Simviation Forum - Thinking...

Jan 7^th, 2008 at 6:39am

stuart1044 Offline
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Manchester, UK

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Well i have been thinking about learning to fly and possibly joining a flying club or something similar. Barton is a local airfield near Manchester for me, so i looked at their website and found a list of the schools that are based there. Thats when i got stuck, not sure where i need to start or whats the best deal. Any help would be helpful

http://www.cityairportmanchester.com/services/index.asp?id=03

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Reply #1 - Jan 7^th, 2008 at 8:27am

C Offline
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In these cases only so much can be learnt from each companies website. Firstly I'd visit all of them if you can and see what you think of them, and let them tell them how much it would cost you. Avoid something like Delta, as they are primarily interested in ripping off those who purchase the "Red Letter Day" type packages on the high street.

I'd be wary of trial flights too. You'll see that LAC charge £101/hr for dual in a C152 (£116/hr C172), and £28/hr groundschool, yet they charge £145 for an hour trail flight, and £99 for half an hour.

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Reply #2 - Jan 7^th, 2008 at 8:29am

Brett_Henderson Offline
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There is no best deal, when it comes to flying Cheesy

It's a mind-numbing, money pit. Whatever differences there might be in costs, between two clubs, are miniscule, if you find one to be comfortable.

Go down and look around. Introduce yourself. Ask questions. If your timing is good; you might catch an instructor and student who will ask you to tag along during the day's lesson. The day that I finally answered the, "Learn to Fy Here" sign, while plane spotting, and broke the ice... I was asked to be payload..lol.. so that this student could see what a fully loaded C172 flies like.

Go jump in and then report back, your experience. There are differences between European GA, and U.S. GA, but pilots are pilots... and there are a few of us hanging around SimV..

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Reply #3 - Jan 7^th, 2008 at 8:34am

stuart1044 Offline
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Manchester, UK

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Brett_Henderson wrote on Jan 7^th, 2008 at 8:29am:

There is no best deal, when it comes to flying Cheesy

It's a mind-numbing, money pit. Whatever differences there might be in costs, between two clubs, are miniscule, if you find one to be comfortable.

Go down and look around. Introduce yourself. Ask questions. If your timing is good; you might catch an instructor and student who will ask you to tag along during the day's lesson. The day that I finally answered the, "Learn to Fy Here" sign, while plane spotting, and broke the ice... I was asked to be payload..lol.. so that this student could see what a fully loaded C172 flies like.

Go jump in and then report back, your experience. There are differences between European GA, and U.S. GA, but pilots are pilots... and there are a few of us hanging around SimV..

Thanks for the advice guys, ill take a trip down there next weekend and see whats going on

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Reply #4 - Jan 7^th, 2008 at 10:39am

C Offline
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Just an afterthougt, despite my advice about trial flights, there may be no way of avoiding them as such, as that may be the way you "have" to have your first lesson (unless you pay upfront for "xx" lessons).

As Brett says, whichever way will be expensive!

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Reply #5 - Jan 7^th, 2008 at 11:02am

beaky Offline
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It's worth repeating that you will not know if a school or club is right for you until you go there in person.

Many clubs in the US offer free rides to prospective members- I've "bummed" rides in three different planes that way, either going to a fly-in breakfast or just taking a joyride. I'd look into that if I were you.
You see the planes, you meet the people involved... and it's fun. Grin

As far as school intro lessons go- they're usually at a slightly reduced rate; better to pay for a few of those at more than one school than to dive in and lay a deposit down at one school only to find you're unhappy there... in which case you will inevitably end up doing some review flight at the new school (once you find one) and this will cost more in the long run.

In short, don't hesitate to invest a bit in finding the right situation... that time and money will not be wasted.

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