I live in Devon and am looking at earning my PPL.
Exeter charge £158 per hour inc V.A.T but have £9 landing fees on top.
A smaller airfild charges £145 per hour inc V.A.T in a Cessna 152, no landing fees.
RT tuition £25 P/H
RT Test oral £60
TR test written £25
Exam fees £25
Flight test initial skill test £150
Annual membership £125
Books £25 each (need 6 I think)
So about £7000 for 45 hours.
Does this sound about the average price for the UK?
Also looking into the possibility of Training for the PPL in the USA.
I have just paid up my PPL to the end at Gloucestershire, which is a pretty big GA airfield. I'm not sure what the total was as I did some pay as you go and some as blocks, but I think it was probably in the region of £7k, maybe a bit over.
This is assuming that I actually complete it in 45hrs (which most people don't). Any extra time will be charged at the hourly rate (~£150ph).
Make sure that when you calculate landing charges you do it right. In my initial budget I'd mistakenly assumed 45hrs, 45 landings, but that's not the case. According to my instructor it's usually 120 landings in a course because of circuits, so find out how 'touch and go's' are charged...if they're the full landing rate a circuits lesson with 7 or 8 landings can get expensive very quickly but some airfields have reduced rates for t&g's.
Most training organisations will offer quite significant discounts, or include reduced landing fees, for paying in blocks. This is what I've done for the 2nd half of my course. I wouldn't recommend doing that until you've had at least 10hrs though, to make sure that you REALLY want to do it, and that you're sure the club you're at is right for you.
Thanks for the replies and the tips about "touch and go's".
I will check those links out.
As far as paying in blocks, neither offer a reduction in price but rather we/I pay after each lesson.
Yes I would certainly get a few hours under my belt before thinking of paying in a block anyway.
I am just trying to work out how much it will all cost me because money is tight for me.
Ultimately I want a career in Aviation, small aircraft or Helicopters.
So it looks like about £7000-£8000 for the PPL and then another £25000 for the CPL. Ouch!
Editing to add that http://www.egte.com/ does not work, I tried it last night too.
I have to stress that if you pay landing fees you will rack up extra costs on top of the PPL as already stated above. Its so much more beneficial to go to a club where the landing fees are free or included for a cheap price. The place I learnt (Wellesbourne) didnt charge landing fees so the total cost was about £7000 for about 50-55 hours. Most of mine was paid for via scholarship though so I lost track of costs towards the end.
Landing fees will SERIOUSLY bump up the costs. Lets say you do a circuits flight with say 7 touch and gos. At £9 per landing that's £63 extra on the fight!
I know a few clubs that own the airfield and so don't pay fees. Sleap in Shropshire is one, Stapleford in Essex is also. Sure one could find one near one's location fairly easily?