I soloed on my 16th birthday… and then took another 24 years to get my pilot certificate. My dad had a C150 and initially paid for the instructor and fuel. After solo I was in my own, with the aircraft itself still available, but I couldn’t afford it. However years later I came back to it and bought a plane, which I never would have done if it hadn’t been for my dad giving me a bit of a push at age 15.
Pay through solo would be one way to go. Even if he never flies again it is not a waste IMO.
I learnt to fly, self funded, at age 20 (merci à la bourse FFA moins de 21 ans): slightly over 100 hours in a year then just about ran out of money; there’s no way I could have have afforded it in the UK. It was perfect time to do it: at university I had plenty of time but no money, then working I had enough money but little time 
I’m planning on getting a Jodel D.11 for my daughter’s 15th birthday… that’s 14.5 years to convince Madame Capitaine
I rest my case
Fund him to solo on reasonable hours (honestly not much money, 20h?), it is already a lot of achievement and will give him a lot of self confidence and he does not have to break from his school to do it !
He will sort out the rest himself later if he wants a PPL or ATPL and how he can afford it for fun or job
Seeing that you have a Morane, it certainly makes sense if you already have an airplane to train another pilot for it.
I agree with the theoretical parts, let him finish that first and then go on to the practical lessons. Of course the availability of an airplane in the family which is usable for training puts a different slant on it. If you can organize yourself with the school he wants to train with, they could agree to temporarily take it into their fleet list, so he could train at least some part of it directly on your plane, particularly the later stages of the PPL training.
I’d think it might make for some nice father/son trips later on once he has his license :)
I would do it if I were you. And I would fully fund the PPL without setting any artificial restrictions if I could afford that. My son is just 2, soon three years old but it would be great to share this hobby with him in 15 years or so…
The more people flying, the merrier. It’s up to us making that happen any way we can. But, “should” is a stupid word in this regard. My son saved money for 1/3-1/2 of the training, then I paid for the rest, but I also was the instructor. He is still in high school, and obviously do not have much money.
I have always said flying is for everyone. You can start with gliding, microlight or hang/para gliding and have fun for the rest of your life with that, or you can take it “further”. I flew gliders when I was 16, payed in part by my dad. Straight to PPL? I’m not sure that is such a good idea, as younger people find it boring, and the community is mostly old men, and in general not the most including bunch (as can be found in gliding, microlight, hang/para for instance where “flying is for everyone” is one of the key aspects of the hobby). That can seriously put young people off.
I started my PPL when I was 17. My father paid for 50%, I did odd jobs to pay the remaining 50%.
I started flying when was in College, I did a side job, this payed for about 1h of flying every 2 weeks. After 1 year I obtained my UL license.
Later when I started working full time I moved on to PPL.
As Peter’s advice: absolutely yes but conditional on the ground exams being passed. Or at least Air Law….No point paying inheritance tax so distribute what you have constructively is my view.
(IHT is a British thing – not sure if other countries have a tax upon wealth that has already been taxed)
