There are a lot of variables that come into PPL training and a lot of things that you need to take into consideration before you decide to take the plunge. In this post I will go through the true cost of a PPL in the UK.
So as you can see the total cost of my PPL was £10,067.23. Now this was a PPL taken with the intention of going commercial. So I did things such as get my class 1 medical and purchased a CRP 5 over a CRP 1, however these didn’t add a massive amount more onto the cost, maybe £250. You could also say my camera isn’t needed but that will only save you another £90.
My advise to you is to save the FULL cost of your PPL before starting (if you can), there are a few reasons for this.
- You learn faster is you can fly consistently. Once my class 1 was issued I was flying every weekend between 2 and 5 hours at a time. I could only fly at weekends due to work commitments midweek.
- Should you lose your job or something similar, you don’t want to stop training. By the time you go back to it you will be going over things you have already learned trying to remember how to do it.
As I mentioned before I got my class 1 medical before starting training. If you have any plans to go commercial I suggest you do this before parting with all this cash. If you cannot get your class 1 medical then you have no chance of being able to fly for an airline. The medical rules for a class 2 are less stringent so you may be able to be issued a class 2 which will allow you to get your PPL.
The second thing I say is to make savings where you can, for instance, don’t buy a CRP 1 because once you get to your ATPL’s you will need a CRP 5, so just buy the CRP 5 in the first place. Also try not to pay full price if you don’t have to, eBay and Amazon marketplace are great sources of both new and used products at a lower price than you will find them in the shop.
To sum it up, look at the TOTAL cost of your PPL before signing up, it is no good just looking at the cost of lessons when there are so many other things you have to consider. When I was training at my ATC controlled airport the cost of a lesson was £170 but all fees were included. Make sure you do not have to pay for circuits or landings as if you do, the lower fee could rise dramatically as you spend quite a long time in the circuit. The only landing fees I had were on my practice cross-country qualifier and then on the real thing.
Once you have your budget and your medical then commit to it and most importantly enjoy it!
