Just wondering if anyone here has their PPL? If so - would you recommend doing it?  It's something I've always wanted to get, but it's really expensive to do.  It would be fun to do though, and it's one of my aims before I die.   Are there many jobs available once you have a PPL or CPL and if so what are the starting salaries like? Does anyone have their own bird?  Maybe a skyhawk 172, and what can you say about running costs, storage costs, insurance etc.   If you've no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry lol.                                                                                                                                                                                

Matt, try some posts either on this:   http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/   or this   http://www.pprune.org/forums/   and ask away. I'm sure you'll get some answers straight from the horses' mouths.                                                                                                                                                                             

I did own a blackbird once, the running costs were about the same as my zx12r                                                                                                                                                                              

I started lessons at Coventry airport with the Armstrong Whitworth Association. £130 per hour was about the cheapest in the UK.   Mate of mine mortgaged his house and did the CPL.....about £30,000.    He now works for DHL flying cargo birds. He earns around £150,000 a year.   His "Student" wage as first officer was about £80,000   He's thick as feck too!.....still he did used to be a trucker!   Wages can be poor though, especialy on the no frills airlines, stress and workload are uberhigh.  Also the older you are the less likely you are to be taken on by anyone (35 is old in that game)   Do the PPL first as you may not take to it, its hard work!   Buy microsoft flight sim fsx and practice the lessons........it will give you a grounding of cockpit layout etc ( you will most likely learn in an old Cessna 152)   Best of luck matt and if I can afford it i'm going to do my PPL too!                                                                                                                                                                             

In my former life as an airframe engineer i knew a few guys that decided to do their ppl. Some of them went to the states to do it. ding it in their holibobs. Its worth checking out costs with so many flight schools and better weather. MS flight sim is a good idea if only for getting use to basic instruments and comms.

yea ive been using MS Flight Sims for years now.  I've been through all the lessons, including the written theory etc, and consider myself to be quite good with it.  I know all about the radios, ILS, VORs, etc etc.  Just thought it might be time to try it in the real thing, and maybe even a career change whilst im still 'young-ish'.   How can the stress levels be high though?  It must be an easy job flying cargo planes around. Problem from what I've read is that you have to be related to someone to get into anywhere good - is that true?   GH - if you do start, let me know and maybe we can help each other study etc (Flying on FS online etc with radios).   Oh, and I can get it for 150 euros an hour here, and the aiport is 1km from my house.  Would be nice to fly around my neighbourhood lol                                                                                                                                                                             

Been doing  bit more digging and this might be money well spent:   http://www.gapan.org/careers/aptitude.htm                                                                                                                                                                                 

Stress levels for airlines are quite high due to rigid departure/arrival times.....most of it is just "office management" IE keeping an eye on the displays. You will only actually have to land a couple of times a month to keep your license valid!   mates as thick as anything but as he argues: I may not be able to do long multilication etc but could you tell me how much fuel I'm going to burn between here and the bahamas?"   A valid point. I've always said that aptitude counts more for intelligence sometimes.   If i had £30,000 knocking around I'd do my CPL tomorrow! Matt, just do it, even if you only get the PPL for leisure.......plane rental is about £80 an hour engine on to engine off at cov!   you could even do a restricted PPL.   Or a mate of mine (with PPL) has taken up microlighting.......lots cheaper and no need to take a ATC course, pretty much take off and land as you wish.......he says its like riding a big bike in the sky!   Microlights can be had for as little as £2000 on certain well known internet auction sites!                                                                                                                                                                             

Sounds like a good system, but as its in the UK I’d have to get there and also pay the costs – prob about 300 squids on top of an already-expensive licence to get.  And even if I failed it, I’d want to get just the PPL because I want to fly (Not necessarily CPL – that would be long down the line).   It’s not like I’ve got 30k hanging around either, so it’s gonna be 2 lessons a month at the most. Will take me 2 years to get CPL.   Good thing with that is that I can keep my day-job and not give up my career for another (until I know it will be ok).   I think I’ll be ok.  My strongest subjects were maths, science, technology, electronics etc.  I got an A in maths so I should be ok working out fuel etc J My hand-eye coordination is good, I ride a motorbike so it’s natural lol.  I’m also a heavy user of flight sims, playstation games, etc – which are really good at training your hand-eye coordination.  Being young helps too, reaction times etc are still ok.   I’m great with time-keeping, management etc too.  I work full time, run several websites, manage to fit partying in etc.  Having an office job helps too, as everything has to be time-organised.   I’m hoping to have a proefles (Trial lesson) on Monday, if I can get booked in so soon.  I’m really excited about the whole thing.  J  Thanks for all the advice so far, really appreciate it (Especially knowing the salaries! Wooo).                                                                                                                                                                              

ah, but some regional carriers (which will more than likely be your first employer) pay no more than a hgv driver gets!   mind you, at least you won't have to put up with traffic jams!   you want a nice wind free day for a trial flight, mine was done in a 15knt gusty day.....not nice!....still a great view though!                                                                                                                                                                             

and whats a HGV driver get then?  As long as its more than im currently on (Which aint hard to beat).   Whats a pilot get who does parachute jumping, sight-seeing, teaching, etc?                                                                                                                                                                             

well im on £25k a year for truck driving....my ppl instructor was on just £18k   and he was full time!   I think as with everything its who you work for rather than any particular benchmark.   Apart from regular cargo/airline work a lot of the leisure side of aviation is voluntery                                                                                                                                                                             

well i suppose it would be good for getting hours in the air, the more hours the better for applying for jobs.   So, ill get my PPL licence. Then ill try and do some instructor stuff to get my hours up etc. If i volunteer they can't refuse surely! Then after a year or so, ill go for CPL.  Thats where its not possible to get more hours in (As CP) without a job                                                                                                                                                                             

  Crikey it's like being back with the M.O.D with all these initials PPL CPL, HGV                                                                                                                                                                                  

Yes kwack except ours actually mean something sensible!   One of the best things I did Matt was to just join the flying club as a member, ours did social fly outs to other fields , curry nights etc and once a year a few flew to jersey and europe for Holidays.   See if you like the social scene and the people in the club, that way you can gauge what sort of training you will get .....Its a bit like a social web site, the more comfortable you are with the people in it the more you will absorb things and learn.                                                                                                                                                                             

oh if it's like a social website then I think i'll give it a miss lol                                                                                                                                                                              

Got my introduction on Sunday, not sure if I get to fly or if it's just a look around (I know one of their planes is having a new engine fitted so theyre pretty booked up).   Hey Kwak - funnily enough it's at the millitary base :-)  We've got so many fighter jets flying around here, always blasting over my house and work (both 1 mile from airport).  Sounds ace when they practice.