When I learned to fly it took just over a year, aiming to fly at least once a week.
Realistically, you will lose a few days, but where many people do get held up is waiting for decent days to do their Qualifying Cross Country (even in the summer time when hazy days can be very frustrating), and it is at that stage that having days off in the week can be helpful.
I started flying when I was 44, so it probably took me longer than someone younger, as I found the ground school a bit quite hard going. The last exams I had done were back in 1976!
For me the lesson or two a week, and doing the exams at my own speed, rather than as a concentrated effort, allowed everything to sink in.
Personally, I think doing everything in a couple of weeks in the States would be too much, too soon. I know that when I learned to drive in the TA, we did our tests in about a week. I had a driving licence, but really wasn’t a proper driver. And flying is so much more complex in what you have to learn, practice and remember.
Certainly over the past year I have been able to fly three times a month or more, and I think we only lost one day to the weather – but I am able to fly in the week sometimes as well as weekends.
Good luck with your PPL. It is hard work, but worth every minute.
YR
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