Silvaire wrote:
I’d guess it’s schools doing training mostly for overseas students, often at a different and fixed price, who can’t be bothered with individuals looking to satisfy individual needs.
Nope, that’s what I read and hear around KSMO. With the possible exception of American Flyers, not too many overseas students. I’m sure there are cheaper options out there, but – at least from what I see – the huge price differences EU/US seem to be a thing of the past.
At the other end of the spectrum from Santa Monica you have places like First Flight, where an Aeronca Champ with instructor totals $110/hr total wet (the plane is $65/hr wet). A Cessna 172 plus instructor is $130 total wet. If it were me I’d fly the Aeronca for a while, then transition into the C172. That would teach you how to fly (better) for substantially less than $10K.
At those rates and including an extra $500 for the examiner plus miscellaneous costs totaling another $500, you could estimate about USD $7,000 total assuming 35 hrs dual in a combination of both planes plus 20 hrs solo in the C172 (55 hrs total to private certificate). At today’s exchange rate that’s €6222 or £5212 
Wow, these are indeed very very cheap rates. Wonder how that is possible, at a place like Santa Monica.
You do like your classics, don’t you, Silvaire 
boscomantico wrote:
Wonder how that is possible, at a place like Santa Monica.
It’s not Santa Monica, but Brown Field near San Diego. As I said in my original post, I’m sure there are cheaper options out there, but the days when getting a PPL in the States was cheaper by a factor of three are gone.
Actually, even in KSMO you can have it much cheaper, but that involves joining a club / syndicate. Not really an option for an overseas student.
172driver wrote:
It’s not Santa Monica, but Brown Field near San Diego.
It would be a rather more down to earth experience Brown is about a mile from the Mexican border, with all the luxury and schicki-micki that implies. You’d probably have a hard time getting the instructor to fly as much as a European student would need to knock out a PPL fast. There’s a reason why some places are cheap and others expensive, but its not mandatory to spend the greater amount, particularly for the US based student.
172driver wrote:
You do like your classics, don’t you, Silvaire
I think flying the Champ for 20 hours would be a great start for a new student, followed by transitioning into a C172. In that sense I do indeed like my classics…
PS @Peter the FBO at my base just lowered the Avgas price to $3.99/USG, or 0.78 £/litre. I don’t know if that’s high in comparative historical terms but that number doesn’t dominate the aircraft rental price.
Martin wrote:
You just sit at a computer in one of the numerous test centers with seats available at short notice.That’s how it works in Sweden, too…
Airborne_Again wrote:
That’s how it works in Sweden, too…
I didn’t mean to imply that all of Europe has horrendous systems for theoretical examination. Point was it’s so convenient it shouldn’t be a factor.
