The right aircraft for PPL training

Yes, the A211. 200k€ is a lot of money, but there are ultralights that cost the same, or even more.

There isn’t anything available to buy, I’ve been looking for 3 years.

Your best bet would be a C152or a PA28 but you would still struggle to actually make a profit.

The best aircraft to make a profit is a Ikarus C42 but that can’t be used for PPL training in the UK.

The industry is screaming out for a new training aircraft to revitalize the industry. Sadly there isn’t anything you can buy.

To be honest, you’re options are the CS-VLA. So that would be:

P2002
P2008
AT-3
Aquila
EV97
and a few others.

I’ve trod this particular path and would say that the P2002 is the best handling with the AT-3 being the most robust. However, don’t try and compare anything out there that is new against a C152 or PA38. Think of the VLA as something that you will throw away within 10 years; they simply aren’t designed to be robust.

I’m afraid there is another factor in aircraft selection, which is more important than being factory new. 200 EUR/hour not counting the instructor is a whole lot, well above the going rate in most countries of the world, and from what I observed in recent years, the very first question asked by potential trainees willing to pay well above the average rate is whether the training aircraft is equipped with BRS.

How about something completely different?

A lot of PPL training used to be done in TB20s, though not in Europe.

AFAIK it is not illegal but would be suitable only for certain types of customers (reasonable ability).

Today, the SR20, perhaps.

You can’t offer a NEW SR20 for € 200 incl. gas … at least I don’t see how. A good used one would work though.

Talking of the Tecnams: my club has been operating a P2008 for a good while now, I think over 1000 hrs, and I did not hear of any major issues. Most of its flying is circuits/T&G, and our grass runway is quite good but far from perfect, especially after continued rain.

A 4-seater P2010 is to join the fleet soon, to take the place of a C172.

Stapleford Flight Centre took delivery of their second P2008 last week and there is also one at Shoreham based Omega Flight Training.

The UK’s first P2010 was collected by its (private) owner this week and taken to it’s new home at Goodwood.

As Dave said, modern CS-VLA aircraft may not be as robust as heritage machinery – especially if they are abused. Treat them fairly (and that means FIC instructors teaching instructors to teach students and PPL holders to look after and respect the aircraft they fly) and there is no reason why they shouldn’t give a long and prosperous service.

There are loads of microlight EV97 Sportstars around, many successfully involved with ab-initio training. Perhaps the microlight instructing fraternity are more mechanically sympathetic?

Don’t get me wrong, there are of course many excellent instructors around but some leave a little to be desired with regards to respecting their aircraft…..

But SR20 / TB20 could work on a certain type of students. The ones with the Porsche and the item to tick in the bucket list.

I know you wrote that tongue in cheek but it would work on students with an aptitude for mechanical things and computers.

I think there is a market in pitching the PPL as a product to well funded clients, but for whatever reason nobody seems to be doing it. Well, not at PPL level; there are some attempts at the IR level where you get a self selected population anyway.

There is also a big case to be made for training in a plane which the student is likely to want to rent afterwards, which is unlikely to happen with a C152 or a PA38 (I have lots of time in both of those). But again nobody is told this at the outset.

That is why I asked about how affluent the area is. You don’t need to run a completely antique fleet if the clients have money.