Need Help with Dual Boot in Easy BCD

I started in 1972 Jake, a decade after Gareth, and last flew in 1988.
I had a look at the website of my old club, which mostly has prices "on application", but found this one reference which would suggest £200/hour is a current ballpark figure, making £8000 the approximate cost of getting licenced, a bit different to the £320 I paid.
Though, it must be said, that was about 16% of my gross salary at the time, so not a cheap hobby.
 
£8000 = 9000Euro = $13000

Though I'd guess prices in the US would probably be lower than in UK.

This plucked from a Texas website
Private Pilot Training​
The FAA requires a minimum of 40 hours of flight training in order to be eligible to apply for the private pilot license. The national average is more like 56 hours. The total price will vary depending on each individual's time required to meet government standards. This is only an estimate. The following prices are based on the minimum of 40 hours. You pay for each lesson as you do the lesson. No up-front payments are required.​
40 hours Aircraft rental (C-172)
30 hours Flight instruction
15 hours Ground instruction
Books & Supplies
FAA Medical Exam
FAA Written test
FAA Practical test (Check-ride)$3920.00
$1200.00
$600.00
$130.00
$80.00
$80.00
$275.00
Total$6,285.00

I've added the link, because the format didn't copy/paste well, making the Exam seem rather expensive.
 
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____HOLY!!! That much? 13 grand for just one hour? Yeah, the prices have definitely skyrocketed!

That's to fly an airplane, or to get a ride in one?
 
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That's $13000 (UK prices) to get your licence.
The Texas website suggests <$7000 is more realistic in US prices.
 
Terry60 said:
That's $13000 (UK prices) to get your licence.
The Texas website suggests <$7000 is more realistic in US prices.
Click to expand...
Oh, sorry. I read your other post wrong, and I didn't see the Texas information the last time I read it.
This makes much more sense. But, still, its a lot of money to get a license...

Does that include the cost of learning how to fly from an instructor? Or is that $7000 for just the license itself? Do you just get in a plane one time with a license specialist (for that price), and he decides if you're good enough to deserve a license, or how does it work?

EDIT: Well, at least its a lot cheaper for a sport pilot...only $2655, but you're only getting 15 hours of flight time, instead of the 30 which a private pilot's training plan offers (still, that's only 15 hours difference, not even a day). But its a big difference in price, though. Almost 3 times as much for a private pilot's license.

What exactly is a "sport pilot", btw? Just someone who flies for fun? What, to qualify as a "private pilot", do you have to own your own aircraft or something?
 
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The main problems with learning to fly in UK are
a) We're such a crowded little Island with one of the world's busiest air-transit hubs (LHR), that you're almost always in or near controlled airspace, giving the rookie a lot more responsibility (and potential for embarassing c*ck-ups)
b) Finding 40 hours of good flying weather in a predictable schedule
c) It's bl**dy expensive

Looking at those Texas prices, it would be more economical for a UK wanabee to book 3 hours/day for 14 days, pay for 2 weeks in a motel and a transatlantic air-fare, and do a really intensive course in the US.

That cost is itemized, and includes instruction and materials.
Whether you get your licence depends on satisfying the FAA examiner during your flying test, and passing all the ground exams.

Addendum:

Sport Pilot seems to be a US term - not quite sure what it involves. (but likely to mean, we'll teach you how to fly, but you won't get a licence)
A PPL entitles the holder to fly solo (or with non-paying passengers) in any aircraft for which he holds an appropriate qualification
 
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Terry60 said:
That cost is itemized, and includes instruction and materials.
Whether you get your licence depends on satisfying the FAA examiner during your flying test, and passing all the ground exams.
Click to expand...
Yeah... $80 for a medical exam, another $80 for the written test, and $275 for the practical test. I assume that's the pass/fail one where you get one chance, and the certified guy decides if you can be trusted enough in the air, with other aircraft...
Addendum:

Sport Pilot seems to be a US term - not quite sure what it involves. (but likely to mean, we'll teach you how to fly, but you won't get a licence)
Click to expand...
Ohh...I see. Well, that explains why its much cheaper than. :brows:
The license itself probably costs a fortune. I wonder if the other one even includes the license...
A PPL entitles the holder to fly solo (or with non-paying passengers) in any aircraft for which he holds an appropriate qualification
Click to expand...
Cool. Does "appropriate qualification" mean only the plane you took the test in?? :??
 
It seems that US sport pilot is equivalent to the UK microlight licence.
A restricted licence that entitles the pilot to fly powered hang-gliders and other very small aircraft.
 
Terry60 said:
It seems that US sport pilot is equivalent to the UK microlight licence.
A restricted licence that entitles the pilot to fly powered hang-gliders and other very small aircraft.
Click to expand...
Well, that's disappointing...
You can't even fly a biplane or a old War War II type monoplane? :frowning:

EDIT: Whoops...posted too soon. I looked at the link, and I see those light aircraft might actually be a lot of fun to fly! Being a 2-seater, and all, means you can only carry one passenger, so no worries about people distracting you from the cabin when you're trying to fly... :tongueout: Not that they would, but then again, you never know..

I wouldn't mind getting a sport's license. I think it would be cool to fly one of those planes, like in that pic.
Do you have to have another special license to actually own an airplane of your own, though?

Addendum:

It would be neat to fly an amphipian aircraft too...
Landing in the sea would be quite a challenge, as opposed to landing on land.
 
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The PPL actually just says "Any single engined light aircraft of no more than xxxx lbs all up weight"
(a Harrier jump jet would technically qualify).
The trick of course is persuading the US marines to let you rent one.
In real life, each new type you fly, generally requires a ride-along with one of the club instructors for 15 minutes or so, during which he points out the differences in handling, control layout etc, and assesses that your handling of the type, and your ability to land it are OK. This is all for their peace-of-mind (and their Insurance company's)
If you were to buy an aircraft yourself, and therefore didn't need anyone else's permission to use it, technically you're licenced to climb in and get airbourne whether you've flown one before or not, provided it's not heavier than the max weight and not multi-engined, though you'd be well advised to get some instruction if it's significantly different to your previous experience.
All WW2 RAF fighter pilots though, went from open-cockpit bi-plane two seater Tiger Moths into Spitfires, with no dual-tuition at all, because there was no such thing as a 2seat Spitfire.
(the one in the earlier post is a post-war conversion for peace-time training)
 
Wow.. not as expensive (with regards to both time and money) as I would've thought.....

Plunking down 7k and 2 months doesn't seem that distant of a possibility for something that seems to be so enjoyable (and comes with so much bragging rights!) - I could easily see myself giving this a shot when I'm back in the States!
 
2 weeks CG. (An intensive course leads to far faster progress if you've got the time and money)
 
OK, you're really tempting me here, Terry! I haven't even officially graduated yet.. I need to suppress these desires two months and then I can do whatever I please :grinning:
 
You're probably well-placed mentally for the written exams, coming off the back of your degree-course.
I crammed for mine when I had the sudden realization that my time was up the next day !
(you have to complete the 40 hours, the qualifying cross-country hours, the written exams and the flying test all within a set calendar period, and I suddenly noticed that my first qualifying land-away solo flight was just about to slip outside the limit)
I swatted all Saturday day,evening and well into the night, and rushed to Goodwood first thing Sunday morning and persuaded one of the instructors to invigilate for me.
I scored 100% 100% 97% and 97% on the 4 exams, which I would never have managed had it not all been so fresh.
 
Strangely, I can still recall the 2 questions I flunked.
One was unforgivable in a Maths/Physics man like me.
I calculated the result of a navigation problem (correctly) and when asked for the Velocity, I entered the Speed (forgetting that velocity has speed and direction). When the instructor subsequently pointed out the omission and I "duuhh"ed and gave her the correct heading, she generously marked me with a 3rd 100%, which is what the CAA will still have on record, but I don't really deserve.
The other (aerodynamics) question "What is washout ?" had me floored. I'd never come across the term in any of my texts or ever mentioned by any of my instructors.
My examiner Sue (who later went on to be one of the 1st female pilots for a major British airline) enlightened me.
It's the twist in the wing profile of modern aircraft.
A safety feature, whereby the angle of attack at the wing root is greater than at the wingtip.
It ensures that as the wing stalls (if you're flying too slowly and pulling the nose high to compensate, airflow over the surface becomes turbulent and the wing looses lift), the airflow over the tip (and thereby over the ailerons) remains laminar and the pilot retains control of the roll-axis, preventing a stall from becoming a spin.
Interesting, how the one thing I didn't know, is now so firmly imprinted in my braincells
 
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Yes, that's a major oversight in the current learning system.... It's been proven over and over again that (at least to intelligent people) it's not the grades that matter. I've aced courses with perfect marks but come out same as I went in, while I've also gotten 80% in courses that I now know inside out...

Oh well :smile:

BTW, I love your explanations: very clear well-phrased! :grinning:
 
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