I am now just short of half way through the minimum hours required for the PPL and I thought I would just reflect back on doing your PPL (private pilots license) in the UK.
As a modular pilot this is the first step on your way to your fATPL (Frozen Air Transport License).
My biggest issue by far has been the weather, put quite frankly the weather in the UK during autumn and winter is pretty awful.
I have to suffer from high winds, low clouds, rain, snow, frost, ice & mist. This doesn’t include the endless storms that we seem to be in the middle of.
I basically have to deal with just about every type of weather that isn’t ideal for flying.
This leads to a lot of cancelled lessons and to be honest it is a very frustrating thing to deal with, especially when you are only flying on weekends. Put simply, I now have to book some midweek lessons just to try to get the hours in. There is of no guarantee they will be flown either, but at least we are approaching spring.
If I did not do this then I would have to wait two weeks between flights which obviously isn’t ideal.
I can only imagine that the spring and especially the summer are better conditions for learning to fly and you will get less lessons cancelled.
If you are able to and want a PPL quick quickly during the autumn / winter seasons I would definitely look at going abroad to a warmer climate. This will allow you to avoid the weather related issues that we face here in the UK.
You should face less issues in the spring / summer so I would say that you can do it here. In fact I would prefer to do it here over going abroad in the better months. This way you would be more familiar with the UK airspace and know what it’s like to fly in it.
There are no issues with the level of instruction here in the UK as it is on the whole very good. However, if you went abroad the price will most likely be a bit cheaper.
