I have been considering one of the above courses for some time now and can’t decide which one to go for. The PPL will be the more expensive route, but if I qualified I wouldn’t be able to afford my own aircraft, I know I could rent or join a syndicate. The other option with the microlite means it is more affordable and less expensive. Any thoughts on the subject would be welcome.
I have had a short lesson in a Cessna, but never flown in a microlite, the closest being a hang gliding course I attended back in the early 80’s.
By: EGTC - 19th May 2010 at 20:34
Will it be for leisure flying? You could always go for the NPPL as thats 10hrs shorter than the PPL. You cant fly abroad with an NPPL though.
I have my PPL (but plan to go commercial) and i’ve flown the C150 aerobat and normal, C152, 3 variants of the C172 and the PA38 Tomahawk.
By: ATR72 - 19th May 2010 at 16:56
Thanks Kenneth for your sound and informative advice.
By: Kenneth - 19th May 2010 at 14:50
I started off with a normal PPL (have flown Bölkow Monsun, Cessna 152, Cessna 172 and Piper PA-28) and now fly 3-axis microlights (currently a Tecnam P-92; Remos G3/600 and FK-9 before that):
The latter are fun to fly (nimble controls), generally cheap to rent, often quite new (with pleasing interior), can land and take-off almost anywhere and many are faster than a C152 or C172. The downsides are that (1) their empty weight is often quite high, rendering it virtually impossible to take a passenger legally and staying below the 450kg MTOW, (2) there are quite a few dodgy designs around which take some knowledge of the field to filter out, (3) they often have flimsy details which don’t endure rental operations and break, thus resulting in no aircraft available when you want to rent one, (4) you can’t go abroad easily, as there is no mutual international recognition of such aircraft, and (5) there are essentially no further ratings/qualifications available.
Cessna 172 and the like are generally robust and stable, can (at least in theory) carry more than one passenger, and you can go abroad with essentially no problems. The typical rental aircraft is however often very old and “tired”, and typically more expensive to rent. Another advantage of the PPL is the possiblity to add ratings, such an instrument or a twin rating.
If you want to go from A to B, and want to bring passengers, then go for the PPL. If you just want to fly for the fun of it, i.e. local jaunts on a summer’s evening, then 3-axis microlights might be the right thing. If in doubt, go for the PPL, as it is easier to “downgrade” your licence to microlights than vice-versa.
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May 19, 2010 at 1:34 pm