So you're recording your end? I'm on, I'm live! You're live. Oh yeah are we streaming this we
should stream this one day! Yeah we should yeah we should come up with a good one and
stream it then people can hear us swearing which we always edit out of these videos
Phillipe you're a certified flying instructor in the uk you're probably best placed to answer this
question why why is slight training or why can it be so flipping expensive that is a million dollar
question i'm gonna start and blame the lawyers so no i'm not i'm not really the assets are expensive
assets the cheapest flight training airplanes are already 35 40 000 pounds for even the cheapest
of aircraft in a flight school you know my flight school at echelon air we use cCrruses
and they're even more expensive than than that 50 000 mark so we have to somehow recover the cost
of that capital second of all the flight instructors are highly qualified people
you know we we want our doctors to be well paid we want our pilots to be well paid
well we're going to talk about some ideas in this video as well about how people can
maybe look at reducing some of those costs and ideas for like how you can you know save some
money towards your flight training as well but is there a way to put a figure on how much it costs
to get your pilot's license sure so i started i started learning how to fly now 20 years ago when
i was ringing around to to various flight schools where i lived i was getting quoted four thousand
dollars i mean when you're fifteen four thousand dollars is not a bargain right it's a huge amount
of money what what i've seen is flight training has definitely gotten much more expensive since
then in the uk i think flight schools uh the the lowest cost ones are probably quoting around eight
to ten thousand pounds and the higher cost ones are probably quoting around 35 to 40 000 pounds
you might end up with the same license but it will be the number of hours you've gone
done in the airplane and then how competent you are maybe as a pilot uh what kind of experiences
you've had in that flight training we have the rpl we have the recreational pilot's license here
do you have anything equivalent in the uk and what do you think about students maybe starting with a
lesser versus not a lesser version but a restricted version of a pilot's license
maybe before going for the full ppl sure i think i think even before the the restricted license
or the uk what we what we call the lap all the light aircraft pilot license in the us it's the
recreational pilot's license right each one of those carries different limitations on what you
can do with the license but in Europe what a lot of young kids do as an entry into aviation
a lot of people get into gliding gliding can be a really cost effective
entry point to getting airborne to understanding aerodynamics to understanding meteorology to
understanding airport operations and hopefully as you get better and gliding then you end up with
longer and longer flights after that once you're hooked then moving into fixed wing that transition
is a much smaller step so you can make each lesson getting the full ppl each lesson can count more
because you understand a lot more and that's a good way to get immersed in that kind of aviation
environment as well because i think one of the key things is you don't necessarily have to start
day one with your flight training actually in an aircraft out there flying i think getting immersed
in the aviation environment is really important being down at the airport is really important what
about aircraft types then so you mentioned gliding but say your dream is to fly you know a jet or an
sr-22 or like a top-of-the-line kind of aircraft should you learn in the plane you're gonna fly in
or should you look at costs in the in the beginning and try and find a cheaper aircraft so
i mean my answer i guess to that it depends on who i'm talking to right let's say you have a second
home or you have a business need and you see how private aviation can really help you in that and
you but you don't have a license and you recognize that that's probably the sticking point here then
yeah you should probably go train in the airplane that will match at least initially will match that
that goal that mission i'll tell you what though that is not the cheapest way to get a pilot's
license the cheapest way to get a pilot's license is probably to go to your local little airport fly
an airplane that's either a cessna 150 an old old pa-28 where they've already fully depreciated so
if your goal is just to learn how to fly then and take a really really simple plane where there's
no complexity but i'll tell you why if you're if your goal is to fly from melbourne to sydney and
you go through that the type of training that's at your local airport in the j3 cub with four gauges
you get your license you will not be equipped to go from melbourne to sydney this comes back
to our similar video we made on how to buy a plane which you know comes back to
you've got to think of the mission objectives here which is what are you what are you actually using
this aircraft for and i think flight training is the same thing what are your objectives with light
training if it's just because you love the idea of flying you could follow a path similar to me
i mean i fly at sr 22 now but yeah i started in a 150 i did all my navigation training in a piper
warrior i did some complex stuff in a piper arrow retractable and it was only when i had
my instrument rating that i actually thought this serious thing sounds quite interesting i'll have a
look at that and then moved up to that point but yeah if it's if the goal is just to save costs
then you know generally an older airplane is good or right one that doesn't use gas i have gas like
i'm super fired up about electric aircraft for basic training and there's a couple companies
there that that are here that are now uh getting a little bit of traction with that like vellus
is a european based company their endurance is still only you know an hour and a half or so
but for your average flight lesson that's more than sufficient that's a good point i think we
have only one flying electric aircraft here in australia at the moment i could be wrong
let me know in the comments if i'm wrong on that but we have one which was um going to be used for
flight training as well but you'd like to see it change but rotax as well is the other thing is so
you know aircraft that use mogas basically motor vehicle gas as opposed to avgas as
well there could be some advantages so i guess it's just look around at the different aircraft
types that are available and see see what might be more affordable irrespective of the aircraft
are there any other ways that you could recommend people could look at how you could reduce flight
training costs ongoing there's the big question as well should you pre-pay as well for your flight
training costs to get a reduction in cost now if you're going to a large flight school that
that is putting through commercial pilots or airline-bound pilots let's call them
i think they probably all work on a prepayment basis so that's just the standard at your local
flight school it's probably more you land you fill in your hobbs times and then you take it
into the receptionist and they ring it up in the computer and you pay whatever invoice comes out
sometimes there's non-payment sometimes a credit card doesn't work we don't like to chase money
so yeah we'll always well at least at echelon air we will certainly give a little discount
uh for a prepayment so yeah it's one way but then you have to put down quite a lot of capital
right and be and then you're committed to that flight school and if you don't get along with
the instructor or uh you're you're uncomfortable in their aircraft or you don't like their training
methods you're kind of locked in if i were just to go with the with the hit list of things you can do
as a student to lower the costs at risk because i do run a flight school
you're giving your secrets away now oh i was gonna say go with an independent instructor and
you can only do this if you're if your national authority allows it so in the us for example you
can operate as an independent uh certified flight instructor and do flight training all day long
so they don't carry any overheads you know they will create training programs that are much
more tailored to you the second thing and this is actually should have been the first is self-study
you get out of a flight lesson everything you put in if you show up at a flight lesson and this is
true if you're gonna spend eight thousand dollars or if you're gonna spend 40 000 on a ppl right
if you come to the lesson prepared you've done all your flight planning you've you've looked at
all the no tams you reviewed the radio procedures right if you come really prepared then that lesson
will be hugely valuable if you get in the airplane and you haven't reviewed the radio procedure and
the instructor sees you fumbling with the radio to write down the atis which you can practice writing
down atis entirely on your own you know whether there's live atc you can write down adises all day
long right so by the time you're sitting in the airplane with the engine running you know at 200
pounds an hour that's that's three pounds a minute you know you're sitting there copying down addis
if you have to do that twice that's six pounds another thing that's also huge the third thing
is flight sims use flight sims at home and and i'm not talking about you know certified
although those help too they're great we have one at echelon air i'm just talking about microsoft
flight sim x-plane on your computer i mean i just got microsoft flights in when it came out you know
the new one and the atc the fake atc in microsoft flight sim from the moment that you start up the
engine on the apron it'll guide you through the whole process of leaving an airport right you
can start to put these pieces together without the instructor present at all it's really good because
i think they all come down to a pretty similar but very important point which is the more prepared i
think you can be before your training i think the better you're going to perform and we've
talked about prepayment there any ways that you can ensure that the money that you've put aside
for that flight training can actually last to the end of your flight training yeah i mean
that's that's a tough one right that's a tough one because you might want to throw in a fun
lesson here and there or maybe you you want to get a better headset you know whatever and if you're
going to flight school you're ringing around and they're like okay it's going to cost you 8
000 pounds to get a license and you look at the breakdown of what it is that they're quoting you
for if it's the bare bare bones minimum you should just you can throw that quote away to pass to pass
a private pilot's license in 40 hours even in in a very very simple airplane that's a real task
take 50 and add it on top we were we were all told to make our calculations on 40 hours
um it took me 78 78 hours to get my ppl it's interesting 78 hours i think it took me 67
what are your thoughts on people who take like two or three weeks off work
and do a block of training over a preset you know period of time maybe taking some annual
leave or looking at doing it in school holidays if you're still at school i'm all for it but it's not
just those three weeks right that's what we have to remember what it allows it allows you to find
good weather for the correct flight lessons on a solo day as an instructor i want high ceilings i
want no wind and i want excellent visibility so i can chase that weather if i have three weeks with
with a student i can chase that weather around the country but there's a lot of work that has
to happen before your knowledge tests however many there are in in your country have to be
completed the other thing is you don't want to just dive in and nobody can handle eight hours
of flight training on lesson number one so also being realistic about what is a full day of flight
training by the end of it you might be going 10 hours in a flight lesson the standard path to
kind of go down is to pay for yourself yes to save some money go to your local flight training school
find an instructor learn to fly down down that way that's how quite a lot of us did it but
there are cadet ships there are scholarships got any thoughts on how people could maybe research
that and what some of the options are if you didn't want to necessarily pay for yourself to
go through flight training in the way that quite a few private pilots do your government's air
force will probably have a cadet program or some junior airman's program of some sort in the us
they have an rotc it's called uh for college kids they'll even pay for some college you get
some flight hours in it in the uk you have the the raf cadets program if you have the passion for it
and and you know you get through a cadet program and you've done your 8 or 10 or 12 hours whatever
number of hours your government's going to sponsor you for if you have that intense
passion to learn how to fly you'll you'll find a way to do it i refereed uh i was living in
the u.s at the time so soccer matches i got paid between 16 and 20 a match and i did five of them
on a saturday so that was and they were an hour and a half each i did five of them on a saturday
and i had an hour lesson on a sunday and that's it that's how i got my license i think it's really
important especially for some of the younger pilots out there not to put the pressure on
yourself to think you have to be flying all the time all the time and if you're not flying for
a week here and there then you know it's gonna really impact your career some of the people who
talk to me are like 15 16 17 years old you have a lot of time a lot of time ahead of you and it
doesn't matter if they're a gap when you get to our age like me and philippe in this video maybe
it matters a little bit more but no if you if you're young and you're watching this and you've
got breaks because of financial issues or you need to direct your attention elsewhere that's fine if
you are thinking about a career in aviation then i think we we often have pressures put on us
uh about you know you have to make money i know my parents my parents said you know i was passionate
about aviation they said you're we're not going to support and give you our blessing to go to an
aviation school it felt like it was a make money or was a fault you know versus follow your passion
which i know is completely false right it's they're not mutually exclusive you know i always
make the comparison i run an aviation business and i have an accountant right and my accountant
is passionate about aviation that's why he's my account right so you can find a passion and you
can earn a living and you can be successful uh if you've got questions specifically for
philly can i put your details down below as well phillipe i love getting uh messages and emails
i'm on instagram pilot pullman put your comments down below we'll try and answer
as many as we can get in touch with philippe but um yeah thanks for your time today mate i hope
we get to fly together for real again soon it's been too long thanks everybody see ya