In one of my earliest posts I talked about how I had learned to fly in Orlando, Florida. I want to go into some more detail about that training to help you understand if you want to take that decision yourself.
In the earlier post I mentioned several of the advantages of using somewhere like Kissimmee as a base for flying. These included Air Traffic Control and ATIS experience, no landing fees and excellent weather. But I want to talk about the downside for a few moments.
Downsides:
The school I used (which will rename nameless, but was a flight training organisation based in Orlando), is one of at least two based at the airport. They do helicopter and fixed wing training as well as PA28, C172 and the full ATPL course. The facility has training rooms, an IFR simulator and full weather and briefing stations. They have a complement of instructors who do FAA and JAR training as well as instrument training and all the associated ATPL ground school classes. All in all it was a well organised school. But the downside to this is that it was always incredibly busy. There was a shortage of instructors, a shortage of planes and a shortage of slots. Any weather delay compounded the problem dramatically. Luckily I had a dedicated instructor which helped immensely, but I met folks out there who were on limited time courses and were simply not able to get the hours they needed and went home disappointed.
Added to that were the issues of the chief pilot. He was a dour Englishman who was being pulled in too many directions at the same time resulting in him not having enough time to do anything. As chief pilot he was responsible for administering and marking all exam papers, reviewing and finalising all flying documentation, authorising all student flights, dealing with the 'head office' area located on a different site as well as performing all the skills tests. For a small school with 5 or six instructors and a constant stream of students that would be acceptable, however for a large school with up to 15 instructors and literally dozens of students this was a major overload of work for him. I remember one day waiting almost 4 hours for him to return from a skills test, complete a set of documentation, make a dozen phone calls, hold a meeting with three guys from the aircraft hire section and have his lunch, before I was able to go in and request an exam paper from him which I completed in 45 minutes and waited another 2 hours for him to mark. As this was a critical exam needed to progress my flying hours it effectively meant I spent 6 hours of one day unable to fly. Extremely frustrating! In addition to this my dedicated instructor was also unable to fly and therefore lost a days earnings.
Upsides:
So what are the upsides? Well, assuming you can get yourself airborne, the upsides are tremendous. I've already mentioned the weather which is usually good and - even if it isn't - is usually very predictable - if the weather forecast said rain showers at 10 am you would get rain showers at 10am. It made planning flights very easy! There is a great deal of freedom in flying across the pond. Whilst they are, obviously, governed by the same rules and regulations we are, the implementation of those rules has resulted in a more liberal attitude. What do I mean? Take PPR, for example. "Prior Permission Required". it is a prerequisite of most UK airports, aerodromes and landing fields. You have to contact them prior to departure to inform them that you will be arriving and when. Now I'm not saying there isn't a good reason for this (for some tricky approaches - such as those into Fairoaks which is under the Heathrow Class A airspace - it is usually a good idea to get a briefing), but why, then, can I take off in Orlando and pretty much fly where I want without having to let anyone know my destination and then land randomly at whichever field appeals to me? I've already told you how I flew into Melbourne International Airport on a whim for a touch and go, following a 737 on finals. I also trekked out to the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral for some flying and - whilst the space centre itself is restricted, I was able to spend several hours doing touch and go's at Merritt Island which is the nearest field still on the Cape Canaveral peninsula. My first solo was taken at a field called Winter Haven near Cypress Gardens. It's another field with good concrete runways and a nice, tricky approach that takes you over a large lake just prior to touchdown (Extremely interesting if attempting a short field landing. Imagine aiming for the water as your landing spot and flaring out to land right on the end of the runway. A little scary!). All of these landings were done without PPR and none of them cost me a cent. There are no landing charges.
ATC :
How many of you have worked in a complex, ATC managed traffic pattern? There aren't many fields in the UK where this happens. Shoreham is one (although the definition of 'complex' in this case might not mean the same thing). At Kissimmee the airport is a genuine working regional airport with traffic arriving from all points of the US and the Bahamas. As well as training pilots there helicopters, tourists coming in from Key West and environs as well as a host of corporate jets of various sizes heading in from New York, Chicago and the West Coast, not to mention a group of P51 Mustang's based at the field doing military style 'bank-and-break' maneuvers over midfield and peeling off to land in sequence. Throw a 10 or 15 hour student into the middle of that with air traffic control and you get some interesting situations which, I feel, are unique to the area.
On more than one occasion I have been asked to extend a downwind leg to allow a jet to make an instrument approach. I've also been told (while on short finals) to 'go-around' because a Cessna Citation was approaching behind me and would have been forced to go around himself (jet's being more expensive to 'go-around' on than a little PA28).
Summary :
There is no doubt in my mind that the US is geared more towards the pleasure flying end of the spectrum than the UK. Things just seem 'easier' and less hassle when flying there. The weather is good and predictable, the costs are lower, and the administration overhead is lower.
Why wouldn't you fly in the US?
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