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Stephen Dean

Learning to fly

Stephen Dean has been flying for nine years. He tells Lynne Patrick how much it costs to learn to fly and what it's like to pilot a Cessna 150.

Q: How much did it cost you to learn to fly?: A: I’ve never actually totted it up, I don’t think I dare. it’s not the cheapest of things to do, but it doesn’t have to be horrendously expensive. A lot of people think that flying for fun is a rich man’s game and it doesn’t have to be at all. If you possibly can just put the money down and do it all in the course of a few months. You will learn much quicker, you will get your licence much quicker. The prices that you will be expecting to pay will vary a little bit from flying school to flying school. But generally I suppose you’re looking at around £90 an hour and for the National Private Pilot's Licence, you’re looking at 32 hours minimum. That doesn’t include your navigational flight tests and your general skills test. So it’s a few thousand pounds, but if you want something that really gives you a feeling of achievement like nothing else, then as far as I’m concerned it’s money well spent.
Q: Once you’re qualified you have to do a certain number of hours to keep up your licence?: A: Yes, that’s right, you have to re-validate, as it’s called, every two years, and what that means is that in the second year you have to have flown for at least 12 hours as pilot in command. Now you can’t guarantee that the weather is always going to be anything like as nice as it is today and so you have to spread that out over the course of the year and most flying schools and flying clubs like you to fly at least once every 28 days and if you’ve let it lapse for any longer than that most of them will expect you to have a quick dual check, as it’s called, with an instructor, just to make sure that your skill standard hasn’t slipped. So about an hour a month and of course once you get your licence and meet other people who’ve qualified you can share the cost, you can take take passengers up and share the costs, so once you’ve got your licence it doesn’t have to be horrendously expensive.
Q: So what does it cost to take up a aeroplane like this?: A: Well this particular aeroplane is charged at about £90 an hour and that includes your landing fee and if you just make the one landing, as we did today, then that’s all included. It covers all the costs, the fuel and everything else, and if you only fly for say 30 minutes or 45 minutes - today we were flying for 50 minutes - then you just pay the proportion of the hourly rate. You don’t book the aeroplane for an hour and then expect to have to pay for it whether you fly or not .
Q: Can you tell me a bit about this particular aeroplane?: A: Certainly, this is a Cessna 150, which is an aeroplane that’s very commonly used for training. In fact, if you just have a look in the cockpit here, you can see that in the aeroplane there are two sets of controls and when you are learning to fly and once you have qualified you sit in the left hand seat and your instructor will sit in the right hand seat. As you’re learning the instructor can demonstrate the manoeuvre that he or she is trying to teach you from the right hand side and then you can follow this on your side.
Q: And the controls?: A: Inside the aeroplane, as you can see, we’ve got two control columns, although it isn’t in the shape of a wheel, like a car steering wheel, it is called the control wheel and you can see you have the various instruments there telling you things like the engine rpm, oil temperatures and pressures, how much fuel there is in the tanks, what your altitude is, what your heading is, what your air speed is, and down in front of you you’ve got two pedals. These operate the rudder and also on the ground they operate the nose wheel, which is how your steer it.
Q: Tell me more about the aeroplane...: A: This is a two seater aeroplane, it’s got a high wing, which means that from inside the aeroplane when you’re flying, you’ve got a nice view of the ground, with a good view ahead. It’s got what’s called a tricycle undercarriage. It’s got a nose wheel at the front of the aeroplane and it’s got two wheels either side of the fuselage, not like some aeroplanes which have obviously still got the two wheels, one either side of the fuselage, but they have a wheel at the back of the aeroplane, called a tail wheel. Altogether a different sort of aeroplane to try to handle, particularly in terms of landing, as well as manoeuvring on the ground. So this is a single engined aeroplane with a high wing and seats inside for two people. Great fun!
Q: What about the airfield?: A: Well, Crowfield Airfield is just north of Ipswich and although this isn’t an airfield where you can learn to fly from scratch, it is an airfield where you can learn to develop other ratings. For example if you want to learn to fly in poor weather or simply to be able to fly when the weather’s not up to much, then you can learn what’s called the instrument meterological conditions rating, which is an additional rating to your licence and somebody like me, who’s got their licence can come here and just fly for fun, you can fly to other airfields in East Anglia, or further afield, you can do what we’ve done today which is just go round the local area, and many people even from airfields like this will take aeroplanes like this for trips overseas.

last updated: 26/11/2008 at 12:54
created: 08/03/2006

Have Your Say

Iam in London where is the best place to get started.
nicholas roberts

hi, i really want to become a pilot, but i dont know where to get started, and do i need to go to a flying school or aircadets first or will that help alot.plus what is a PPL i no it stands for private pilots license, but would i still be able to fly anywhere i want.im interested in flying cessna's my favorite plane is the cessna caravan but where do i start, as i live in somerset.thanks
sam smith

Definately do some research on aircraft. I previously worked for an airline, in operations, and so i had to learn everything about the aircraft, this definately came in handy when I started to fly myself as I knew alot about what parts where what and the roles they had. It is quite an expensive game but my lessons are £140 an hour and i worked out that if I save £35 a week (which costs me having my nails done a weeek)then thats £1140 a month and then im on my way to my PPL!
Nikita Jay

Hey, im intrested in becoming a pilot, but im nt sure about where to get started. can anyone help?
Lewis

i have flight simulator its 65 times better than flying a real plane, mabee even 66 times...
Craig

Hi great article, i hopeing to get my ppl soon. im only 14 but im going up in a cesna 175 at the mo with a instructer. i done about 3hrs. its great fun
Robert

Hi EveryoneI'm still learning to fly, but i have flown on my own, without my instructor. It was the greatest feeling i have ever had. I would recommend it to everyone.If anyone would like any questions answered about flying i would recommend www.loop.aero they have some fantastic info on there, best of all its free so you can spend more on learning.
Nathan Steele

Hey! I fly the AirCadet Viking Glider at 611VGS at Watton so I have a little experiance in the air. I was wondering if my gliding hours can be included into a PPL when i start to learn? Thanks
Julio Mohamed

Great reading your article, I am just about to go to prison and I have been in business for 25 Years never having the time before to do any studying I have always wanted to learn to fly I have bought a few books and tapes to take in with me what would you recommend I study to help me when I come out .
Peter

hi im only 13 but am really interested in learning to fly.my dad is a weekend pilot and we bothe want me to get a license asap how young can i be?
charlotte

Don, I think that your nearest airfield offering ab initio PPL training is Beccles. Their telephone number is: 01502 476400.
Stephen

I llive in Saxmundham. Where is the nearest airfield to me, where I can learn from scratch!?
Don

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