Learn To Fly At Tatenhill Airfield

Flight Training School located in the beautiful East Staffordshire countryside. Private Pilot Training & Aircraft Hire.

Flight Experiences: Trial flights make great gifts and are a wonderful opportunity to take to the skies and see the world from a different perspective. The views are spectacular and the experience is truly awesome. The trial flight experience will provide you with the opportunity to take the controls of our aircraft. Perfect as a gift and an ideal starting point if you are interested in learning to fly.

http://www. tatenhill-aviation. co. uk /trial-lesson-vouchers /

We provide complete training for the PPL, LAPL & NPPL, including ground school, written examinations and flight training. Please give us a call, pop in for a chat or visit our website for more information on the licences, requirements and how to get started. We can also provide help and training for licence renewals and revalidations.

Post PPL courses: A number of post PPL courses are available, including the Night and IR(R) Ratings. We also offer tailwheel conversions & aerobatics.

My working week is Sunday - Thursday.

Reasons To Fly At Tatenhill:
1) We offer very competitive training and hire rates.
2) Large and varied fleet of aircraft.
3) Friendly and experienced instructors who have been on staff for a number of years and who are dedicated to flight training.
4) No joining /membership fees.
5) Very long, hard runway. We don't suffer in the same way that grass airfields do during the winter months and periods of prolonged rainfall.
6) We have our own cafe. So you can bring family and friends along to watch your progress.
7) There's an active and friendly flying club based at the airfield.
8) We're only minutes away from the beautiful Peak District.

How Much Does It Cost To Get A PPL?
Flight Training £6480
Ground School £330
Books, Charts, Checklist, Flight Computer, Etc £250
Medical £70
Headset £250
Written Exams £225
Landing Fees Away From Tatenhill £50
RT Exam £60
Final Flight Test £150 + Aircraft £300
CAA Application Fee £183
Total: £8348
I always plan to get my customers through the course in the minimum of 45 hours of flight training. Of course whether I achieve this is largely down to each individual's ability and how much time they can dedicate to training.

Successful Lesson. . .
There are a few things that you can do to help yourself.
1) Prepare
Make sure that you've read up on and done any necessary preparation for your lesson.
2) Checks
Know your airborne checks off by heart. Note that it's one thing to know them sitting at home with the checklist in front of you and quite another to know them whilst flying.
3) Arrival
Give yourself time. Turn up at least fifteen or so minutes before your lesson. This will give you time to settle down after your journey. Plus if your instructor is free then you may be able to get started a bit earlier. Thus giving more time to brief, preflight, etc. You wouldn't believe how many people pull into the car park 30 seconds before their lesson is due to start. . . or after.
4) Weather
When you first arrive take a moment. Look to the sky, asses the visibility, feel the wind on your face and glance down towards the windsock. Think about how all of these factors may affect your flight.
5) Questions
If you have them then right them down, bring them in and ask them. There's no such thing as a stupid question. We're all here to learn.

How does this whole learning to fly thing work?

Well here's a rough breakdown of how I train people to fly:

-Most people start with a trial lesson. These lessons can last anywhere between thirty and sixty minutes. During this lesson you'll find out what it's like to fly in a light aircraft whilst learning how the basic controls work. This is also a good opportunity to do a bit of sightseeing. I'm hard pressed to find anybody who doesn't enjoy the experience. Even people who claim to be scared of flying often don't want to come back down after they've experienced what it's like to fly. Once this lesson has been completed the serious training begins.

-The first seven or so hours are spent learning to handle the aircraft. During this time you'll be reading through the relevant chapters in the flight training manual whilst also looking at Air Law, Operational Procedures and possibly Human Performance & Limitations books.

-Once you can handle the aircraft we then move on to learning to land safely. By this stage you'll need to have been to see an Aero Medical Examiner who'll sign you off as being fit to fly by yourself. With a little bit of time spent in the classroom now's also the time start taking the first multiple choice written exams. I get my trainees to take Air Law, Operational Procedures and Human Performance & Limitations whilst we're practicing circuits.

- Fifteen or so hours into the training a lot of people are ready to go off by themselves for a once around the airfield. Everybody's different and so some are ready after ten hours, others after over twenty. You're ready when you're ready. This will always be my favourite part of the training process.

- The next few hours are spent in the circuit practising a variety of approach and landing techniques. Some of this time will be with me, but you'll also have the opportunity to practice by yourself. It's all about building confidence at this stage.

- Next we move on to hazard avoidance manoeuvres and learning how to handle emergencies. This generally involves learning how to land safely following an engine failure or better still restarting the engine. Now "touch wood" during twenty-five years of flying I've never had any problems, but it pays to be prepared.

- It's now time for some more flying by yourself. I send my trainees out to Blithfield Reservoir & Uttoxeter so that they get the chance to build their confidence and make overhead rejoins back at the airfield without any prompting from me.

- Now's it's time to get back in the classroom and learn how to plan a navigation trip. This involves plotting tracks on a chart, checking for any potential hazards, making sure that the weather's going to be OK along the whole length of the flight and making allowances for wind drift and variations in ground speeds. This may all sound a bit complicated, but it's easy once you've done it a few times. As well as spending time in the classroom you'll also be reading up on Navigation, Flight Planning, Meteorology and Radiotelephony.

- After spending weeks flying locally it's now time to get out and about and look at navigation. Small routes with me at first and then the same or similar routes by yourself. Once you have a few more solo hours under your belt then it's time to fly to other airfields. I tend to go to Leicester, Gloucester and sometimes Halfpenny Green. Once you've shown that you can safely land away at other airfields I'll then send you off by yourself on a trip that'll take you to Gloucestershire & Leicestershire Airports. We refer to this as your Qualifying Cross Country.

- Now somewhere in the midst of all of this we also need to take a look at learning to use what are called navigation aids and how to control the aircraft and get out of cloud should you inadvertently enter it. Again this shouldn't ever happen, but it pays to be prepared. There's also the small matter of taking a further six multiple choice written exams. Don't be daunted. They're all pretty short and I'm here to help you get through them. Oh yes, plus you'll need to have taken a practical Radiotelephony test with an examiner before you do your Qualifying Cross Country. Again this may sound daunting, but it won't be by the time that you're this far into the training.

- We're almost there. Now it's just time for a few hours of revision to prepare you for your final flight test with an examiner.

- That's it. After a bit of paperwork and a short wait for the CAA to issue you a licence you're now a Private Pilot. Now all that you need to do is to convince family and friends to go flying with you. Enjoy!