Ultimate Guide | Learning to Fly Aeroplanes

For PPL or LAPL Licences

Learning to fly is an amazing feat, but it requires a sizeable time and financial investment. This guide gives you all the information you need to help you on your way to becoming a pilot.

Steve Mason

Head of Training

Table Of Contents / Quick Links

For PPL or LAPL Licences
The 7 Steps To Your Licence
Learning To Fly – Cost, Timeframe and Other FAQs

The 7 Steps To Your Licence

1) Get Started – Is It For You? Which Licence, Which Aircraft And Who To Learn With

In the first instance we recommend taking a trial lesson or two and / or coming in for one of our free consultations. We have a dedicated team of full time flight instructors and examiners, ensuring that you receive the highest standard of training. Having in-house examiners means that we can take people from no experience to a pilot licence in 3 months, or even less in some cases. If you’re looking at learning to fly as quickly as possible take a look at our fast track scheme. Alternatively you can learn at your own pace on a pay as you go basis.
There is no one size fits all.

We strongly suggest you study the differences between the two basic types of recreational licence to and make a decision based on what best suits your needs. Both the PPL and LAPL can be gained from the age of 17 although you can start logging hours from the age of 14 and can fly solo at 16. Both licences entitle the holder to fly light aircraft and for leisure flights across Europe.

Get A Trial lesson First

A trial lesson gives you an insight into what it is actually like to fly a light aircraft hands on. We would never recommend committing yourself to flying lessons until you have had one or two trial flights to make sure its right for you. Whats more the time in the aircraft on your trial lesson will count towards training hours.

What is a LAPL Licence?

The Light Aircraft Pilots Licence (LAPL) is not so widely known as the Private Pilots Licence (PPL), but for pilots who are only looking to fly for recreation and not for further commercial training, it’s an excellent option and cheaper to obtain. In fact in our experience the majority of private pilots we meet could do all of their flying on a LAPL licence and could have saved themselves money in the process.

The LAPL requires fewer flying hours to achieve. A minimum of 30 hours is required to include 15 hours of dual instruction and 6 hours of solo flight. Of these solo hours 3 hours must be cross country navigation to include a qualifying cross country flight of 80 nautical miles and a stop at one aerodrome. The remaining hours will be solo or dual depending on the needs of the student. Once the syllabus has been completed the student will be required to pass a skills test.

It does not allow the addition of ratings such as the instrument rating or multi engine and it cannot be used as the basis for a commercial license. However this being said the night rating and aerobatic rating can be added to a LAPL, therefore the holder can still fly at night and perform aerobatics with the appropriate training.

The LAPL is a single engine piston only licence. This makes things much simpler in terms of revalidation. As long as the holder has flown 12 hours in a 12 month rolling period, the licence remains valid.

What is a PPL Licence?

For a Private Pilots Licence (PPL) the CAA requires a minimum of 45 hours flight training to include 25 hours dual flying with a flying instructor. You will also need 10 hours solo, including at least 5 hours of cross country navigation. The cross country hours must include a qualifying cross country flight of 150 nautical miles landing away at two other aerodromes. The remaining 10 hours will be dual or solo, depending on the needs of the student. Once the syllabus has been completed the student will undertake a ‘skills test’. Successful complete of this will lead to licence issue.

In order to keep a PPL current the holder is required to fly 12 hours in the 12 months preceding the expiry of the single engine rating.

How do PPL & LAPL licenses compare?

In a nutshell, the PPL is ideal if you think that you may want to take your flying further. If you are sure that you only want to fly for pleasure then a LAPL may be best. If you are unsure, attending one of our trial lessons or free introductory consultations would help you decide. Other reasons students go for a LAPL is that it is generally around £2500 cheaper to obtain, the medical is less restrictive for some people, so better for older pilots too. A LAPL can be converted to PPL at a later date with additional training. One thing to mention is that the LAPL enables you to take a maximum of 3 passengers, following 10 hours PIC logged from licence issue. You cannot take passengers immediately. There is also a weight restriction of 2000kg on the aircraft you fly. Both licences when issued are day time only.

What else should I be aware of before I decide on a Licence?

Flight hours logged toward a LAPL cannot be used towards a PPL. So if you start training towards a LAPL and decide after 20 hours that you want the PPL these 20 hours don’t count. Potentially a very expensive mistake.

It is possible to transfer once the licence has been issued however more training will be required.

How Do I Choose The Right Flight Instructor?

Ultimately they are all trained to deliver what you require but this person needs to fill you with confidence, make you feel at ease and receptive to learning. You need the right rapport, and ability to trust that person in order to get the best from them. If the instructor makes you feel on edge, uncomfortable or your personalities just clash this will impact your training in a negative way.

It maybe worth doing worth doing a trial lesson with your proposed instructor to see how you get on. Make sure you are able to switch instructors if you do clash, generally I would recommend once you have found the instructor you like flying with stick with them for the duration of the course. Consistency is key and if you are constantly moving from instructor to instructor you will not progress quickly. Always have a backup instructor for if your regular one is sick or off work for any period of time.

We have a dedicated team of full time flight instructors and examiners. Ensuring that you receive the highest standard of training. Having in-house examiners means that we can take people from no experience to a pilot licence in 3 months, or even less in some cases. If you’re looking at learning to fly as quickly as possible take a look at our fast track scheme.

How Do I Choose the Right Flying School?

Although all schools can provide you the training required, the level of professionalism, structure and customer service varies considerably. Furthermore, flying is a relatively expensive hobby. So you need to feel your school is looking after you best interests. Therefore we do our best to pay the utmost attention to our students needs in order to get them through the training quick and prevent them spending unnecessary cash by drawing out the training process more than needed.

Get chatting with other members, if you can, as this is always a good indication to how well you will be treated as a customer and don’t forget to check out the schools reviews and case studies if they have them. Ask as many questions as you can and be sure to follow up any questions you think of afterwards. There is never a silly question to ask or can you ask too many questions. Make sure you are clear in your mind as to what you are getting into.

In our case we offer students a FREE consultation to discuss their needs and options. From my experience there are all too many schools who simply want to talk students into signing up for lessons straight after a trial lesson, without enough prior information. We like to offer an approach that gives enough information to deter people who are not serious about learning to fly, but arms the serious ones with everything they need to know.

Ask your school to create you a training plan based around your circumstances, and give you some indication as to how long your training should take. A structured written training plan is essential so that you know where you are at with your training and what comes next. I would seriously avoid any school not offering such structure. Remember that consistency in training is the most important factor when training and without it you are likely to spend longer than you actually need to complete your training and thus costing you much more than necessary.

Look at what facilities your school offers in terms of aircraft, flight instructors and their availability, ground instruction, theory exams, on line training resources, medicals etc. Some schools do not offer in house solutions so you will need to factor in the inconvenience and additional costs of going elsewhere for these services.

Ask your school if they use permanent instructors as the smaller flying clubs tend to have lots of self employed instructors that will not always be available when you need them. If you go to a school with a team of employed instructors you have a much better chance of seeing your training through with the same instructor on days that suits you.

How Do I Choose What To Fly?

All aircraft used for training are suitable for purpose, however make sure you find one that is inline with your budget and makes you feel confident to train in.

Why attend a consultation?

It’s an opportunity to meet the team, discuss what it takes to learn to fly and give you a more personal insight into your options, the costs and things which you need to know in more detail than we can do here.

Book your consultation here>>

Information about our Trial Flying Lessons can be found here.

Also we have separate pages for each licence type where you can get more information.

2) Get a Medical (Without Delay)

This sounds like a chore when all you want to do is get flying, but trust me, this is really important. If you are training towards a PPL you will need a Class 2 Medical. If you are training towards a LAPL you will need a LAPL medical. Delaying can have a knock on effect that can stifle progress and increase the time and cost of achieving a full licence.

Why can delaying a medical be problematic?

People do fail medicals or have complications that are lengthy to sort out. So imagine you have started training and worst case you find out you cannot obtain a medical. You will have wasted money on flight training and will be hugely disappointed, or fail and cannot feasibly get a medical for months. In that scenario do you continue to fly to keep you skills up to scratch or wait it out?

By prioritising getting the a medical, not only could you save time, money and disappointment; you can also ensure you are ready for solo flight. If you are on a Fast track course it could be in as little as few weeks before you are ready for solo.

Do you offer medicals in-house?

We have an in house Medical Examiner who can complete your medical, so don’t worry you don’t need to go anywhere else. However should you find an AME who is more convenient or better suits your needs, you are of course free to use them.

Booking a medical with our AME

3) Pass The Theory Exams

We are registered with the CAA and have an in-house examiner for the theory exams. There are 9 theory subjects to study for both the PPL and LAPL licences. The communications module also has a prerequisite of the FRTOL communications test. But generally we recommend taking an intensive online course and getting them all out the way as soon as you can over a modular approach. This is generally the most efficient and therefore cost-effective way to approach the theory side of training.

What are the nine theory exam modules?

Air Law
Operational Procedures
Communications
Meteorology
Aircraft General Knowledge
Flight Planning And Performance
Human Performance And Limitations
Principles Of Flight
Navigation

What format are the final exams in?

The exams are in an electronic format. You will need to register with the CAA to take the exams and nominate your test centre. The exams are usually 12 – 24 questions and depending on the number of questions 20 – 50 minutes in duration. The results are available shortly after you have completed the exam.

What happens if I fail an exam?

If you fail an exam you have up to four attempts at each subject after which you will need to resit the entire 9 exams again. You have 18 months to complete all of the theory exams from the date of your first exam and 24 months to pass your skills test after the date of the last exam.

Is it possible to pass the exams only with self-study?

For a lot of people yes, however most need some sort of assistance at some point and to help you get through quickly and painlessly without wasting money, we do recommend something like our intensive online theory exam course. Or our full fast track program, which includes this.

We recommend the Pooley’s revision guides, which we can provide.
They are the standard for flying schools across the UK. In addition we also have our own online study platform called PPL Expert.

We offer here one to one instruction, individual subjects or a 5 day intensive ground school in person or via ZOOM.

There are also pre recorded distance learning modules available.

4) Start Flight Training

We operate early lessons as 1 hour flights with a brief and de-brief at either end of your lesson. As you progress the airtime may increase to accommodate longer navigation routes.

The initial flight training is based around familiarising yourself with the controls of the aircraft and their effects, circuit procedures, circuit emergencies and mastering the art of taking off and more importantly landing.

Take a look at the school fleet and see what fits with your budget. The shiny aircraft or the most expensive on the fleet might look attractive on first glance, but bare in mind that you will be with this aircraft for at least the minimum hours, so make sure its affordable, you feel confident in it and you are comfortable in it.

Consistency is key, so stick with the same aircraft for the duration of the course. If you decide to change type do it very early on in your training to avoid unnecessary back tracking. At the end of the day the aircraft is just a tool, they are all capable trainers.

At around 14 – 20 hours depending on your ability you should be ready for your first solo flight. This will be assessed by your instructor and they will sign you off as fit to complete first solo as and when they deem you competent. At this point you should have your medical in place and have completed the air law exam and communications exam is also advisable.

You will then do some circuit consolidation as a solo exercise before moving onto navigation with your instructor.

Navigation is taught using a method called dead reckoning, using ground features to reference your position. You may also use radio navigation aids such as VOR to track your position and GPS devices are now being integrated into training.

You will complete several navigation exercises with your instructor and then fly them solo, building up to your Cross Country Qualifying Flight the QXC. The QXC for PPL is 150 Nautical miles to include land aways at two aerodromes other than the one you started from. LAPL QXC is 80 NM with one land away.

This then builds up to the more advanced areas of the training and ensuring your skills are ready for test. You will initially do a mock test with a different instructor other than your own, before being recommended for test.

5) Pass a Skills Test

Single Engine Piston (SEP) aircraft are what LAPL and PPL licenses enable you to fly, although PPL allows adding additional ratings for larger aircraft too.

What happens on the skills test?

The skills test will be conducted by an external examiner and will take around 2 hours flight time to complete. It usually starts with a thorough briefing of the aircrafts documents, weather, route, precautions etc. The examiner usually gives the the route a day or two before test. This is an example of how the test will be conducted:

Pre flight preparation and planning

Navigation section
Diversion
VOR tracking ( PPL Only)
General handling, stalls, PFL, steep turns, slow flight
Instrument appreciation (PPL Only)
Circuits and Circuit emergencies
De brief and oral questions

6) Pass a Radio Telephony Test

The RTF test is a practical examination. This we have facility to do at our premises, so you will not need to go anywhere else. Once complete you are able to obtain the radio licence FRTOL. It’s a sort of basic component of the LAPL/PPL licence, forming part of the final application process.

Prior to the test the examiner will brief you on the simulated route of the flight of which you will need to do the communications, usually via walkie talkie.

There is likely to be a requirement to do a controlled airspace zone transit and MATZ (Military Air Traffic Zone) penetration, along with emergencies thrown into the mix. It is essential you are familiar with Pan Pan, Mayday and Mayday Relay situations. Don’t worry these terms will make more sense as you get into the course.

7) Submit A LAPL / PPL Application

Once you have completed the proceeding steps you will have the required paperwork to make the final licence application. Once you have a licence you have it for life, although if you do not maintain the legal requirements then it or ratings on it can become invalid and require you to take action to bring it back into validity, such as an up to date skills test or medical.

Learning To Fly – Cost, Timeframe and Other FAQs

How Much does it cost?

Ask your school for an accurate costing if you complete in the minimum hours and what the additional charges may be required after that point. Most people require 10 – 15 hours over the minimum hour requirements, so factor that in. Ask for the following costs: medical, landing fees, aircraft hire, flight and ground instruction, flight equipment, ground exams, radio licence, skills test and licence issue costs. Ask your school if there are any other charges they make to students such as membership costs, subscriptions etc and bare in mind that the aircraft may vary in rates, so get a costing on the actual aircraft you wish to fly.

Beware of schools that will not give you a full cost breakdown or schools and low training costs. Cheap training is rarely the reality or a good thing in aviation, so make sure you do not get caught out by hidden extras like landing fees and fuel costs. Most cheap offerings only include the minimum hours and nothing else mentioned or quotes based upon the cheapest aircraft not the one you chose.

Once you have an accurate costing for your training including all of the costs mentioned, do some budgeting. How frequently a month can you afford to fly without getting yourself into difficulty? If its less than our recommended minimum of one lesson per month I would consider putting off the training until finances allow. The more frequently you can fly the more progress you will make, the more consistent your flying will become and more likely you will pass in fewer hours, thus reducing the costs.

Typical Example:

45 hours dual instruction £8775
Flight equipment (starter kit and headset) £350
Landings fees across the course £700
9 theory exams £315
Medical £200
Radio Licence £200
Skills Test £550 including aircraft hire
CAA Licence fee £200
Total £11290
Additional 10 hours training £1950
Grand Total £13240

One of the BIG things I tell people to avoid is flying outside of their financial means. What I mean by that is never get into debt to learn as you will not be able to maintain flying afterwards if you are paying off debts associated with flying and trying to fund future flying. Its better to have two lessons a month than a lesson every week, then run out of funds. This only leads to long gaps in training, back tracking and unnecessary additional costs.

How Long Does It Take?

Most people achieve a PPL in around 55 hours and LAPL in Around 40 hours, so this gives you an indication that the minimum hours are achievable for only a few.
People who learn to fly once a month will expect to take years to pass and are extremely unlikely to pass in minimum hours.
The key is to do it as fast as you can within your budget. Just to put it into perspective one of our fast track students flew every day and achieved PPL (A) in less than four weeks. Most Fast Track students take 3 – 6 months and regular students 12 – 18 months, so it really does depend on your aptitude, frequency of training and finances to support frequent training.

What Are The Age Limits?

Fourteen is the earliest you can start to log hours towards a licence. A student can fly solo at the age of sixteen and can hold a PPL or LAPL at seventeen. There is no upper limit, as long as you are fit and pass the medical you can keep flying.

Do I need any special qualifications?

No.

Do I need any special clothing?

Just comfortable clothing of the sort you would use to drive a car and a warm jacket in winter for walking out to the aircraft. For ladies, no high heels please. They make rudder control very difficult and will damage the wing surfaces when you board. The aircraft have very effective heating for winter use. For summer they are not air-conditioned but have effective cooling air vents.

Will I Pay A set price for every lesson?

No – you only pay for the flying time (brakes off to brakes on).

How long does it take before I can fly solo?

It varies on the individual, but between 14 and 20 hours of instruction is not unusual.

Will I have to pay anything in advance?

No – you only pay for the flying time (brakes off to brakes on). Payment is due after the flight, unless you are a Fast Track student of which payment is in instalments to enable block booking.

What sort of aircraft can I learn to fly in?

We have a Cessna 152 and a Robin 2160 both of which are 2 seat aircraft. In addition to this we have a PA28 and a Cessna 172 which are both 4 seat aircraft. All aircraft are available for training or private hire.

The aircraft type you learn in is personal choice, the 2 seater aircraft are smaller and therefore offer better economy. However the four seat aircraft are larger and offer more comfort especially for the larger framed person. All aircraft are excellent trainers in their own right.

Is learning to fly safe?

Aeroplanes are one of the safest forms of transport. All aircraft are inspected prior to each flight. They are checked and maintained regularly by licensed engineers in accordance with Civil Aviation Authority regulations. All our instructors are fully qualified commercial pilots, with extensive experience and expertise in the field of instruction. Periodically their licences are re-validated by authorised flight examiners.

Am I Insured when Flying with Almat Flying Academy?

You are covered under the aircraft insurance. Aircraft insurance documents can be viewed on request.

Is learning to fly difficult?

Not really, but it does require high motivation and dedication.

Does the weather play a major role in flying?

Yes, depending on your type of flight and nature of training. We adhere to the standards, rules and regulations as laid down by The Civil Aviation Authority to ensure that you have a safe and enjoyable experience.

Will trial lessons count towards my training?

Yes, all trial lessons are conducted by the same instructors who teach towards the PPL and LAPL. Therefore all time gained through trial lessons will count should you decide to pursue a licence. All of our training and courses comply with CAA requirements. Details of which can be found here.