Woah. That seems like a lifetime to me. It took me about 10 weeks to get my PPL and I have a friend who did it much faster.
Here in the UK, if you can fly weekends only (true for many/most) then it will generally take you a year. Not just because lessons cannot be done (they tend to be cancelled in e.g. rain or cloud below 1500ft) but because the instructor won’t let you do the solo bits in less than 10km / 3000ft or so. And UK summers tend to be hazy… In my early days I recall one wonderful summer, 5km vis, and one guy waited 6 months for his QXC flight. Obviously he had to do much of the PPL all over again… I thought this was terrible on the part of the school, but then you get cases like the solo student who killed himself at Southend when asked to orbit on base leg for spacing.
And sometimes the wx can be really bad. In oct/nov/dec 2000 I booked a lesson every day (i.e. 90 lessons) and got just 3! It was drizzle most of the time, and I am not even talking about solo. These were dual, in an unstable kite called a PA38. What a joke. So, I could fly daily but it still took a year. Best time to start a PPL is about April.
A PPL, done full-time i.e. 2 flights per day, should take 6 weeks, and it possible in 4 weeks with a very competent candidate with prior experience. But then you get stuff like this where a French school (“club” but from the customer’s POV it is fully commercial; the instructors just get paid almost nothing) bans 2 flights per day.
I would have forgotten so much between lessons…
Of course, but cynically you might say it is in the school’s interest to stretch it out. A 60hr PPL is much better business than a 45hr PPL. When I did mentoring I told the people to not mention they were flying with me… airfield politics!
Probably not “seven hour leg substantial” though
BTW I don’t do 7 hour legs normally 
Usually the longest flight (limited by alternates etc) is 6hrs and even that would be very rare. But if you are up there, with a stronger than forecast headwind, and the fuel totaliser says you will land with 20USG, and the wx at destination and alternates is all good, I will just sit there… why land? But this is digressing. I was just replying to the 7hr bit.
LeSving wrote:
What is “flight hours 45 h” and “flight instructor 90 h” ? 8370/90 = 93 CHF = 85 € or 800 NOK per hour. For each flight hour you pay 186 CHF to an “instructor” ? Each training hour costs 3222.8 CHF ?
It means their calculation counts with renting a plane for 45 hours at 136.8 CHF per hour (which gives you 6,156 CHF total plus 650 CHF for a package to get this lower rate) and those hours are counted as flight time (I think they’re billed per minute), not block time (brakes off – brakes on). EASA wants block time in logbooks so the training requirements are in block time, i.e. this is more than the required minimum, but it might be more realistic (honest, if you want) calculation for an average student.
Yes, they calculate that on average you will spend two hours with an instructor per one hour of flight time. Instructors are usually not paid purely for flight time and there is briefing and debriefing (students that come prepared will need less time so this is variable). If you add it together, you’ll get 322.8 CHF (you missed a decimal place).
on average you will spend two hours with an instructor per one hour of flight time
It sounds like they are counting on 30 mins preflight and 30 mins post flight ground time.
That is a really good earner for the instructors!
If it was a 1 hour preflight briefing, most students would be asleep before they get into the plane.
Peter wrote:
And sometimes the wx can be really bad. In oct/nov/dec 2000 I booked a lesson every day (i.e. 90 lessons) and got just 3! It was drizzle most of the time, and I am not even talking about solo. These were dual, in an unstable kite called a PA38. What a joke. So, I could fly daily but it still took a year. Best time to start a PPL is about April.
Or you can go somewhere with better weather.
Peter wrote:
A PPL, done full-time i.e. 2 flights per day, should take 6 weeks, and it possible in 4 weeks with a very competent candidate with prior experience.
Actually, it’s possible in about two weeks if you do 90 % (maximum allowed) theory study at home (or even take exams before going for flight training). There were people who did it as a vacation (in that time) – obviously full time, two to three sessions per day (you must be able to handle that workload). I was told that an average guy should manage it in four weeks with two session per day.
To do it in 14 days you would need to log over 3hrs a day, so yes this is possible.
A Spanish FTO used to do the “15hr” ICAO IR to JAA IR conversion in 5 days. I know a couple of people who did it. Obviously it helps a lot to log taxi time 
Or you can go somewhere with better weather.
Only the very young can do that, or those who have nothing to do, usually.
Peter wrote:
That is a really good earner for the instructors!
Most importantly, they have a decent hourly rate. Paying for ground time isn’t that unusual. I’m assuming they spend their time e.g. explaining how to operate a nav box if they get a student that doesn’t prepare at home. And don’t forget it’s pure flight time, there will be some overhead (say 15 %; that other school is counting with almost 30 % between flight time and block time and if the instructor is paid for block time…).
Peter wrote:
Obviously it helps a lot to log taxi time
That’s actually what you’re supposed to do under EASA (and perhaps JAA before that, I would have to check). You’re logging block time (brakes off – brakes on).
Peter wrote:
Only the very young can do that, or those who have nothing to do, usually.
14 days (divided into two stays) is I think manageable even for an employee. But it’s a sacrifice, obviously. Question is, would you rather spend a year trying to get there?
Martin wrote:
That’s actually what you’re supposed to do under EASA (and perhaps JAA before that, I would have to check). You’re logging block time (brakes off – brakes on).
Yes both JAA and EASA log time is block off block on.
Yes of course, and same in FAA-land; I was just commenting on how this method of logging helps to achieve the required minimum hours for a student who is very good / had previous unlogged time.
I guess the Swiss case is just a “Swiss case” i.e. Switzerland is expensive If the standards are higher, that is a worthwhile point to discuss however (what is different).
Martin wrote:
you’ll get 322.8 CHF (you missed a decimal place).
Yes, sorry. Anyway, that is 186 CHF to the instructor for each flight hour. In Norway it’s normal to charge 300 NOK, or about 35 CHF. At 320 CHF per hour you will get first rate helicopter instructions. A PPL-A in Switzerland cost about the same as PPL-H in Norway. When I did my PPL in 1992, I paid 500 NOK per hour flat (including everything), about 55 CHF.
One has to wonder what kind of super instructors they have in Switzerland
