RE: FN-FORUM [Totally OT] Flying Lessons

date posted 15th January 2003 17:58





If you obtain a licence in this way you still have to 'convert' it once
back in the UK - although I believe that it can still work out (possibly
considerably) cheaper than gaining the licence in the UK. However, as
Darren said, the only real way to do this is a concentrated 2-4 week
course - if you choose this sort of thing, do a bit of research on the
weather to ensure that there's only a remote chance of spending quite a
bit of your time on the ground!

I trained at the London School of Flying based at Elstree in
Hertfordshire (this is where Capital Radio's flying eye is based). You
don’t say where you're based, so I don't really know if this is any
help. It was quite a few years back, but their standards were high and
their aircraft were well maintained. I did take a few hours initial
training with another, smaller school but their aircraft were pretty
shoddy (doesn't inspire confidence) and they only had a tendency to
stick you with whatever instructor happened to be available when you
turned up. I believe it's important to pick a school that will allow
you to pre-book a specific instructor and stick with him or her -
there's nothing more frustrating than doing the same thing lesson after
lesson because the instructor has changed and doesn't know how well
you've been picking up the tuition!!

Also, as Darren mentioned, flying schools do tend to be quite chatty and
friendly places - in the UK this is somewhat attributable to the amount
of time people end up sat drinking coffee, looking out of the window and
wondering when the cloud base is going to lift sufficiently to allow
circuits (or more!!).

A lot of schools will allow a discount if you pay 'up front'.

Hope all this helps