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Old 06-22-2020, 01:55 PM
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powersmurfuk1
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Joined APC: Apr 2020
Posts: 43
Default Getting My PPL, What A Mess.

Hi all,

Wanted to get some independent advice on my situation and see what everyone thinks.

Started to get my PPL at in November last year, and was training here in Vegas. Found a club and was paying around $175 for the plane per hour, and $75 per hour for the instructor. I was doing this around working a full-time job.

It got to March time and I completed the written exam, passing, and was at around 27 hours. At this time, the instructor would mention I was close to doing my solo, but this never happened as he was mentioning I needed to work on other things. At the end of March, we went into lockdown. I texted the instructor and asked if we could still fly. He said we could, and asked if I could pay him privately in cash (as the club was closed). I asked if I was still able to do the solo and complete the training to which he stated I could.

After two flights, I asked if I could solo and he stated that I had to now wait till the club opened for insurance purposes. As I was running out of cash, and because I felt I would never solo, and was getting taken for a ride, I decided to leave and find another school.

I found one school in North Vegas. I went to check out the facility and have an into flight. The pricing was comparable with what I was paying previously, however the instructor said that most students complete their PPL in 80 hours. I had never heard this and became suspicious, so decided against it. My worry was that this guy would make me do everything all over again and just saw me for $$$ signs.

Went to check out another school in North Vegas and they were very unorganized. I had to keep calling to find out information, no one was ever available, and no one called me back.

As a result, I was getting frustrated so did some googling. I found a school in San Jose, CA. Spoke to them and explained my situation and that I wanted to come down for a couple of weeks, do as much flying as possible and if potentially, finish up the PPL. All sounded good.

Today I had a flight with the instructor. Unfortunately due to his accent, I was unable to understand him that much. Also, he immediately pointed out that the national average time frame in the US to complete the PPL is 80's (here we go again). I also felt during the flight that he was contradicting what he was asking me. I had booked a 3-hour flight, but after 1.5 hours I decided to head back to base and didn't wish to continue. The guy I had initially spoken to wasn't working so I was unable to speak with him. I did ask the women working if it is true that most students take 80 hours to get their PPL, and she confirmed this. Obviously it depends on each person, but yes, this is the national avarage.

My issue now is that I do not physically have the time to fly 80 hours as I only took two weeks off work to finish up, something I explained to the guy initially.

So, here we are, 33 hours in. Besides today, havent flown in 3 months and spent $10k. Am I now going to have to spend another $12k to get another 80 hours to get the PPL? Just frustrated. At this point it would be cheaper to go to Florida, pay $6k (or there abouts) and do everything all over again.

Welcome everyone's thoughts, both positives and negative.


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