnt in an
>IO540 or a tuk-tuk.

A TB20 (which happens to have an IO-540) does about 18MPG (UK miles,
UK gallons) at 140kt IAS, which is 2x better than the average 4x4
doing the school run.

Both are probably equally pointless.

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:18:45 +0100, Andy R wrote:
> There's a finite amount of oil around, whether we burn it for fun, or
> restrict ourselves and let every third world nation on earth burn it for
> us, is largely academic. When it's gone it's gone so let's enjoy it.

Absolutely. It's our kids' problem, not ours. Well, strictly it's *your*
kids' problem, since I don't think the future's not a nice thing to
inflict on anyone ;-/

A.

Simon Hobson <simonsnews@thehobsons.codotuk> wrote:

>If however you are simply flying for the sake of flying then I agree it's a
>different matter.

A lot of living is done just for the sake of living :)

But, if we start down this road, I would put £2000/year road tax on
4x4 vehicles except those used off road. Huge amounts of money would
be saved. Just one slight problem: not enforceable.