**The Latest**

4th October 2010 - IMC Rating Passed and I’m rather pleased with how it went

Tuesday 24th August 2010 the day the GCSE exam results came out in Manchester is the day I decided to take my IMC written exam that I passed with my highest result so far 96% or just one question wrong - Basically I made a mistake in my maths adding up a flight duration from my plog. So next it’s book some additional lessons and hopefully we’ll be onto the flying skills test before you know it.

May 2010 - IMC Rating

After 12 months of flying and cracking the 100 hour mark I’ve decided to sign up to do my IMC Rating - So 15 hours (minimum) training is on the cards 10 of which is solely using instruments - No looking out the window this time around. Once again John Davidson at Flight Academy will be my instructor and I will start updating the blog when the training begins.

Costs

I’ve finally got the last bill for training so I’ve updated the costs page to reflect basic training and costs of additional extras I brought during my training. I noticed today the package of 45 hours training I purchased now costs £7,300 compared with £5,000 I paid 2 years ago so I guess a budget of £10,000 would be a fair estimate to get your PPL. Was it worth all the time and expense? In a word YES.

Why Learn To Fly

For as long as I can remember I've been fascinated by aircraft and flying. As a teenager I was a member of the ATC and was lucky enough to fly in Chipmunks with RAF pilots who'd perform aerobatics and give you a real feel for what's it like to control an aircraft. Whilst in the ATC I completed a course in a powered glider which ended up in flying a solo circuit around RAF Cosford.

What Next

Following the solo circuit I carried the dream of learning to fly with me for many years. Finally in 2007 I have the time and finance in place to try to make this dream a reality. I'm under no illusion that it will be one of the biggest challenges of my life to date.

Read all about it

Over the coming months I aim to keep an online blog of how the training is going which I hope you enjoy reading. Wednesday 29th August 2007 was the date for my first trial lesson at Barton Airfield in Manchester or to give it its correct name City Airport Manchester with the guys from Flight Academy read more about it in my Blog and online Logbook.