Advantages of a Private Pilot Licence

Would like advice/advantages from people holding, or attempting to gain a private pilot licence.

I recently had a trial lesson, and am interested in gaining the full PPL, but am unsure as to what practical advantages it could offer, bar looking at fields from a different perspective. Ideally I could take a plane across the UK with a passenger or two, or fly to a neighbouring country. I am wondering if that is at all practical, or would the costs be phenomenal. I don't really have an interest in flying as a career neither, so would it still be worth it?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

member169510

I have a friend with a PPL who is now studying to get his CPL, other than being able to get his CPL, there are no advantages other than the fun of flying; it is hideously expensive and isnt particularly practicle to get anywhere useful. So if you either a). want to go for your CPL, or b). just want to do it for the fun of flying then go for it.

P.S. you will need lots of money to do it :yep:

Reply 2

Whittled

I thought as much- I was really hoping it would offer alot more freedom that say flying to Norwich and back

disregarding the fee to attain a licence, when you say it is hideously expensive what are you referring to? Surely there must be some practicality to it or why would anyone do it?!?!

arggggg

Reply 3

member169510

Whittled

The cost of fuel (I think it works out at around £100 an hour), a fee for hiring a plane or joining a group that owns a plane etc; landing fees, I am sure there are a couple more. Dont get me wrong I am sure it would be great to fly to the Isle of wight and france etc. Its just it does work out more expensive; it all comes down to whether you can justify the cost for the enjoyment of flying.

Reply 4

thomasp

If you take a largish (Cessna 182-type) 4-seater and take one or two other pilots with you to split the fuel costs and to share the flying, you could go on a small holiday to France or somewhere similar. I know people who have done that, or done a flying tour of Wales or Scotland.

The practical advantages are that if you enjoy flying, its a great way to have fun! And if you want to go on a "flying" holiday to France, for example, its only a few hours flying time from the Midlands.

Plus you can take friends up for flights, and extend your ratings and do things like aerobatics or even look into making a bit of money from tuition.

Reply 5

wizz_kid

u can fly ur own plane

Reply 6

Whittled

wizz_kid

u can fly ur own plane

You can fly someones plane, your own, I doubt it.

Reply 7

thomasp

Whittled

You can fly someones plane, your own, I doubt it.

If you have enough cash, you can fly your own plane! Halfway decent Cessna 152s are available used for around $25k. Need to take in to account insurance and servicing/maintenance bills. But if you're flying regularly, or can get a share in a plane (a group of people part-own one aircraft and all contribute towards the running costs) then it can work out cheaper than hiring a flying school/club's plane.

Reply 8

Whittled

thomasp

how far can a single engine plane travel continuously

Reply 9

thomasp

Whittled

how far can a single engine plane travel continuously

Depends on a shedload of factors - wind, number of passengers & payload (limits the amount of fuel you can load), length of runway at departure airport, whether or not you're IMC rated (can fly through cloud), and the type/size of plane. You can comfortably get a good few hours out of a Cessna 182 with 3 passengers and full tanks, and that's cruising at around 110 - 120kts, so you can work out the range on that.

Reply 10

initiation

One of my best friends spent £6k on obtaining his PPL when he was 16/17/18. 18 months after passing he has flown approximately 4hrs. Yes it is very expensive hobby, but if you have the cash and really enjoy it then why not?

If your looking for another cheaper way to get airborne then look into paramotoring

can be done for a couple of grand to get the training and buy your own kit, no official license needed and you can take of from pretty much anywhere with the landowners consent.

Reply 11

Whittled

initiation

can be done for a couple of grand to get the training and buy your own kit, no official license needed and you can take of from pretty much anywhere with the landowners consent.

haha very funky indeed- I've booked my first parachuting jump in a month or two, weather permitting. hopefully get into base jumping sometime.

Do you do that, in the above paramotoring?

Reply 12

initiation

Whittled

Do you do that, in the above paramotoring?

Unfortunately no due to medical issues can't (carrying a 25-30kg+ motor on your back with dodgy joints...). Done a tandem paraglide though which was awesome and what got me interested in that area of flying. Although there is a possibility of adding a simple trike to the paramotor to take the weight but as soon as you do that the CAA class it as a totally different set up and you need a proper license and various things to fly. Just brought another car though so funds won't permit that at the moment. :rolleyes:

Reply 13

terpineol

If you go down the NPPL SLMG route you can get into flying pretty cheaply.

Its still completely impractical though, its only of use for the fun of it.

Reply 14

Schleigg

With a bog standard PPL you can fly the type aircraft you're rated on (probably a Single-Engined Piston) and I'm pretty sure take whoever you want as long as you don't make a profit from it, so you can take petrol money etc.

If you want to fly at night, in controlled airspace or in less than perfect weather conditions you'll need a Night rating and an Instrument Rating (in that order). If you want to fly a jet or a twin engined aircraft you can get ratings for those on your PPL, heck you could even fly a 747 wit the correct rating and multi-crew endorsement.

INFORMATION

Reply 15

chris king

Whittled

Because some people want to take it further obviously.

Reply 16

chris king

Schleigg

You're an idiot, you need at least a CPL/IR to get a type rating on a jet aircraft. Unless you own the plane (like John Travolta) then you can fly it with a mutli-crew endorsement alongside a more qualified pilot who will have to have a full ATPL.