not-really-a-microlight(s)
Discussion
Most of the information you'll want is on https://www.bmaa.org
From there you can find a localish school that'll do three axis microlight training, talk to them about what you want to do, go flying and see how you get on with it.
To get yourself an NPPL you need to do a minimum of 25 hours, realistically you're looking more like 40-50, pass a bunch of exams and a skills test
That'll cost you somewhere in the ~6-7k sort of region doing all your flying in school aircraft.
Aircraft will set you back anywhere from 10-150k depending on what you want and how new you want it, nobody builds very many of these things though so finding what you want might not be easy unless you don't mind waiting a long time.
If you do fewer than about 25 hours a year then it's cheaper to fly someone else's aircraft.
Shared ownership is the normal sane way of keeping costs manageable but you're looking at something like £3-4k a year to keep a microlight in hangarage, insurance and some basic servicing. (Insurance is something you can get a huge range of prices on depending on the cover you want, hull cover can be a significant cost on an expensive aircraft but putting it back together being someone else's problem is very nice when you've just smashed 60k worth of carbon fibre into the ground)
They're all on Permit To Fly so maintenance can be done by anyone competent to undertake the work and it's typical for owners to do at least the basic servicing themselves.
Oh and it's totally a microlight, it's got a sticker on it that says so. The rules say it's only allowed two seats and has to be under a certain weight and be able to fly very slowly. Nothing anywhere says they can't go really quite fast or have all sorts of shiny electronics in them.
From there you can find a localish school that'll do three axis microlight training, talk to them about what you want to do, go flying and see how you get on with it.
To get yourself an NPPL you need to do a minimum of 25 hours, realistically you're looking more like 40-50, pass a bunch of exams and a skills test
That'll cost you somewhere in the ~6-7k sort of region doing all your flying in school aircraft.
Aircraft will set you back anywhere from 10-150k depending on what you want and how new you want it, nobody builds very many of these things though so finding what you want might not be easy unless you don't mind waiting a long time.
If you do fewer than about 25 hours a year then it's cheaper to fly someone else's aircraft.
Shared ownership is the normal sane way of keeping costs manageable but you're looking at something like £3-4k a year to keep a microlight in hangarage, insurance and some basic servicing. (Insurance is something you can get a huge range of prices on depending on the cover you want, hull cover can be a significant cost on an expensive aircraft but putting it back together being someone else's problem is very nice when you've just smashed 60k worth of carbon fibre into the ground)
They're all on Permit To Fly so maintenance can be done by anyone competent to undertake the work and it's typical for owners to do at least the basic servicing themselves.
Oh and it's totally a microlight, it's got a sticker on it that says so. The rules say it's only allowed two seats and has to be under a certain weight and be able to fly very slowly. Nothing anywhere says they can't go really quite fast or have all sorts of shiny electronics in them.
PlywoodPascal said:
What's involved, for a total beginner, in learning to fly and then owning and flying (for fun) a modern microlight that's basically a plane - e.g. a eurofox type thing?
I've done up to (and including) my first solo NPPL(M) but it was nigh on ten years ago now. Moved to London and just couldn't get out and get to reasonably priced airfields. Now that I'm away from London, I'd really like to pick it up again, but it's not realistic at the moment. If I had my time again, I'd gave buggered off to Gerry Breen in Portugal and done it in 2-3 weeks. It's just too hard to keep making progress with our weather.
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