What you really need to budget for your PPL training course

For many prospective pilots, cost of training is one of the hardest things to gauge. What to budget for your PPL course is a tricky question to answer exactly, and you’ll probably receive lots of vague guidance, most of which won’t be wrong, but won’t necessarily be very helpful. In this article we’ll look at what you can realistically expect a ballpark cost to be. You can personalise based on your choice of schools using our handy guide.

What are the costs?

We’ll start by looking at the things you might need, then look at what they’re going to cost. The items listed here are broken into sections to help personalise your budget. We have to make some assumptions, so things like a watch and non-specialist stationery have been excluded from the list.

Must haves

Flying hours: £9,000

They are a variable cost, and will depend on the school. The cost of flying ranges broadly from around £180-£260 per hour, multiplying up to £8,100-£11,700 for 45 hours. Hours packages may be available at a discounted rate, and may also include other incentives (e.g. buy 45 hours up front, receive free ground exam sittings).

Consider these, but be careful of paying too much up front. There have been cases of flight schools going bust and students losing money as a result. It’s not common, but worth being aware of, so use a protected payment method like a credit card if possible.

Landing fees: £120

These will be required for flights landing at certain airfields. Find out if they are included at your school’s home base – they usually will be. For other airfields, such as the ones you go to for your qualifying cross country flight, you will have to pay a landing fee. This is usually around £20 and you can expect to be landing away a few times before your instructor is happy to send you alone! Allowing for 6 landing fees will add £120 to the budget.

Ground exams: £477

These consist of 9 separate examinations. The cost of each exam will depend on the school and the package you opt for, so we’ve used the CAA figure of £53 per exam for a nominal total of £477. Flight schools may charge you an additional fee since you’ll need to be in their exam room with a ground examiner.

Skills test: £600

This is another school dependent cost, we suggest you allow for 2.5 hours of solo flight time, plus an exam fee of roughly £250. This gives us a figure of around £600 for the PPL exam.

Class 2 Medical: £350

Assuming you’re in good health with no known medical issues, the rough guide we have is to allow £350 for a class 2 initial medical. If you have existing medical conditions, or anything abnormal is discovered during your medical, this can significantly increase the cost of your medical.

Flight equipment: £200

You can spend much more than this on flight equipment, but we think £200 should cover the essentials. You can buy a starter kit from major retailers for a little more than this if you want to include the textbooks and save on the budle total price.

Radio exam: £150

Radio exam is essential and will cost about £150. Ground school tuition is recommended but not required, which may increase this cost slightly.

Licence application fee: £220

This is a flat rate application fee, payable directly to the CAA.

Logbook: £12

Logbooks have a wide cost range. £12 is a lowest expected figure for a cheap PPL logbook, but they can go up to £80 for customised leather bound professional standard ones. We recommend considering an electronic logbook too. Our suggestions page has a link to a recommended electronic logbook, and a discount code if you want to treat yourself to a premium printed logbook.

Should haves

Headset: £150

Headsets are a tough one to decide on. If you want cheap and cheerful with the choice of upgrading later, £150 will buy you a new one. Alternatively it can buy you a second hand one, of beter quality. If you have a larger budget, you may opt for active noise cancelling headsets with better comfort. These can cost upwards of £1,200.

Textbooks: £175

This figure depends on how many of the books you choose to buy, and can be reduced by buying as a bundle. The headline cost is £25 so 7 books would make £175 if bought separately.

Contingency flying time: £880 – £3,300

We recommend budgeting for at least 4 hours of flying as contingency. This allows for:

• Long periods with no lessons e.g. due to weather or sickness
• Performance not quite being good enough, requiring extra training
• Second attempt at skills test if it doesn’t work out

There’s no way of knowing what extra flying training you may need. Some people use 45 hours, others can take 80 hours or more. It’s better to be prepared, and if you don’t use it then this flying budget can be used to pay for skills test, or put towards hiring aircraft later on. The generally accepted average flying time for licence issue is around 60 hours, so you may want to budget even more for a worst case scenario. Using a minimum of 4 or average of 15 hours at £220 average rate is £880 or £3,300.

Membership fees: £200

These are charged by flying schools and can vary greatly, although most have a reduced rate for students. £200 is a rough guide, but you should ask your prospective flying schools.

May haves

Ground school tuition: £400

This can take many forms – in person, online, e-learning etc… As a ballpark figure if we assume you were to do an hour of ground school for each ground exam, plus your radio exam, then at an average figure of £45ph you would expect to pay £450.

PPL Guide instructors can provide tailored ground school tuition for £40 per hour, meaning the cost of those hours would be only £400.

Camera equipment: Up to £400

Camera equipment is a personal choice, if you want it at all. Many students like to be able to watch back their lessons and solo flights for learning purposes. Once you have your licence, you may wish to film/take pictures during of your adventures to show your family and friends! Remember to ask the permission of your instructor before attaching any camera equioment to the aircraft. A brand new up to date GoPro costs about £400.

Exam retakes: £53

We’ve assumed only 1 ground exam retake is required at the CAA headline rate. What to budget for exam retakes depends on how exam ready you are when you take them in the first place, and how they go on the day. A flight exam retake is considerably more expensive the a ground one. Ground school tuition can reduce the likelihood of exam failures.

In-flight GPS: £121

There are a few mobile apps to choose from for assisted flight planning and in-flight data. Think of these as sat nav for aeroplanes. They aren’t essential, but many students find them very valuable. The most popular one in the UK has a starting subscription price of £121 for the first year.

In summary

We have covered all the expected costs for your PPL training here. You may wish to add other expenses which you know you will face (e.g. train fares to/from the airfield). Our printable table can be filled in, and used to compare your different schools. Despite it being important, remember cost isn’t the only factor – see our article how to choose a flying school if you’d like some more guidance