Flying lessons & weather difficulties

dutopia

Hi all,

With our unpredictable weather it can be difficult to get up flying. Since November I have only been able to do 2 hours out of 9 bookings. Granted, not the best time of the year to start but I never thought so many lessons would be cancelled. I can imagine trying to build up at least 45 hours is going to be very difficult... I'm considering now if I should just save up and go to Florida for a month next year to do the bulk of my hours. What do you think?

Note: I'm only going for a PPL, not commercial.

Cheers!

Negative_G

If you have the Resources and time to go to the US, then that is certainly the better option.

You will find that you will develop a lot quicker due to the frequency of flying but at the same time you will have little time in between to soak up everything so you really need to be on your game so to speak.

zuutroy

I did mine in months last summer at Weston and had about 3-4 days where we grounded.

Gaoth Laidir

I found that the delays were about the same regardless of season. Many winter mornings were clear and frosty so perfect for flying. In contrast, many summer days were IFR or MVFR so not so good. Overall I didn't see any difference.

dutopia

Negative_G wrote: »

If you have the Resources and time to go to the US, then that is certainly the better option.

You will find that you will develop a lot quicker due to the frequency of flying but at the same time you will have little time in between to soak up everything so you really need to be on your game so to speak.

That's something I hadn't considered. Spacing the lessons gives you a bit more time to reflect. Thanks.

dutopia

zuutroy wrote: »

I did mine in months last summer at Weston and had about 3-4 days where we grounded.

That's really good. So a good option could be just save and book as many as possible for the summer and try and do the odd hour when available in the winter. Any tips for Weston? Recommended instructors? Did you do all your training in the C152?

dutopia

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

I found that the delays were about the same regardless of season. Many winter mornings were clear and frosty so perfect for flying. In contrast, many summer days were IFR or MVFR so not so good. Overall I didn't see any difference.

Good to know!

zuutroy

dutopia wrote: »

That's really good. So a good option could be just save and book as many as possible for the summer and try and do the odd hour when available in the winter. Any tips for Weston? Recommended instructors? Did you do all your training in the C152?

I basically had a standing booking of 10 am Tue-Fri all Summer. My instructor was great but he recently got an airline job. I wouldn't know the rest well enough to be able to recommend them or not. Did it all in the 152 which will save you 1k or so but it was very cramped for nav exercises.

logie101

I'm assuming if you are flying a C152 you are learning with NFC.

Have you considered joining a club. Trim Flying Club are accepting new students at the minute. €150 per hour P/UT in a C172. €130 P1.

Might be worth considering.

martinsvi

this winter has actually been one of the better ones, I managed to log 5 hours in January, which I have never done before.. could have managed a lot more if I wasn't operating out of a wet grass strip..

I don't see the point going to US or any other fair wx place, getting a licence in a rushed way and then coming home and doing nothing with it. If you're going after CPL that's a different story, but for PPL, train where you will be doing most of your flying! Get to know the weather, get to know the people, it will become really important post ppl. Patience is the key. Summer is not too far away and things will improve any moment now

Negative_G

dutopia wrote: »

That's something I hadn't considered. Spacing the lessons gives you a bit more time to reflect. Thanks.

There's definitely a balance to me met.

On the one hand, flying daily is great for currency and you will become very familiar with the flight characteristics, instruments and aircraft systems.

There is something to be said for having time to reflect and If necessary take some time to go back over your studies and soak it all up prior to your next flight.

Constructive feedback from your instructor is very important. I am a believer of 3 points post flight. These should be the 3 most important points to take note of and improve for your next flight. But that's just me.

dutopia

logie101 wrote: »

I'm assuming if you are flying a C152 you are learning with NFC.

Have you considered joining a club. Trim Flying Club are accepting new students at the minute. €150 per hour P/UT in a C172. €130 P1.

Might be worth considering.

Yeah I did consider them. I tried contacting them, their process was kind of weird and their website contact form was broken but I did send an email to their info@ email, and got no response. That really is a lot cheaper though... worth trying to contact them again! Do you have a contact at TFC I could call? If so could you PM me please.

martinsvi

try their facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/TrimFlyingClub