PPL in the USA

murraygreene

Hi everyone,

Thinking of doing my PPL in www.flyeasa.com this year in May.
Have done a few hours with Skytrace in weston found them very good but expensive. Just wondering has anyone any experience with flyeasa or advise?

Regards
Murray

Gareth2011

How come your not doing it with NFC at weston? How much are skytrace charging per hour including ground school? As for the US I was looking at it before too but the bad thing is the programs are only for 45 hours and if you don't pass at 45 hours you can either stay on and it will cost you more or you can come back and do the remainder here till you pass. But then you have to get aquired to new locations (Weston, maynooth, celbridge etc).

murraygreene

Skytrace are about 189 a hour was trying to get a deal with them for full PPL but they wont entertain the idea. Not a fan of NFC, would prefer Skytrace. I just saw www.flyeasa.com has a duluxe package night rating incl. for about 5800 euro plus accom. Just wondering did anyone have any dealings with them

phonypony

murraygreene wrote: »

Skytrace are about 189 a hour was trying to get a deal with them for full PPL but they wont entertain the idea. Not a fan of NFC, would prefer Skytrace. I just saw www.flyeasa.com has a duluxe package night rating incl. for about 5800 euro plus accom. Just wondering did anyone have any dealings with them

I have no personal experience of EASA(formerly OBA), but suffice to say, the cheapest option isn't always best in the long run. Have a look at the many, many threads on Pprune before making any decisions.
In my own experience, I went to EFT in Ft. Pierce, I was never short an aircraft or instructor. I did have an issue with my instructor early on, but it was remedied. The housing was good (on site) and use of a car is included in the price. I enjoyed my time there.

tippilot

I was there in the OBA days.

Can reccommend them very highly. As with everywhere, there were some for whom it didn't work out but if you go out there with the intention of working hard you will be fine. Remember it's not a holiday, you're going out there for a purpose.

GoGoGadget

I'll second that. They did have a bad reputation and I believe that's the reason for the new name.. but from my dealings they were excellent. As above, put the head down and you'll be fine.

I seen a few lads there that didn't complete their PPL but these were the lads out partying most nights, hitting the beach, missing lessons, not doing a tap of study and then they rock up in their rented mustang complete with aviator sunglasses and a full on briefcase trying to catch glimpses of themselves in the nearest available reflective surface, no kidding I've seen it!!

One of the lads I was staying with was complaining that I wasn't living life by going to the beach every day, lucky I didn't follow his advice as I finished training on Thursday, flight test Friday and home on Saturday!! He went home with only half his training done and I'm sippin pina coladas on Dollymount Strand in me speedos checking out the talent...

Do your research though, plenty of horror stories but wouldn't be deterred. Like with any school don't pay it all upfront, maybe $1000 installments, resist discounts for upfront payment!! Also go by credit card, if anything happens you can get your money back, had to use this for another crowd in Palm Beach.

Try to get the ground school, RT and medical done before you head out. Place in Enniskillen can do your exams and RT. Another big reason lads didn't complete PPL was the exams. They will need to be CAA PPL exams as they won't accept the IAA PPL ones, the JAA schools in Florida are all CAA. Sounds messed up but it's caught quite a few people out.

Try give yourself 4-6 weeks if you can, it can be done in 3 weeks from scratch but it'll be intense and weather/aircraft/instructor availability will have to work out well.

Best of luck with it and do check EFT, more expensive but they look like a quality outfit from what I heard and I couldn't find any negative feedback on them when I was researching!

phonypony

GoGoGadget wrote: »

..out partying most nights, hitting the beach, missing lessons, not doing a tap of study and then they rock up in their rented mustang complete with aviator sunglasses and a full on briefcase trying to catch glimpses of themselves in the nearest available reflective surface

Very sad but all too true...

Dive into it head on, live aviation almost exclusively for a few weeks and you'll have no issues. There were guys and girls when I was doing my PPL that point blank refused to get up and fly before midday, then complained about availability (when there were 5 aircraft sitting on the ramp all morning) and moaned about the turbulence in the afternoons. Needless to say those people didn't achieve what they went for. Bad attitudes don't get ya very far. I was up every morning at 6 and in the air by 7, and again late afternoon, enjoyed the best of the calm air most days.

GoGoGadget

Yeah spot on, I found the instructors made a huge effort when you put the effort in yourself. After a while I could see the lazy gits getting wiped from the board in favour of those that wanted to fly.

Can't thank the instructor Liz enough, I was short an hour for min req and had already flown with the max of 3 instructors before flight test, she was working from dawn to dusk most days, explained the situation and she came in an hour earlier and we were up in the air bang on 7am.

There's no chance she would have come in for one of the lazy gits at that time only to find out they went out the night before and were still snoozing!

Gareth2011

Did any of you go further than the PPL? Id love to go commercial but the cost of doing it is alot of money and not easy with mortgage etc.

GoGoGadget

Yeah did JAA PPL in Ireland, ATPL in UK and JAA CPL in USA. Only wish I did my PPL in the states as it dragged out with bad weather and high costs although can't fault instructors over here. Now back in college and planning on how to get money for IR..!

Unless you have rich folks it tends to take a while, plenty of lads do it the hard way but at least you won't have any/much debt and it's not impossible to work through the bulk if not all your training. Plenty out there with 100k loans, not to mention interest..

Take it one step at a time and set goals ie get a PPL, once that's reached then set another goal ie hour building and so forth.

Gareth2011

Did you do a multi engine rating or night rating too?

If memory serves me right you have a frozen ATPL is for commercial pilot and the CPL allows you to carry passengers?

GoGoGadget

Did night rating which is needed for issue of JAA SEP CPL but didn't do a MEP rating. Fairly smashed now and the way I see it once you hit multi then keeping current will start getting pricey!

No just a single engine CPL, as it stands its not that much use on its own, still need to do multi and instrument (cha ching..) to get fATPL. Hoping next year!

Over here the night rating is kinda useless. In the UK you can have a bit of fun being able to get around but over here you're restricted to controlled airspace unless you fly under instrument rules.

Class over in the states, they really have the right idea and an amazing GA setup which we should be aiming for, can pretty much go anywhere at night on your PPL, fancy a flight at 3am..? no problem, even if a small airport (the size of Weston..!) is closed you tune into their frequency, click the transmitter 3 times and walla.. runway lights turn on for around 15mins, you roll up and need fuel? no problem just swipe your credit card at the self service pump and fuel up. Need to check a computer for forecast? no problem, some airports have a code to enter buildings and you have access to internet, coffee, toilets etc.

Gareth2011

Sounds like a nice setup alright. I only got to 9 hours when I was doing mine at weston. Every time I tried to go after that 9 hours I was always told the weather, the weather so after few months I got sick of it then started spending the money on motorbikes so never got to finish it :mad:.

Needless to say id still love to do it but the cash is way out my reach at the moment unless the wife pays it for me . Even if I did want to go commercial il be 31 in march and if I did have the cash id still be at least 35 before qualifying and not sure if airlines want to take one someone who is that age.

I can dream but id love my PPL just to bring the wife and family up for a spin .

GoGoGadget

I hear ye man, took me years stopping and starting to get the PPL. One of those things where had started and didn't want to leave and finish in states, in hindsight should have packed me bags!! I reckon every 2nd or 3rd flight was cancelled but on a lighter note you get better at reading weather charts

Plenty of the instructors in Weston were past 30 with wife kids, gaf and all when they started and few of my old ones went off into airlines well into their 30's, I wouldn't be put off by that.

If it's flying for fun and you like your bikes I've heard weight-shifts are like a motorbike in the sky! Amazes me how cheap them things go for, here's an example for £2,200 http://www.afors.com/index.php?page=adview&adid=21685&imid=0; and from what I've read their dirt cheap to operate.

Gareth2011

Flying arm chairs . I see them flying about alright they look great but one main reason I wouldn't like to use one in Ireland is the weather. You would want 4 layers of thermals on ot keep warm. At least with a piper or cessna your enclosed and you can turn on the heat . I love the heat and hate the cold, im a cold creature as my mother used to tell me.

scottbigbee

I'm planning on packing up and doing my PPL (Heli) this summer in the US before moving to Canada. Anyone have any knowledge/ experience of Ocean helicopters in West palm beach Florida? I've been quoted $20,350 for ground school and 60 hrs flight incl all necessary testing, flight exam, medicals etc. Can anyone direct me to any other schools? A very good friend of mine completed the course with Ocean and absolutely loved it hence my interest with them but I'm aware that there are a multitude of schools to choose between. Any help appreciated guys.