Ooops – yes, you are right.
Peter wrote:
IFR time is the bit being debated. It’s an interesting one…
In what sense is my argument not a clincher? It is arguable that almost the whole IFRness of a flight happens before you take-off. In extremis, you could program the SID, Route, STAR and Approach before going off chocks, and then just leave the autopilot to fly it from 1000’ to 200’ while you doze.
If you use the taxy time wisely, you have to do very little thinking when airborne at all.
Yes; I agree.
Peter wrote:
What else could IFR time be used towards? Was it an IRI or some such?
CPL holders acting as commanders in SP ME IFR operations. And flight instructors wishing to instructor for the grant, revalidation, or renewal, of an EIR or IR. The IRI requires 800 hours and is relatively uncommon, at least in UK.
The other day I flew with a young lad who wants to do a PPL. He has little money but lots of time.
Is the US option (of doing both FAA and EASA PPLs at the same time) still like it was i.e. the schools in Florida and California?
I would be surprised if there is the x3 difference in costs which there was 10+ years ago but then I am speaking as someone who has little time and will primarily be looking for ways to streamline the process. Whereas a young person might well just enjoy of experience of hanging out in the USA for some months…
Silvaire wrote:
AAA in California appears unaffected by the EASA kaleidoscope, as far as one can tell anyway. This time of the year has the best flying weather in their area, currently severe clear and warm.
I did this in 2013, which is a while back, but a friend of mine did his PPL there this year and has had a positive experience, although it seems the entire personnel and probably ownership has changed.
Patrick wrote:
although it seems the entire personnel and probably ownership has changed
The felony visa fraud charges against the former owners probably wasn’t very helpful. http://avstop.com/news_may_2010/san_diego_fight_school_pleads_guilty_to_visa_fraud_and_hiring_violations.htm
In case anybody is actually interested, AAA is in the same location but was closed and restarted by new owners after that well publicized Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid about 10 years ago. The new owners changed the name to American Aviation versus Anglo American but kept the AAA acronym for name recognition in Europe and Asia, where the customers are. Patrick was there six years or so after that, so if ownership has changed since there must’ve been a second ownership change. Regardless of ownership changes, instructors at a place like that don’t stick around long. The planes keep flying but all the people are just passing through.
The main effect of places like AAA for those of us who coexist with any of them is that they keep the airport movements up, and that business supports the airport funding. That makes living with sometimes barely understandable, very slow radio comm (ELP) seem less of an issue.
“The other day I flew with a young lad who wants to do a PPL. He has little money but lots of time”
Tell him to visit all his local flying schools and see which one is most amenable to him kicking around the place. It took me 5 years of 80 hours a week of minimal wage jobs to pay for my training. You get all those hours for free at my local school if you put the effort in.
