Any of you guys a pilot?

SocataSmoker

SocataSmoker

Well-Known Member
It's a shame that cannabis is such a taboo subject, and strictly forbidden inside any formal aviation related conversations... but once in the cockpit, we pilots open up and tell all kinds of stories :-)

Nevertheless I am surprised to see as many aviators here as I do... a good feeling no doubt!
 
Saerimmner

Saerimmner

Well-Known Member
Padawanbater2 said:
Yeah I could have sworn we had at least one, I just couldn't remember his name. I'm really interested in looking into this, the next town over has a small airport that offers pilot lessons! I'm just curious about a few things.

Average cost per hour = $50, but I believe that could only be for the aircraft (fuel and such), not sure if that covers the cost of the trainers salary too.. 40-70 hours to obtain the license, I could do that an hour a week in 8 months. That's something I've always wanted to do.
Click to expand...
Hiya, I fly microlights( think you americans call em ultralights??) with my dad although I havent gone for my licence yet due to financial constraints so may be able to answer some of your questions,

If its anything like over here in the UK you have to do a minimum of 25 hrs instruction, at least 8 of those hours have to be flown solo, over seen by an instructor on the ground( for this purpose you are not allowed more than 25miles from where you took off from except when doing a cross-country navigation exercise, for which there will be an instructor on the ground at both the field you flew out of and at the one you are flying to) and you have to also do a series of classroom based exams including , meteorology, navigation, radio use/procedure/competence,air law, human limitations in flight (basically they chuck the aircraft into a deliberate stall or randomly turn the engine off mid-flight and you have to show you can recover from this immediately, in a safe controlled manner, get the situation sorted and return to safe,powered,level flight without instructor assistance) to name but a few.(if i remember rightly there are 7 exams in the UK)

Generally providing you are physically able( and pass the medical) are not a complete moron and put in the effort on average in the UK you can get through your Private Pilot`s License (PPL) for about £5000 and in under 35-40hrs.

Tuition rates over here are ROUGHLY:

With instructor--£120-150 p.h. (this will be the rough rate you pay per hour for the first 15-20hrs of instruction)

Flying solo, overseen by instructor on ground £120-150 p.h. if you use their aircraft + you have to take out your own insurance when flying solo £400-2000 per year depending on age/assumed risk, any pre-existing medical conditions etc, some airfields also make you pay to become a member before allowing you to fly from that airfield ( £20-150 a year) if you use your own aircraft and pay for your own fuel etc then the instruction rate for solo flights overseen by an instructor drop to around £50 p.h. but then you have the additional cost of buying your own fuel/lubricants etc.

One thing I will say though is that a lot of people when they first get into flying are not quite fully aware of just how quickly costs can mount up with tuition, failed trips to the airfield when weather is not right to fly etc, unexpected costs, exams costs etc, to get newly qualified as a Private pilot and to just buy and insure an aircraft can easily top £100k or be as cheap as £20-30k so its well worth maybe just finding someone local to you that has been through it all or even just hang around the local auirfield and get chatting to people, its amazing just how quickly strangers are taken under someones wing in the aviation world and it is very much a hobby that is very welcoming to new people.
 
A

alotapot

Active Member
Saerimmner said:
Hiya, I fly microlights( think you americans call em ultralights??) with my dad although I havent gone for my licence yet due to financial constraints so may be able to answer some of your questions,

If its anything like over here in the UK you have to do a minimum of 25 hrs instruction, at least 8 of those hours have to be flown solo, over seen by an instructor on the ground( for this purpose you are not allowed more than 25miles from where you took off from except when doing a cross-country navigation exercise, for which there will be an instructor on the ground at both the field you flew out of and at the one you are flying to) and you have to also do a series of classroom based exams including , meteorology, navigation, radio use/procedure/competence,air law, human limitations in flight (basically they chuck the aircraft into a deliberate stall or randomly turn the engine off mid-flight and you have to show you can recover from this immediately, in a safe controlled manner, get the situation sorted and return to safe,powered,level flight without instructor assistance) to name but a few.(if i remember rightly there are 7 exams in the UK)

Generally providing you are physically able( and pass the medical) are not a complete moron and put in the effort on average in the UK you can get through your Private Pilot`s License (PPL) for about £5000 and in under 35-40hrs.

Tuition rates over here are ROUGHLY:

With instructor--£120-150 p.h. (this will be the rough rate you pay per hour for the first 15-20hrs of instruction)

Flying solo, overseen by instructor on ground £120-150 p.h. if you use their aircraft + you have to take out your own insurance when flying solo £400-2000 per year depending on age/assumed risk, any pre-existing medical conditions etc, some airfields also make you pay to become a member before allowing you to fly from that airfield ( £20-150 a year) if you use your own aircraft and pay for your own fuel etc then the instruction rate for solo flights overseen by an instructor drop to around £50 p.h. but then you have the additional cost of buying your own fuel/lubricants etc.

One thing I will say though is that a lot of people when they first get into flying are not quite fully aware of just how quickly costs can mount up with tuition, failed trips to the airfield when weather is not right to fly etc, unexpected costs, exams costs etc, to get newly qualified as a Private pilot and to just buy and insure an aircraft can easily top £100k or be as cheap as £20-30k so its well worth maybe just finding someone local to you that has been through it all or even just hang around the local auirfield and get chatting to people, its amazing just how quickly strangers are taken under someones wing in the aviation world and it is very much a hobby that is very welcoming to new people.
Click to expand...
I'm going to have an ultralight some day... been in love with them since I first saw them way way back! What ultra do you fly Saerimmner?

alp
 
Saerimmner

Saerimmner

Well-Known Member
alotapot said:
I'm going to have an ultralight some day... been in love with them since I first saw them way way back! What ultra do you fly Saerimmner?

alp
Click to expand...
Only got the one pic atm, jus swapped over pc tower for a new one an still gotta take my other hard drive out the old one but will chuck the rest up in a few days300620102196.jpg This is our last aircraft that was sold about 4 months ago to a female Captain in the Royal Engineers in her 50`s lol
Pegasus XL-Q Rotax462cc parallel twin with heated carbs and modified bodywork and paintjob, custom radio mounts, 75litre fuel tank giving a good 4-5hrs continous flying at 50-55kts, seats 2, cruises at 55 maxes out with 1 person in at 70something, if ya know what your doing you can get one of these off the ground in less than 100ft ;-), climb rate is around 1300-2000fpm MAUW is 450kg
 
doublejj

doublejj

Well-Known Member
The Mexican cartels are usng these along the US border. They are one shot delivery vehicle.

peace
doublejj
 
A

alotapot

Active Member
Saerimmner said:
Only got the one pic atm, jus swapped over pc tower for a new one an still gotta take my other hard drive out the old one but will chuck the rest up in a few daysView attachment 2182291 This is our last aircraft that was sold about 4 months ago to a female Captain in the Royal Engineers in her 50`s lol
Pegasus XL-Q Rotax462cc parallel twin with heated carbs and modified bodywork and paintjob, custom radio mounts, 75litre fuel tank giving a good 4-5hrs continous flying at 50-55kts, seats 2, cruises at 55 maxes out with 1 person in at 70something, if ya know what your doing you can get one of these off the ground in less than 100ft ;-), climb rate is around 1300-2000fpm MAUW is 450kg
Click to expand...
Very nice! I'd love to own that! Maybe some day.. maybe not.. what sort of money does a decent used ultralight stand in your country?

alp
 
Saerimmner

Saerimmner

Well-Known Member
alotapot said:
Very nice! I'd love to own that! Maybe some day.. maybe not.. what sort of money does a decent used ultralight stand in your country?

alp
Click to expand...
Well that was a 1989 model so got that nice an cheap at £2500about 4 years ago, re-sparyed it and modified it etc n sold it for £4700, but you can get a nice used one for under £6-7k, brand new top of the range models got for about £25-30k this is the fastest model on the market atm http://www.pmaviation.co.uk/quikr.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top