Fly310 wrote:
To clarify: The LAPL offer you three passengers, so total 4 POB. The actual seats in the aircraft are of no importance(not allowed to have 4 POB in a two seat aircraft though;).
Thank you Fly310 and @Airborne_Again I indeed implied a one passenger limitation for the LAPL which doesn’t exist. I was confused by the french regulation for ULM which limit them to be two seater flying machines.
Buckerfan wrote:
you are overthinking all this. Plus what you write is a bit confusing.
Sorry if I seem unprepared, but this is why I’m posting and thinking out loud here, because my bet is I have enough to learn.
Buckerfan wrote:
you will have to join the club, for a modest fee, and thereafter the use of the planes will be at cost and the instructor time will be so pitifully cheap you wonder how they can afford to do it. On top of all this, learning to fly in a mountainous country is a huge added bonus.
Maybe I haven’t given it enough time to know Switzerland and see this side of it that you are beautifully describing, where good, pitifully cheap services are offered, but I could do with just one of those aeroclubs that match your description, if anyone knows where they are. I live near Zurich, Switzerland, but I would gladly commute to such a place, I actually go once a month towards Basel.
@rschris Thank you for sharing your experience, I’ve also PM’ed you.
Here is a map with most of the swiss airfields https://ourairports.com/countries/CH/. The majority of these will have an aeroclub like I described.
I mentioned Porrentruy before. At their club aircraft rental is about SFr 270 per hour for the most expensive option, with some much cheaper ones as well. And instructor SFr 50 per hour. The rental probably includes fuel too.
Thank you for the help @Buckerfan , I’ve given it a try and contacted several schools so far that have no total PPL price displayed, while the others display an upfront cost for PPL(A) that exceeds my total budget by at least 50%-100% which is expected.
You should not try to evaluate the total cost of the PPL itself, it’s only a step in your journey as a pilot. What I mean by this, is that after the PPL, you will still spend money on flying at about the same rate. Which means, it’s more a constant flow of money going to aviation until you decide to drop this passion rather than a one of cost to get your license :-)
Most ‘aeroclub’ will thus only give you the hourly rate of aircraft rental and instructor cost. If you wish, based on these numbers, you can evaluate the cost of the PPL, knowing that the minimum hours for getting it is 45, but you should add some buffer to it, no point trying if you are not ready.
The advantage of going to Spain, will be the possibility to get the PPL in a relatively short period of time (like 1 to 2 months) mostly because the weather there is more better than in Switzerland. If you want to get the license quickly, then Spain is probably a good option. But that will require you to spend 1 to 2 months there, so factor in the accommodation, and your own availability (remember that if you want to complete it in a short period of time, you will be flying almost every day, so it will use a lot of your time).
Now, if your intent is to fly in Switzerland afterwards, you will probably need to take a local instructor after your PPL to get acquainted with the specifics of flying there. Basically, you will need to find an aéroclub or another aircraft rental setup at that point, so your 20h per year you mentioned should be based on Swiss price.
The way I see it, if you are not in a particular hurry to get your license, I would go for an aéroclub in Switzerland, main challenge will be to find an instructor who can speak English, but that should be doable. If you want your ticket quickly, then Spain (I think Malta can also be an option) is a good option.
If Strasbourg is an option, you can get your license here for less than your budget and if you start in summer the weather is pretty good most of the time.
Not sure if you speak French, but if you don’t, I think some of the instructors here speak English as there are some current or former airline pilots.
Though with zero French knowledge you would be limited to some of the medum/bigger airports during your training + you will need help for the bureaucracy.
Seba wrote:
If Strasbourg is an option, you can get your license here for less than your budget and if you start in summer the weather is pretty good most of the time.
Not sure if you speak French, but if you don’t, I think some of the instructors here speak English as there are some current or former airline pilots.
Though with zero French knowledge you would be limited to some of the medum/bigger airports during your training + you will need help for the bureaucracy.
Forgot to specify, this is valid at the aeroclub not at the private schools based at LFST. For those, your budget is not enough, on the other hand, English is guaranteed.
Seba wrote:
you will need help for the bureaucracy.
I am sure he will 
The99percenter wrote:
I live near Zurich
Then finding a flight school shouldn’t be a problem… 2 on my field (20km W of Zurich): Silvergoose and Fliegerschule Birrfeld
And there are plenty of other fields with flight schools around Zurich… and I have yet to find an FI around here that doesn’t speak English 
If you wanna get that licence in a hurry, choose a school with pro instructors, you don’t want the airline pilot FI that cancels your session at the last minute as he’s been called outta standby or else…
If you plan to stay in CH, getting your license here at a local flying club will be a very good experience for you. You’ll meet some cool people, learn the airspace, and have fun flying and learning. As they say, the journey is just as important as the destination.
It’s been a while since I took the written tests, but they were available in French, German, and Italian – not English. However, this is not that big of a deal, because at that time they were mainly translations of FAA questions. That could be different today, it’s been 20 years. The FAA test took less than an hour, the Swiss written test was closer to 6 hours. The Swiss test covered the same info as the FAA, plus the airspace specifics of Switzerland and Europe, and just asked more questions about the same stuff. It was not harder than the FAA. I used Rod Machado books at that time.
My main instructor was outstanding. I’ve flown with many others over the years for flight reviews, and all are very solid pilots and I learned a lot from each. I feel that the quality of instruction here in Switzerland is high.
Just my CHF 0.02.
